Ask the Author: Walter Blaire
Answered Questions (3)
Walter Blaire
I'm working on is theory that one's calling is the activity where they don't mind reading the small print, the ingredients, the dry boring industry reports, the licensing agreements. In fact, you seek those things out and feel momentum and relief when you gather impossibly specific crumbs of new knowledge. To relax, you do it some more. I won't read 20 pages of iTunes user agreement, but I'll exploration-read about the subjunctive mood till the cows come home. Being a writer means I can wallow in my obsessions but the bills get paid so I don't feel guilty. That, plus all that other regular writer-stuff about creativity, flow, meeting new characters, carving beauty and truth out of lies, etc.
Walter Blaire
I'm working on the follow-up to my book "The Eternal Front," which is a deep-dive into the Lines of Thunder universe -- it has history, politics, superstitions, talking spaceships, and culture...but it's mostly about running, shooting, screaming, drinking, and trying not to get killed on the massive battlescape of the eternal front. That book closed most of its loops, but I keep wondering what's happening to the characters. As I write the follow-up book, so far the characters are trying to kill each other.
Walter Blaire
My newest book is "What the Thunder Said", a long standalone novel set in the Lines of Thunder universe. It has a female protagonist, a menacing living machine, strange "wet" science, and several retro trench battles and artillery duels fought with advanced weaponry. WTTS started with the Cotard Delusion, which is when people believe they are dead and their bodies are decaying. Like a lie you wish you hadn't told, the more I wrote the more lies I had to concoct to support it. At the end of the mad scramble I had this book. The Cotard Delusion was the launching point for something that grew out of control, in a good way.
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