by Diarmid MacArthur
I wonder how history will look back on our current predicament. Will it be called “The Great Lock-Down of 2020”? Or maybe “The Covid Crisis”? Who knows? More to the point, however, it will be interesting to see what the historical (and political) “spin” is in fifty years time. Many of us will live to see it (I`ll be 113!) and, of course, with hindsight being the exact science that it is, we will then discover exactly what we should have done and when, who was to blame, what went wrong, etc...won`t we?
Of course we won`t!
It seems that every day we are faced with a different set of “truths”. Different stories, different opinions, both medical and political, to the extent that it is hard to know what to believe. And, of course, that`s the beauty with fiction; you actually know that it isn`t true from the outset! But you still have to get some of your facts correct, otherwise the whole thing becomes unbelievable.
My first two (self-published) novels were a combination of West of Scotland crime and Science Fiction. Even without the benefit of an editor, I knew that, as far as the Sci-fi was concerned, I could pretty much write what I wanted. However, when it came to DI Archie Blue, I realised that I had to achieve a degree of accuracy, otherwise my readers would disbelieve the entire story.
Take, for example, the 2012 film “Battleship”...
The aliens have invaded Earth in giant, sea-going vessels; with vastly superior powers and technology, they plan to annihilate our Planet and they have completely destroyed a couple of modern, heavily-armed naval vessels. All well and good so far; scary, exciting, gripping...
Finally, the surviving naval personnel requisition the decommissioned WW2 Battleship, USS Missouri, a tourist attraction permanently berthed in Pearl Harbor (not “Harbour” - remember, it`s the US...) With a crew of about thirty, they manage to power up this mighty vessel and cast off, after having cut the massive anchor chains with an acetylene torch (really?) With a complement of weaponry, including fully-loaded machine guns and shells for the massive 16” turrets, in no time at all they attain their maximum speed of 33 knots and, with a bit of skill and a lot of luck, manage to save humanity! (remember, it`s the US...)
It`s great fun, a good ole` “kick-ass” American romp; but every time it comes to this last part, I shake my head in disbelief. There is no way that such a tourist attraction would (a) have any engine fuel, (b) have any form of live ammunition on board and (c) be capable of reaching battle-stations and full cruising speed in less than an hour. It`s absolute nonsense! (remember, it`s the US...) However, I readily accept the arrival of the aliens, their technology and the threat to our world without question!
Strange indeed!
But is the truth sometimes stranger than fiction?
In my latest DCI McVicar novel, “Link to a Kill”, I include a rather gruesome killing, a slight adaptation of a real case as related to me by a serving Police officer. It forms a fairly important component of the story and, to be honest, I probably wouldn`t have thought of it by myself; yet the possibility exists that some readers may doubt that such an event could happen.
So, the truth is...there ain`t no truth; does that sound ever-so-slightly familiar?
“Grease” is a long-standing, family-favourite movie that we watched recently. Movie buffs may have realised that the title of my blog is a corruption of a line towards the end, where Danny Zuko, leader of the T-birds and Leo, leader of the rival Scorpions, go head-to-head in a car race. As they are about to set off, racing for possession of their opponent`s vehicle, Leo`s growled statement to Danny could just as easily apply to both the current situation and the writing of fiction.
“The rules are... there ain`t no rules...”