J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

Protest and survive: Babylon 5's creator tells us about his new novel

- Jonathan Wright

BY HIS OWN ESTIMATION, J MICHAEL Straczynski has "always been a mutt". It's his self-deprecating B way of describing how he works in different media. "I write novels, comics, movies, TV shows.... I suck at poetry," says the creative powerhouse behind Babylon 5, a series which (and this may depress older readers) has just turned 30.

Straczynski doesn't, however, suck at longer-form prose, as his new novel The Glass Box, a near-future tale of the power of making a stand and what happens when the authorities abuse the mental health system to push back, proves. "We are taught every day that you can't fight city hall, one person can't make a difference and just let it go," says Straczynski. "I don't believe that." Neither does the book's protagonist Riley Diaz, someone who understands the risks of putting herself in harm's way.

This is because civil disobedience demands discipline. Straczynski saw this first hand when, "by sheer coincidence", he was in Times Square as the Occupy Wall Street movement gathered there in October 2011.

"I have never seen that many police and police cars in one place in my life," he remembers. The authorities' presence was "intimidating" but, for the protestors, reacting was not an option. "The organisers were constantly reinforcing with bull horns, 'Do not take action, do not raise hands, do not throw things, keep this peaceful,"" he recalls.