TheCO: Is there anyone you'd like to work with in the future?
MZW: Several come to mind but I wouldn't want to jinx anything or create any rumors.
TheCO: Thus far you've written near future semi main stream mil-fiction, and slightly more traditional far future sf, what other branches of writing can we expect to see you explore?
MZW: I've also written political satire, technical non-fiction, erotica. I keep pushing to get more human interaction ("politics") and emotion into things. At the same time, a part of me keeps trying to up the physical struggle ("fighting") when I do. I'm working on a near future SF now with a collaborator--and hoping for it to be picked up soon--with what I call the "kitchen sink battle": An absolute desperate fight for survival with totally non-military hardware and improvised weapons galore. Just what are people capable of with good non-military resources and a threat of extinction? It's also far deeper into contemporary politics than I've gone before. There's an immoderate dose of sarcasm in it, too.
TheCO: What other works should people look for with your name on
them?
MZW: Currently, Freehold, The Hero and The Weapon from Baen, The Scope of Justice and Targets of Opportunity from HarperCollins' Avon imprint,
with Confirmed Kill pending, a short story in the next Valdemar anthology, assorted comments and articles on my website and at www.keepandbeararms.com, a pending illustrated article about the US
Army Sniper School, and I've got 4-6 more in negotiation. Sooner would be better. I'm in the famine stage of Feast or Famine.
TheCO: What works are forth coming from you?
MZW: The Weapon and Confirmed Kill. Depending on when this interview us published, Targets of Opportunity will either be out or just about to hit stores.
TheCO: Is there anyplace your fans can find you on the web?
MZW: www.michaelzwilliamson.com www.sharppointythings.com
www.thehighroad.org (firearm forum, as madmike) www.bar.baen.com (Baen
Publishing's online forum, as madmike), www.keepandbeararms.com and
anywhere I'm quoted by others.
TheCO: You've been quite generous in discussing your forthcoming
sequel to Freehold, now lets switch gears and talk about
your other work. What makes Scope of Justice and Targets of
Opportunity different from Freehold and The Weapon?
MZW: There are the limits of the contemporary world, and the further limits of military operational policies and regulations to keep (mostly) in mind. This affects how the story is told.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Nice interview - would've appreciated a brief writeup/intro to the person, to set some context for the interview.
The universe as a reflection of Americana is too common a thread of scifi to be considered terribly imaginative, but it sells.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Co, very nice, agree with Aaman that a bit of context would be helpful. Being ignorant, I had no idea who the guy was
3 - TheCO
Danke gents, the point is that you read anyway. Besides its over 1500 words as is and i didn't want anything much larger.
4 - Mike Williamson
Aaman, I'm curious as to where the "Americana" comment comes from? I'm British born, Canadian raised, and an immigrant. And Freehold is a composite of the US, feudal Japan, the Icelandic Republic and Switzerland. So it's hardly "Americana."
Besides, I believe most of my comments were regarding character and interaction, not any specific background.
If you're referring to something specific you read, please do elaborate. I find feedback from readers useful to improve my writing.
Thanks much
Mike
5 - Aaman
Mike,
No offense meant - great books, and I lumped the entire 'universe as a macrocosm of sociopolitical Earth events" into 'Americana' - as opposed to, say, 'cephalopods ruminating on the gustatory pleasures of Medakis'.
As for specifics, I will post some constructive comments shortly - bit busy
6 - Eric Olsen
thanks very much for the interview Mike, best wishes
7 - Mike Williamson
Understood, Aaman, but that sort of Americizes the rest of the world, don't you think?;-)
Actually, one of the things from my experience that cropped up in Freehold is the cultural assumptions one makes based on societal experiences. Identical words with identical meanings can be perceived differently. For example:
When I first moved to North America (Toronto area), we went to an A&P grocery store. It was totally alien to me. Here was fresh food, lying around so you could help yourself and bag it, no need to haggle and barter for better price or quality than the crap the shopkeeper was trying to push on you. And 100 feet of meat. Entire aisles of fresh fruit.
I'd never seen anything like it before. Yet most Americans take it for granted, and some even despise the system that makes so much food cheaply available.
The term "Alien" applies to foreigners because it fits.
I think you're referencing things like Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant, and I agree. That's not the type of thing I'm trying to write.
I appreciate the discussion. Do feel free to continue or drop me an email.
Thanks much.
Mike
8 - Eric Berlin
TheCo - You might want to consider breaking up longer posts into two or more installments -- that way you would be able to fit in all the background that you wanted, etc.
9 - TheCO
Thanks for the suggestion, i do have a tendancy to go a wee bit overboard when talking about books, so this is probably as good a format as any.
10 - Eric Berlin
We're all about the overboard up in here, so have at it!
11 - theCO
Eh, i try not to take up to much of the authors time. There's also plenty of MZW's information and views on his site, and he's one of the habituates over at www.bar.baen.com:8080. I'll be doing some more of these interviews with others as the weeks go on. Convieniently for the authors i'll be posting them around the time they have a book out (hint! hint!). But since i've yet to meet an author with 'spare time'...
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Great book!!!