CHANGING WOMBS
Anne Charnock on her Arthur C Clarke Award-winning novel, Dreams Before The Start Of Time
After admitting that she “felt overwhelmed and honoured in equal measure” after her third novel Dreams Before The Start of Time won this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award, Anne Charnock says she first discovered the late science fiction author through movie classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“Although my fiction is earthbound and set in the near future, 2001 conveyed the sense of awe and estrangement I’ve come to love and admire about science fiction in its many forms,” says Charnock, whose novel shares themes with 1987’s first Clarke Award winner, Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale – making it very timely with the TV show becoming a huge cultural phenomenon.
Opening 15 years from now when infertility has been eliminated and children are grown in artificial wombs, Charnock believes that Dreams Before The Start Of Time is “relatively understated” in comparison. “I set out to write a generations-spanning story suggesting how each generation might grapple with plausible breakthroughs in reproductive technology,” she explains. “I anticipate there’ll be a never-ending ‘shock of the new,’ as each generation adopts new ways of starting a family. The Handmaid’s Tale has always been a key influence on me, in so far as it’s a wonderful example of political science fiction, and that’s the kind of science fiction I feel most drawn to.”
Spanning five generations and three continents, the story explores how Londoner Millie Dark’s decision to become a single parent affects her relationship with her closest friend, Toni Munroe. “For me, part of the fun of writing fiction lies in creating a structure that allows me to bring in different voices and settings,” says Charnock, citing David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas as a crucial influence. “Dreams is written as a series of vignettes, as though I’m dropping the reader into new scenarios, albeit with connections between the various characters.” SJ
Dreams Before The Start Of Time is out now. Anne Charnock is among the guests at SFX Book Con 2 on 10 November. Details on p20!