John Scalzi is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning speculative fiction author whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages. He has also worked as a creative consultant for the Stargate: Universe television series, a writer for the video game Midnight Star, and is a former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His latest novel is The Last Emperox, which is the conclusion of his Interdependency Series, and he recently agreed to talk about it and the series with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for The Interdependency Series?
Aside from the desire to pay my bills—which is a very real inspiration! do not knock it!—several years ago I was musing on the European age of exploration between the 15th and 18th centuries and wondered how the world would have been different if the trade winds and ocean currents had stopped working and Europe’s access to the New World had been curtailed. From there I sort of mapped that concept into space (with, to be clear, some rather substantial changes) and here we are.
Are Cardenia Wu-Patrick, Marce Claremont, Kiva Lagos, Nadashe Nohamapetan, or any of the other characters in the series inspired by or based on specific individuals?
I don’t have a tendency to create characters who are based after anyone in the real world, the one exception being Jane Sagan of the Old Man’s War series; Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, Zoe’s Tale, who is rather substantially patterned after my wife. So, no, they’re not. I can say that Marce Claremont is named after the city of Claremont, which is in LA County, and where I went to high school.
How did this series evolve and change as you wrote and revised it? Are there any characters, scenes or storylines that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published version?
Nothing was lost because I write fairly cleanly and also in this series I had a pretty good idea where things were going to go. The only major thing that was lost was that when I started writing, I tried to make the use of language more…not me, I guess. That failed pretty horribly, so I chucked out what I wrote and wrote more like me. Plot and characters the same, however.
When, in the process of writing, did you realize that you had a trilogy instead of the originally planned pair of books and how did you know?
When I got about a third of the way through the second book and thought “Oh, well, this isn’t going to wrap up in the next 60,000 words, I guess I have to write another book.” To be clear, the original idea was to write the collapse of the empire in all one book, and then the second book would be to come back 5,000 years later and see what happened. But then I got too interested in what was happening “now.”
What’s currently on your nightstand?
Nothing! Because we just did a little spring cleaning and that included my nightstand. However, in my backpack, I have By Force Alone, the new book by Lavie Tidhar, and The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I was very fond of both the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark Is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, Silver on the Tree, and the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
No, never. The rule in the house was, if I could reach it, I could read it. I had the same rule for my daughter.
Can you name your top five favorite or most influential authors?
“Favorite” and “Most Influential” are two different things! One’s about what one enjoys for entertainment and the other is about who you learn from. They may overlap but they’re not the same. Also, no, I can’t, because the answers to both changes over time. That’s the magic of reading, and writing.
What is a book you've faked reading?
I don’t fake reading books. I’m okay with admitting I haven’t read something. If someone tries to shame me for not reading a particular book, it will go poorly for them. And anyway there are more books than any one person will ever read. Accept it and read books you hope to enjoy.
Can you name a book you've bought for the cover?
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin. Turns out the inside was pretty great, too.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Probably, The People’s Almanac, by Irving Wallace and David Wallechinsky. It came out when I was six and I thought it contained all the knowledge in the world. When the second book in the series came out a couple of years later I was flabbergasted.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
I don’t there’s anyone book that is great for everyone. People are so different and no book should bear the burden of having to mean something to each of them. I try to recommend books based on what I think the person will like, or appreciate, or learn from. That said, you can’t go very wrong with a collection of Calvin and Hobbes.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
No, because even if I had wiped the memory of a particular book from my brain, I am a different person today than when I was when I first read whatever book I might think of. I’m different at 50 than I was at 15, or 25, or even at 40. It would still be a different experience. I’m content to have the first time be the only first time.
What is your idea of THE perfect day (where you could go anywhere/meet with anyone)?
My perfect day is being with my family, writing a little, reading a little and enjoying each other’s company, and maybe later in the day friends come over and we hang out. The good news for me is that I get to have a lot of perfect days!
What is the question that you’re always hoping you’ll be asked, but never have been? What is your answer?
“Would you like to magically have the hair you had at seventeen?” And the answer is: well, it looked like 80s feathered hair, but I’m bald now, so sure, let me have it back and then I would see what I could do with it. Note: I don’t mind at all being bald, but I think it would be fun to walk around with a full head of hair just to freak everybody out.
What are you working on now?
Lots of stuff, including a new novel. I will be working on a novel for the foreseeable future. Hopefully many different novels, not just the same one. That would not be great.
