A lot of Irish novels are set in the past, but not very many deal with futuristic themes. Julian Gough is one writer who is doing this with his new novel, Connect.

He describes it as "an Irish novel about a family disguised as science fiction - it's about a family breaking up and the consequences of that." Its main character spends much of his time in a virtual reality world.

Explaining why so few Irish novels are set in the future, Julian says, "I think the national literature slipped into a mode where it became very difficult to write about a computer or an iPhone. It didn't fit the persona of the Irish novelist."

"Irish literature is obsessed with the past, and we're very good at it, but we never write about the future. In American and British literature they're always writing about the future. If we turned around and looked in the other direction, we could do something amazing."

The book is also set in Nevada rather than Ireland, "probably to help me escape psychologically." 

"I've spent more time in Nevada than I have in Cork. I like Nevada because it's a blank canvas."

Julian attributes his love of science fiction to his Christian Brothers education in Nenagh: "I discovered science fiction when I was a teenager and it helped me escape my reality, which I didn't like at the time, and go to other worlds in my head."

He says he's not dystopian: "I don't think technology is going to destroy us all. I think we're going to be the same people we ever were with new technologies, and we'll find new ways to be wonderful and new ways to be terrible. It's not a pessimistic book."

To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen