An Author's Inspiration

Robert J Hamilton
Jun 7, 2016
2 min read

Sixteen years ago.

Doesn't seem that long ago to me, but I was just finishing off my last year in school. I was never into reading much, but this was about the time I had finished reading one of my first science fiction novels. It was by Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust.

My interest in science fiction had taken off years before watching Star Trek. But reading? Never really got into that. I found it to be quite boring, something that took too long. I only read what I had to for school. But on that one fateful day, I had an assignment at school to do a report on a book of my choosing. Well, I loved science fiction, let's read one of those books.

Into the library I go and flip through the spines of various scifi titles. Then, A Fall of Moondust. Well, I also love astronomy, and here is something about the moon, I'll give this one a go. I think it was the best choice for a book I could have made. The story about tourism on the moon, disaster striking, and the challenges - one after another - it captivated me to not only write a top marking report, but to write a story of my own. I never intended to go down the publishing route, as this was just a mere hobby, a story for my eyes only.

So in my spare time, I wrote. Even during my classes, instead of working out those math equations, I worked on my story instead, writing down those thoughts in my exercise book. I remember one time being on a roll, it was so hard to stop, I had written over 5000 words in a single weekend.

After six years or so, my little story was finished, or so I thought. So I put it aside, and let it gather electronic dust for a few years on my computer. Occasionally, I would add a little more to it, read it, then leave it again. But around 2012-2013, I was going through eBay and found Arthur C. Clarke's book. It had been over ten years since I last read it, so I bought it, and read it just like I had never read it before. It was just as much of a page-turner then as it was before, all those years ago. And this was the beginning for me to say to myself, 'Maybe I should try publishing my book to the world'.

Arthur C. Clarke - A Fall of Moondust is the reason that my book, Revelations - Far From Earth exists.

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