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10 November 2010
By Kourosh Ziabari
Born in Grenada in the Caribbean, Tobias Buckell is a
New York Times Best-Seller science fiction and
speculative fiction author. Having lived in Ohio since
1995, Buckell started submitting his writings to
magazines and newspapers since he was in high school.
He sold his first short story in an early age and
continued selling stories to the American magazines
since then. He has published four novels of which the
most prominent ones are "Crystal Rain" and "Sly
Mongoose". He has also written several short stories
including "On The Eve of the Fall of Habesh" which was
published in November 2010. Buckell is a professional
blogger who writes on different issues concerning
science fiction literature. In 2008, he donated his
book archive to the department of Rare Books and
Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Tobias joined me in an exclusive interview and
answered my questions on his career as a science
fiction author, the characteristics of a successful
author and his motivations for working on science
fiction literature.
Kourosh Ziabari: You started writing and submitting
short stories while attending high school. How did
this early experience of engagement with literature
contribute to your professional career as a science
fiction author?
Tobias Buckell: I think it let me break in to print
much earlier than most authors. I had a ten year head
start. But I also got very dedicated to reading as
much as possible, during a period of my life when you
have a lot of time. I was reading as many as two books
a day for most of my young adult life, which let me
absorb a great deal of story and story structure.
Again, this allowed me to jump ahead a bit.
KZ: What motivated you to become a science fiction
author? What is in science fiction that persuades and
inspires you to follow it? How is the feeling of
creating a science fiction work?
TB: I love the big ideas that come in science fiction.
They're so large scale, it just grabs the imagination.
I always feel, after a good science fiction book, that
my mind has been expanded somewhat. I always sought
that feeling as a reader. Now I try to give that back
to my own readers.
KZ: You have been the author of the sixth novel in
the Halo book series titled "Halo: The Cole Protocol".
A science fiction video game franchise was produced on
the basis of this book series. What's the significance
of creating video games according to science fiction
works? Does it have a special impact on the children
and young adults who are supposed to be the main
addressees of such games?
TB: The video game came first, and the books were
based on it. I was a fan of the video game, so was
very flattered when I was asked to write a book based
in the universe of the game, as I had many ideas about
things I wanted to know more about. Getting a chance
to make them up was really cool.
I think the people who read books based on the video
games do it because they're getting a guarantee that
the books will be fun and exciting, like the
videogame. I think a lot of people who were forced to
read in school assume books are dull, and they might
read books based on a video game because they assume
that the people associated with the game won't be
boring.
KZ: Having in mind the traditional styles of
writing in the past decades when technology hadn't yet
penetrated into the lifestyle of authors and writers,
what's your estimation of the developments which have
taken place in the styles and methods of writing? Can
we imagine a world in which the authors and writers
put aside the paper and pen completely?
TB: Well, I pretty much rarely use pen and paper. I've
always used a computer of some sort, starting with a
Brother Word Processor machine when I first started
writing stories. So I can imagine this already!
KZ: What's your estimation of the impact of Jules
Verne on the modern science fiction? Many critics
believe that he ushered in a new approach to science
fiction. What's your idea about that?
TB: Verne's focus on the machine, and developing more
rigorous 'what if' sort of science fiction has
remained with us. Hard science fiction still tries to
tell a story that is scientifically plausible, much
like Verne did.
KZ: Have you ever been inspired by a specific
writer whom you believe has introduced something new
and innovative to the world of science fiction? What
will be your top five popular science fiction books if
you're asked to name them?
TB: I was very inspired by the Cyberpunk writers:
Sterling, Gibson, et al, who showed a very blue collar
sort of science fiction that was a bit more global
than I'd been reading. They inspired me to get writing
myself. Some of my favorite books are Merchanter's
Luck, by C.J. Cherryh, Islands In The Net by Bruce
Sterling, Neuromancer by William Gibson, and A Fire
Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge.
KZ: What are the most essential prerequisites to
become a successful science fiction writer? Does a
prosperous science fiction author need to have a
special expertise?
No special expertise, but certainly having an area of
expertise somewhere is important, I believe. That's
your foundation to build on.
KZ: In one of your interviews, you alluded to the
Isaac Asimov's method for writing. He would work on a
project on a typewriter, and then leave it unfinished,
switching to another project on another typewriter. Is
this a habit of intelligent and genius people to start
several works simultaneously and leave all of them
unfinished at a same time? What part of this method
persuaded you to adopt it during your recovery time?
TB: Lots of smart people have lots of different
methods, I believe. I was interested in adopting
Asimov's method of writing on multiple projects
because I wanted to only work on things when I was
excited about them. By having multiple projects
around, I could switch to different ones as I got
bored and maintain my interest.
KZ: What's your prediction for the future of
science fiction? What trends are going to emerge?
Which features are going to be added to science
fiction? Does the development of technology accelerate
the development of science fiction?
TB: Well, at least one trend I think we're seeing is
more global voices in science fiction, as the internet
has joined us all up. Taking the conversation into a
global forum is very exciting.
KZ: Your best-selling novel Crystal Rain has
attracted international attention and received wide
admiration. Can you tell us a little about the story,
its synopsis, the motivation behind writing it and
your viewpoint regarding the international
appreciation of it?
TB: I call Crystal Rain a far future Caribbean lost
colony novel. I play with steampunk and alternate
history tropes in it. It's about a colony of Caribbean
colonists who've settled a far away world that has
been cut off from contact with the rest of the galaxy,
and has gotten involved in a centuries old fight
between aliens warring over control of the planet.
KZ: For the final question, I want to ask you about
the expectations you have of a well-structured,
substantiated and interesting science fiction work.
Should it be ornamented with too many technical,
scientific terms and facts? Should the imaginary
aspect prevail over the other parts? What's your
viewpoint?
TB: That's such a complicated question. All I ask is
for a work to be interesting. That can be anything.
Sometimes we use the technical stuff to headily
explore the future. But sometimes we can just use the
'furniture' of science fiction to tell a metaphorical
tale, and that's okay as well. |
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