Ian Lewis's Blog: Ian Lewis Fiction - Posts Tagged "artificial-intelligence-ai"
Power in the Hands of One: In Retrospect
I wrote Power in the Hands of One circa 2009. I wasn't certain whether it would ever see the light of day, so I'm excited about its release with Untreed Reads, even if it coincidentally bumps up against Pacific Rim this summer.
At any rate, it's fun to go back and read after letting it sit for awhile. I still get sucked in every time; I find myself not able to put it down despite the fact that I know what's going to happen. This is one aspect of the story that I'm really happy with. The reader is compelled to keep turning the page at the end of each chapter--even this reader!
It's also interesting to recall what initially drove the story and what it ultimately became. I had been watching old episodes of Voltron and The Big O on DVD and decided to write a giant robot story. I wanted to capture some of the magic I remembered watching Voltron as a kid as well as some of the intrigue from The Big O, which I stumbled upon years later. Both of those shows influenced the story, in some ways more overtly than others. For example, the dialogue for Thomas Worthington, the story's reclusive super-genius, was inspired by the rhetoric of Schwarzwald from The Big O.
Despite the story's fantastic aspects, I still wanted to keep the technology as believable as possible. The majority of the features and weaponry were based on actual technology that exists today or semblances thereof. Metamaterials, programmable matter, pulsed energy projectiles--they all exist, albeit in less advanced forms than in the book. Even the coma weapon has its roots in the Active Denial Systems used by the Military.
In the end, the story evolved into a commentary on moral relativism--essentially the premise that no matter how content one is with not taking a stance on something, one will admit to absolutes when pressed. I chose to leverage two view points which were polar opposites in order to create this type of conflict for Troy, the viewpoint character, rather than actually digging into the right or wrong of any of the viewpoints or characters.
So there you have it--my first (published) foray into sci-fi. I hope you as the reader enjoy it, even if you've never heard, "Activate interlock! Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Mega thrusters are go!"
At any rate, it's fun to go back and read after letting it sit for awhile. I still get sucked in every time; I find myself not able to put it down despite the fact that I know what's going to happen. This is one aspect of the story that I'm really happy with. The reader is compelled to keep turning the page at the end of each chapter--even this reader!
It's also interesting to recall what initially drove the story and what it ultimately became. I had been watching old episodes of Voltron and The Big O on DVD and decided to write a giant robot story. I wanted to capture some of the magic I remembered watching Voltron as a kid as well as some of the intrigue from The Big O, which I stumbled upon years later. Both of those shows influenced the story, in some ways more overtly than others. For example, the dialogue for Thomas Worthington, the story's reclusive super-genius, was inspired by the rhetoric of Schwarzwald from The Big O.
Despite the story's fantastic aspects, I still wanted to keep the technology as believable as possible. The majority of the features and weaponry were based on actual technology that exists today or semblances thereof. Metamaterials, programmable matter, pulsed energy projectiles--they all exist, albeit in less advanced forms than in the book. Even the coma weapon has its roots in the Active Denial Systems used by the Military.
In the end, the story evolved into a commentary on moral relativism--essentially the premise that no matter how content one is with not taking a stance on something, one will admit to absolutes when pressed. I chose to leverage two view points which were polar opposites in order to create this type of conflict for Troy, the viewpoint character, rather than actually digging into the right or wrong of any of the viewpoints or characters.
So there you have it--my first (published) foray into sci-fi. I hope you as the reader enjoy it, even if you've never heard, "Activate interlock! Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Mega thrusters are go!"
