A Tale of 2 Science - Fiction Writers

Iain M. Banks and Ray Bradbury are two very different Science-fiction writers of the 20th century, and novelists that I have actually read! I distinctly remember seeing Scottish writer Iain Banks first novel in a bargain-basement bin at Woolworths back in the late 80s. The novel was called 'The Wasp Factory' (1984), and it had a yellow cover with lots of black shadowy wasps walking (like tiny humans) over a clock-face. At least that's how I remember it. I didn't buy it, my younger brother did, and it still sits on the bookshelf back home in England, unread. I know the reason why I didn't read it is because of that horrible cover. Perhaps it had put other people off too? But looking into the history of this novel I found out that it has been listed as one of the 'top 100 books of the 20th century'.More recently a friend gave me the heads-up on 'a great science fiction writer' called Iain M. Banks. It turns out that these writers are one and the same! 'Against a Dark Background
' (1993), was the novel she recommended. As I started to read it I remembered why I just didn't like this writer. The main bone-of-contention with me is his use of too many overly long sentences, not to mention the silly names, as well as the depressingly dark tone of his stories; especially this one. The storyline is very complicated, taking the reader all over the place. Inevitably it bored me to tears. Too much description and little dialogue in some chapters, eventually led to me just switch off.This is why I enjoy reading some of American writer Ray Bradbury's short stories. They are as descriptive as is necessary, to the point, and full of understandable language. His story, 'A Sound of Thunder' (1952), is the most re-published science fiction story of all time. He is also responsible for 'The Martian Chronicles' (1950). The book was published in the U.K. under the title 'The Silver Locusts' (1951).This is a wonderful science-fiction short story collection that was ser
ialized for television back in 1979. It consists of several stories about the colonization of Mars by the remnant of humanity after a nuclear war. So it's what you might call a 'post-apocalyptic tale' setting out mankind's future path, from 1999 to 2057 to be precise. The story began as a series of shorts, written back in the 1950s, and over time Bradbury's full works were collected up and re-published as one epic novel. His writing is widely available on many Internet forums, and if you enjoy science fiction and strange tales, then I would recommend reading 'A Sound of Thunder' as an introduction.

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