Ask the Author: Eric Michael Craig
Answered Questions (22)
Eric Michael Craig
Hi, and thanks for the question.
The quick answer is: Yes, and Yes. Season Two will be five books in the main line plus a standalone novella telling a little of the backstory of Captain Jetaar. The Third Season will be six novels.
Before I started into the Wings of Earth story, I had outlined the entire arc and knew exactly where it was going. It has always been a total of sixteen novels. What I didn’t plan in advance were the standalone novellas. And a potential spin-off shorter series that I am considering that tells the story of the Plussers and where they are headed as a separate subculture (I will be talking about that idea some in my newsletter in the near future).
Oh, and if there is enough interest, I also have another series (12 books) that will take the main story line through another 12 books with another set of characters. (I can’t say what that series will be called since that might be a bit of a spoiler.)
The quick answer is: Yes, and Yes. Season Two will be five books in the main line plus a standalone novella telling a little of the backstory of Captain Jetaar. The Third Season will be six novels.
Before I started into the Wings of Earth story, I had outlined the entire arc and knew exactly where it was going. It has always been a total of sixteen novels. What I didn’t plan in advance were the standalone novellas. And a potential spin-off shorter series that I am considering that tells the story of the Plussers and where they are headed as a separate subculture (I will be talking about that idea some in my newsletter in the near future).
Oh, and if there is enough interest, I also have another series (12 books) that will take the main story line through another 12 books with another set of characters. (I can’t say what that series will be called since that might be a bit of a spoiler.)
Eric Michael Craig
To an extent that is dependent upon where it hits. Regardless it would be devastating to the biosphere for years or longer. It doesn’t take much to kick things way out of balance and the issue is that we are insignificantly small creatures, clinging to an onion-skin thin biosphere in a carefully balanced ecosystem.
Even a degree or two of cooling if it happened at the wrong time of year could wipe out crops across entire continents by shortening growing seasons (Imagine a freeze across the Midwest in June or July). From there we’d get famine ... and then comes death from starvation across a lot of the world that depends on American food production … and then we’d have related diseases in the starving countries because of simply not being able to bury the dead as fast as they were dying.
NONE of those issues cover the economic collapse potential as the world struggles to pay for the relief efforts for those most affected initially and collaterally. A HUGE portion of the world economic powers have MAJOR commerce centers around the pacific coast… one word explains that problem. Tsunami. Crushing Japan. Crushing California (and the US collaterally) Crushing parts of China. Crushing Southeast Asia. Crushing New Zealand. Crushing parts of Australia. Swamping economies in an instant.
We have to accept that the long term danger from a pacific impact is the potential volcanic effects that will also likely happen. While an asteroid impact kicks up Gawdawful tons of ejecta, most of it is larger particulate that only stays aloft for a little while. But volcanoes produce fine aerosols that can stay in the stratosphere for decades. And a volcano that wakes up from an impact like this might well stay grumpy for a long time afterward.
We are so VERY dependent upon the environment being in balance. Sure, eventually the system will restore itself, but the question becomes, can we survive until it does?
Even a degree or two of cooling if it happened at the wrong time of year could wipe out crops across entire continents by shortening growing seasons (Imagine a freeze across the Midwest in June or July). From there we’d get famine ... and then comes death from starvation across a lot of the world that depends on American food production … and then we’d have related diseases in the starving countries because of simply not being able to bury the dead as fast as they were dying.
NONE of those issues cover the economic collapse potential as the world struggles to pay for the relief efforts for those most affected initially and collaterally. A HUGE portion of the world economic powers have MAJOR commerce centers around the pacific coast… one word explains that problem. Tsunami. Crushing Japan. Crushing California (and the US collaterally) Crushing parts of China. Crushing Southeast Asia. Crushing New Zealand. Crushing parts of Australia. Swamping economies in an instant.
We have to accept that the long term danger from a pacific impact is the potential volcanic effects that will also likely happen. While an asteroid impact kicks up Gawdawful tons of ejecta, most of it is larger particulate that only stays aloft for a little while. But volcanoes produce fine aerosols that can stay in the stratosphere for decades. And a volcano that wakes up from an impact like this might well stay grumpy for a long time afterward.
We are so VERY dependent upon the environment being in balance. Sure, eventually the system will restore itself, but the question becomes, can we survive until it does?
Eric Michael Craig
Nightmares. Seriously. But I tend to be a reactive dreamer, so that when an idea comes at me darkly in the night, I grab the steering wheel of my dream-mobile and steer it to a satisfying conclusion. I don’t write horror at all, but some of the things I write are horrifically frightening at an intellectual level.
My latest novel (Shadows in the Flame) is a necessary follow up on the previous two that I really didn’t expect to be writing. There will probably be a book four in the series, but I really wanted to end this arc with an Ark. And I am not there yet.
My latest novel (Shadows in the Flame) is a necessary follow up on the previous two that I really didn’t expect to be writing. There will probably be a book four in the series, but I really wanted to end this arc with an Ark. And I am not there yet.
Eric Michael Craig
Yes. (all of the above) I am not really a seat of the pants writer at all. I know where I am going before I start writing. Now, that doesn’t mean I write an outline and stick to it relentlessly. I write a direction and pick my destination and waypoints. And then if it doesn’t work that the direction or waypoints work, I chuck them and re-plan my map. Often I write scenes way in the future from where I am in the story, because the moment inspires me, but then I follow my map or build a new arc to get me there… with lots of markers to follow.
Eric Michael Craig
The Devil is indeed in the details. Actually I spend little of my time researching science and technology. The science comes pretty easily to me and I know enough to carry that part of the story usually without much work. I mean I will just occasionally grab a quick reference for a specific thing to refresh my understandings but generally I read science things for fun so the brain stays up to date.
Locations on the other hand I have to research (mainly because I can’t afford the time to travel). Google Earth has become my BEST friend. Unfortunately it also tends to be a HUGE black hole for me time wise. I love maps so GE is the absolute God’s gift to me (maybe in a previous life I was a cartographer?).
Locations on the other hand I have to research (mainly because I can’t afford the time to travel). Google Earth has become my BEST friend. Unfortunately it also tends to be a HUGE black hole for me time wise. I love maps so GE is the absolute God’s gift to me (maybe in a previous life I was a cartographer?).
Eric Michael Craig
Actually the inspiration I find comes from the authors themselves and not the things they write. Authors tend to be switched on … differently. I love that interaction with other writers. It motivates me to keep writing. I do enjoy reading, but that is not really what inspires me to write (scientific papers inspire me … but I really think that makes me sound geeky as hell).
I have several authors that I enjoy, many of whom I am blessed to now call friends. (You all know who you are. Thank you very much!)
own hands.
Then why don’t I have my own Stormhaven carrier ship?
Did I ever tell you how much I hate dealing with investor types? (There is a reason.)
I have several authors that I enjoy, many of whom I am blessed to now call friends. (You all know who you are. Thank you very much!)
own hands.
Then why don’t I have my own Stormhaven carrier ship?
Did I ever tell you how much I hate dealing with investor types? (There is a reason.)
Eric Michael Craig
All of it (but you probably want a better answer than that).
The science you’re probably talking about is what underlies Stormhaven’s technologies. This science is a bit outside currently held mainstream understandings, but in all fairness, it’s important to note that most of what we believe now, was also outside mainstream science before we collectively realized our assumptions were flawed. It is when we quit challenging out boundaries that we quit developing.
A reasonably famous physicist who was once sitting in my lab as a “hair shirt” for an investor summed up the reality of science with a simple question: “Do you know how to change a physicist’s mind?” he asked. After pausing a beat to give me a chance to shake my head, he supplied this answer: “Wait for him to die.” He was visiting my lab to go over the work I had been doing in Quantum Gravity and Inertial Interactions. He was also reasonably sure that he could not be persuaded. Four hours later, he told the investor that had brought him in as an expert, to invest in our work. His comment to me was, “I hope this doesn’t mean my demise is imminent.”
What I had pointed out to him was that in science’s headlong rush to elevate a theory to the lofty status of LAW a detail had been missed. It is a simple special case that would have been obvious to the discoverer (in this case Sir Isaac Newton) if he had been able to measure the action and reaction of objects in nanosecond timescales. Unfortunately because he couldn’t, he had to assume that action and reaction were equal and opposite AND simultaneous. But in the real universe this is not true. Simultaneity is an assumption, but is not a fact. Because of this phase delay between action and reaction there must exist some transient mechanism of energy storage within any real system, before equilibrium can be restored. (Did I lose everyone yet?)
Anyway, this special case of transient force represents an opportunity to build machines that specifically capitalize on this sub-steady-state condition. I spent 10 years in the lab developing and testing things that worked on this principle (actually I spent many more years on this, but those were formal laboratory studies … meaning the years where I got paid to play with the cool toys).
So, yes these things can be done. We prototyped many of the Stormhaven Technologies that appear in the book. Those were only commercial extrapolations of things I have actually built and held in my own hands.
Then why don’t I have my own Stormhaven carrier ship?
Did I ever tell you how much I hate dealing with investor types? (There is a reason.)
The science you’re probably talking about is what underlies Stormhaven’s technologies. This science is a bit outside currently held mainstream understandings, but in all fairness, it’s important to note that most of what we believe now, was also outside mainstream science before we collectively realized our assumptions were flawed. It is when we quit challenging out boundaries that we quit developing.
A reasonably famous physicist who was once sitting in my lab as a “hair shirt” for an investor summed up the reality of science with a simple question: “Do you know how to change a physicist’s mind?” he asked. After pausing a beat to give me a chance to shake my head, he supplied this answer: “Wait for him to die.” He was visiting my lab to go over the work I had been doing in Quantum Gravity and Inertial Interactions. He was also reasonably sure that he could not be persuaded. Four hours later, he told the investor that had brought him in as an expert, to invest in our work. His comment to me was, “I hope this doesn’t mean my demise is imminent.”
What I had pointed out to him was that in science’s headlong rush to elevate a theory to the lofty status of LAW a detail had been missed. It is a simple special case that would have been obvious to the discoverer (in this case Sir Isaac Newton) if he had been able to measure the action and reaction of objects in nanosecond timescales. Unfortunately because he couldn’t, he had to assume that action and reaction were equal and opposite AND simultaneous. But in the real universe this is not true. Simultaneity is an assumption, but is not a fact. Because of this phase delay between action and reaction there must exist some transient mechanism of energy storage within any real system, before equilibrium can be restored. (Did I lose everyone yet?)
Anyway, this special case of transient force represents an opportunity to build machines that specifically capitalize on this sub-steady-state condition. I spent 10 years in the lab developing and testing things that worked on this principle (actually I spent many more years on this, but those were formal laboratory studies … meaning the years where I got paid to play with the cool toys).
So, yes these things can be done. We prototyped many of the Stormhaven Technologies that appear in the book. Those were only commercial extrapolations of things I have actually built and held in my own hands.
Then why don’t I have my own Stormhaven carrier ship?
Did I ever tell you how much I hate dealing with investor types? (There is a reason.)
Eric Michael Craig
Ambassador Akihiro Kuromori. He is an artifact of traditional Japanese culture that exists in the modern world with grace and patience. He is one of the elephants in the room in any scene he is part of, and so he represents both power and restraint. And he does it without the affectation of ego. To me he is the embodiment of an infinitely wise father figure.
Without feeling phony.
Without feeling phony.
Eric Michael Craig
I have actually written in another genre, under a pen name … and no, I won’t tell anyone where you can find it.
As to writing in other genre in the future, I’d probably say not likely. I like where I am in Science Fiction and I like the home field advantage I have, given my real world background.
As to writing in other genre in the future, I’d probably say not likely. I like where I am in Science Fiction and I like the home field advantage I have, given my real world background.
Eric Michael Craig
I write what I know, generally speaking. I have held gawdawful gazillions of jobs, so I have maybe a bit wider skill set than average and perhaps that shows in my writing. For many years I considered a job as a way to learn something I wanted to know without having to pay for school to get there. It was nice to get an education and get paid, rather than the other way around.
Ultimately I ended up as an entrepreneur since my resume made it look like I had Career-A.D.D. and nobody would hire me anymore. I have owned manufacturing and research companies and worked extensively in design and engineering as well as hard theoretical and experimental science.
All together the engineering and science anchors me firmly in Hard-SF, but all the other stuff gives me a good handle on how people work. I try to keep both in balance in my writing and let neither aspect dominate.
Ultimately I ended up as an entrepreneur since my resume made it look like I had Career-A.D.D. and nobody would hire me anymore. I have owned manufacturing and research companies and worked extensively in design and engineering as well as hard theoretical and experimental science.
All together the engineering and science anchors me firmly in Hard-SF, but all the other stuff gives me a good handle on how people work. I try to keep both in balance in my writing and let neither aspect dominate.
Eric Michael Craig
Don’t trust blindly.
I don’t believe that governments are necessarily evil constructions of society in-and-of-themselves (although there certainly have been, and are now, cases where that might be debatable), but I do think that the highway to hell is paved with good intentions. In Stormhaven Rising I bluntly deal with a government (several in fact) that is trying to do the right thing, but going about it all wrong. It is not that they are inept at all, but rather they look at the world from the perspective of power and responsibility, and not necessity. And that perspective is not always a valid approach to interpreting the rights and needs of those they govern.
The question is, can we trust a government that does not trust us?
I think I address that pretty accurately in my books.
I don’t believe that governments are necessarily evil constructions of society in-and-of-themselves (although there certainly have been, and are now, cases where that might be debatable), but I do think that the highway to hell is paved with good intentions. In Stormhaven Rising I bluntly deal with a government (several in fact) that is trying to do the right thing, but going about it all wrong. It is not that they are inept at all, but rather they look at the world from the perspective of power and responsibility, and not necessity. And that perspective is not always a valid approach to interpreting the rights and needs of those they govern.
The question is, can we trust a government that does not trust us?
I think I address that pretty accurately in my books.
Eric Michael Craig
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)
Eric Michael Craig
Vampire. Hands down. A point to consider in coming to that conclusion is that vampires are dead. Zombies would likely walk right past them without noticing, wouldn’t they?
My understanding is that Z-people prefer fresh meat.
My understanding is that Z-people prefer fresh meat.
Eric Michael Craig
Hope dies hard. Hope is fundamental to humans regardless of our situation. Facing insurmountable situations, humanity’s greatest strength as a species is that we NEVER give up. I always keep that close to the center of my story telling. I think it is a common language that binds everyone to the narrative of a story.
Of course the other side of that is that sometimes hope works against us too. I don’t know how many times I have heard people in flood zones or earthquake prone areas say “we will rebuild…”
When does it go from hopeful to stubborn, or just stupid?
Hope dies hard, but it wouldn’t hurt for hope to get smarter too!
Of course the other side of that is that sometimes hope works against us too. I don’t know how many times I have heard people in flood zones or earthquake prone areas say “we will rebuild…”
When does it go from hopeful to stubborn, or just stupid?
Hope dies hard, but it wouldn’t hurt for hope to get smarter too!
Eric Michael Craig
I am actually an optimist about the future. I really am.
However, I think there are some damned bumpy things coming at us first. We’re making a LOT of mistakes in the present, and I think those mistakes are going to build up to an almost insurmountable wall of problems for ourselves and for several generations to come. To me, most of the problems we will face come from our short-sighted planning, and by millennia of political division. Certainly, there are things developing that are beyond our own creation, but regardless, until we can see past our piles of self-made chaos, we will have little hope of addressing these issues.
I also think there are some rays of hope starting to manifest for our future. There are people who are coming into positions of influence that are clearly seeing the changes that HAVE to happen to get us past our current state of existence and into a post-scarcity world (and I am not talking metaphysically here).
If we organize ourselves so that we all start to follow these different approaches then I think we have a chance.
I believe in hope, and hope dies hard!
However, I think there are some damned bumpy things coming at us first. We’re making a LOT of mistakes in the present, and I think those mistakes are going to build up to an almost insurmountable wall of problems for ourselves and for several generations to come. To me, most of the problems we will face come from our short-sighted planning, and by millennia of political division. Certainly, there are things developing that are beyond our own creation, but regardless, until we can see past our piles of self-made chaos, we will have little hope of addressing these issues.
I also think there are some rays of hope starting to manifest for our future. There are people who are coming into positions of influence that are clearly seeing the changes that HAVE to happen to get us past our current state of existence and into a post-scarcity world (and I am not talking metaphysically here).
If we organize ourselves so that we all start to follow these different approaches then I think we have a chance.
I believe in hope, and hope dies hard!
Eric Michael Craig
Outside of SF? Nope. I like to write what I know. Although I probably could write criminal thriller too (oh wait, that sounds bad).
In truth I grew up reading almost exclusively classic Science Fiction, so I am very comfortable there. It is a very broad genre with an infinite number of fertile fields to work so I don’t see much need to leave my home turf.
Now, within that genre in a general sense, I have not ventured into Space Opera or SciFan and I might consider those in the future, but I LIKE and understand Hard Science Fiction so don’t feel overly compelled to go elsewhere.
In truth I grew up reading almost exclusively classic Science Fiction, so I am very comfortable there. It is a very broad genre with an infinite number of fertile fields to work so I don’t see much need to leave my home turf.
Now, within that genre in a general sense, I have not ventured into Space Opera or SciFan and I might consider those in the future, but I LIKE and understand Hard Science Fiction so don’t feel overly compelled to go elsewhere.
Eric Michael Craig
I do listen to music, but not music relevant to my writing. I write Hard SF, but prefer Traditional and Neo-Celtic stuff like Loreena Mc Kennitt, Omnia, Faun, and Blackmore’s Knight. I also listen to A Cappella stuff like Home Free, Peter Hollens and Pentatonix. (Pandora is my friend.)
I have a KILLER headset and could literally miss the end of the world if I’m wearing my phones. It’s nice to be able to shut out noises and distractions that way.
Because I was a musician for most of my life music is a good way for me to drop out of the real world, but if the music is too complex (classical or many harder contemporary styles) my brain tends to fall into old habits of dissecting the structure of the music, and I find my hands fingering an imaginary guitar neck rather than my keyboard. So I have to choose things that are in that middle ground of interesting but not distracting.
When I listen to music away from my writing, I like everything from the big-hair bands, to modern country. I am a bit eclectic in my tastes I guess.
I have a KILLER headset and could literally miss the end of the world if I’m wearing my phones. It’s nice to be able to shut out noises and distractions that way.
Because I was a musician for most of my life music is a good way for me to drop out of the real world, but if the music is too complex (classical or many harder contemporary styles) my brain tends to fall into old habits of dissecting the structure of the music, and I find my hands fingering an imaginary guitar neck rather than my keyboard. So I have to choose things that are in that middle ground of interesting but not distracting.
When I listen to music away from my writing, I like everything from the big-hair bands, to modern country. I am a bit eclectic in my tastes I guess.
Eric Michael Craig
My father was a would-be SF writer before I was born, and even though he never published a book he was also an avid fan (and created one in me). I learned to read early and cut my teeth on Heinlein and Andre Norton. They set me on this path, so they might be considered my greatest influence, even though I don’t think my writing resembles much of the stuff I read early (SF was considerably more “pulpy” back in those days and I hope my work now doesn’t fit that description!).
My modern influences are harder to nail down.
Jack McDevitt is on that list certainly (Moonfall in particular), and so is Larry Niven. Maybe I’d throw in some Michael Crichton too (though I am not a fan of the idea that science and technology are the enemy).
My modern influences are harder to nail down.
Jack McDevitt is on that list certainly (Moonfall in particular), and so is Larry Niven. Maybe I’d throw in some Michael Crichton too (though I am not a fan of the idea that science and technology are the enemy).
Eric Michael Craig
In the short-term I’d say the chances are probably not too great, but as time goes on the likelihood of earth facing a catastrophic asteroid impact approaches certainty. It’s really a game of numbers (and being a bit of a geek I did these numbers long before I wrote Stormhaven Rising and Prometheus and the Dragon).
On any single day, your odds of seeing a global scale asteroid event are miniscule. But where we can put it in perspective, is when you look at the cumulative chances across time, and then consider that civilization would still collapse in the aftermath of an event much smaller than a “planet killer” or extinction level event.
If you asked me, what are the chances of seeing an asteroid strike big enough to wipe out civilization … in my lifetime … then the shocking truth is the odds of that happening are better than your odds of winning the US Powerball Lottery.
It’s a game of Russian Roulette where the only question is whether we’re looking down the barrel of a .22 or a Howitzer. At this point, given where humanity stands both could be deadly, even if one is quicker than the other.
BUT this does not mean we can’t work NOW to reduce our risk … if we plan early and work diligently, we CAN make sure we don’t have all our collective eggs in one basket, and we CAN develop technologies to deflect any future bullets coming our way.
On any single day, your odds of seeing a global scale asteroid event are miniscule. But where we can put it in perspective, is when you look at the cumulative chances across time, and then consider that civilization would still collapse in the aftermath of an event much smaller than a “planet killer” or extinction level event.
If you asked me, what are the chances of seeing an asteroid strike big enough to wipe out civilization … in my lifetime … then the shocking truth is the odds of that happening are better than your odds of winning the US Powerball Lottery.
It’s a game of Russian Roulette where the only question is whether we’re looking down the barrel of a .22 or a Howitzer. At this point, given where humanity stands both could be deadly, even if one is quicker than the other.
BUT this does not mean we can’t work NOW to reduce our risk … if we plan early and work diligently, we CAN make sure we don’t have all our collective eggs in one basket, and we CAN develop technologies to deflect any future bullets coming our way.
Eric Michael Craig
Shadows in the Flame is the third book in my series Atlas and the Winds. It is slated for release in December 2016.
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