Andy Jamieson

Sometime Geek Overlord, bi-monthly Dungeon Master, part-time care worker, reigning Husband of the Year, & full-time daddy. Also, proficient proverbial juggler.

Putting the Science into Science-Fiction: Michael Brachman Q&A

Sep 122013
 
The first book in Michael Brachman's SF trilogy

The first book in Michael Brachman’s SF trilogy

How many science-fiction stories are actually written by actual scientists?

That is the question that came to my mind when I stumbled upon the Rome’s Revolution trilogy (comprising the books Rome’s Revolution, The Ark Lords, and Rome’s Evolution) by American author, Michael Brachman, who possesses a PhD in Sensory Science, alongside a qualification in Computer Science. His series deals with a man out of time, Rei, who, through a sequence of events finds himself in the 35th century. Michael kindly took the time to answer Geekzine UK’s questions…

Andrew Jamieson, Editor-in-Chief 

 

Andrew Jamieson: Your trilogy of novels are set in the 35th century. What were the challenges that faced you as a writer and a scientist?
Michael Brachman: My biggest challenge was trying to figure out what day-to-day life would be like 14 centuries from now. In the end, it was actually easier than you’d think. As part of my future history, I created an event called The Great Dying (the term was stolen from the dinosaurs) in the year 2081 AD.  It was caused by an artificial virus and over nine billion people died.  As a result, society devolved into the Dark Ages and it took them many, many centuries to come back to a technology-based culture.  My people of the future, called the Vuduri, are therefore only a little ahead of us technologically so it was much easier to speculate on the wonders of their age. I gave them an extra chromosome which allowed them to speak mind to mind and resulted in a mass-mind called The Overmind. That was the second hardest challenge: trying to figure out what life would be like without privacy of thought. I eventually decided that people would give up trying to have original thoughts and as a society, they would be rather bland and emotionally deficient.  It made for a great dramatic pairing when my hero from our century, Rei (pronounced Ray, not rye) meets Rome, a member of the Vuduri.  Sparks fly.

AJ: What inspired you to write the trilogy?
MB: The answer to this question is somewhat confusing.  I originally wrote a single, standalone novel entitled VIRUS 5.  It ended with Rei and Rome flying off together into the sunset. But I liked the characters so much and the world of the 35th century that I could not help but wonder what happened to them.  This led to VIRUS 5, Book 2: Tau Ceti.  Once I completed that, I had no choice but to write VIRUS 5, Book 3: Earth to sew up all the loose ends.  I spent four years marketing and trying to find an agent and got nowhere.  So I collapsed the three novels into a 167,000 word omnibus and renamed it Rome’s Revolution.  At that point, I thought I was done.  But one day (in the shower of all places), it suddenly came to me that there were a lot of unexplained items from Rome’s Revolution that tied into a nice, tidy plot.  So I wrote another book called The Ark Lords.  At that point, I knew I was done.  I had this little idea for a novella that was going to go into a book of short stories but as I was writing it, I realized the plot ran so much deeper than I originally planned.  It ended up being an 84,000 word novel entitled Rome’s Evolution.  You can call it a trilogy.  You can call it five interconnected novels.  It doesn’t matter. I am done.  I put the words “The End” at the end of the final book so I wouldn’t be tempted to write yet another one!

AJ: How long did the three books take you to write and publish? 
MB: I wrote the first draft of VIRUS 5 in 1973.  I put it away for thirty years.  I resurrected it in 2005 and rewrote it. That took about a year.  Once I decided to write Book 2 (now Part 2), it took me about three months.  The last part (originally called VIRUS 5, Book 3: Earth) only took me six weeks even though it was equal in length to the prior ones.  Once I made the decision to collapse them into an omnibus, it took about a month to edit them down.  I am at the point now where it takes me about six weeks to write a novel but with waiting for readers and editors and artwork, I find I can crank out and publish a novel about every nine months.  At this point, I plan to stick to that schedule and am planning on releasing my next novel early next year.

AJ: Out of the three books in the trilogy, of which are you the most proud of and why?
MB: That’s like asking someone which child do you love the best?  Rome’s Revolution, in its current form, is the richest in terms of science and world-building. I am very proud of that one. The Ark Lords was the first novel I wrote from scratch where I had a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. I am proud of that one as well. Rome’s Evolution is the best written (in my opinion) and is all about action and adventure.  So, the answer is, all of them.

AJ: Do you read much science-fiction? If so, who are your favourite authors, and/or what are your favourite books?
MB: When I was growing up, I was a voracious reader of science fiction.  My favorite authors were Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg and so many others. In later years, I enjoyed the works of Roger Zelasny, Brian Aldiss, David Gerrold, Larry Niven and even William Shatner.  Recently, I have kind of recused myself from reading books (I still love movies) because I have found that reading them influences my writing in subtle and sometimes unnoticeable ways and I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism. I suppose when I get down the road a little more, I’ll feel more comfortable and more resistant to influence and then I’ll get back to reading more.

AJ: What was the last good book that you read?
MB: I’m not 100% sure I even enjoyed them but I found the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson to be incredibly detailed with tons of hard science.

AJ: What advice would you give to any aspiring science-fiction writers?
MB: Decide if you want to write hard or soft science fiction.  If you want to write hard science fiction, you have to do your research so that you don’t put something in there that you know (or a qualified reader knows) not to be true. This is hard work but ultimately it pays off.

AJ: What are you working on next?
MB: I am currently working on my next series tentatively name The Vuduri Knights. It takes place in the same universe as my Rome’s Revolution series but two decades later.  The first book in the series is called The Milk Run and it is about half done.  I am hoping to have it completed and published by the end of the year.

Thank you to Michael for his answers.

You can buy his books on Amazon, and can find out more information from the following websites:

Rome’s Revolution – http://www.RomesRevolution.com
The Ark Lords – http://www.TheArkLords.com
Rome’s Evolution – http://www.RomesEvolution.com

(All three books are available in paperback and for all e-book readers)

Wiki: Rome’s Revolution: The Science Behind the Science Fiction – http://romesrevolution.wikidot.com
Blog: Tales of the Vuduri – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5874161.Michael_Brachman/blog

Twitter: @mlbphd1

SNEAK PREVIEW: New novella from the world of The Vengeance Path…

Sep 012013
 

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The Vengeance Path: The Lost Brother is an exciting new novella from Edinburgh-based fantasy author, Andrew Jamieson. Coming less than two months after the release of the acclaimed The Vengeance Path (the first book in The Chronicles of Edenos; book two, Children of War, is out next year), The Lost Brother was exclusively revealed at Andrew’s Edinburgh International Book Festival appearance, on Wednesday 14th August, in an event titled Future Books. Andrew appeared alongside fellow eBook author, Damien Love, there promoting his debut novel, Like Clockwork.

“The Lost Brother is a prequel to The Vengeance Path novel,” revealed Andrew, “and is set three years before. It follows the character of Nessan Yulano, one of the major heroic figures in The Vengeance Path. In this novella you get to see how he became a brother of the Order of Hollftar. I was inspired to write The Lost Brother because I wanted to tell more of Nessan’s backstory. He is one of my favourite characters and, as fans of The Vengeance Path will know, Nessan is in exile from House Yulano at the start of the novel . The idea for the novella came to me after I had written a flashback chapter, originally intended for book two. This chapter saw Nessan and Shaylen Krakelis face off in a duel. After I wrote it, I got to thinking that I wanted to explore this story vein in more detail. So I did. I also wanted to mark the book festival event with something special for fans.” (The Lost Brother was given away as a FREE exclusive download at the book festival, in the shape of a collectable postcard)

Discussing his plans for his series, The Chronicles of Edenos, Andrew revealed that he is in the thick of writing book two at the moment. “It is going to be a far more focused tale. All the groundwork was laid in The Vengeance Path. In Children of War, you see the conflict begun in book one properly explode and engulf the continent.”

The first book, The Vengeance Path, is a regular fixture in the Amazon Kindle Steampunk Top 100 Bestseller chart.

The Vengeance Path: The Lost Brother will be released for download simultaneously on amazon.co.uk and www.thistleinthekiss.com, at the end of September.

Andrew is currently nominated for the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award, sponsored by Ebooks for Sainsbury’s. You can vote here:  https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/first-book-award/vote

 

Geekzine creator discusses debut novel at Edinburgh Book Festival

Aug 142013
 

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Geekzine UK founder, Andrew Jamieson, will be reading from and discussing his debut novel, The Vengeance Path, on Wednesday 14th August, at 5pm, alongside fellow debut author, Damien Love, who will be reading from his book, Like Clockwork.

Both author’s works are eBooks, and the event is billed as ‘Future Books’ – expect discussion to revolve around the digital medium of publishing but also given the fantastical nature of both books, to get plenty of geeky chat too.

Both books were originally published as weekly serials before being published as novels.

Like Clockwork by Damien Love is an adventure romp across Europe, featuring maniacal robots, whilst The Vengeance Path is the first volume in an ongoing epic fantasy steampunk series, The Chronicles of Edenos.

Tickets for the event are £4.50 and are available from the on-site box office in the entrance to the book festival.

Like Clockwork and The Vengeance Path are available from the Amzaon Kindle store.

Doug Johnstone Q&A: Summer 2013

Jun 222013
 

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Doug Johnstone’s latest novel, Gone Again, is an Edinburgh-set thriller that has made quite the impact with critics and sales alike. Doug took time out from his hectic schedule to answer Geekzine editor Andy Jamieson’s pesky questions. 

 

Andy Jamieson: What was the inspiration for Gone Again? And was the plot for Gone Again something that has been gestating for a while?

Doug Johnstone: Like all my books, the plot for Gone Again had been gestating for a while. I think it’s important to let an idea stew for as long as possible before committing to writing it as a book, and that gestation period hopefully helps the book to have a veracity and a passion that makes it stand out from the crowd. That’s the hope anyway.

As for the inspiration, like a lot of my recent work, it was that simple ‘what if’ moment. What if you’re wife just didn’t come home one day, what would you do? What if the police didn’t take it seriously, what if her work were the same, what if you had to cope with looking after your young child alone? What if it had happened before? What if you had your own shadowy past? And on it goes.

For any of my books, I become pretty obsessed with the subject matter while writing – this time round I was obsessed with missing persons. Hundreds of thousands go missing in the UK each year, the stats are extraordinary. There’s no law against just going missing, and the lack of resolution in that situation is what really struck me. As always with me, I wondered for a while how to make that into a fictional narrative, and eventually stumbled on the plot for the book.

 

AJ: The relationships between Mark, Lauren and Nathan feel quite authentic. Was it a challenge to write these characters? Did you draw on real life at all?

DJ: It wasn’t really a challenge at all, as I used a whole lot of real life and my own situation for this book. There are elements of the relationships that are different, but a whole lot of Gone Again is my relationship with my own son a couple of years ago, and a lot of the backstory of Mark and Lauren is lifted directly from my wife and me.

I don’t really shy away from using personal experience in my books, but that doesn’t mean the characters are actually me and my family. For any kind of fiction, you have to ramp up the conflict and tension, so Mark has to face things much worse than I ever have, thank God. I think using personal experience adds another layer of authenticity to a story – the little details especially. I’ve been really glad that a lot of the reviews have mentioned the authentic nature of the father-son relationship here, that was really important to me.

 

AJ: Do you have any rituals or habits that you go through before a session of writing?

DJ: None, I just sit down and write. I don’t believe in writer’s block either, that’s a complete luxury. That’s maybe down to the fact I was a journalist before I was a fiction writer – the idea of not meeting a deadline is anathema to me.

I try to write a little every day, usually in the morning, as that’s when my brain’s sharpest, and when I have peace and quiet as the kids are at school and nursery. It’s not about sitting around waiting for the muse, it’s about keeping your head down and getting words on the page.

 

AJ: Was Gone Again an ‘easy’ write? Did it take long to settle on a draft that you were happy with? 

DJ: It took me about the same time to write as my last few books – a first draft in about three months, then a couple of months of redrafting. It was hard to write in one respect, because I felt I was more emotionally involved in this story. There were two scenes in particular that I really struggled to write as they were so packed with emotion and dug deep into my own psyche.

As for getting to a draft you’re happy with – does that ever happen? I usually do around three or four drafts then let my agent and a couple of writer friends see it. Then a couple more drafts, then off to the publisher. I wouldn’t use the word ‘happy’ to describe how I feel about it at any point, though. I pretty much abandon the novel when I can’t stand the sight of it anymore, and I hope that others don’t think it’s a pile of shite.

 

AJ: Has Gone Again attracted any television or film producers? Do you think it would translate well to the small and large screens?

DJ: It hasn’t attracted any notice yet, but it’s early days. I think it has more appeal for film than television, just because of the nature of the story. It is fairly cinematic, I guess, in terms of backdrop and emotional story arc etc. I tend to be very influenced by film, as much as by books, if I’m honest, so it’s no real surprise that people sometimes say my books would make good films. My previous two novels, Hit & Run and Smokeheads, have both been optioned, one for TV the other for film, but they’re a million miles away from getting made. Wait and see.

 

AJ: What is the best advice on writing that you have been given?

DJ: Less is more. From my agent Allan Guthrie, who’s also a brilliant noir writer.

 

AJ: What book(s) have you read recently that you would recommend to others?

DJ: Loads – Megan Abbott’s Dare Me, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Sara Gran’s Come Closer, Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, Don Winslow’s Savages.

 

AJ: What are you working on at the moment?

DJ: The next novel is done. It’s called The Dead Beat, coming out next year sometime. It’s about an obituary writer and suicide. Another hilarious rom-com from me, then! Not.

 

Thanks to Doug for his time.

Gone Again is out now, £12.99 in trade paperback, published by faber and faber.

Doug will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this summer, on Thursday 15th August at 6.45pm, along with fellow crime writer, Laura Lippman.

Gone Again by Doug Johnstone

Apr 022013
 

GoneAgain_cover

Doug ‘Troubadour’ Johnstone is an author on the rise. You may know his name from his novels Hit & Run, Smokeheads, The Ossians, or even his debut Tombstoning. Or perhaps from his journalistic work for the Big Issue or The List. Gone Again is his latest hit novel, published by Faber & Faber in trade paperback at £12.99.

Roanna Branigan, bookseller extraordinaire & Scottish Section Buyer from Blackwells Bookshop at 53 to 62 South Bridge, Edinburgh, has taken time out from her duties to review Gone Again for Geekzine UK.

Cheers, Ro. Cake on its way.

Andy Jamieson, Editor-in-Chief

 

With his new novel Gone Again, Doug Johnstone has produced a good old fashioned mystery thriller. The story spans one week in the life of Mark Thomas, a freelance newspaper photographer with a wife (Lauren) and young son (Nathan) living in Portobello, a quiet suburb of Edinburgh.

The story kicks off when Mark is on the promenade looking for that front page shot of a pod of whales stranded just off Portobello beach. His son’s school calls him to say his wife Lauren hasn’t collected Nathan as usual and so the tension begins. Right away we see Mark as this lone ranger character with a short fuse. He’s annoyed Lauren has messed up his day and that his work has been interrupted. He half expects his wife to be there when he gets to the school apologising profusely for the inconvenience its caused him – but she isn’t, and she doesn’t turn up later that evening. Annoyance turns to worry and then the police are informed.

In the meantime life must go on as normal for his son Nathan, giving him his tea, getting him to bed, taking him to school and all the while trying not to worry the “wee man”. Lauren had done this before just after Nathan was born. Postnatal depression had been to blame that time. Was it happening again?

When the police start to turn their suspicions on him, Mark decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes a one man force to be reckoned with. Edinburgh’s gritty underworld starts to encroach on Mark’s normally quiet, verging-on-boring life, and he doesn’t like it.

Doug Johnstone captures the normality of family life perfectly and he gives an honest portrayal of what he thinks anyone would do to protect it. Gone Again is a pacey, out of control thriller with touches of humour and a whole wad of honesty.

Roanna Branigan

Jonathan Taylor, Café W Edinburgh manager, Q & A: March 2013

Mar 182013
 

CafeWlogo

Café W is a relatively new enterprise, launched as part of the refurbishment of the Waterstones brand, last year. There are only a handful of these Waterstones-run coffee shops, and the Edinburgh West End branch is one of these select few.

Jonathan Taylor is the manager of Café W Edinburgh West End, and he took time out from his nefarious experiments in coffee to answer your humble editor’s questions…

 

Andrew Jamieson: Who exactly are you and what do you do?

Jonathan Taylor: Hello Geekzine!  I’m Jonathan and I run the Café W at Waterstones West End in Edinburgh.  It’s my job to make sure the Cafe performs to it’s staggering potential.

 

AJ: What was your background prior to becoming manager of Café W at Waterstones West End?

JT: Well I had never worked in a Café before, which may come as something of a surprise. I very much like drinking coffee but I had absolutely no experience in running a Café.

I’ve worked for Waterstones for five years now in different stores and at different positions, so I thought that it would be an interesting challenge to help set up and run Café W.

 

AJ: What makes Café W stand out from amongst such competitors as Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Costa, and so on?

JT: Well, I like to think that Waterstones is well known for its outstanding customer service, and that’s something we also bring to the Café.  The other big difference is that we have been tasked by head office to source all our stock as locally as possible.  So whereas the other coffee shops will have a central hub miles away from the actual shop, for the processing of their cakes and sandwiches, we get the majority of our cakes and all our sandwiches from only a mile or two away.

Situated on the top floor of the West End branch, the coffee shop has a great view of the castle and Princes St Gardens

Situated on the top floor of the West End branch, the coffee shop has a great view of the castle and Princes St Gardens

 

AJ: As a manager of one of the few exclusive Waterstones-only Café W bars currently open (more are coming), what expectations were there upon the shop opening? Have these been exceeded?

JT: I think because this is such a new venture for Waterstones there were very few expectations other than to make more money out of having our own coffee shops than renting the space to a chain. That and to be able to source our stock locally were the two most important things, and we’ve been able to achieve that which makes me very happy.

 

AJ: Café W is also used as an event space for the Waterstones West End store – is this disruptive in any way, or does the space work well for such co-use?

JT: It works well. We can get around 130 people in for events, which is a big plus for a store like ours that should be attracting big authors. Because some of the machines we have in the café are quite loud we have to make sure all the cleaning up is done before the event starts, so we’ll close the café up to an hour and a half before we normally would.  When we first opened it was a bit of a scramble to get everything ready in time but we’re all used to it now.

 

AJ: Are you a big reader? If so, what do you like?

JT: I adore reading, so I’m very lucky that I get to work for a company that loves books as much as I do.  I read fantasy and sci-fi books more than anything else, I’ve just torn through the Ben Aarononvitch’s ‘Peter Grant’ books (we had an event with him about a month ago).  The book I’ve read more than any other is ‘The Name Of The Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss, which I just never tire of.

 

Jonathan Taylor, manager of Café W Edinburgh. A bearded titan amongst men.

Jonathan Taylor, manager of Café W Edinburgh. A bearded titan amongst men.

AJ: Your cafe has recently started selling cakes from the renowned Cuckoo Bakery – what is it about these cakes that makes them so special?

JT: Most importantly they taste fantastic. In fact I’d go as far as saying that they’re the best cakes I’ve ever eaten.  Another important thing is that the people who run Cuckoo’s Bakery, Vidya and Graham, really love and care about what they’re doing.  I don’t think the things they bake would be half as good if they didn’t put as much hard work and love into them as they do.

 

AJ: Do you have a favourite coffee?

JT: Latte.  I know that as someone who loves coffee I should say espresso or just a black coffee but I enjoy making and drinking lattes.  Never in a tall glass though.  They’re just a pain.

 

Thank you to JT for his time. He makes a great Flat White, by the way.

Andy Jamieson, Editor-in-Chiefdom, Geekzine UK

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