In H1 L1 A0, the Earth is buckling under environmental collapse, overcrowding, and political failure as one man is faced with completing the only existing record of history that spans time and space. Where did the idea for this novel come from?

I believe that most ‘thinking people’ would view the status of our planet with some concern. Just as we seem to be having some common sense prevail in the political spheres, we have these mammoth “Data Centres” being created. These, actually unnecessary additions to our planet, are power-hungry, heat-producing, and pointless. They are needed because too many people are too lazy, so they ‘look stuff up’ online. Corporations are looking for cheaper ways to get our money. So, the – perhaps totally unnecessary Artificial Intelligence systems – need vast repositories of information. Not traditional bricks and mortar libraries, which once built, only need power for lights and air conditioners. No need for huge banks of processors always running!

The novel opens in a moment of crisis and then stretches across centuries of memory. Why did you choose that framing device?

I thought that it might be good to write a positive book about Earth. An outcome which will never happen, sure, but a modern fairy-tale?

It seemed to me, as I started to think about the book, that I needed some logical source of information. I felt that a personal account might make the fiction appear a little less fictional. So the ‘hero’ needed to be actually involved in some way with the whole Earth-space-future situation. I felt that the reader might identify with a character’s personal challenges during this fictional period. He needed to be ‘ordinary’ at first, but then as the story developed he became Abel to span the many years the story spans.

How important was it to you that the characters feel like real people rather than just vehicles for ideas?

While the characters are fictional, I like to think that they have believable characters with positive attributes, but with flaws. Superheroes don’t fit with the ‘reality aspects’ of the story.

What do you hope readers take away about the future of Earth after finishing the book?

Perhaps there might be readers who haven’t thought a lot about the parlous state of our home planet, and they might reflect on what they might be able to do to minimise their own impact, without losing some of the pleasures of life.

I would like to think that there may be readers who get a better view of the Earth and its place in our solar System, and the place of our Solar System in the immense Universe. For readers who may not have wondered about our place in the Universe, some of the facts – sizes, distances, speeds, places – used in the story might impress them and make them wonder about what might be out there!

But, closer to home, maybe some might think a bit more about what they might do to minimise ‘global warming’. Each person can only do tiny, tiny things, but if enough of us do these, it might make a difference. Involving the issues of ‘global warming’ in the story wasn’t actually needed for the storyline, but including it didn’t harm the underlying story. Does it add some veritas to the tale?

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