[AOTM] - Interview with Brian Dorsey / Gateway

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Your Borg Queen loves assimilating authors into our awesome sci-fi loving collective reading about what insanity drove somebody to set down 150,000 words to a page inspired our great Space Opera Fans authors to write the stories we love to read.

Brian Dorsey, author of Gateway, has been the first to answer our call that resistance is futile to let us peek underneath the warp drives and learn about the story-behind-the-story. Therefore, without further ado, I give you Brian Dorsey.



Don't forget to hop on over to the discussion thread after to shout out if you're reading this great book.

Discussion thread is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Be epic!
Anna Erishkigal


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Interview with Brian Dorsey:


1. What books have most influenced your life?

From a science fiction perspective I would say two books I read as a youth opened by eyes to the genre. These were A Canticle for Leibowitz by Miller and Foundation by Asimov. Recently, I have really enjoyed Old Man's War by Scalzi as well. The most influential books, however, were history and anthropological works. Although not science fiction, they really helped in the creation of the Gateway Universe and the cultures involved. There is a BUNCH of works focusing on Civil War and Native American history that have influenced my writing but I will list a few: Counting Coups and Cutting Horses by McGinnis, This Republic of Suffering by Faust, Ordeal of the Longhouse and Before the Revolution by Richter, The Life of Billy Yank and The Life Johnny Reb by Wiley, and a lot more. I think my early fascination with science fiction, combined with my academic history in social science and history, really help me to look at what creates situations that cause cultural and societal change and then examine how the individual responds. And of course science fiction is the ultimate canvas to do this.

2. How do you develop your plots and characters?

I actually had the basic plot for Gateway in my head about 18 years before I decided to do something about it (and I’m glad I finally did). In further developing the plot, I relied on a combination of old school plot mapping, outlines, and flowcharts, punctuated by flashes of inspiration. The inspiration can come from anywhere…a landscape I see, a song, or even a random encounter with someone. As for characters, I try to create characters that carry the plot along and do so in an interesting way. Once I ‘create’ them, I try to develop a little backstory (which I keep either in my head or notes) for them and then see how their own experiences and the culture I put them in will impact their actions. In other cases, some characters seem to write themselves. A perfect example is Captain Emily Martin. Halfway through writing Gateway, I think I lost control of her and it just seemed like the character made her own decisions that I happened to be writing down.

3. Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book?

Gateway, I hope, will be entertaining on multiple levels. At face value, it is a military-political space drama with the requisite explosions, fight scenes, spacecraft, and hopefully believable science. Below that is an examination of cultures in conflict with themselves and others.
The most fun for me, however, is looking at the individuals dealing with these conflicts-examining how they became who they are and what drives their perspectives of their own culture and society. From that point, I try to bring the individual into conflict with their own socially and culturally ingrained perspectives of themselves and their society. The main character, Major Tyler Stone, is a classic black and white hero-type that suddenly discovers things are not as black and white as he wants them to be and he must balance duty to his civilization and family against his changing perspective of right and wrong-all the while trying to be the ‘honorable’ warrior. And I blow stuff up-a lot of stuff. 


4. We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her?

Tyler Stone (see question 3) is the main protagonist and is modeled after a combination of military leaders I encountered in my 23 years of service. He REALLY wants to do what is right but has to struggle with what happens when the right decision still ends with ‘bad’ things happening or when he learns the right answer for his civilization might not be the honorable answer.

He is also named (Tyler) after a very close family friend that lost his battle with cancer at the age of 14. Near the end, I promised him I would name a character after him and after I watched him so bravely fight his disease, the least I could do was name the lead character after him. (In fact, 10% of all of my first year profit is going to the American Cancer Society).

Two other characters give Stone a run for his money in Gateway. They are Captain Mori Skye and Captain Emily Martin. These two characters act as opposites to Stone’s struggle with doing the right thing. Martin is the decisive, make-a-decision- and-forget-about –it character without the post-action self-doubt of Stone. Mori Skye on the other hand lives in the ‘greyness’ that Stone dreads.


5. A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain(s) to write this book. Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it?

For the villains, I also looked at some military leaders in my past-this time the bad ones. The Cataline character is obsessed with titles, wealth, and status and will do whatever is needed to maintain the status quo as long as he is at the top. He fears making any decisions that might actually result in the possibility of coming back on him and requiring him to take responsibility. Unfortunately, there are few of those in our military.

Astra Varus is really the manifestation of the dismal state of our own political system. Initially powerful behind the scenes, she wants (and is willing to do what had to be done) to obtain ultimate power. She is brilliant but elitist and never satisfied with what she has and has the skill to manipulate weaker, but powerful, political leaders to help her advance her own agenda.


6. What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

My study of history played a significant role in the development of the worlds in Gateway. The Roman Republic (just prior to the Empire), Native American cultures, the antebellum South are just a few jumping off points for societies you will see in Gateway. Gateway examines the Humani culture which has elements of a late Roman Republic. Book 2 (Saint) will show us more of the Terillian culture which draws from several Native American cultures (as well as the growth of a fundamentalist religious movement), and Book 3 (no title yet) will look into the Xen Empire, which should be reminiscent of the American South in the 1850s. After that….


7. Sci-fi fans love techno-porn! What real-life science (or pseudo-science) did you research for your book?

I didn’t want to go overboard with technical stuff because at its core Gateway is a study of cultures, societies, and people in conflict. That being said, you gotta have the techno-bling. Most of my research came from my background (my day job) as a nuclear engineer with a B.S. in Radiation Physics. (I like school BTW. In addition to the B.S. in Rad Physics, I have B.S. in History, a Masters of Social Science, and have done post graduate work in Emergency Management and U.S. and Native American History)

Space Travel: I dealt with space travel by having the systems involved be in close proximity and using linear accelerator technology. Basically, the free floating metals in space are magnetized and create a massive, expanding rail which the ships travel on at light (not FTL) speed. Basically traveling across known systems would be akin to a trans-Atlantic trip in the 1600s.

Weapons: The same technology is also used for main battery weapons systems. The metals are then concentrated and heated to create plasma bursts. Conventional weapons are still good-ole-fashioned metal bullets in most cases.

Communications: Communication is through a wide range of methods but the high-priority stuff is handled through embedding messages and using electron spin theory to instantly transport data to anywhere in the known galaxy. This takes a lot of power, however, and has very little bandwidth so it is only for the highest priority messages.


8. What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Since this was my first fiction book I would say the hardest part was sharing with people the crazy stuff that comes out of my head. But honestly, I would say the two hardest things for me are creating a good timeline and storyline to hopefully avoid inconsistencies and other typical shortfalls. Secondly, I have scenes that I can’t wait to get to that just inundate my conscious but I also have to write the stuff in between and try to make the story move and stay interesting.
Time is also tough sometimes. I am currently a full time nuclear engineer and part-time adjunct history instructor so time can sometimes be an issue or just an excuse for procrastination or writer’s block.


9. What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

My favorite parts were the ones with Emily Martin. I didn’t plan for her to be as big of a character as she turned out to be but she obviously had something else in mind. Martin is just fun to write. My wife, I think, described her best as ‘a beautiful train wreck, but one that does it with style.’ She is beautiful, talented, intelligent, and driven but also stubborn, troubled, and carrying a TON of baggage.


10. Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

I learned that this is what I want to do, hopefully full-time in the future. My daughter made a joke that I was god in the Gateway Universe…and who wouldn’t want to be a god (LOL).
I also learned the publishing process is anything but quick and easy.


11. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp?

The first message is to enjoy the characters and the ride they take as they navigate the obstacles I through at them. Secondly, if you are so inclined, Gateway also shows how important our learned perspective of ourselves, our culture, and our society are to our identity. This begs the question then, once our identities are established, what do we really know about the methods and motivations of the systems and organizations which created the world that in turn created us?


12. What are your future project(s)?

I am currently working on book 2 of the Gateway series, tentatively title Saint. I have also been asked by my publisher to develop a novella involving the Gateway Universe which I am pretty sure will focus on Emily Martin.


13. If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?

A history teacher. I love teaching and I am fascinated with how we perceive and create our own histories as well as how people lived, loved, thought, fought, and died in the past.

[Anna]

14. What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

Readers can reach me through:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGatewayBr...
Website: www.briandorseybooks.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Twitter: @dorseybrian

If all else fails, you can reach everything through my website.


15. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the Space Opera Fans community members?

I am really honored that the group has picked Gateway and I hope you enjoy it. Either way, contact me and let me know what you think. I have big plans for the Gateway Universe and would love to be able to create a universe in which fans can play an active role in discussing the characters and other topics about everything Gateway.

Interview granted: 10/5/2014