James Domenighini's First Blog

I've always loved science fiction. As a little kid, back in the very early 1960s, I watched "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" which had a lot of spy stories, but also episodes with alien travelers, time travelers, monsters including one with a giant octopus (as it turns out, there really are giant octopuses, scientists said they didn't exist, but recently they discovered ones with fifteen-foot long arms).

I also watched the puppet series, "Super Car" which could fly, and dive into the ocean, and Fireball XL-5, space ship adventures, There was also "Astroboy" and "Marineboy".  In the latter, Marine Boy chewed a special oxygen gum that allowed him to "breathe" underwater. However, it didn't explain how he withstood the pressures of the deep.

Later on, I would watch Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, and Star Trek! I also watched "The Invaders", the "Outer Limits", and "Twilight Zone."

Both Star Trek and Twilight Zone had the greatest impact on me, due to the great stories and writing.

And then there's the movies of the 1950s. Wow. Monsters everywhere, as well as the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Giant everythings. And Flying Saucers. How beautiful we had our own flying saucer in Forbidden Planet. Plus Robby the Robot!

I built spaceships and submarines by putting together large grocery boxes. I used Lego blocks to build four square Star Trek Enterprises which fought six square Klingon Birds of Prey.

So these are the things that energize my imagination when writing. As well as Sci Fi novels, and various movie and TV show soundtracks.

When I wrote Chaos Company, I listened to Daft Punk's music to Tron Legacy. It helped keep me in  the mood.

All these things, plus the movies and TV shows have influenced me. After all, while it's the actors and directors that make things happen, without the writers, there are no stories.