When I set out to write "Channel Blue," I wasn't trying to emulate anything I'd read before. I was trying, with all my heart, to write a new story. But since it's been published, readers of "Channel Blue" have pointed out some obvious and not-so-obvious "influences," the more flattering being "Men In Black," "Network," "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." The one that comes up again and again (not surprisingly) is "The Truman Show." I have recently discovered another "influence": "The Truman Show" Delusion, a psychiatric disorder in which the inflicted assume their every move is being watch by millions (see below). So, basically, there have been mental patients for the last ten years or so experiencing IN REALITY what I spent that last ten years or so doing to my fictional protagonist. I don't know who you think you are, Reality, but I wish you'd stop copying me.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article...