For months now, I’ve ranted and raved about Kerry Nietz’s work.  Recently he was kind enough to agree to an interview and I thought it would be fitting to announce the winner of the giveaway of A Star Curiously Singing to accompany the interview!

Before we get into more detailed questions about the book, I like to open up with a lighter, more general question. As a relative newcomer to science fiction, I admit to having struggled a bit when I first started reading A Star Curiously Singing, then the story just sort of gripped me and I couldn’t put it down.  When did you start reading science fiction and did your own reading help prepare you to write the story of Sandfly, DarkTrench and HardCandy?  Or did you draw primarily from your background and life experiences? 

Um…sorry about your struggle. Did I mention I originally wrote ASCS just for me?

To answer your question: It was a mixture of everything you mention. I started reading science fiction at a very early age. Two of the first sci-fi books I remember reading are The Runaway Robot (Lester Del Rey) and The Forgotten Door (Alexander Key.) There’s an irony there, now that I think about it, because my books feature both robots and forgotten things. But my love of science fiction lasted my whole life. I’ve read many of the classics in the genre, all the big names. Those names show up in my books, as well.

My background certainly played a role. My degree is in computer science with a minor in science, much of which was filled with Astronomy classes. As you know, Sandfly and HardCandy are “debuggers” and are primarily responsible for mending the technology of their time. The methodology they use borrows from my years as a computer programmer. Even the term, “debugger,” comes directly from computer science. There’s lots of Astronomy in the books too.

So yeah, these books are really an amalgamation of everything I am and was. My love for sci-fi, my schooling and work experience, my faith, and even my non-fiction reading.

In The Superlative Stream, we get to hear more of HardCandy’s history.  Being a woman reader, this story really spoke to me, especially one pivotal scene which essentially changes her future.  Unfortunately, much of what HardCandy lived through before receiving the implant is what a lot of women are still dealing with today, even within the context of our “free” religions.  How difficult was it for you to get into the character of HardCandy and really flesh out the emotions and pain she struggled with, in comparison with Sandfly and GrimJack’s masculine stories and roles?

Not as hard as I expected, actually. I like to set challenges for myself as a writer, and in the back of my mind I always thought writing a female character would be a fun challenge. I never suspected I would try within the context of the DarkTrench saga, though.

Confession time: I’m essentially a seat-of-the-pants writer. I don’t do a lot of planning or outlining. Aside from some early notes—which are mostly snippets of dialog, or scene imagery—I’m making it all up as I go.

So as the writing of The Superlative Stream progressed, the story of HardCandy just sort of emerged. Next thing you know, I was writing her story as her. The character was in the driving seat. It was a godsend, though, because it also helped tie all the threads (and characters) of the story together. Gave it the emotional resonance it needed. And a theme.

Funny aside, unlike ASCS, my wife never read the story of TSS until after it came out. It was written on a really tight schedule, so there just wasn’t time. Thankfully, after she read it she said, “You wrote a girl perfectly. Exactly right.” So I guess I passed the test.

I would say you passed the test – I love reading about HardCandy and found her voice to be very true.  It’s fascinating to me the different styles some of my favorite writers have, be it outlining or fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants.  Do you find it at all difficult to keep track of the little details, or do you have to go back to check things often?  Also, as you make it up, is there a character that has particularly surprised you?  I remember reading that Tolkien, when writing the Lord of the Rings, had no idea who Strider would turn out to be, and was surprised to see how it all fit together, so has something similar happened to you?

So far, the details haven’t been too hard to keep track of. It helps that the locations and experiences are fairly diverse between the books. The characters are often in new places doing new things, so I’m creating from scratch. Plus, the cast of characters is fairly small. If all else fails, I have the documents in Word and can search. J

Definitely the character of GrimJack has grown over time. Initially he had a very sideline roll. He was cool, and interesting, but I didn’t have any particular plan for him. I had readers of the first book that really liked him as a character, though. Maybe that influenced me  while writing the second book, but only subliminally. Regardless, when I started TSS, the issue of GrimJack’s scars kept tugging at me. His role grew from there. (I don’t want to say too much.)

There are characters in the third book that surprised me as well.  :-)

I can’t wait for the third book!  I really do love the character of GrimJack, and his role in TSS surprised me as well!  Another name that consistently surprises me is DarkTrench, it’s so much fun reading a book that not only has human characters, but also a character like DarkTrench.  Obviously, DarkTrench is important to the series, as you’ve named it after the ship, but so far it seems to have taken a bit of a back role to Sandfly and HardCandy.  Without begging you for spoilers, which is so hard to do because I need to know =), can you tell us if DarkTrench takes more of a prominent role in the next book?

LOL. I’m sorry, your question makes me chuckle. It reminds me of how this series started for me. The story I sent my publisher initially was 48,000 words long, and it was essentially ASCS, except with a more understated ending. He asked me to add a prologue, and make the ending clearer and bigger. More significant for Sandfly. He also asked if there was more to the story written, as the ending certainly allowed for that.

I said, “No…um…I just got done with this one…” He then gave me a one sentence outline for a trilogy, and we agreed on a name. (The DarkTrench Saga) Everything that has happened since then, the addition of nearly 30,000 words to the first book, and the 200,000 cumulative words of TSS and the final book, came from that one sentence outline. So, the series bearing DarkTrench’s name…well, it was too cool of a name not to use. But initially there wasn’t a lot of thought behind what it meant to the series.  :-)

That said, nearly everything that has happened so far is because of DarkTrench, right? Either directly or indirectly, he’s had a finger in all of it. That’s fairly significant in and of itself.

My hope with book three is that his role at least stays consistent. That’s all I can say.  :-)

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Thank you so much, Kerry, for taking the time to answer my questions!

Now – the time has come to announce the winner of a signed copy of Kerry Nietz’s A Star Curiously Singing!  .. And that winner is….

Vidisha Singh!

Congrats and your signed copy is being mailed to you this upcoming week!