Mike Lancaster
About Author
Mike Lancaster was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in the UK and as a child lived in small rural villages in the area. When he was eleven he found himself living in a vast council estate after his parents split up.
Mike always wanted to be a writer and has spent several years doing a variety of jobs while practising his writing skills. 0.4, published by Egmont Press, is his first published novel.
Today he lives in Cambridge with his wife, who is an equestrian vet, and three daughters as well as a variety of dogs, cats, ponies and Geckos, which keep him busy when he's not writing.
Interview
0.4
Published by Egmont Press
January 2011
Imagine if, in just one day, the whole of humanity changed out of all recognition - except for you, and a handful of others like you. You no longer belonged inside your home and the people you grew up with didn't recognise you....
In 0.4, the first of a new trilogy by Mike Lancaster, that is what happens to Kyle Straker, one of four people who volunteer to be hypnotised at a village fete. When he and the others come back to reality, they find that 'reality' has changed and that they no longer have a place in this new world...
0.4 is an audio diary of what happened next, read by a future generation.
Mike Lancaster talked to ReadingZone about his new book:
Q: We're not going to give away the plot of 0.4 - but when did the idea occur to you?
A: I was upgrading my computer and as I was doing it, I wondered what happened with all the old data on the computer and the whole plot for 0.4 came into my head. I don't think there's enough good sci-fi out there so I am pleased it's being published.
Q: Was it hard to get 0.4 published?
A: I have loads of unpublished manuscripts tucked away in a cupboard but I was convinced that this book was The One that would get published.
I approached several agents in a very humble way and that got nowhere, so I sent out a badgering letter saying the book was brilliant and finally got an agent. After that I had four publishers who were very keen on the book.
Q: Is anything in 0.4 based on your own experiences?
A: Yes, and it was the hardest part of this book to write. Kyle attempts to do stand-up comedy, which was drawn from one of my own painful experiences. I was with my family at a holiday camp and they had a talent show, so my dad pushed me on stage to tell jokes and I couldn't remember a single one - and the only one I could remember, I got wrong! It was excruciating.
Q: Why do you like writing sci-fi?
A: Science fiction can be used to explore many things. In 0.4, for example, I give a scientific explanation for why some people thing they have seen ghosts. I used to write ghost stories but because I don't believe in ghosts I wasn't very good at it!
The story is also about people on the fringes of society. In our world today, there are many ways where people can fall through the cracks and not be noticed.
You see people living in cardboard boxes, even in the freezing weather we've been having, largely unnoticed.
Most people are quite blinkered and don't notice what they don't want to see.
Maybe there is something wrong with us, we screen out what we don't like. Sci-fi is a way to explore issues like that.
The story also comments on how we use our brains. There are fascinating statistics for how we use our brains and how we use only a tiny part. But just because we don't seem to be using two thirds of our brain, it doesn't mean it's not doing anything - but what are we doing with the other two thirds? Through sci-fi, I can make some suggestions.
Q: Did you find it hard to write this book?
A: Writing 0.4 was probably one of the easiest I have written. The second book has been harder to write because it's set in the future.
It was a brilliant idea when I came up with it but 0.4 is set in a world where I live, while the second one, 1.4, is 1,000 years in the future.
That has been a lot harder to write because you have to build that world. You also have to be quite careful how you write about it because it could just end up as a list of stuff that you've invented for the book - but the focus still needs to be the story, and it has to be fun to write.
Q: What is the sequel about?
A: It is set 1,000 years into the future when the events of the first book have become myth and legendary, but there are a group of people who seriously believe the works of Kyle Straker; they are marginalised and treated as fools.
Q: In 0.4, you describe the human race evolving through technology. Do you think that's a good thing?
A: technology has become our evolutionary path now. I've read contemporary scientists talking about where we'll be 50 to 100 years in the future and I think our next steps forward will be through technology rather than actual evolution, which is such as slow process.
I believe we become better with scientific advances but if you compare that to Neanderthal man who only had to do ten hours hunting a week and the rest of time got to relax... maybe we haven't got it right?
Q: What do you do to relax?
A: We have a large number of pets in the house and the children have ponies, so my relaxation time is going down to the livery yards with the dogs and taking care of the ponies.
I also love reading, although I've stopped reading sci-fi books while I write this series and I'm reading crime novels instead.
I also like good food and good films - one of my previous jobs was as a cinema cashier and video shop manager, which meant I could watch as many films as possible!
0.4
