I am an aspiring fantasy author, dabbler in digital arts and occasional cracker of japes. Most of my work revolves around mythologising biographical accounts of my everyday life. You can view my menagerie of adventures, reviews and other strange scenarios on the Fox of London blog. When I am not procrastinating from my blog, I enjoy writing Dungeons and Dragons adventures, sword and sorcery and scribbling up designs and notes for my dark fantasy comic series I swear I’m going to make. My biggest inspirations are walks in the woods, dreams and pre-raphaelite paintings. My other interests include playing music, video games and going to the pub, the latter of which usually generates many new ideas for my writing.

What inspired you to write “Solaris (1972) Review”?

My inspiration for this piece was wanting to set a challenge for myself (and in-part pure procrastination). In the past I have outlined very casual and personalised reviews of things I have held dear to me but after viewing Solaris I wanted to create my first full-fledged science fiction review, while still trying to retain enough wit and whimsy to call it my own. While my other works are more in-the-moment ramblings, I wanted to reach higher depths in my writing and had a strong enough reaction to Solaris that I could make a nuanced interpretation. Additionally, I often attempt to retain as many fascinating elements as I can from science-fiction media to help inspire my own creative process, and writing this review helped to solidify aspects that can be used in my own works.

Can you give us an insight into your writing process?

Usually writing comes to me spontaneously. I have an idea burning on my mind and just have to get it down in the instant. This often results in sitting on a log half-way through my afternoon walk, etching ideas for a new project till the sun starts to set. My writing is around a full-time job and other mini passion projects but usually revolves around stream-of-consciousness, which can be a bit of a gamble, but I just have to hope it turns out presentable!

My favourite part of writing speculative fiction is taking the downright mundane and placing it into your own universe. What would the equivalent of a Greggs be like in a fantasy swamp? Are your six-finned whale warriors having marriage trouble? Is there an equivalent to going bowling with your mates in a chivalric romance? Well, there probably was. But the important thing is to write from something you know and throughout all of human history, people have been doing similar mundane things as you and your friends, and will do till the end of time so why not write about it? Even if your story centres on epic battles and intrigue, I believe it adds much more flavour to your world to establish what is normal. And respectively it could make your own life feel more exciting, since fantasy is the language of dreams and it lets you dream away, perhaps about a six-finned whale warrior writing their own epic, beginning with your mundane trip to the post office. Or maybe that’s just me?