Ask the Author: Ian J. Miller
Answered Questions (14)
Ian J. Miller
This is a rather complicated question because if you look at them they sort of qualify as a series for a future history, which means in part they depend on what came before on the timeline. However, I did not start at the beginning. The first one I wrote was "Miranda's Demons", which is set as the second-last one. The premise was what would happen if a battered fragment of an alien battle fleet that was on the losing side arrived in our solar system.
The next problem was the nature of society, so what I took was one of J. K. Galbraith's predictions of what would happen to the economies of the world, given that corporations were getting bigger and bigger. The next step was that since the situation was too asymmetric, I needed some way that similar alien technology came to help, and that had to be on the other side of the battle. To get that, I needed a human, and because I was determined to be as near as possible to being scientifically accurate, here was a chance to show the consequences of relativity. So one of my heroes was to be a Roman. As for the characters and places, I had them come from places on Earth that I had been close to. Since I had been interested in the solar system from a child, the background there was easy. But when I sent it off, first it was rejected (what I didn't know was that it was too long for any publisher to take on then as an initial effort) and then I ran into the problem that I had made a specific "prediction" by looking back on how the USSR would collapse about 2020. Oops. So I shelved it and worked on earlier ones, and these tended to be on how to get to that place.
That led to the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy as a prequel, However, the next effort was "Red Gold" - how to colonize Mars, and how the economies started to move towards the end position. Then there were three prequels to that, each written as stand-alone. "The Manganese Dilemma" was written independently, in the present, as a thriller, and one day I might try another.
So, basically that is it. "Ranh" was written as a sequel to Miranda, and also as a chance to have a high-tech lot of dinosaurs, so fun is also part of how I try to write.
The next problem was the nature of society, so what I took was one of J. K. Galbraith's predictions of what would happen to the economies of the world, given that corporations were getting bigger and bigger. The next step was that since the situation was too asymmetric, I needed some way that similar alien technology came to help, and that had to be on the other side of the battle. To get that, I needed a human, and because I was determined to be as near as possible to being scientifically accurate, here was a chance to show the consequences of relativity. So one of my heroes was to be a Roman. As for the characters and places, I had them come from places on Earth that I had been close to. Since I had been interested in the solar system from a child, the background there was easy. But when I sent it off, first it was rejected (what I didn't know was that it was too long for any publisher to take on then as an initial effort) and then I ran into the problem that I had made a specific "prediction" by looking back on how the USSR would collapse about 2020. Oops. So I shelved it and worked on earlier ones, and these tended to be on how to get to that place.
That led to the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy as a prequel, However, the next effort was "Red Gold" - how to colonize Mars, and how the economies started to move towards the end position. Then there were three prequels to that, each written as stand-alone. "The Manganese Dilemma" was written independently, in the present, as a thriller, and one day I might try another.
So, basically that is it. "Ranh" was written as a sequel to Miranda, and also as a chance to have a high-tech lot of dinosaurs, so fun is also part of how I try to write.
Ian J. Miller
Since I always answer questions, thanks for the question :-)
Ian J. Miller
Oh dear! Two sentences?? As an aside I saw a review of one book which asserted the author had a whole novel as one sentence, and no commas! Anyway, the good news is my writing tends not to be intense on description, and thus leaving something to the imagination, so with that, try this. (Feel free to criticise) I shall call it, "The Enticing Cave"
Despite two decades of caving, Jim had sensed this cave was different from any other he had seen, and now, deep inside he saw his first evidence: the stalagmites were not directly below the stalactites. He was soon to understand why when a terrible graunching noise started, a thick viscous liquid exuded from the floor and walls, and the cave roof began descending so that the stalactites and stalagmites would finely mesh together.
Despite two decades of caving, Jim had sensed this cave was different from any other he had seen, and now, deep inside he saw his first evidence: the stalagmites were not directly below the stalactites. He was soon to understand why when a terrible graunching noise started, a thick viscous liquid exuded from the floor and walls, and the cave roof began descending so that the stalactites and stalagmites would finely mesh together.
Ian J. Miller
What an intriguing question. My first thought was to pick a historical novel and go back and fix something, but then I thought, hold on, you can't change real history. (I did that in my Gaius Claudius Scaevola series, which actually takes 5 books to resolve itself, and look what happened 😟) Then I thought, go to some alien planet and . . . Then I finally thought to myself, how would I like it if someone went to one of my novels and fixed something, which then wrecked the plot? If I were to hate someone for spoiling my plots, then I MUST NOT spoil other authors' plots. And since it is very difficult not to accidentally do something (as in my GCS series) very reluctantly I thought just maybe I should stay where I am.
If I could absolutely guarantee not to be seen or to do anything, I would really like to spy on ancient Rome, though.
If I could absolutely guarantee not to be seen or to do anything, I would really like to spy on ancient Rome, though.
Ian J. Miller
This may see an odd answer, but I don't have any. First reason - summer is a long way away - I live in the southern hemisphere, and as they say in "Game of Thrones" ads here, winter is approaching. But also, what I like to do is to find some indie writers and help them out with a review, which means I don't usually have lists and the purchases are more impulsive. I do this largely in the hope others might do the same for some of my books. (I am definitely a net giver on this score.) I am also a sucker for dead tree books from the local stores in what I call the "realistic SciFi genre, books on ancient Rome, and thrillers.
Ian J. Miller
My policy as a reviewer goes like this. As an author myself, I know you can't get it all right, and I know that unless you have an awful lot of sales, which most authors (including me) do not have, the costs of hiring professional editors gets out of hand. So as long as the errors do not turn up sufficiently frequently to annoy me, I don't mention it. Sorry, but unfortunately the first note I made of your book was it needs better editing. There is nowhere that I can refer you to, and this methodology is merely personal and how I felt at the time. As a writer, my policy is to do the best I can, and hope it is adequate. What I tend to do is to go over the draft repeatedly until I am convinced that there is nothing much more I could do to improve it, as opposed to changing it.
Ian J. Miller
I don't know about mysteries but there have certainly been events. In 1971 I joined the national chemistry laboratory in New Zealand, and became something of a reasonably high flier. Then, in response to the energy crisis, and the fact that the New Zealand government had supported energy exploration and a major gas field had been discovered, they made a financial commitment to buy so much gas, nominally for electricity production. However, there was no electricity shortage, but there was a severe shortage of petrol/diesel, so they decided to put out tenders to construct a synthetic fuels plant. I got yanked into a meeting to give a scientific opinion on the tenders. It soon became obvious the decision had already been made, and it was a bad one. I argued against it, but was told to go away.
Anyway, such a plant was constructed, and it made a byproduct, durene, which could be converted into an intermediate for high temperature plastics. One of the purposes of this laboratory was to find and assist the growth of new technology for the economy, so I started an individual campaign to use this byproduct. One of my treasured possessions is a glass "egg" in a brass "egg cup" given to me by others in the lab after I was described by the Head of my department as an eccentric, and this was written up in the journal "Nature". It also indicated to me that my future in that job was not exactly bright, so while I persisted with this, I eventually quit that, set up my own research company, and with an associated company began setting up a company with a joint venture with ICI, then one of the world's biggest chemical companies, to make this intermediate. What followed was one of the most bizarre sequences imaginable because the politicians held control, and they had no idea what to do or how to do it. Eventually we goaded them into selling the byproduct so it could be processed, but after we had invested about $5 million they tore up the supply agreement and transferred the plant to a private company that had been a competitor, who then did nothing with the byproduct.
All of this filled in several diaries, in case I ever write an autobiography, but it also gave me the feeling that I understood some people given high positions outside their ability to do things, and that included most politicians, so I thought I would start writing a novel. The result was "Miranda's Demons", but here the story got too big for these sorts of characters, although somewhere in the middle of the book there is a scene where three Commissioners (in the 23rd century) look back on democracy as a form of government. I allowed myself a few lines of letting off steam there :-)
Anyway, such a plant was constructed, and it made a byproduct, durene, which could be converted into an intermediate for high temperature plastics. One of the purposes of this laboratory was to find and assist the growth of new technology for the economy, so I started an individual campaign to use this byproduct. One of my treasured possessions is a glass "egg" in a brass "egg cup" given to me by others in the lab after I was described by the Head of my department as an eccentric, and this was written up in the journal "Nature". It also indicated to me that my future in that job was not exactly bright, so while I persisted with this, I eventually quit that, set up my own research company, and with an associated company began setting up a company with a joint venture with ICI, then one of the world's biggest chemical companies, to make this intermediate. What followed was one of the most bizarre sequences imaginable because the politicians held control, and they had no idea what to do or how to do it. Eventually we goaded them into selling the byproduct so it could be processed, but after we had invested about $5 million they tore up the supply agreement and transferred the plant to a private company that had been a competitor, who then did nothing with the byproduct.
All of this filled in several diaries, in case I ever write an autobiography, but it also gave me the feeling that I understood some people given high positions outside their ability to do things, and that included most politicians, so I thought I would start writing a novel. The result was "Miranda's Demons", but here the story got too big for these sorts of characters, although somewhere in the middle of the book there is a scene where three Commissioners (in the 23rd century) look back on democracy as a form of government. I allowed myself a few lines of letting off steam there :-)
Ian J. Miller
This question takes me a bit by surprise because I am not sure what you mean by favourite. Given that I interpret this as which couple made the greatest impact on me, that would be Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Vronsky. Nowhere else have I seen such deep personal failings, and more importantly, the inabiity to see the failings of the other. They make me realize that for writing character I should do better than I do, but I find I cannot come anywhere close to Tolstoy. My personal failure.
Ian J. Miller
Sit down and think. Imagine a scene. Imagine a problem. Don't force it. If you cannot think of something worth writing about, keep thinking.
Ian J. Miller
In my case, I am semiretired, so writing gives me a way to help fill in the day. You also get a thrill when you finish something successfully, especially if some other readers think it is good.
Ian J. Miller
I know this sounds awful, but simply back yourself and write. Make sure you have a good grasp of grammar (you won't be perfect, but you must be adequate) then when you finish your first work, accept this will not be any good as is. Revise. Revise again. Joining a writer's group is often a good idea. basically it is hard work, and success requires determination.
Ian J. Miller
Two things. The first is "Troubles". I got a five star review on Smashwords, but a complaint about poor editing, so I have taken the original file and I am correcting a few awful blotches. I am also giving it a new cover.
The second is a novel in between "Puppeteer" and "Troubles" called "'Bot War". In "Puppeteer" the world had serious troubles with debt and terrorism etc, and in "Troubles" the world was coming out of anarchy. This story tells how the troubled economies collapsed, partly due to terrorism, but also due to governments being so debt-ridden that services ceased and the public simply rebelled. The 'bots are robotic war machines hijacked by terrorists.
The second is a novel in between "Puppeteer" and "Troubles" called "'Bot War". In "Puppeteer" the world had serious troubles with debt and terrorism etc, and in "Troubles" the world was coming out of anarchy. This story tells how the troubled economies collapsed, partly due to terrorism, but also due to governments being so debt-ridden that services ceased and the public simply rebelled. The 'bots are robotic war machines hijacked by terrorists.
Ian J. Miller
Basically, when I am doing something else that is not very mentally taxing, I try to imagine situations that might be in a story. Once I have a few, I try to put scenes around them, and then it is basically hard work joining it all together into a story.
Ian J. Miller
The Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy started with humanity essentially wiped out in the 24th or 25th century, due to temporal interference from a satellite. This set off the trilogy, and this was followed by Miranda's Demons, where everything came together, but there was still the question of why was humanity going to be exterminated in their future? The answer was a nearby planet, Ranh, which was home to evolved dinosaurs transferred from Earth in the late Cretaceous by advanced aliens, and who had evolved into a theocracy. (They had to be created - there were no fossils that were older than 70 million years old.) So the plot is obvious - can three humans who go there in advanced space ships save humanity, and how?
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