Please welcome Simon J Morley! His series, The Universe Wide Web, sounds like a worthy addition to sci-fi adventure fiction. Here’s a very quick Spotlight from him about his work.
I came up with the idea of The Universe Wide Web whilst idly playing with Google Maps. There I was, taking a virtual wander along Broadway in New York, from the comfort of my home in England, when the idea hit me…what if there was an internet for the whole universe? A way of connecting to other beings all over the universe. And what if this universe wide web let you not just see faraway places at the click of a button, but to travel there, instantaneously – an intergalactic internet.
A story started to form. The hero would have to be young, the young adopt technology so much better than adults; I decided it would be a thirteen-year-old schoolboy, like my own son. And the story, much like all the best children’s fiction – I was thinking of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – would give our hero access to a fantastical, magical world from the corner of his bedroom (isn’t that what games consoles and laptops do anyway). Sure, the Universe Wide Web isn’t magical, its technological – but, as with magic, with technology, anything can happen.
So where is the Universe Wide Web? Well, like the internet, it’s sort of everywhere, and who knows where. The internet is in the cloud isn’t it – sort of? The Universe Wide Web, on the other hand, is in the aether; up there somewhere in outer space. What a setting to grow my story in…an entire universe.
So, I have a setting, now for the characters. Once you’ve made the intergalactic step of logging on to the Universe Wide Web, who can you expect to meet out there? There’d be aliens, of course – so limitless character possibilities perhaps? But are intelligent online aliens really going to be that much different to us? Though, do you always know what type of person you’ve just encountered on the net? My guess is going on the Universe Wide Web would be much like going on to the internet here; you’d just meet ordinary, everyday beings – except, as we know, nobody is ordinary close-up. Beware!
The Universe Wide Web series has grown to become four fast paced adventure stories: 1. Getting Started, 2. Uploading, 3. Profile Settings, 4. Parental Guidance.
So, keep up with technology and log on to the Universe Wide Web; just one click and you can be with anyone, anywhere in the universe.
