Recommended: July 2013

With my new book Phoenix now only a month away, it seems like a good time to share some inspirations.  So this month, I'm recommending Contact: a brilliant novel about the first contact between humans and aliens, written by Carl Sagan.  There's a film version too, with Jodie Foster, but I prefer the book – it's beautiful, original, thought-provoking science fiction, written by a scientist with a real gift for storytelling.

I first encountered Sagan through his amazing TV series, Cosmos.  I watched it as a child in the 1980s, and re-watched it while writing Phoenix.  It was one of my biggest inspirations.  Apparently I'm not the only one who feels that way.  Professor Brian Cox has said it meant a lot to him too – so if you liked his Wonders Of The Universe, or if you're at all interested in stars, galaxies and space, you should definitely watch Cosmos!  It's all up on YouTube: here's the first episode.

And here's a very silly but entertaining song that uses some of Sagan's quotes from the series – it became an internet phenomenon, and is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me!  But the space imagery in it goes to the heart of what I was trying to do in Phoenix, so I hope you enjoy it too...