Dev Blog 2: The Art of Conflating Fact, Fiction, and Those Things Somewhere In Between
Set in our present but heavily centered on the ideas that will shape combat and spy games -- as well as the world at large in the years to come -- Engines of Extinction is admittedly something of a balance act.
My personal opinion, my hope, and my professional gamble is that it will appeal to both those who are interested in learning more about real-world black ops and modern special operations, as well as those who enjoy richly detailed, grounded science fiction.
Of course, the risk is that the nonfiction types won't want the near-future tech and ideas blended in with the genuine information, and the sci-fit types will find the work a little too real for their tastes. This is especially tricky as the series grows increasingly speculative as it goes, which may require a bit of trust and patience from both sides of the potential readership.
I'll say right up front, the lines separating fact and fiction will be hopelessly and continually blurred. Rather than a handicap, that's EoE's hook.
Today's reality has long since moved into what's typically thought of as science fiction -- after all, our nation's preferred method of waging precision warfare has involved the utilization of flying killer robots operated from the other side of the planet for more than a decade now.
Simple drone strikes don't even make the paper these days. The true leading edge of science and technology is a magnitude crazier than that and already impacting your world on a daily basis... in nearly mundane fashion. Right here at facebook, advanced deep-learning algorithms can identify you in photos with no prompting with 97.25% accuracy -- effectively just as good as humans (97.53%) can. It was a bit spooky the first time facebook recommended I tag a specific person in a photo I was looking at.
As impressive as that trick is, the latest developments in deep-learning AIs go beyond simple identification and actually discern context from photos. The implications of that are far spookier.
As a result, the next step of developments can be believably incorporated into this new reality in such a way that they feel utterly real.
In some cases, sussing fact from fiction should prove nearly impossible in Engines of Extinction, making it all the easier to simply accept as real (or at least, real-ish) -- and that's the goal. Keep your brain turned on, but allow yourself to enjoy the ride.
On a semi-related note… one of the major selling points of the thrillers written by real-deal operators such as former Delta Force officers and current-day NY Times Best Sellers Dalton Fury and Brad Taylor is the understanding that they are able to work in some of their personal experiences into their fiction. This makes the work not just more authentic, but it also provides a glimpse into the sort of classified work that is deemed too sensitive to share in straight-ahead nonfiction.
Clearly, Fury and Taylor's credentials far outstrip mine in this area. However, I will say that EoE's military backing is not merely fueled by the same research that served as the foundation for Shaping the World from the Shadows, Beyond Neptune Spear, a planned third installment about CIA SAD/SOG, FBI HRT, and govt. contractors that was actually absorbed by Engines of Extinction, and Modern American Snipers.
In fact, my extensive interviews of SOF veterans have turned up some previously unreported facts and sentiments from some of America's most decorated warriors -- some of which most definitely fall into that 'too sensitive to share in straight-ahead nonfiction' category.
And some of those nuggets will most certainly find their way to the light in the guise of EoE's brand of military sci-fi. But good luck untangling them from the series' web of fact, fiction, and the shifting state of those things that fall somewhere in between.
My personal opinion, my hope, and my professional gamble is that it will appeal to both those who are interested in learning more about real-world black ops and modern special operations, as well as those who enjoy richly detailed, grounded science fiction.
Of course, the risk is that the nonfiction types won't want the near-future tech and ideas blended in with the genuine information, and the sci-fit types will find the work a little too real for their tastes. This is especially tricky as the series grows increasingly speculative as it goes, which may require a bit of trust and patience from both sides of the potential readership.
I'll say right up front, the lines separating fact and fiction will be hopelessly and continually blurred. Rather than a handicap, that's EoE's hook.
Today's reality has long since moved into what's typically thought of as science fiction -- after all, our nation's preferred method of waging precision warfare has involved the utilization of flying killer robots operated from the other side of the planet for more than a decade now.
Simple drone strikes don't even make the paper these days. The true leading edge of science and technology is a magnitude crazier than that and already impacting your world on a daily basis... in nearly mundane fashion. Right here at facebook, advanced deep-learning algorithms can identify you in photos with no prompting with 97.25% accuracy -- effectively just as good as humans (97.53%) can. It was a bit spooky the first time facebook recommended I tag a specific person in a photo I was looking at.
As impressive as that trick is, the latest developments in deep-learning AIs go beyond simple identification and actually discern context from photos. The implications of that are far spookier.
As a result, the next step of developments can be believably incorporated into this new reality in such a way that they feel utterly real.
In some cases, sussing fact from fiction should prove nearly impossible in Engines of Extinction, making it all the easier to simply accept as real (or at least, real-ish) -- and that's the goal. Keep your brain turned on, but allow yourself to enjoy the ride.
On a semi-related note… one of the major selling points of the thrillers written by real-deal operators such as former Delta Force officers and current-day NY Times Best Sellers Dalton Fury and Brad Taylor is the understanding that they are able to work in some of their personal experiences into their fiction. This makes the work not just more authentic, but it also provides a glimpse into the sort of classified work that is deemed too sensitive to share in straight-ahead nonfiction.
Clearly, Fury and Taylor's credentials far outstrip mine in this area. However, I will say that EoE's military backing is not merely fueled by the same research that served as the foundation for Shaping the World from the Shadows, Beyond Neptune Spear, a planned third installment about CIA SAD/SOG, FBI HRT, and govt. contractors that was actually absorbed by Engines of Extinction, and Modern American Snipers.
In fact, my extensive interviews of SOF veterans have turned up some previously unreported facts and sentiments from some of America's most decorated warriors -- some of which most definitely fall into that 'too sensitive to share in straight-ahead nonfiction' category.
And some of those nuggets will most certainly find their way to the light in the guise of EoE's brand of military sci-fi. But good luck untangling them from the series' web of fact, fiction, and the shifting state of those things that fall somewhere in between.
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