As you may be aware I am still a writer wannabe.

The reason I consider myself a wannabe is that I don’t (yet) have a published book.  Obviously I write (you are reading this aren’t you?), but I don’t feel that I will be a writer “proper” until the first book is published.  Blog posts, short stories, business reports and graffiti on public toilet walls do not count!

Anyway, the book I am currently struggling to grind out is set in the near future where space exploration has basically been handed to the big corporations by the US administration due to lack of cash, drive and insight into what the program means for humanity.  This is contrasted with Chinese and European attitudes.  The idea is to show the absurdity of a US administration trying to regain “control” over the space program when they effectively opted out of it some years earlier, just like the United Kingdom did in the 70’s in fact.

The idea behind this was simply that historically the US space program has seen tax dollars wasted on a truly epic scale.  Items “for the space program” have had massively inflated prices (eg over $200 for a .97c wrench).  It therefore seemed more likely that a successful space program will come from business and not from government if the government will only underwrite the successful ventures.

Imagine my surprise when I read on BBC News that Obama really is cancelling parts of the US space program.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8489097.stm

I thought I was writing fiction, maybe not.