STOP PRESS!!!

Alright!  Is it only me but doesn't feel that every time we turn round we found out that if the government can't gorge us one way they are trying to get at us by gorging our children?

I am refering to the new curriculum that is now being circulated around the UK parliment.  Apparently climate charge has suddenly upped and disappeared so we no longer need to teach our children about it until after they are eleven years old.  Eleven!?!  Have they no idea that by that point children have already laid down the basic framework of how they are going to view the world?  The human affect upon our world has to be discussed from the moment a child starts learning science so that cause and effect, the consquences of our actions can form part of that framework.

What is more they don't even bother to make up for lost time between the ages of eleven and fourteen in the proposed science and geography curriculum.  No, climate change and the wild weather it is causing is something to be swept under the carpet and then maybe it will go away so the people will stop asking their government awkward questions, such as "What happened to your promise to be the greenest government ever?"

To cap it off sustainable developement and global citizenship has also been downgraded on the draft of the new curriculum.

It appears that the government would love to raise a generation of young people who will continue pillaging the world resources with no mind for how it poisons the very air that we breath and will not care that people in Africa, Central and Southen America and Asia starve because climate change has caused floods/droughts/the movement of disease ranges that has destroyed their crops for decades at a go.  After all they are not in England so why should we care?

We should care because they are human beings!!!  They bleed red the same as we do.  We share ancestory, genetics and a common human community!  A common human family!  Climate change does not just affect animal species, it also affects us!

Not only does the proposed curriculum fly in the face of the sense of common human decency, it is also in complete denial of the, and I quote, "Expert Panel's clear recommendations".  It appears to me that the current government only takes note of the recommendations of the expert panels it SETS UP ITSELF if those recommendations fit the governments preferred view of the world  - i.e. the world resources will never run out so we will encourage the people and therefore businesses to continue pillaging them for all they are worth so we can keep taxing our wage pack out of them.

It seems that on top of all the other responsibilities a decent parent has the government is going to add teaching them how to be well rounded, considerate people who understand how they consuming habits affect people on the other side of the world, people like the workers in that factory that collasped in Bangladesh.

However, I would say that this new curriculum is just the unavoidable result of the past changes to the curriculum.  Having gone through the education system within the last twenty years (and still struggling to recover from the scars that it left me with) I know for a fact that, not only has the standard dropped from the standard expected of my parent's generation who were learning algerbra when they were eleven years old (I didn't start until I was fourteen), but the whole purpose of education has drastically changed between my generation and theirs.  When my parents where going through school the emphasis was not on what you knew but rather on how you learned it.  For example, in the mathematics O-level you could have a totally different method for, say, calculating percentages from what the curriculum had proposed.  However, if the examiner, who would be a mathematical professor, could see  that your method was sound and accurate you would still receive full marks for that question.  What is more the examiner was more than likely to start teaching your method as an alternative to the curriculum method to those students who could not grasp the curriculum method.

These days you must use the curriculum method, even if you cannot understand and therefore misscalculate the answer because if you use a different method from the curriculum state one, even if you calculate the answer correctly, the examiner, who might be a English teacher if you are lucky, will still not give you the marks that question was worth.  Why?  Because they compare your answer to what is written on the answer sheet and are not allowed to award points to method that devate from the curriculum method, even if the answer is correctly calculated.

These days the emphasis is on what you know, not how you learned it and heaven forbid a child being taught to work out how they can apply their knowledge to a field different from the one they were taught in. That simply will not do.  Why, if we encourage children to actually be intelligent then they might be able to see the parellels between history and the current situation.  Such as the fact that the first thing any tyrant does when they are building they power base is to constrict education because ignorant people are easy to drive.  If people are left ignorant then they will believe whatever you wish to tell them through the medium of mass media.  However, if people are educated in an education system that teaches them how to learn a new thing every day then they will ineverably start asking questions.  Once the questions start then the tyrant cannot answer them.  When the people realise that there is no answer forth coming they start looking for answers and when they find them that is when revolutions start.

And I beg to differ with the point of view that says that revolutions are violent, evil things.  I propose a new revolution:-

1.We disagree with how our government is exploting the natural world - revolution = research the origins of the products you buy.  If they come from unsustainable sources don't buy them.

2. We disagree with how our government is encouraging pollution - revolution = walk, bike, catch the bus, car share on every journey that we can.

3. We disagree with how much pesticide is sprayed on our food - revolution = dig for victory!  Grow your own!  As much of your own as you can manage and buy organic food that is grown in your own country.

4. We disagree with how the meat industry treats animals - revolution = if you don't want to go vegetarain then buy your meat from your local butcher.  They can't afford to buy meat from animals that have been transported live over hundreds of miles.  What is more, if you walk to the local butcher you save in fuel the slight, and I do mean slight, increase in price.

There are a hundred and one things we can do, each and every one of us, to revolutionize the way we live and the world we live in and more importantly, the world we leave for our children.  However, to do that we have to be able to learn about them.  Tell me, who does it benefit if we are unable to learn?

For more information about the propsed curriculum see:

www.wwf.org.uk/blog/campaigns/national-curriculum-shouldnt-hide-the-truth-about-climate

One final note:

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer

Growing a Wanted Future

I was advocating in my last post owning and digging an allotment.  However, you could fore go that expense and simply start on your own garden.  Growing your own food can be really easy and you can even grow stuff that will help protect the rest of your crop.

Rhubarb leaves can be boiled and the resulting liquid, once cooled, used as a 100% bee friendly pesticide (as long as you don't spray it directly on to a bee).  The stalks of said leaves can be cooked and eaten as stewed fruit, crumble or fruit tarts.  The leaves themselves, once boiled, go on the compost heap.  A word of caution!  Never pick rhubarb that you or someone in your family has not planted!  Wild rhubarb is poisonous all over and can kill an adult human if ingested.

Beetroot, although not to everybody taste, if planted next to cabbage or lettuces, will cover their existence with their smell and help keep away butterflies and their resultant caterpillars.

Marigolds will do the same thing as beetroot and can be picked, boiled, strained and their resultant liquid used as an anti-fungal on both plants and people.  You spray it on effected plants and in cases of Athlete's Foot, use it as a foot bath on humans.

Sunflowers, although not a direct effectuate, draw in song birds in the winter by providing seeds and those song bird will come back in the spring and summer to collect the pests you don't want eating you crop to feed their own young.  However, it is a good idea to cover soft fruits such as raspberries and strawberries with netting during the summer and autumn.  Birds like soft fruits just as much as we do.

For the bees you want to attract to pollinate your crops and make them grow then the best hedge is an even mixture of rosemary, lavender and sage.  These can be hedged really easily by cutting back three quarters of the years growth in October. This will result in a slow growing hedge but one that is super thick.  The cuttings, in the case of lavender, can be dried and placed inside clothing drawers and wardrobes to keep away clothes moths.  Rosemary and sage can be used either fresh or dried in cooking and make for excellent roasts when you sprinkle them over the meat.

Rosemary blooms in the spring and provides food for the early bees.  Lavender blooms in the summer and in a good flower year, will literally hum with bees.  Sage blooms in the autumn and feds the bees that are up late.

I understand that some of the crops I'm suggesting up above are not to every bodies taste so, if there is not any one in the family who likes them, then my suggestions would be a little table at the end of the drive and an honesty box.  It might not make you much but it is money you wouldn't have if you didn't try.  The boxes can always be bolted down and locked if you are worried about theft.

The up swing of all the hard work that it takes to make a cottage garden work is two fold in my mind.  One you don't have to pay for a gym membership, you will have plenty of wait lifting in the back garden.  Two you will have food on the table that you will know 100% where it was grown, what is in it and what was sprayed on it.  Considering the side effects of some of the pesticides they use now, I say a reward like that is well worth the effort.

What is more it sticks two up at the industries that would take everything from our planet until she has nothing left to give and put nothing back in it's place.  I'd say that growing your own food, also grows a future where the little man actually has a say in what is important in this world.  Who doesn't wanted that?

Dig for Victory

Continuing my blog series 'Proactive Society' I titled this one after the famous Second World War rallying cry for a very good reason - allotments used to form the greater part of the protected wild life land in Britain until modern times.  Then with so called 'convience shopping' the number of allotment holders went into decline and we are now something of an endangered species.  Now considering the growing number of food scandals of recent times (horse burger anyone?) and the fact that a lot of the pesticides used on our food crops have been shown to have carcinogenic qualities, I want to put forward an argument for more people to go out there and grow their own.

"But I don't have the time," you say.  Excuse me?  How many times are you down at the gym a week?

My allotment costs me fifty two pounds a year i.e. a pound a week.  I am fairly sure that no gym in England has an annual membership of that much and not only does it work just about every muscle the gym does, it produces food as a reward for all your hard work.

To start with, especial if like me, you are having to break the allotment in from fallow you have to cut down the grass.  The grass on my allotment is getting on for eight inches long now.  You could use a petrol strimmer but that takes money (you have to buy the petrol) and it pollutes the atmosphere.  Instead you can use a pair of garden shears.  Crouching to do this uses legs, butt, back (lower, middle, upper) and arm muscles.  You see? You have started your work out already.

You then need to rake all the clippings into a single heap.  Keep these weighed down under an old jute bag and you can use them in the autumn instead of buying straw to bed in the more delicate plants.  The act of raking again uses all of the above listed muscles.

Now comes the really hard part - breaking in the soil.  This is the bit that all allotment owners dread. Having cut a square piece of turf the size of your spade blade, you have to lift it up and turn the spade so the turf falls back into the hole you just made upside down.  This especially works the back and arm muscles and can result in some pretty serious back aches the next morning.  The best time to do this work is either in the winter, when the cold will kill the bugs you have just dug up, or in the spring during the morning so the birds will have all day to take the bugs back to their nests.

The next job is to spread a layer of non peat compost over the allotment.  You can make your own by - 1. buy a metal bin 2. drill small to medium sized holes in the bottom 3. filling it with all vegetable waste i.e. the potatoe peelings, the squishy tomatoe, the carrot that went mouldy in the bottom of the fridge.  Thus not only do you not have to spend money on compost, you also eliminate food waste.  It's not being wasted, it's going towards growing new food.

Once you have spread the compost over the allotment you have to dig it in.  That's right, you have to break the soil all over again.  Then, to add insult to injury you have to spread a second layer of compost over the allotment and dig that in.  Believe you me, you are not going to run out of allotment based work out any time soon.

And while you are doing all of that you are providing a bug based banquet for all the local birds.  Then comes the planting.  That's right - it's back to digging holes.

Proactive Society

It seems that a lot of people are telling us what is wrong with society and the world in general.  The Middle East is gradually blowing its people into hundreds of different bits, oil companies are polluting the atmosphere by burning of 'unwanted' gas, big companies are fouling up our food chain and the environment is on the verge of collapse.  All in all, it seems that the little guys can't do much.

I disagree.

Yes, there is not much we little guys can do to change what is going on in the Middle East or to stop the oil companies caring more for bucks than for the world their children are going to have to live in but we can much a difference to the environment.  What is more it can be done really easily and has a really nice profit which kicks back to the doer.

For example, Colony Collapse Syndrome i.e. the truly alarming rate by which our bee population is dying (no bees= no food= no us).  This is not helped by the pesticides that some farmers are spraying on their fields, however an even great threat is the pesticides people are using in their gardens.  What is more some people don't even realise that if you spray pesticides when the flowers are open the pesticide gets into the pollen and nectar, which the bee then takes back to the hive and makes into honey, which is harvested and you then eat when you buy a jar of honey from the shop.  Would you drink the stuff that's in the pesticide bottle?  No?  Why then are you willing to eat it when you eat the honey?

What is more some people think that a lawn should just be green, no daisies, no dandelions, no clover.  In short, nothing for a starving bee to eat.  So out comes the weed killer and that will kill a bee just as fast as pesticide.  One I much prefer a lawn that has daisies and clover, it is much prettier.  Two the best way to kill a dandelion without weedkiller is to pluck off every flower head before it can seed.  You keep doing that, it will keep trying to flower until it exhausts itself to death.  So, if you have children whom you worry about because they seem to spend all of their time in front of the TV, then you have the perfect way to kill two worries with one stone.  An offer of five pence per dandelion head every day is a brilliant way to kill off the dandelions in your lawn, get your children to spend more time out of doors and they can start learning the value of money by earning it in the bargain as well.

Now that leaves you with the problem as to what to do about the pests, the aphids, the black fly, the mildew bug.  If you have a rhubarb plant then your problem is solved.  Simply that the leaves, boil them in a litre of fluid for every two hundred grams of rhubarb leaf, strain off, put the liquid in a spray bottle and spray on the plants.  It will only kill the bugs present and leaves behind no nasty chemicals that will kill the bees or get into the honey.  What is more, contrary to popular belief the pulp that is left of the leaves can be added to the compost heap with no ill effects.  However, do not eat it under any circumstance.

If you don't have a rhubarb plant, then buy one, plant it in a shady corner, leave it alone for a year, letting the dead leaves rot back into the soil and then the second year you have your supply of pesticide waiting to be picked.  The stalks of the rhubarb also makes very nice, if rather tart, stewed fruit.  So you have a plant that is pesticide and dessert in one.

Hey up, there's an idea for some farmer who is trying to diversify to maximise profit.  You'd need a low lying, wet field, preferably well shaded by trees but you could plant a crop of rhubarb, harvest it and make your own pesticide.  If it worked well enough, you could even sell it to people to make some more profit.  That's worth thinking about, don't you think?

Tales from the Sick House

No it's not the title of a new book I am working on (I kind of wish it was, nearly nine months without working on my book is really beginning to get to me).  It's a round up of what is going on in my life at the moment and why my postings are becoming even more irregular than normal.

Those of you who read 'Health Issues' from a couple of months back no doubt remember that my Mother was diagnosed with cancer.  Having ignored the events since then to make my blog one of the places where I can get away from it all, I now feel that it is time to face up to the music and swallow it whole.

They cannot remove the initial tumour.  It is just over the size into the 'too big' measurement and if they remove it now then they risk the cancer accelerating and spreading.  Instead she had an operation at the beginning of this month that removed a large percentage of her lymph system in that arrive in the hopes that will create a 'road block' effect so that the cancer can't travel else where.  Now we are staring down the long barrel of chemo and radio therapy starting on the 20th of May.

A trip to the hospital every day for five weeks.  It doesn't sound much until you start putting the times down in the diary in ink and then you realise just how much this is going to be.  It starts feeling a hell of a lot more real when you go through the appointment list and realise that for over a month you are going to spend most of your time either travelling to and from or in the hospital.  You sit there and you look and you look and you look at it, the train of thought having reached the station and not going on.  It is at times like these when I realise just how small my head bones are.  I get a sense of just how easy it would be for something to get hold of my skull and crush my head in.  Our brains are such delicate creations and we take it for granted that our skulls are strong enough to protect then.

I think the worst thing out of all of this is because we don't know how the chemo and radio therapy is going to take her.  She could be one of the lucky ones, like her dad, my grandfather, who just had all the skin on his hands and his feet peel off.  Or she could be one of the unlucky ones and we are looking at at least five weeks of the d and v, hallucinations and the feeling that napalm has just been poured through ever one of her bones.

There is also the worry about what this does to mine and my sister's chances of developing cancer in our lives.  I would have said that we have a pretty good diet,thanks to my autism induced food allergies, we were fairly active as a family, none of us smoke, we only drink alcohol as a dinner accompaniment and we buy most of our food locally so we're not exposed (I don't think) to high levels of GM food.  So how did this turn up?

Granted you have to factor in the one risk factor that Mother has that neither me or my sister has (thank God) - Mother's eldest brother is a paedophile and Mother wasn't his first victim.  It is a known fact that woman who have been abused have a rate risk of developing this sort of cancer, something else they ought to think about when they do the sentencing of paedophiles and rapists.  It ought to add at least ten years to the sentence because that's about a conservative average of what their abuse has taken of the lives of their victims.  But there again, since when has the justice system ever truly listened to the voices of the victims in these cases?

As for my own health problem, I am getting sick and tired of having repeated eye infections.

Newspapers - Are They News?

So the various newspapers have it splashed across their front that Rolf Harris has been questioned by the police in connection with the Jimmy Saveille enquiry.  What is more, one newspaper resounds, his solicitor tried to keep it quiet from the newspapers!  Shock!  Horror!  One more national icon has had his horrible misdeeds uncovered by the press!  Or has he?

When I spent the time actually looking through the article I found that it had rather less substance than a marshmallow.  It is reported that he has been questioned by the police concerning 'a sexual assult'.  It does not gone on to say when this assult happened.  It does not say who reported this matter.  It is said that it is in connection with the Jimmy Saville enquiry but it does not mention that they are charging him with peodophilia and you can beat your last pound that if they were the newpapers would have that splashed all over their front.  Another children's TV personality that has turned out to be a peodo, wouldn't they just love to have that to work with.  After reading two or three of the different reports from the different newspapers I had discovered that Rolf Harris had been questioned concerning a sexual assult, the police have yet to confirm whether or not they will actually be charging him in connection with this 'crime' and that's all the newspapers have to work with.

The rest of the articles, such as they were, where mostly speculation, accussation and melodrama.  In short, fluff, fluff and more fluff designed to disguise the fact that they are busily destroying a man's career and reputation with no more than a couple of hours at a police station and even that they can't decide on the contents of. For all the information they devulged it could well be that the police were questioning Rolf Harris on some event he saw connected with Jimmy Saville and the others and the police wanted to know about it with Rolf Harris as an unknowing witness to it.

People say 'well they must have known that Jimmy was a peodo if they were working with him'.  I beg to differ.  I know of a family were most of them were unaware that one of their number was a peodo until it came out that he had messed with his own daughter.  It really is possible to know someone and not know them at the same time.

As for Rolf Harris' solicitor trying to keep it a secret from the press - well, I'm not surprised, concidering that Channel 5 has already decided to axe the two shows of Rolf's they had on when the police haven't even confirmed if there actually are any charges at all.  I'd want to keep it quiet if mere speculation in the newspapers part was going to end my career.

And while all this is going on the newspapers are not reporting that the USA Senate passed a ruling that one of the companies that creates GM food can no longer be sued if people get sick after eating their produce.  Apparently that is not worthwhile news.

Workshop First Go

My workshop on the 2nd of April went good in some ways and not so good in others.  Good in that I managed to engage everybody with the subject.  Not so good in that we did a lot more discussion than we did writing and because of that we were not able to shift through the amount that I was hoping to.  Granted that does mean that I am thinking of offering to do another one next year, which would give me the chance to improve on the last model.

I also thought that instead of writing up the whole of my planned workshop, I'd just write up what I managed to do and save the rest for next year.  So without further ado:

Science Fiction Writing: A Workshop



Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett, 'The Ship Who Searched' by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey, 'Souless' by Gail Carriger, 'Virals' by Kathy Reichs, 'Dune' by Frank Herbert, 'The Eisenhorn Trilogy' by Dan Abnett, 'The Ravenor Trilogy' by Dan Abnett or 'The Grey Knights Omnibus' by Ben Counter.  Some of the quotes are abridged and I made no money by reading them out.

It has been asked what use is science fiction?  What use is fiction full stop?  What baring can these stories have on our modern society?

I say this: these stories enable us to ask questions in such a way that means the fundamentalists do not throw up their arms in outrage, the message can reach those it can reach and those that it doesn't reach, those that can't think of a metaphor behind the words, well the message probably wouldn't reach them even if you beat them over the head with it.  So science fiction can be a tool with which we can challenge society.  For example, from 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett.  One of the maids, Aibileen, is telling Mae Mobley, the white child she looks after a 'special story':

"We doing a different story today," I say, but first I go still and listen, just to make sure Miss Leefolt ain't coming back cause she forgot something. Coast is clear.

"Today I'm on tell you bout a man from outer space." She just love hearing about people from outer space.  Her favourite show on the tee-vee is 'My Favourite Martian'.  I pull out my antennae hats I shaped last night out a tinfoil, fasten em on our heads.  One for her and one for me.  We look like we a couple a crazy people in them things.

"One day, a wise Martian come down to Earth to teach us people a thing or two," I say.

"Martian? How big?"

"Oh, he about six-two."

"What's his name?"

"Martian Luther King."

She take a deep breath and lean her head down on my shoulder.  I feel her three-year-old heart racing against mine, flapping like butterflies on my white uniform.

"He was a real nice Martian, Mister King.  Looked just like us, nose, mouth, hair up on his head, but sometime people looked at him funny and sometimes, well, I guess sometime people was just downright mean."

I could get in a lot of trouble telling her these little stories, especially with Mister Leefolt.  But Mae Mobley know these our 'secret stories'.

"Why Aibee?  Why was they so mean to him?" she ask.

"Cause he was green."

I wonder what would have happened in Mississippi if enough of the black maids had told stories like that to the white children they looked after.  How would have history have changed if a generation of white child had grown up looking at their parent's way of treating other folks and thinking of 'Martian Luther King'?

  It is also a good exercise in 'what if'.  What if mankind could travel between the stars?  Would we meet other sentient species?  What if they were more peaceful than us?  What if they were more warlike?  What if, mentally, they were just the same as us?

So that rather leads on to how to write science fiction.  Well, I'm not going to try and tell you how to write science fiction because as far as I am concerned there are not any hard and fast rules.  I'm just going to give you some ideas of  others have done it.

To begin with there is placement.  This is often tied in with the story ideas.  Most science fiction is set in the far future, probably because there are no limitations placed then on development of technology or society or alien life.  Nobody knows what it's going to be like in three million years time.
So a story set in the far future could be about maintaining empires.  For example 'The Ship Who Searched' in which a crippled youngster is placed in an enclosed life support system hidden behind the central column of the ship she learns to pilot.  She is partner with a normal person, Alex, who is her 'Brawn'.  In this quote they have just finished shipping home a group of archaeologists who have been reduced to a 'zombie' state by a disease:

"Our patients are on their way to full recovery." At her exclamation, he held up a cautionary hand. "It's going to take them several months, maybe even a year.  Here's the story - and the reason they stripped you of everything that could be considered a fabric.  Access your Terran entomology, if you would.  Call up something called a 'dust mite' and another called a 'sand flea'."
She did so.
"As we guessed, this was indeed a virus, with an insect vector.  The culprit was something like a sand flea, which, you will note, has a taste for warm-blooded critters.  But it was the size of a dust mite.  They live in the dust, like sand fleas.  Those archaeologists had been tracking in dust ever since the rainstorm.  The bugs all hatched within an hour and bite everything in sight.  But- here's the catch- since they were so small, they didn't leave a bite mark, so there was nothing to show that anyone had been bitten."
"I assume that everyone got bitten about the same time?" she hazarded.
"Exactly," he said, "Which meant that everyone came down with the virus within hours of each other.  Mostly, purely, by coincidence, in their sleep.  And the best news of all is that the Zombie state is caused by interference with the production of neurotransmitters.  Clean out the virus and eventually everyone gets back to normal.
Now the bad news: we're so behind on our deliveries that they want us out of here yesterday.  So are you ready to fly, bright lady?"

So that is maintaining empires, which if you want to go for a more domestic story that focuses more on the relationships between characters than one action is a good one with lots of space to explore.  'Domestic' science fiction stories are not that common so there is lots of space in the market for them, if you can convince the publishers that it will sell.

Opposite to that is the collapse of empires.  Armageddon fiction is always popular, be on our world or somebodies else's.  The 'Foundation' series by Isaac Asimov (I'm pretty sure that's how you spell his name) is a good example of this sort of science fiction because it's not all doom and disaster.  'Foundation' focuses more on the recover from the fall, than on the actual fall itself.

There are also the rebellion/oppressive empires sub-genre.  Star Wars is the most famous one of this set and let's face it, love it or loathe it, George Lucas' film did set the tone for a lot of popular science fiction since.

There is also the growing genre of 'alternative' now or alternative past.  Generally know as 'steam punk', it is specular fiction at it's strongest and crosses so many genre borders it is almost confusing as to were it ends these days.  For example, 'The Parasol Protectorate', which is set in a Victorian England where the assimilation of vampires and werewolves during the reign of Henry the Eighth caused a massive shift sideways in social and technological progress:

Alexia Tarabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations.
First, she has no soul.  Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead.  Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there?  From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia is responsible.  Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society?  Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing?  Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Steam punk has many doors open for humour science fiction as well.  I have to admit that I find the above blurb rather funny, especially the last sentence as I can imagine Alexia frowning with consideration about whether she will consider the real enemy more civilised if they have treacle tart or not?

Finally there is science fiction set in the 'now'.  Obviously this is with strained by the current situation and if your are not careful, you could end up dating your work by political and social references.  The most obvious one of this sub-genre is 'alien contact'.  It's one where you have to be careful because you can end up with your story being predictable because there have been so many of these stories before.
There are also the stories based on current scientific worry, a sort of 'experiment gone wrong' fiction.  For example, 'Virals' by Kathy Reichs.  In this one a group of young adults spring a wolf-dog pup from the illegal laboratory that they find on one of the isles they are allowed to explore, an action that has unforeseen consequences, especially when the scientist catches up with them:

"You don't list your sick tests on the official register."  I pulled the deposit slip from my pocket.  "And you've been taking money on the side.  How's that work, Dr. Karsten?"
Karsten's face went ashen.  His hands trembled, curled into fists.
For the first time, I felt fear.  Was the man crazy?  Desperate?  We were alone out there, miles from help.
Instead of lashing out, Karsten removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.  When the thick lenses were repositioned, a different man peered through them.
"You're right," he said quietly.
Excuse me?
"My project was secret.  Illegal."  He inhaled deeply.  Exhaled. "I pray I haven't caused irreparable damage."
"Like torturing an innocent puppy?" I demanded.
Karsten glanced at Coop.  Coop growled.
"Why'd you do it?" Ben asked.
Karsten shook his head.  "You wouldn't believe me."
"Try us."
"To save millions of canines from untimely deaths.  To create a cure for pavo, not just a vaccine."  The thin lips drew up in a humourless smile.  "And yes, to make a fortune doing it."
As before, Karsten's demeanour changed without warning.  His fist slammed his palm.
"I took every precaution!  That door was supposed to be impenetrable.  No one knew of that lab but me."
"If that was your goal, why not get approval?" Shelton asked, "Why sneak around?"
"I know why."
Eight eyes shifted to me.  I could feel Karsten trying to read my mind.
"Dr. Karsten created a new virus.  A dangerous experimental strain.  A hybrid of canine parvo and Parvovirus B19."
Karsten appeared to shrink in on himself.  "How could you possibly know that?" he whispered.
"We saw the clipboard by Coop's enclosure.  you infected Coop with something called Parvovirus XPB-19." I glanced at Shelton and Hi.  "Tonight we learnt about a human strain called Parvovirus B19.  Doesn't take a genius to do the math."
Defeated, Karsten didn't bother to protest.
"The names could be coincidence," I went on. "But that's not how I know."
"Then how?" he asked quietly.
"Because we caught it, Dr. Karsten.  We've been infected."  I spread my arms wide.  "You turned us into Virals."

Tory and her friends survive the infection but, because it is a virus it leaves some of itself behind in their DNA.  It especially affects their brains, so if one of them has an adrenalin surge they access the hyper-senses of a wolf.  Sounds far fetched?  Then consider this - when a scientist genre splices a creature, they use an inert virus to insert the genetics they want to insert.  So what happens when that virus gets out of the lab?  Let's put it this way, apparently some scientists are now wondering if the legends of werewolves are the garbled accounts of what happened when an animal virus made the jump into a human vector.  Because it is fact that all cells, be they bacteria, virus or the cells of a multicellar organism such as a human, are more active during the periods of the heightened magnetic pull of the full moon.

So that is where you can set your story and some ideas of what it could be about.  The next step is to start building the back ground.  This is the scenery of your story and how your characters interact with it can say a lot about them.

First step is climate.  An extremely hot world is going to affect your characters very differently to an extremely cold climate.  I'd say the most obvious example of this has to be 'Dune' by Frank Herbet:

The Duke nodded, thinking: Perhaps this planet could grow on one.  Perhaps it could become a good home for my son.
Then he saw the human figures moving into the flower fields, sweeping them with strange scythe-like devices - dew gatherers.  Water so precious here that even the dew must be collected.
And it could be a hideous place, the Duke thought.

What a character needs to survive on Dune is very different to that which he'd need to survive on an ice world.  Because it's not just the climate you have to worry about, there is also the wildlife.  For example, an extract from 'Thorn Wishes Talon' by Dan Abnett, included in the Ravenor Omnibus:

The Grotto in the Eastern Telgs is deep in the smoking darkness of the forests.  The glades are silent except for insect chitter and wreathed with vapour and steam.  There are biting centipedes everywhere, some as long as a man's finger, others as long as a man's leg.  The air stinks of mildew.

So the question is, if one of those centipedes bites you do you fall over and die?  Or if you stick one of those centipedes on a stick and cooked it over a fire could you make it good eating? It interplay of predator and prey must never be forgotten if you want to write a story in which the wildlife is important.  If a creature has a tail ridged with bone blades what purpose are they?  Are they for display or can they be used as a weapon?

Of course, all science fiction involves technology of one form or another.  Steam Punk tends to involve technology run on steam or clockwork, such as the helium filled zeppelins in 'Souless'.  Science fiction set in the 'now' will often feature our own technology with a new addition.  Far future science fiction tends to feature warp drives and travel of one way or another between the stars.  I have come to the conclusion that the best way to make super advanced technology believable is to make it glitchy.  This is a technique that both Dan Abnett and Anne McCaffrey use, for example, from 'The Ship Who Searched':

The central screen directly opposite the column she was housed in flickered for a moment, then filled with the image of a thin-faced man in an elaborate Moto-Chair.  No - more than a Moto-Chair; this one was kind of a platform for something else.  She saw what could only be an APU and a short-beam broadcast unit of some kind.  It looked like his legs and waist were encased in the bottom half of space armour!
But there was no mistaking who was in the strange exoskeleton.  Doctor Kenny.
"Tia, my darling girl, congratulations on your graduation!" Kenny said, eyes twinkling.  "You should - given the vagaries of the CenCom postal system - have gotten your graduation present from Lars and Anna and me.  I hope you like it.  I'm sorry I couldn't be there but you're looking at the reason why."
He made a face and gestures down at the lower half of his body.  "Moto-Prosthetics decided in their infinite wisdom that since I had benefited from their expertise in the past, I owed them.  They convinced the hospital Admin Head that I was the only possible person to test this contraption of theirs.  This is supposed to be something that will let me stroll around a room - or more importantly, stand in an operating theatre for as long as I need to.  When it's working, that is."  He shook his head.  "Buggy as a new software system, let me tell you.  Yesterday the fardling thing locked up on me, with one foot in the air.  Wasn't I just a charming sight, posing in the middle of the hall like a dancer in a Greek frieze!  Think I'm going to rely on my old Chair when I really need to do something, at least for a while."

I'd say if you want your audience to believe in your technology and relate to your characters then buggy software is the way to go because, let's face it, who among us hasn't wanted to beat our faces on the computer screen on occasion?

One part of scenery that some science fiction authors miss is religion.  Agree with it or disagree with it, there is no denying that religion is a potent force that can move societies.  We've seen it in our own time so there is no reason to believe it won't have a place in the future.  Frank Herbert certainly didn't miss that point when he wrote 'Dune'.  For example, when the Lady Jessica is trying to convince the Freman that she and her son are the ones foretold:

She sensed his impatience, knew that the day moved ahead and men waited to seal off this opening.  This was a time for boldness on her part and she realized what she needed: some dar al-hikman, some scholl of translation that would give her...
"Adab," she whispered.
Her mind felt as though it had rolled over within her.  She recognized the sensation with a quickening of pulse.  Nothing in all the Bene Gesserit training carried such a signal of recognition.  It could be only the adab, the demanding memory that comes upon you of itself.  She gave herself up to it, allowing the words to flow from her.
"Ibn qirtaiba," she said, "As far as the spot where the dust ends."  She stretched out an arm from her robe, seeing Stilgar's eyes go wide.  She heard a rustling of many robes in the background.  "I see a... Freman with the book of example," she intoned.  "He reads to al-Lat, the sun whom he defied and subjugated.  He reads to the Sadus of the Trial and this is what he reads:
"Mine enemies are like green blades eaten down
That did stand in the path of the tempest.
Hast thou not seen what our Lord did?
He sent the pestilence among them
That did lay schemes against us.
They are like birds scattered by the huntsman.
Their schemes are like pellets of poison
That every mouth rejects."
A trembling passed through her.  She dropped her arm.
Back to her from the inner cave's shadows came a whispered response of many voices: "Their works have been overturned."
"The fire of God mount over thy heart," she said.  And she thought: Now, it goes in the proper channel.
"The fire of God set alight," came the response.
She nodded. "Thine enemies shall fall," she said.
"Bi-lal kaifa," they answered.
In the sudden hush, Stilgar bowed to her.  "Sayyadina," he said, "If the Shai-hulud grant, then you may yet pass within to become a Reverend Mother."
Pass within, she thought.  An odd way of putting it.  But the rest of it fitted into the cant well enough, And she felt a cynical bitterness at what she had done.  Our Missionaria Protectiva seldom fails.  A place was prepared for us in this wilderness.  The prayer of the salat has carved out our hiding place.  Now...  I must play the part of Auliya, the Friend of God...  Sayyadina to rogue peoples who've been so heavily imprinted with our Bene Gesserit soothsay they even call their chief priestesses Reverend Mothers.

So religion can be a really powerful force in your books, controlling how a whole peoples think.  So what would happen when a mad man takes control of that society using it's religious key words.  We've seen it happen in our own time.  Or what would happen when a society that has forgotten religion butts up against a society where religion is the be all and end all.  I imagine that would produce some sparks.

Of course the best way to make religion an absolute must is by making the opposite of the holy (the unholy angels/ the demons) very, very real.  For example, 'Grey Knights' by Ben Counter, the first book of the Grey Knights Omnibus, when a demon starts forcing its way back into reality:

Gholic Ren-Sar Valinov reached the inside of the tomb in time to witness the rebirth of his lord.
 Behind him, the Balurians stumbled and faltered in horror as they saw the sprawling, corrupt world that Chaos had built around Saint Evisser's corpse.  The rotted shell of a city that crawled with the seventy-seven masques of death, the heaving stone sky heavy with destiny, the shattered marble and hungry chasms, and the daemon carrion creatures that circled over the shining acropolis.
Many of the Balurians lost their minds there and then, even before the acropolis exploded.  Valinov had already bent them to breaking point, using the subtleties of his words and actions to whip them into a frenzy and direct them to the tomb.  Now they had served their purpose he didn't need them, so he let them go insane.  Ghargatuloth had erected a shield a shield of pure emotion around his tomb to keep out the unwary who might somehow find their way here, protecting his sacred site with madness - most of the Balurians quickly succumbed, but Valinov was not so weak.
Some Balurians saw only beauty and light as their minds were divorced from any sense of morality.  They saw a world of glory and bounty and ran open-armed into it only to fall down unseen chasms or be snatched into the shadows by the few cultists the Grey Knights had left behind.  Others collapsed at the sight, their subconscious minds preferring to cut them off from their senses rather than risk the deeper madness that might follow.  Some turned on their friends, convinced that anyone around them must be corrupt - lasguns barked and knife blades hissed through flesh.
Valinov was untouched.  The part of him that might have once gone insane had long since left him along with the weak spirit that could be levered open by psykers and the lake of despair that could boil over in lesser men's minds.  Valinov had once prayed to anyone who would listen that those parts of him would shrivel and die, because they had caused him such torture when he did the grim, violent work of the Inquisition under Barbillus.  Ghargatuloth had listened and stripped away Valinov's weaknesses until he was free of conscience and doubt.  It was the greatest gift a man could receive.  It was no hardship for Valinov to repay the Prince of a Thousand Faces with his servitude and now he was going to join his master at last.
The explosion tore the acropolis apart in a tidal wave of white life, the birthing pains of Gharagatuloth shattering stone and wiping out the crumbling city, vaporising the seventy-seven masques in an instant, a shockwave coursed through the marble like a ripple through water.  The whole tomb bulged outwards with the psychic force of the blast and the Balurians were thrown backwards, some smashing against the columns, others hurled right back into the statue garden.
Valinov was untouched.  Ghargatuloth would protect him.
A massive crater like a giant gaping mouth was all that remained of the city.
And then, at long last, the Prince of a Thousand Faces was complete, and in an eruption of glory he was brought back into real space.

If that's what your heroes are up against then what protection are they going to have other than a faith in a very powerful god who will protect them mentally, if not physically, from that sort of horror?  The other thing to is, if that is what your heroes are up against, then they are going to know that they are going to have to lay all their cards of the table and hope that they have enough to match up to the threat.  It would also mean that any that are found questioning the 'good' religion would be considered heretics or worse.  So what would happen if the 'good' religion itself had become corrupt?  That would make for a really difficult situation for the questioner if they are trapped between corruption on the one hand and deamons on the other.

So that is some of the story ideas and references you can use when building your science fiction world.  I'm afraid that I didn't get on to character building but that is the next step because all of this is just the scenery, if you are going to capture your audience and hold them then you are going to need some pretty strong characters to lead them into 'Lucky Space'.  Depending on how dark and grim you want your science fiction to be will affect how ruthless and hard your characters are going to need to be to survive.  After all, your are going to want characters your audience roots for when they are travelling across the stars.
Go on out there, go play.  Science fiction still has plenty of jungles and lost worlds for your to explored.  But keep your eyes open while you are there.  As a wise man once said "Watch your step this place can be a little rough."