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does it, for me as a writer.”
So much for that popular myth, then. If drugs aren’t
part of Noon’s inspiration, what is? Who does he read,
for example?
“I read and re-read Jorge Luis Borges, in fact I’m just
re-reading his stuff at the moment. He’s one that I come
back to all the time. The more I write, the more of his
influence comes in there. And J G. Ballard meant a lot
to me when I was in my 20s.”
What about other media, besides music?
“Painting.” He says it as if it’s the most natural thing
in the world. “My first and natural talent is to paint.
That’s what I was born to do. I trained in painting and
visual arts at university. But I haven’t painted since
1984, when I started seriously writing plays.
“So really, there’s lots of stuff going on in my work.
Lots of stuff coming from music, lots of stuff coming
from visual arts, and the history of visual arts. And it all
kind of gets mixed up in there.”
Does this mean, then, that he doesn’t ‘do’ research
as such? That it all comes from a big dub inphomix in
his head?
“Yeah, that’s just what it is. I pick it up, and it all kind
of gets filtered through my imagination. I don’t do a lot
of research, no.” He laughs quietly.
“The thing is, my work’s changing at the moment.
It’s becoming more real. The project I’m working on
at the moment is to all intents and purposes historical,
BUY Jeff Noon books online from and
so there’s a certain amount of research going into it.
But I don’t get trapped by it … and I just exaggerate. I
go over the top and see what happens. I do think those
writers who are bound by the science…” Careful words
again … “It produces a certain kind of work, which has
a certain kind of appeal. But it never interests me, that
hard science fiction.”
Does this follow through into forethought? There’s
a theory going round that Nymphomation, for example,
was planned right from the start, back when he
wrote Vurt.
He laughs again, but loud this time as his ever-present
half-smile finally splits into a wide grin.
“No, not at all! Everything is retro-engineered.
There’s no plan. The last sentence of Nymphomation
actually came about by accident…
“I was doing a reading, and somebody asked me what
I was working on. So I said ‘I’m doing the first book
in the Vurt sequence, set before Vurt.’ And this person
asked – completely innocently – ‘What, you mean it
ends with the first sentence of Vurt?’ And I just said,
‘Yeeeaaah…’ But I did have in mind this four book
sequence. Honest…”
Will we see any more? Is there another Vurt book in
the works?
“No. Now that I’ve moved away from Manchester –
and stated I’m also leaving sci-fi – the idea of another
Vurt book becomes a bit … problematic. I might come
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