Ask the Author: Gary Gibson
Answered Questions (9)
Gary Gibson
Never say never, but I have no immediate plans for a sequel. I'm a fan of books that tell a story in a single volume, rather than stretching it out over multiple volumes - although I do sometimes commit the sin of trilogy or duology. But if a story ever presents itself, I might. I hope you enjoy Echogenesis!
Gary Gibson
Yes. In fact, there will be two sequels. I’m halfway through the first draft of the third book. I can’t be certain when they will be released, but the earliest likely publication date is sometime late in 2025.
Gary Gibson
Hi Tristan! There'll be a paperback edition of Doomsday Game coming out about a week before the Kindle edition - basically so it can arrive in people's hands around about the same date the ebook is released on May 1. Keep an eye on my blog, where I'll be posting details and links for the paperback seven to ten days in advance of May 1. There'll also be a limited number of hardbacks available around the same time, for anyone' who's interested in getting hold of that.
Gary Gibson
Hi Tristan - thank you for your kind comment. It's hard to say where the exact inspiration comes from, but it started originally as an idea for a short story I never actually got around to writing I was going to call 'Touring the Apocalypse", It made it into the book after a fashion - it's the scene where the Pathfinders accompany a bunch of politicians to a world moments before it's destroyed as part of a sightseeing tour. But maybe a clue as to where the idea came from lies in my having realized that some of the best and most original ideas out there essentially take pre-existing tropes and combine them in some unique way that makes them fresh. In this case, I combined the parallel universe trope with the "last man on Earth after the apocalypse" trope.
Gary Gibson
Well, technically I did, with Marauder, my eighth book that follows on from the Nova War books, and that was just a couple of years ago. I consider Thousand Emperors, the sequel to Final Days, to also be a form of space opera, given it's a completely different story to the book it's technically a sequel to. But neither Emperors nor Marauder sold as well as previous space operas I've written, which isn't entirely encouraging: Extinction Game has sold considerably better, which is one reason there's a sequel coming out in a few months.
Never say never, however: the book I'm currently writing is definitely interstellar, and more hard sf than anything you might call space opera, so whenever and however that eventually comes out you should find it a little closer to books like Stealing Light.
Never say never, however: the book I'm currently writing is definitely interstellar, and more hard sf than anything you might call space opera, so whenever and however that eventually comes out you should find it a little closer to books like Stealing Light.
Gary Gibson
There's a sequel to Extinction Game coming, but unfortunately it isn't going to be out until about August 2016. I can't tell you about the title or the storyline yet, but when the time gets a little nearer I will be.
Gary Gibson
Not planning on writing one at the moment. Originally Final Days was written entirely as a standalone, and the idea for The Thousand Emperors came much later. I'm not necessarily a fan of dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't' in a fictional universe because I think if you provide every single possible answer to a story that deals directly with the numinous - the end of the universe, Godlike entities controlling its destiny, what lies beyond the end of time, and so forth - then what you end up with is actually quite a bit less satisfying than if you *don't* know all the answers.
Or to put it another way, some things work better when they aren't directly seen or remain at least partly in the shadows. To pick another example, Rendezvous with Rama by AC Clarke is better for not knowing who sent the craft, or why. There are many other examples.
The Founder Network, also, is not itself central to the story within my mind, since my primary concern was with the time paradoxes that presented themselves once I started playing with Kip Thorne's ideas concerning what might happen when you place one end of a wormhole on board a starship accelerated at close to light-speed. The Network therefore arose directly from that conceit, on the assumption that if it could be built, it would be built - regardless of by who, or why.
Or to put it another way, some things work better when they aren't directly seen or remain at least partly in the shadows. To pick another example, Rendezvous with Rama by AC Clarke is better for not knowing who sent the craft, or why. There are many other examples.
The Founder Network, also, is not itself central to the story within my mind, since my primary concern was with the time paradoxes that presented themselves once I started playing with Kip Thorne's ideas concerning what might happen when you place one end of a wormhole on board a starship accelerated at close to light-speed. The Network therefore arose directly from that conceit, on the assumption that if it could be built, it would be built - regardless of by who, or why.
Gary Gibson
I don't believe it exists.
Gary Gibson
A sequel to Extinction Game.
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