Fun 5 - 'Nexus' by Nicolas Wilson
Today Nicolas Wilson is answering my Fun 5 questions on his book 'Nexus'.
Nexus
Fun 5 Q & A:
Can you give us a one sentence synopsis that sums up your story?
A corporation builds a star ship to seek out new worlds and secure mining rights while their guinea pig crew weighs the ethics of the corporate forced breeding scheme and the things they’re being told to do to the aliens.
What do you want your readers to get out of the book?
Enjoyment.
But since it’s not my microphone, I won’t drop it and walk out. Seriously, entertainment is the most important thing. I think there’s some weighty topics discussed, as well, all manner of ethical issues and things about self-determination and the relationship of employers and employees, and if people think the occasional big thought, then great. But there’s lots of space laser fights, space piracy and alien sex.
What message lies at the heart of your story?
I think it’s ultimately a story about how society organizes itself. At the beginning, the ship has been hand-picked by human resources staff using dry criteria to decide who can best push the futuristic spaceship buttons. By the end it’s become a functional community with its own organizing values and principles. So maybe the message is to play nice, lest someone fire you out of an airlock.
What makes this book different from others in the genre?
I think there’s an awareness to the characters that’s rarely seen in the genre. Star Trek, for example, doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the impact of showing up on other species' doorsteps unannounced. In fact, the series as a whole plays out a lot like a series of simplified chess-games played by a gaggle of dimwits while the rest of the universe gawps. Not that I’m mocking it, mind- Star Trek at least manages to have gotten away from the completely human-centric story-telling and as often as not was more budget-constrained when it comes to designing and utilizing exotic species, as opposed to, say, Star Wars. But I like to think I still bring enough of the 'splodo and giant rampaging alien monsters to make it fun and exciting.
How bad is your bad guy, on a scale of mildly fiendish to brutally evil?
I think most of my villains, in this novel and in general, tend towards the Magneto part of the scale. By that I mean to say ‘evil’ as a concept is too simplistic. A character should want something, whether it’s survival for their race or world peace or to collect all the doll heads in the entire world. Because of that, my villains- and there are I would say there are between 4 and 5 at various points of this novel- can be horrifically evil, or simply antagonistic, depending on the amount of murder/betrayal/puppy-stomping they think they need to do to reach their goals.
Nexus
Fun 5 Q & A:
Can you give us a one sentence synopsis that sums up your story?
A corporation builds a star ship to seek out new worlds and secure mining rights while their guinea pig crew weighs the ethics of the corporate forced breeding scheme and the things they’re being told to do to the aliens.
What do you want your readers to get out of the book?
Enjoyment.
But since it’s not my microphone, I won’t drop it and walk out. Seriously, entertainment is the most important thing. I think there’s some weighty topics discussed, as well, all manner of ethical issues and things about self-determination and the relationship of employers and employees, and if people think the occasional big thought, then great. But there’s lots of space laser fights, space piracy and alien sex.
What message lies at the heart of your story?
I think it’s ultimately a story about how society organizes itself. At the beginning, the ship has been hand-picked by human resources staff using dry criteria to decide who can best push the futuristic spaceship buttons. By the end it’s become a functional community with its own organizing values and principles. So maybe the message is to play nice, lest someone fire you out of an airlock.
What makes this book different from others in the genre?
I think there’s an awareness to the characters that’s rarely seen in the genre. Star Trek, for example, doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the impact of showing up on other species' doorsteps unannounced. In fact, the series as a whole plays out a lot like a series of simplified chess-games played by a gaggle of dimwits while the rest of the universe gawps. Not that I’m mocking it, mind- Star Trek at least manages to have gotten away from the completely human-centric story-telling and as often as not was more budget-constrained when it comes to designing and utilizing exotic species, as opposed to, say, Star Wars. But I like to think I still bring enough of the 'splodo and giant rampaging alien monsters to make it fun and exciting.
How bad is your bad guy, on a scale of mildly fiendish to brutally evil?
I think most of my villains, in this novel and in general, tend towards the Magneto part of the scale. By that I mean to say ‘evil’ as a concept is too simplistic. A character should want something, whether it’s survival for their race or world peace or to collect all the doll heads in the entire world. Because of that, my villains- and there are I would say there are between 4 and 5 at various points of this novel- can be horrifically evil, or simply antagonistic, depending on the amount of murder/betrayal/puppy-stomping they think they need to do to reach their goals.
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