A Synopsis of Squid

…Being an interview by Ollie Barder that just went live over at Forbes (or slightly less live over at Archive, if you’ve used up your monthly allocation of free articles). Ollie was originally drawn in because he’s Mr. Mecha and was intrigued by Secret Level’s “Armored Core” short―a big chunk of the piece goes behind the scenes of that particular project―but the remainder delves deep into my past, and shallowly into my future.

True fans will find much here they’ve read before: my favourite authors, my past travails as a marine biologist. I swear I’ve told that old Jules Verne plagiarism anecdote more times than I have fingers and toes. On the other hand, I’ll bet none of you have encountered the Canvas Submarine and Underground Hideout stories before (even the BUG didn’t know about that last one). And while you may have heard the occasional rumour, the ball gag has finally come off so I can officially talk (a little, at least) about the Blindsight series treatment I’m working on with Neil Blomkamp.

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  Photo credit: Do-Ming Lum/Tiger Mountain Creative Services

A mix of the novel and the familiar, then, in a publication that doesn’t generally do people like me. But if I’m honest, the highlight of the piece just might be the author photo by Do-Ming Lum: a contemporary picture that doesn’t hide my age, but also doesn’t make me look like a decrepit goof. A picture in which I managed, just once, to not roll my eyes or mug awkwardly. A picture containing an Easter Egg that references the subject of my previous blog post. A picture which, if I’m being honest, actually makes me look good.

I figure it’s because my face is in shadow.