Alastair Reynolds is the author of eight novels and two short story collections. His story in The Starry Rift is “The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice”

1. When did you start reading science fiction? How old were you, and can you remember the first book or story that really excited you as a reader?

I started reading SF - as opposed to just absorbing it through the TV - when I was eight, beginning with serialised versions of Arthur C Clarke’s short stories. I was blown away almost from the get-go, but it was Clarke’s long “A Meeting with Medusa” that really did it for me. Not long after I read 2001: A Space Odyssey, and then worked my way steadily through his novels.

2. What do you think science fiction has to offer young readers today?

SF is basically the literature of rational enquiry - it’s fiction that says the universe is intinsically knowable, that - however strange things might appear at first - there’ll always be a sensible explanation if you look hard enough. Sensible doesn’t have to mean dull or mundane - it can be as awe-inspiring as any battle between wizards and dragons. I’ve nothing against fantasy, but in these times of declining scientific literacy and anything-goes, grab-bag belief systems, we need SF all the more. It’s the literature of the enlightenment, one more candle in the darkness.

3. Tell us about your story for The Starry Rift.

It’s a pirate story - I love pirate stories. It’s got cyborgs in it, and a space battle. It’s not to be taken hugely seriously as hard SF, but it’s not completely fantastical either. I chose not to set it in my “Revelation Space” universe as I wanted a sense of a larger backdrop than I can get within than framework - a real galactic civilisation, with countless worlds and solar systems. But the tone of the piece, and the characters, share a lot in common with some of my other stories.

4. Did you find there was a real difference between writing for younger readers, or was your approach basically the same as when you’re writing for any other audience?

Rightly or wrongly, the process was 99% identical to that of any other story I’ve written. I had intended to write “Star Surgeon” anyway; it just moved to the top of the stack when the anthology was announced, and a young adult protagonist suited the theme perfectly. In fact, it wouldn’t have worked if the apprentice had been older.

5. What are you writing now? Is there something you’d recommend to readers who enjoyed your story in The Starry Rift?

I’m working on a new novel now; a standalone about which I’ll say as little as possible other than that it’s SF, it’s weird, and it doesn’t have spaceships in it. If readers enjoyed my story in The Starry Rift, I might point them to my recent collection Galactic North - there are stories in there that I hope they might enjoy, especially “Weather”, which is another pirate-themed piece. With cyborgs.