CO: The River of Time is a new world for you, what type of world is it, fantasy, sci-fi alternate history?
EF: Alternate history, of the type that’s sometimes called “pure” alternate history. What I mean by that is that there is no time travel or science fictional element involved at all, beyond the change in history itself due to a single changed event.
CO: What can we expect from this book, what themes are you exploring?
EF: The book is the first in a series, so it establishes the themes but doesn’t finish them. In essence, what I’m dealing with are what changes in American history might have occured if the relocation of the southern Indian tribes (especially the Cherokees) had happened differently, and in such a way as to lead to the formation of an Indian nation in the central area of the continent – more precisely, something of a hybrid nation with whites and blacks also involved – that was strong enough to resist the later pressure of US expansion in the middle of the 19th century and begin to effect the development of US history as a whole. To give just one example, what ramifications would such a development have had for the Texas Revolution in the 1830s?
CO: Is this an ensemble cast or is there a single main character? And can you tell us a bit about the people who’s eyes we’ll be seeing the world through?
EF: It’s betwixt and between. Sam Houston is the central character, but he’s more of a first among equals than The Hero of the story. There at least half a dozen major characters. Most of them are historical figures like John Ross and Major Ridge, the two central leaders of the Cherokee, Andrew Jackson, James Monroe, Tiana Rogers, Robert Ross, etc. The only more-or-less purely fictional major character is Patrick Driscol, who is, second only to Houston, the major character in the story.
CO: How does writing the first book in a series differ from later books?
EF: Well, first of all, it’s a lot easier in terms of the level of research required. I still need to do a lot of research, of course, to situate the story properly in the period. But once the first book is done, there are enough changes in history that I no longer have to make sure that every single minor detail is accurate, since things will have changed anyway. Beyond that, the first book in a series of any kind has to establish the setting, plot premises, and characters. Once you get past that, you can move on to spend most of your time and effort just telling the story.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Great interview. I've already got my copy of Rivers of War on order. Flint is really doing some interesting and creative stuff, especially in the alternate history genre.
Dave
2 - Victor Plenty
Flint's gotta be good to get Dave and me agreeing, especially on any subject remotely related to politics or economics.
In recent months I've been reading everything by Flint I can legally read without having any money to spend, ever since I happened across 1632.
So definitely count me as another who's glad to see this interview here.
3 - SFC SKI
Baen.com has a lot of free books, including a few by Eric Flint. IIRC, he is the overseer of the site.
4 - Dave Nalle
They also do some cool things, like putting books on CD in the backs of other books. Usually something I've already read, but still interesting to see.
Dave
5 - theco
Eric can be found running rampant on the Baen message boards over at www.bar.baen.com:8080 although tRoW is a Del-Rey piece, Glad y'all enjoyed. Something else that he did with Dave Freer that is gut busting hilarious is "Pyramaid Scheme".
6 - Victor Plenty
Yes, Pyramid Scheme is excellent. Funny-hilarious, with a good cast of vivid sympathetic characters, roller-coaster action and battle scenes, and marvelous use of history and mythology. I especially loved their surprising but well-justified portrayal of Odysseus and his men.
Plus, peeking out from under all that entertainment, some profound political and philosophical messages aptly suited to the questions of our day. The authors don't belabor their points, but they're there for any readers who enjoy finding a more substantial meal tucked into all the popcorn.
7 - flintfan
trail-of-glory.com has the rivers of war snippets s-s-m-w-f
8 - Theco
I'll be working on a few more interviews this summer, and probably another one with Eric, the man simply knows to much for me not to want to pump his brain. My blog has a couple names listed, and i'll also be starting blogspectrum.blogspot.com back up next week.