Stephen Baxter
The hard SF writer wishes he was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive
© SANDRA SHEPHERD
Describe the room in which you typically write.
My study is a small downstairs room with a fitted desk, and shelves mostly occupied by references. Work in progress spills over to the sofa. One visitor said this room is like being inside my own exploded brain.
Do you have any personal mementos on your desk?
A magnificent Fireball XL5. My first love! Those shows were genius, with on the one hand their big-eyed kid-friendly puppets, and on the other their fantastically detailed engineering. The tie–in comics and annuals had cutaway drawings delivered by artists who only a couple of decades earlier had been working on specifications of Spitfires and Hurricanes. I pored over these things – and I acquired the sense of the future as a place, to explore. The essence of science fiction.