I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jesse Abraham Lucas of PulpRev.com. He asked me about the Pulp Revolution, writing in general, and certain projects of my own.
The following is an excerpt.
Is there anything you can tell us about your WIP with Castalia House? Anything we should expect? Any way we can prepare ourselves?
Castalia House has engaged me to write the first three books in a planned ongoing series of space opera novels. The series is called Faraway Wars. It is part of Vox Day’s Creative Deconvergence project. His aim is to offer fun, high quality alternatives to SJW converged science fiction franchises.
As you’ve no doubt guessed by now, Faraway Wars is intended as a non-converged parallel to Star Wars. The last two feature films and the Aftermath series of tie-in novels have made it clear that Disney has co-opted George Lucas’ beloved franchise as a vehicle for social justice virtue signaling. Vox’s stated intent is to correct these abuses without stepping on anyone’s toes in terms of trademarks and copyright.
To that end, one of the editors at Castalia House devised a new space opera setting that will nonetheless be familiar to science fiction fans. Faraway Wars shouldn’t be thought of as an attempt to copy Star Wars. Rather, it draws inspiration from many of the same pulp and Campbell-era tropes that influenced George Lucas to create his iconic series.
Embers of Empire, the first Faraway Wars book, was pitched to me as, “What if Luke Skywalker had turned to the Dark Side at the end of Return of the Jedi?” Mind you, that hypothetical is meant as a springboard to jumpstart the creative process, like the “what if?” questions that serve as the impetus for all works of speculative fiction. The characters and situations in EoE aren’t mere carbon copies. I worked hard to put my unique mark on the book while making the FW universe a place where SF fans feel comfortable.
Still, Soul Cycle readers will know that you can’t rest easy for long in one of my stories.
And if you can’t wait for the deconvergence of space opera, my new novella The Hymn of the Pearl breaks high fantasy out of the psuedo-Medieval elf rut the genre has been languishing in by featuring an inventive, Sandersonian magic system in a world inspired by Late Antiquity.
First Nick Cole & Jason Anspach's Galaxy's Edge, and now Faraway Wars by you! It's good time to be alive. Looking forward to this series of yours.
Thanks. Disney's opened itself up to creative disruption by converging the movies and mothballing the EU, so there's plenty of room in the market for parallel series. I'm happy to deconvernge Episodes VIII, VIII, & IX while Nick & Jason tackle the Expanded Universe.
Brian
your new space opera sound like a lot of fun. Buck's series sounds just as good.
Here's a question that I'm curious how to tackle it: are there are influences or common themes between a European art manifesto called Futurism and Campbell's Futurian
I can't shake this sentiment that Furturism deeply shaped furturians
xavier
What is the status of Faraway wars? Originally it was supposed to be out in the summer. Is there a reason for the hold up?
Good question. Unfortunately, I don't have a definite answer. I finished work on EoE back in June. My editor specified changes which we discussed at length and I agreed to. As far as I know, the book is still on his desk.
Many of my readers have expressed their excitement about EoE on social media and in person. To them I can only offer my sincere apologies for the delay.
I would also gently remind them that publishers, even nontraditional presses like CH, by necessity have a great many more moving parts in their operation than indie authors have to contend with. 5 months isn't an unreasonable delay when you consider that it often takes 18 months for the Big 5 to go from final draft to market.
I will say that Castalia House have honored our handshake agreement that my work for them not delay completion of the Soul Cycle, for which I'm thankful. As you've probably seen on this blog, THE OPHIAN RISING, Soul Cycle Book IV, will launch next month on schedule.
Understandable, I'll keep waiting then.
Thank you for your patience.
If it's any consolation, I'm waiting with you.