Rescued By Nerds

We continue our interview with Dave Williams on the release of his sophomore work “The Burning Skies”.

RBN: Would you consider your characters post human?

Dave: It’s a great question.

I like to play with that ambiguity, that’s for sure.

At the end of the day, though, the line is very tough to draw. These characters are clearly right on the threshold of it, but all of them–except perhaps for Haskell–still think like humans do.

RBN: And that’s why I think it’s so interesting. You’ve got these characters who are completely powerful and wired to the gills, yet they still act and behave like you would expect a normal person to do. using these enhancements is like second nature to all of these agents…

Dave: Deliberately so. Our whole challenge right now as a species is that there’s no sign that all this technology is changing the fundamental nature of the human animal.

And it makes them even more paranoid than they already were!

RBN: When you write these things how do you see them in your head? I picture something like the HUD in the Iron Man movie.

Dave: Yes, that’s the right direction.

The other thing to note is that there’s a lot of the interface that’s not visual–one’s tongue would be hitting levers on one’s teeth, there’d be a lot of tactile sensors too.

And it’s also a lot like the thought-controlled interface in that old Clint Eastwood movie FIREFOX. . .

RBN: That makes sense since these are instantaneous commands and controls…

Aside from the internal gear you’ve also introduced some wild new bots. Can you talk a little bit about the crawlers and the Remoraz specifically?

It’s like we saw a little taste of this world in Mirrored Heavens and then we get to see the heavy guns come out in Burning Skies.

Dave: Yeah, and that was part of my strategy for “escalation of the trilogy.”

We saw some crawlers running escort duty on Claire in Book One, but we never saw them in action.These are souped-up crawlers, aka Earthshakers. Think of a cross between a tank and a bus, and then strap on some jets and treads and a ton of armor.

As to the Remoraz, that’s an experimental crawler, fresh off the R&D racks. The idea is that it’s super-stealthy, designed for infiltration rather than assault.

Which proves useful when the characters are really up against it. .

RBN: In the thick of things, you’ve got gunfights, space platforms being bombarded and even a character tossed into space without a suit. How did you manage to continue to up the ante for the action scenes?

Dave: Two keys.

One, topography. As cool as the underground maglev train and the double-decker spaceplane were in MIRRORED HEAVENS, they can’t hold a candle to the Europa Platform.

Two, the stakes. In BURNING SKIES, the characters are battling alongside the president, fighting to save him from the Rain. So literally everything’s at stake.

RBN: When things settle down after the main battle, the plot really gains momentum. We start to see the conspiracy and we learn even more about the Rain. How do you decide just how much to give the reader and how much to hold back?

Dave: I call it the “calibration of revelation.” When I outline, I’m very specific with myself as to not only what’s going to happen, but what are we going to learn.

Since I’m also working against the Master Document of everything we’re going to learn across the entire trilogy, it makes the process of choosing which insights/hints to deploy when much easier.

RBN: How would one get a copy of this “master doument” you speak of?

Dave: You have to fight Carson. : )

RBN: uh oh

Dave: Actually, “master document” is more like an unending series of notes/outlines that I’ve been keeping since 2000/2001, when all this madness started. . .

RBN: Your editor must have a love/hate relationship with you. At the close of Burning Skies you drop a revelation about a major character that changes nearly everything you know about them, and then you end the book on one of the most jaw dropping cliff hangers ever…

Dave: I honestly think it’s one of the biggest cliffhangers to hit science fiction in years. It certainly sets up a crazy ride for the last book.

RBN: That cliffhanger takes some big balls. Were you worried that some readers might really get thrown by having to wait for Machinery of Light for the resolution?

Dave: My view of a trilogy is that you’d be pushing it to end the first book on a cliffhanger–that would be unfair. But by the end of the second book, I feel I’ve earned the right.

And I can assure people the wait will be worth it. .

RBN: We can’t really discuss the conclusion of Burning Skies without spoiling what is really one of the most fun final acts that I can recall, so tell me what you hope readers take away from part two?

Dave: My first hope is that readers will regard the showdown on the Europa Platform as a contender for the Most Insane Space Battle they’ve seen in a while.

My second hope, though, is that these books will be perceived as more than “just” military science fiction–that readers will appreciate the combination of espionage and power-politics, as well as the fact that this isn’t just Good Guys vs. Bad Guys. Everyone sees themselves as a Good Guy, ultimately, but not everyone can win!

And my third is that we will learn a lot more about the enigma that is Claire Haskell . ..

RBN: With that said, what can you tease about the conclusion of the trilogy, Machinery of Light?

Dave: That it will set the standard for how to end a science-fiction trilogy. I don’t believe there’s any shame in swinging for the fence. . .

RBN: When is Machinery of Light expected to hit?

Dave: May 2010. Which, ironically enough, is the hundred year “reverse anniversary” of when the trilogy takes place. . .2110, baby!

RBN: So summer season is upon us. Rumor has it you will be attending San Diego Comicon?

Dave: Yup, for sure. Can’t wait. Particularly as I’m gearing up to pitch the Autumn Rain trilogy as a graphic novel. . .

RBN: Do you have any interest in writing comics?

Dave: I’d be open to/interested in, yeah. That and screenwriting are both avenues I’d like to explore.

RBN: What’s it like meeting fans of your work in person? I would think you’ll find quite a few of them out in San Diego.

Dave: It’s always very surreal–having someone write and say they love the book is great, but having them tell you that in person is even better.

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