Yes. That’s right. It was my beginning. I did other jobs to support my family, but gradually I earned more money from these stories. I had some ups and downs along the way, but I managed to remain as a writer for the most part.

I learnt that, more than anything else, speed was everything. You had to write fast - don’t edit, just let it flow. Sometimes what you wrote was awful, but mostly it was alright and you got away with it. If you were paid by the word, you would use all sorts of little tricks to fill the page. I had characters spending a whole paragraph just stubbing out a cigarette and going through a door. It was like that in those days. Nowadays, if I was writing like that, I would spend ages describing a character using a mobile-phone or something like that.

I learned a lot of things in those early days. I was naive and I was ripped off once by a bloke who claimed that he was better known than I was and would be more likely to have a story published than me. He told me that once my story was published, he would give me the fee for it and I would have my foot in the door, as it were, with the editor of this particular magazine. Of course, the bloke didn’t give me any money at all and claimed that it was his story. I learned from that.

Another thing I learned was from an old mate, a writer called Bill Temple. He taught me that characters should just ‘talk’. They don’t ‘hiss’ or ‘bark’ or ‘snarl’ like in the old silent melodramas - you know the kind of thing: “Get over here,” the villain snarled. I stopped using all of those ridiculous adjectives and found that it sounded better.

Were the 'Joe 90' Action Transfer books a refreshing break from the norm?

That’s right, I did those, didn’t I? I can’t remember exactly how many I did, maybe two or three, but it paid pretty well and I was pleased to be doing something a little unusual. Because the stories were based on a children’s television programme, I was working under certain instructions from the publishers. I couldn’t have 'Joe 90' or any of the other characters using excessive violence. I mean, these were supposed to be adventure/spy stories about a lad who had a gun and all of that, but you couldn’t have him shooting anybody or at least only do very little shooting. You had to keep the stories simple. The characters all had to be different so children could recognise them as goodies or baddies. You also had to have things that they knew from the programme itself. I suppose it was quite a relief for me as a writer because it saved me having to invent all of these things.

To a point, but I was used to writing like that. Back in my early days, I was often given stories which were part finished or only early drafts by other writers. I had to fill the story out but still retain the essence of what was already there. Other writers did the same to some of my stories so it was something that many of us did. You had to put in your own ideas while still being true to what the other writer had originally come up with, so when I did the 'Joe 90' books and the 'Space: 1999' ones I did it like that. Of course, with the television books you also had to write something which the reader, who was also likely to be a viewer of the particular programme, would recognise too. You couldn’t just please yourself if you were writing for books based on a film or a television programme. People expected certain things from certain characters.

Within the realms of a science-fiction story, you still tend to use factual scientific themes and concepts as a basis to what you write.

Yes, that’s true. When I was first writing, I used all of the things that I had soaked up about the real universe and astronomy and so on. I had read other people’s stories with characters going to different planets without spacesuits or breathing equipment and I just thought it was all a bit daft. I always wanted to make the stories exciting and interesting but I didn’t want them to be totally silly and outrageous. I knew about rockets and the pressures that space flight can put upon the human body so I tried to put all of that into my stories. I always felt that it was a little unfair actually. I don’t claim to be a scientist myself, but I am a writer with an understanding of science. Yet there I was, earning the same as people who were just making up everything with no regard to realism at all. But that was how it was.

Yes I did, although I have to say that it got pretty ghastly towards the end of the series. That is always the problem with a continuing series of television programmes or films, or even books for that matter. You tend to re-use old ideas or borrow ideas from other sources and it all looks a little tired. 'Star Trek' was the same and I love that myself, but it happens there too.

The problem with 'Star Trek' (in all of its incarnations) and 'Space: 1999' was the kind of village mentality: everybody knows each other and looks out for their neighbour and it’s an idealistic way of life. With 'Space: 1999' in particular, I felt that once they were off on their journey there would have been more unrest amongst the Alphans and I tried to put that into my books. I mean, after a while, I would have said to Koenig, “Who are you to still be in charge of it all? Let someone else have a go or we can run things by committee or something.” Dramatically, I think that would have worked very well because there would be conflict and conflict brings drama.

The later episodes were disappointing. I know that when they came on, I was surprised that there were new characters who I had never seen before and characters like Bergman were gone without any explanation. It was a shame because I thought Barry Morse was very good.

Were you ever invited to the studios or taken to any special screenings of the programme?

The concept for the programme was interesting, but quite constricting for a writer like myself who tried to be as scientifically accurate as possible. The Alphans were supposed to be travelling at the speed of light or something and then every species they meet talks English - it could have been a crab sitting on a rock or something and it turns around and says, “Hello, Commander Koenig. We’ve been expecting you.” I know the characters have to communicate but they created an idea which gave them many problems in terms of realism and scientific accuracy.

I was far happier with the original stories I wrote for 'Space: 1999' and I was especially pleased with that last one, because I had the chance to really do something interesting with the Alphans, projecting into the future where they have had children, returning them to Earth and all of that. I tried to re-address the scientific failings of the series and add a bit of human interest as well.

No, I don’t think so. I was very impressed by the design of the Moonbase itself and the costumes and, of course, the Eagles which I thought were very good. I didn’t have to describe any of those things too greatly in the books because it was obvious that the reader would be more than familiar with what they looked like from the series itself. I was sent a brochure or something which gave me an outline of how Moonbase Alpha itself was set out and also which uniform colours denoted which role: white was medical, red was Main Mission crew, and so on.

Do you feel that your own novels and stories would translate well into television? The 'Dumarest Saga' in particular has all the elements for an exciting long-running series.

I’m not sure. I think one obvious failing in all television and film science-fiction is that you have writers who have little knowledge of science. But on the other hand, you can’t have scientists or astronomers attempting to write television programmes because they don’t know anything about the business of making dramatic entertainment. I will admit that it is hard because, obviously, television programmes are always meant to entertain (and 'Space: 1999', 'Star Trek', 'Battlestar Galactica' and all the rest certainly do entertain because I watch them all myself), but things do stand out sometimes as being written by someone without even the basic understanding of, say, light speed or time travel as a concept.

You also have the problem of other people then using your ideas in a way in which you never really wanted them to be used. I used to laugh at the different covers that would appear on my Dumarest books, so I can’t begin to imagine how I would feel if somebody was making a film or television series of one of my stories. I think it must be difficult for people like Stephen King who create these characters and then a film-maker changes this, that and the other. I suppose the financial rewards ease things a little.

Also I have never actually liked the term 'The Dumarest Saga', that was invented by the publisher and it just stuck, it wasn't something that I would have chosen.

I know what you mean, with the Cylons in 'Battlestar Galactica' and my characters the Cyclan in the Dumarest books: in both cases, they are the villains and are sort of robot-like. The heroes in 'Galactica' are searching for Earth and so is Earl Dumarest, my hero. However, I wouldn’t say that I was ripped off or anything because we all use different ideas and influences that we pick up on our way. I remember an old saying we used to have which was, “Science-fiction is a pool in which you dip.” A great many fantasy stories are about a search or a quest to find something or someone, or in this case, somewhere, so I can’t claim to have created that idea. The Cylons were actually robots but my characters, the Cyclan, are only robot-like because they are based on the law of pure reasoning, like Vulcans in 'Star Trek' really.

I actually quite enjoyed 'Battlestar Galactica' but there was all sorts of ridiculous stuff in there too. Look at those pilots in helmets with a ring of lights around the face piece. Why, in total darkness, would you want little lights just in front of your nose?

Even though you are a serious science-fiction writer, you still talk as if you are a fan of all this type of thing.

As a science-fiction fan, I write stories that I want to read myself and, in fact, I do go back and read all my old books because I find them very entertaining. I suppose I imagine that other people who share my enthusiasm for science-fiction will also be entertained by the stories that I write, and if that is the case, then I am delighted.

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