I’ve been writing a column called Climbing Stories at Interzone for a while, now, and I didn’t think there was much in the way of a linking theme between each one, but it turns out I was wrong. Perhaps inevitably with any project that stretches over years, one of the themes becomes time itself. Changing viewpoints, changing inspirations, and even those small alterations to voice, mean that it’s possible to return to certain subjects on multiple occasions and find things to say simply because time has passed, and made all the words old and fresh again.

Four of my columns on the subject of how time gets treated in science fiction, and how that affects our writing about the past and future, have been collected in this really smart Calque Press pamphlet, Glass Case Futures.

These pamphlets are a great series of short non-fiction work – you can see all of them here, and I think it’s possible to get them as a set. Mine is available now. Here’s the blurb:

We spend most of our lives trapped in time: it is easy to believe that our conception of a world divided into minutes and seconds is in some way absolute, the right way of thinking about existence. In these four brief, brilliant essays, Aliya Whiteley unravels this idea with patience and good humour, allowing us to see other times: environments that at first sight might seem to be beyond the realms of human experience, but which Whiteley reveals to be as valid a set of ways of viewing the world as any life dictated by the second hand of a wristwatch. From the ancient artifacts of the Louvre to the wild coasts of Utopia, Whiteley offers us new ways of seeing.

Limited edition – 100 copies

Calque Ideas provides an opportunity for writers to think aloud, using their own experiences and knowledge to approach topics in an accessible and attractive way.

Thanks to Calque Press for the opportunity to put the collection together, and thanks to Vince Haig for the beautiful cover.