Not a Brave New World
by Paul K Lyons

EXTRACTS FROM THE AUTHOR’S DIARIES

The idea of making available diary entries relating to the Kip Fenn project (which now a decade later has transformed into The Not a Brave New World trilogy) did not occur to me until I was preparing the book for publication. There is not as much about the thought processes and research that went into writing the book as I would have liked, especially in the period when I was working on it full-time (2003). Nevertheless, I feel there is enough to make this exercise worthwhile. (These collated entries, however, represent a tiny fraction of my diaries for each of the three years.)

I have collated nearly all the entries about Kip Fenn from the day I had the idea for such a novel (in March 2001) to the day that I felt it was finished and in a reasonable condition to try and sell to agents and publishers (August 2003). On those specific dates where a Kip Fenn entry exists, I have sometimes included extra paragraphs from the same date even though they may not relate directly to the writing of thenovel. I've done this for various reasons: because I feel they might give a sense of my daily life while writing the book; because they give an idea of my political/cultural preferences; or just because I wanted to.

I usually write my diary on the computer (I stopped hand writing my diaries in the late 1980s) quickly without wasting any time on grammar or spelling. All the entries are dated according to when they were written (i.e. not the day they were written about necessarily). I have tidied the grammar/spelling a little (but not with much care, it has to be said) and done some slight editing so as to avoid repetition or to make the writing less convoluted.

Diary entries 2001 – Diary entries 2002 – Diary entries 2003

NB: The fact that a particular publication is mentioned in these diary extracts does not, necessarily, mean that I found it any more or less useful than any of the other hundreds of books and internet sites I consulted during the course of my research for Kip Fenn/Not a Brave New World and which are not mentioned. If I had found one or more publication or internet site of invaluable assistance, or if such a source had provided specific information unobtainable anywhere else, I would have mentioned it or them in the book itself (as is the case, for example, in my unpublished factual book about a walk across London - London Cross).