StanleyWheeler

 Interview with

Robert G. Williscroft

Author of: The Oort Chronicles and The StarChild Trilogy

(I'm going to take a guess and suggest that Robert is on the right in the photo.)

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

I am halfway through writing the 2^nd Oort Chronicle, Federation: To the Stars. It follows Icicle: A Tensor Matrix. In Icicle, Braxton Thorpe (a wealthy entrepreneur) dying of cancer arranges for his head to be cryonically preserved upon his death. He wakens in an electronic matrix where he discovers the presence of another intelligence, the Oort, that is older than humanity, and learns of an impending existential threat to both the Oort and humanity—an alien invasion. They engage the invading aliens and prevail, capturing two aliens. In Federation, after Thorpe has saved the Oort and humanity, together with the Oort, he establishes the Oort Federation—to coordinate the activities of humans and Oort throughout the Solar System. They develop an FTL drive, deal with intransigent rogue elements in the Solar System, discover the truth about the Oort and the alien invasion, and eventually mount an expedition to the home system of the invaders who attacked the Solar System in Icicle.

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

The inspiration for The Oort Chronicles is linked to the inspiration for Slingshot, the first book in The Starchild Trilogy. I spent a year at the geographic south pole in charge of the National Science Foundation’s atmospheric projects at the pole. I took several scientific papers with me to study during my sojourn. One paper by Keith Lofstrom was very exciting. It described the science and technology for building a Space Launch Loop—a way for getting into orbit and beyond without using rockets. When I returned to the U.S., I looked Keith up, and we spent several days together working out the basis for a novel that chronicled the construction of the world’s first Space Launch Loop between the Pacific equatorial islands of Baker Island and Jarvis Island. That became my noel Slingshot. It was launched in Seattle at the International Space Elevator Conference, and every Space Elevator scientist in the world has a copy of this novel on his or her desk.

A couple of years ago, Keith and I were discussing his latest work. He described ServerSky to me. This is an orbit-based global internet concept where the backbone of the network consists of billions of  10-cm thinsat chips in orbit that collectively form a powerful, self-powered, global-coverage internet system. Independently, for years I have played around with the concept of cryogenic preservation of a human body or brain for later revival when appropriate technology is available. I discussed this with Keith, and he suggested that the Oort Cloud could easily support thinsats made of ice that could function like his ServerSky thinsats. I combined these three concepts, ServerSky around Earth, ServerSky in the Oort Cloud, and cryogenic preservation of a human head, to form the basis for Icicle: A Tensor Matrix and the subsequent volumes of The Oort Chronicles.

Do you write in more than one genre?

I do. I write Hard Science Fiction, as already discussed, and I write Cold War submarine and diving espionage technothrillers. These are based upon my own personal experiences during the Cold War as a nuclear submariner and saturation diver.

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

My research is meticulous. The science, engineering, and technology in my stories, whether SciFi or technothrillers, are accurate, genuine, or reasonably projected from what we know today. Combine that with my ability through language to make complex topics understandable to ordinary people.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

I firmly believe that I am the captain of my ship and the master of my fate. My principal characters exhibit this trait.

In real life, I led a team of saturation divers who locked out of a bottomed sub and tapped into Soviet underwater communications cables. I spent 22 months underwater as a submariner, a year at the geographic south pole, three years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year conducting manganese nodule research off a ship in the equatorial Pacific.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

I try to respond personally to every communication I receive from readers. I am happy to appear at book clubs, reading circles, and the like, if they are within reasonable driving distance.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

Two authors come to mind: John B. Rosenman, author of The Inspector of the Cross series, and Alastair Mayer, author of The T-Space Series.

Inspector of the Cross Series.

The Inspector of the Cross is a Boris Vallejo/Frank Frazetta painting brought to life within the pages of a classic space opera yarn. Turtan is the epitome of a Frazetta/Vallejo hero, a man’s man, a warrior full of derring-do and wild adventure. The women in his life, human or otherwise, are as eye-filling and lethal as anything Vallejo or Frazetta ever imagined. Step aside, Barbarella – you ain’t got nuthin’ on Yaneta! Rosenman doesn’t worry about the niceties of biology or physics as he spins this delightful yarn, and he blows away political correctness. You might not want your pre-teen to read this, but any red-blooded young man or woman will love this far-future adventure.

Alternatively, The Inspector of the Cross is a complex study of religious and cultural differences. Rosenman imagines a far future where two dramatically different cultures wage war over vast distance and time. Turtan has lived nearly 4,000 years, mostly in cryosleep. His subjective life is about 40. As “Inspector of the Cross,” he represents the Empire of the Cross – the Holy Roman Empire that rules all humanity in this distant future. Opposed to the humans are the Cen, a cruel, logical race that is slowly winning the war. Without FTL drives, communications time is measured in decades or centuries. Turtan pops in and out of the normal time stream as he travels in frozen sleep over interstellar distances. The Cen are sufficiently similar to humans, that they can interbreed, and they each are attracted to their sexual opposites in the other race. The Cen are not inhibited by Human moral constraints, and so are winning the war. Turtan continues his quest for a weapon that will allow Humans to overcome. Anyone who has read the Christian religious classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, cannot help but see the parallel between Turtan and the Pilgrim. I do not know whether or not Rosenman intended this parallel, but while Turtan is significantly more lusty and warrior-like than the Pilgrim, their lives are remarkably parallel. Rosenman introduces the Jax, a ubiquitous small sentient race who act as servants to both Humans and Cen. The Jax, however, are more than they seem, taking on a role hauntingly similar to that of the angels that help the Pilgrim from time to time.

If you like science fiction, and especially if you like space opera, you will love this series!

The T-Space Series.

Unlike John Rosenman’s writings, Alastair May writes genuine hard science fiction. The science and engineering are real or reasonable projections of what is real today. Humanity is ready to travel to the stars. The Western Block nations have developed a working spacewarp drive based upon the Alcubierre solutions to Einstein’s General Relativity equations. The drive requires a huge amount of power, but Western Block fusion reactors are too large to fit into the warp bubble the drive creates. The Chinese Block nations have developed a smaller fusion reactor that will fit into the warp bubble, and so the two blocks combine their technologies to undertake the first interstellar trip to Alpha Centauri. In the Alpha Centauri system and other systems they eventually visit, they discover terraformed planets, modified 50 million years ago to exact human standards.

As humanity expands away from Earth, explorers continue to discover terraformed planets comprising what comes to be called T-Space. The series consists of two parts, the initial exploration and settlement of the terraformed planets (The Alpha Centauri Series and The Kalkuloa Series), and about 50 years later, the T-Space Archeology Series with archeologist Hanibal Carson and starship pilot Jackie Roberts who search for the race that did the terraforming while dealing with ancient, primitive cultures and interstellar criminal syndicates.

This is hard SciFi as good as it gets.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

What a tough question 😊 My just published First Oort Chronicle, Icicle: A Tensor Matrix, comes to mind as my most sophisticated, thought-provoking novel yet. It introduces the radical concepts of human-to-electronic uploads, immortality, wormhole transportation, FTL travel, and believable interstellar conflict. On the other hand, The Starchild Compact & The Iapetus Federation, the second and third volumes of The Starchild Trilogy taken together, constitute a magnificent epic saga of humanity’s expansion into the Solar System and beyond, driven by outside forces beyond human control and by forces on Earth that may very well be incubating within today’s international cauldron.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

My surviving birth was probably the pivotal event that enabled my writing career. More to the spirit of the question, however, I have lived a life of adventure dramatically different from most people. I grew up in Europe, spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, three years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. These experiences give me a unique perspective on life and what is possible. For example, spending nine months at the South Pole in isolation with 16 other people helped me to understand how a crew might handle a trip to Mars.

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

How large of an advance would you like for this manuscript?

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

I am the captain of my ship and the master of my fate. In my world, someone doesn’t make me angry. If I get angry, this is my reaction to an internal or external stimulus. In my world, I am responsible for my failures and successes. You do not receive my respect automatically; you have to earn that. I will always treat you with courtesy, however, until and unless you demonstrate your unworthiness. I am very fond of something the Honorable Dean Alfange wrote back in the early 20^th century:

I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not
wish to be a kept citizen humbled and dulled
by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and
to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole.
I prefer the challenges of life to the
guaranteed existence; the thrill of
existence to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence
nor my dignity for a handout. I will never
cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid;
to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefits of
my creations and to face the world boldly and say,
this I have done.

The Honorable Dean Alfange was an American statesman born December 2, 1899, in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Hamilton College, graduating in the class of ’22. Hamilton offers the “Dean Alfange Essay Prizes” established by Dean Alfange and awarded to the students who write the best and second-best essays on a feature or an issue of American constitutional government.

Alfange was the American Labor candidate for governor of New York and a founder of the Liberal Party of New York.

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Thanks to Robert for participating in the interview. It's not every day that submariners and antarctic visitors drop by.

I got to enjoy some time with my oldest daughter yesterday. I was telling her that we should do a podcast together. When it came to titles, I suggested something like, "I Hate Everything You Like." She suggested, "Cover Your Ears, My Dad is Talking." We're on the same wavelength.