Mysteriously didn’t show on my f-list first time I posted this, so here goes again: This is the second of two sets of interview questions. I know I owe questions to a number of you; if you wish me to owe interview questions to you as well, say so in the comments.
From
It’s actually quite a difficult one. I was underwhelmed by the Evil of the Daleks audio, and impressed more than I expected by The Dalek Master Plan. Fan lore, however, has it that the Evil of the Daleks was more impressive to watch. But the bottom line is that there are nine missing episodes of the Dalek Master Plan and only six missing of Evil of the Daleks, so resurrecting the former gets you almost four hours of extra classic Who rather than just two and a half. So the older story wins.
STV in multi-member constituencies. I think it is the best electoral system for anything anywhere. (Except of course if you are choosing only one winner.) Political parties hate it because it allows the voter to make sophisticated choices. I wish more voters would actually do so, of course.
I think you can get a fairly good idea of what’s going on from open source information. The US Army used to produce a truly comprehensive daily news summary from Bosnia, compiled from local media sources and translated into English, and distribute it free to all comers. Most countries have some similar news service available, though not always for free.
But myself, I couldn’t just do it like that; I think it is always vital to talk to people and get a sense of whether the media have got it right or wrong, and to get those local nuances of body language and intonation which are necessary to get the full picture. If I see a startling news item from one of the countries I deal with, my immediate instinct is to call or email someone who actually lives there to find out what is really going on.
I think of myself as more of a science fiction reader, but in fact this basically means that I am more likely to buy a cheap science fiction book off a second-hand stall without thinking about it; to buy or read a fantasy novel takes a more serious act of will. Also, of course, I have put a lot of effort into analysis of the Hugo and Nebula awards, which are more of a science fiction than a fantasy phenomenon. In general I prefer to duck the question by declaring if challenged that sf stands for “speculative fiction” and that I am therefore an sf fan without differentiating too much.
Gosh, yes. There’s still beer, chocolate and waffles; there’s still the art museums, the EU, and some of the architecture. Though having said that, I don’t actually live in Brussels and spend very little time there at the weekends – there are lots of more attractive cities in Belgium!
- Crosswords or Sudoku?
Yeah, that is one of the fundamental questions of our times, isn’t it? Sudoku to take my mind off things, crosswords for more intense stimulation. I couldn’t take more than a couple of crosswords a week; sudoku I can do for hours at a stretch. Not a direct answer, but as good as I can do right now.
- Three countries you’ve never visited but would like to?
I gave a slightly longer answer to this eighteen months ago, since when I have actually been to Albania, Ukraine and Turkey (twice). I think my three remaining top places to go are:
- Pitcairn Island, because of its bizarre and disturbing history;
- Egypt, because of the everything; and
- Poland or Norway, to fill in the remaining gaps on my map of countries I’ve been to in Europe.
- Tell me an anecdote from your schooldays.
This was a tremendously difficult one to answer. I remember my schooldays in terms of activities (Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, attending the City of Belfast School of Music [cf answer to
below]), exams, crushes, being a nerd whose accent was more English-sounding than the other kids’. But I guess one iconic moment was when one of my friends and I, anticipating that we would finish our maths tests well ahead of everyone else, established a system of playing chess across the classroom by tapping on our desks with rulers. The teachers knew something was going on but never worked out what. I haven’t played much chess since. - Where did you find fandom?
Mainly on-line. I started posting to rasfw in 1995, and started posting my reviews of Hugo nominees in 2000. In 2002 I took the step of actually going to an sf con for the first time, MeCon V in Belfast, and that marked a serious up-tick in my fannish activity. Since then I’ve been to the first and third P-Cons, the most recent MeCon, PicoCon last year, two London meets and of course the WorldCon in Glasgow. But my fannish activity will remain mainly on-line.
- Assume the Daleks have been purged from this space-time continuum. Who would you like to be your new overlord(s)?
Really it should be the insects, of course. But I think in the matter of overlords, you have to take what you get.
- I’ve only watched the Baker and Davison years of the old Dr Who – what would you recommend as the essential episode to watch that I’ve never seen?
I’m in much the same position, actually; and if your “Baker years” include much of Colin Baker as well as Tom, you may in fact be better versed than me.
I have seen only one Sylvester McCoy story, and was unimpressed (though The Curse of Fenric is on the shelf waiting to be watched) and watched the Eighth Doctor movie for the first time only two days ago. So my recommendations are entirely from the first three Doctors which I suspect is what you wanted anyway.
As mentioned above, I very much enjoyed the Dalek Master Plan, which is available only on audio. From the Hartnell era, I also especially liked the Dalek Invasion of Earth. I enjoyed the two stories from the first Pertwee season I have seen, Spearhead from Space and Inferno. But in terms of which story from the first eleven years is the classic that the true fan must see, I think there can be only one answer: The War Games. Troughton had other good stories, but this story was crucial in establishing internal Doctor Who continuity and also elicited really good performances from the cast and generally looks good. You do have to be patient with it though as it has ten episodes.
- What is the most frustrating aspect of your job?
When people do really stupid things, particularly governments and people whose job it is to know better. There are loads of examples from the countries I work on professionally, but I’ll take one that is particularly close to home: the anti-immigration policies of western European countries, who have a labour shortage domestically and who are also (supposedly) concerned about extremism and political instability in the nearby countries with high levels of male unemployment and a desire to work in the EU. The only thing that comes even close to annoying me as much as stupid officials is commentators who try and explain the actions of these stupid officials by resorting to conspiracy theories, rather than the simpler explanation of them just being stupid.
- What is the first book you remember reading?
A book about the sun and the stars, probably around Christmas 1971 or so.
- Do you play any musical instruments?
Not any more. At primary school I was made to experiment unsuccessfully with the violin; at grammar school with the clarinet. What I did enjoy was orchestral percussion, and I ascended to the dizzy heights of Second Percussionist with the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra; and indeed played between two and six classical music concerts (for college orchestras, mostly) every term I was an undergraduate. But I have no great urge to pick up the drumsticks again.
- Pirate or robot? Defend your choice! (and none of that robot pirate nonsense.)
Oh that’s easy. I hate cute robots. It has to be pirates; who also have a certain libertarian, anti-statist, revolutionary streak to them, at least in the best cases.
- How do you manage to juggle things and find time for a family life, a demanding job, reading hundreds of books, and posting to LJ?
I think I’m pretty good at multi-tasking. Family comes naturally. Work comes almost naturally. I read books by reflex, and really have to have two or three on the go simultaneously, at least one of them in easy reach, or I don’t feel comfortable. (And a lot of the books I choose to read are pretty easy reading, so it’s not that much extra strain!) Some of these lj entries (this one for example) are actually written over a period of days, using Semagic, editing and re-editing the draft private entry and then finally posting as a new entry. And some day, I’ll rebalance and spend time doing different things (as indeed I have moved away from usenet almost completely).
On top of that I have a wonderful wife who does not have a paid job (which is not at all the same thing as not working). So many of the necessary tasks that are done by both partners at the weekend in a dual-income household are taken on my other half; that probably liberates a lot more time for other activities.
(Though I think I would probably still be clutching a book in my hand.)
- Which of the regular cons you’ve been to is your favourite?
“Regular”!? I’ve only been to two cons more than once, P-Con in Dublin and MeCon in Belfast. Very much enjoyed them both, with P-Con, being slightly mre literary rather than media and (I think) with more guests scoring slightly above its northern cousin. I hope to attend both next year, so ask me again in September.
- Best book you’ve read this year?
I think I’ll keep my vote for single best book of 2006 until nearer the end of the year. The books I’ve read and really enjoyed so far were: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839, by Frances Anne KembleThud!, by Terry PratchettLost Lives, by David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney, Chris Thornton and David McVeaAlexander Hamilton, by Ron ChernowLords of Parliament: Manners, rituals and politics, by Emma CreweFahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (re-read); The Healer’s War, by Elizabeth Anne ScarboroughSalonica: City of Ghosts – Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950, by Mark MazowerIndefensible, by David FeigeThe File on H, by Ismail Kadarëthe first five Amber books, by Roger Zelazny (re-read); A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin (re-read); and The Breaking of Nations, by Robert Cooper. But there are still six weeks to go.
- Do you find learning languages easy, or is it something you have to work at?
Of course it’s not easy, and I don’t do it very often! I would say that I have to work at it, not only because it is difficult, but also in the sense of feeling a moral obligation to try and communicate better.
- Where would you like to live if you weren’t in Belgium?
Probably back in Northern Ireland; though New York and Cambridge (England, not MA) are attractive too! If money is no object, certainly back in the homeland. If I have to work for a living, probably New York.
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