Genre: Science Fiction
When I finished this, my second serious science fiction work, I was feeling very good. I felt as if my ability was definately improving, and this was no plagarism. My first sounding boards and proof-readers are always my parents, and they told me that it wasn't as good as Dreams Fulfilled. That was a blow, to say the least, and I was gratified that my friends seemed to agree with me rather than my parents ("Good. Write more." - Tom Day, a friend).

So, it's not plagarism, so what's the inspiration?

Well, I was in the shower(!), and considering my (then) forthcoming trip to the United States, to see a friend who has since come to mean a lot to me. I was trying to work out what time it was in America, and I got confused, despite my obvious genius. I began thinking about the complex idea of time delay, which gave me the idea of the Reticulians' third situation. I worked backwards to provide myself with the other two. I started with a good ending, and tried to find a story to go with it, in a way. I like the story, especially the twist.

I submitted the story to Interzone, and it took so long to come back that I became convinced that the magazine had gone bust. Alas, it hasn't. 'The Journal Of Incredibly Poor Science Fiction' lives on.

Alternative titles to Scientific Method include Little Green Men and Scientific Method And The Little Green Men