Before I started writing sci fi, my knowledge of science fiction books was limited to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty Four - the last two of which are barely sci-fi at all (they're dystopic fantasies).
I haven't even read The Time Machine. I did start reading it recently, as I thought that I should, but got bored and abandoned it after the first ten pages.
I often ask myself what I was thinking when I decided to write science fiction. I've started reading in the genre since I decided to write it. With each new book, I have a mini-nervous-breakdown as I come across ideas I've used, which I thought I invented, but obviously didn't.
Imagine my horror when I came across Stars My Destination, goggled at the incredible plotting, the sheer brutal force of the main character and realised that Alfred Bester came up with the tattoo idea in 1956 and the only way I could claim credit for it would be to build a time machine.
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