Have been concentrating on Iron II – sci-fi which is so much easier to work on when I am busy at work. I find writing about religion very draining so Ordo II will have to wait for a while.

The science for Iron I has been fascinating but trying to cram in enough of a framework to make a world or indeed a universe, believable while not boring the reader is quite a challenge. Sometimes I have a very simnple idea in my head but in order to make it happen I have to do all sorts of contortions in the book.

Is it possible to have this sentence, about an alien, or does the use of ‘morse-code’ kind of break the illusion cos morse-code is only of our world? Please let me know.

“He tapped the chloro-funnel with his extended thumb-claw, in a kind of irritated morse-code, as if to warn anybody off who might want a conversation.”

Okay now I have a really good competition (or I think so anyway).

Top 6 car/vehicle-chases. I can start off by telling you of the worst one I have ever seen: John Wayne in the 1973 film McQ. He is driving a 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (confirm please – video link below) which really sounds quite nice. I don’t know what the engine is but must be at least 4 Litres. He is chasing a Laundry-van – and a very slow-looking one at that – and the van gets away. I couldn’t believe it. What sort of a chase is that? In fact the whole film is pretty crap. The only real encounter with the baddies takes place in a government laundrette and the Trans Am gets crushed – with Wayne in it. The only thing of note in the film is a half-hearted car chase on a beach where one of the cars is rolled – apparently the first time this was done deliberately in a film.

Car chase from McQ

Okay here is a selection of vehicle chases just to get things going;

Bullet (obviously and probably my favourite)
The Italian Job (original)
The French Connection
Gone is 60 Seconds (the new one with Nick Cage – chase in the Mustang at the end)
Gone in 60 Seconds (the original – where do I start?)
Diamonds are Forever
Chase including bridge jump in Man with the Golden Gun
Boat chase in Live and Let Die
Plane chase in Capricorn One

Some more suggestions from Gary:

Car and vehicle chases?
There must be hundreds, and I guess ‘Bullit’ will always be the first to come to the mind of any well-seasoned film connoisseur/buff, but I must say that my all-time favourite car chase is without a doubt the one featured in the second installment of the ‘Matrix Trilogy’ – ‘Matrix – Reloaded’. It is just awesomely mindblowing. I recall, on obtaining the DVD, watching that particular sequence over and over and over again until I drove my poor wife crazy (I mean crazier).
Second place would go to another second installment in a trilogy (Although there is now rumors of a 4th on the way), namely ‘Mad Max 2 – The Road Warrior’ (The title says it all).
Other films that come to mind are:
Mad Max 1 + 3
Sugarland Express
Vanishing Point
Dukes of Hazard
XXX 1 + 2
The Fast & The Furious movies
Lethal Weapon (The one with the house being transported on the highway)
G.I. Joe
Speed
To Live and Die in L.A.
Death Race 2000
Swordfish
The Transporter
Star Wars V (The Chase scene through the asteroid field)
Star Trek – Insurrection (Riding off the cliff in the dune buggy onto the back of the space ship)
Back to the Future 3 (The skate/hover board chase)
Silent Movie (Mel Brooks and co. chasing Paul Newman in golf carts)
True Lies
Mission Impossible 1 – 3
James Bond Movies in General
The Indiana Jones movies (Not forgetting the minecart or cocopan rollercoaster chase in ‘Temple of Doom’)
The Hitcher
Die Hard 4
Con Air
Duel
Not to forget some of the classic Harold Lloyd stuff
And lastly, the movie with the record for having the most cars smashed in a car chase (And also my third place favourite) – ‘The Blues Brothers’

• Lazlo Ferran - Author