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08-21-07: MilSciFi.com interviews author Jeffrey Lyman, contributor to the upcoming military science fiction
anthology "Breach the Hull".
MilSciFi: “Welcome. What was your inspiration for
your story?”
Lyman: “There’s an odd inspiration for this story. I was
reading a book review of a science fiction book where the reviewer complained
that though the ship in the book had tremendous virtual technology and the crew
was thoroughly linked with their ship, they still needed to press physical
buttons and pull physical levers. This limitation was used by the author
to heighten tension during the climax, but other than that seemed to serve no
purpose. So I wondered what would if there was a crew who was so linked
with their ship that there were no buttons or levers, and the system
crashed. How would they respond?
I decided to
lay out my ship so that I could picture it when writing and so researched
nuclear submarines. Submarines have a limited crew size based on human
needs for space (plus food, waste and oxygen processing needs). As an
engineer, I wondered how small you could make a ship if you didn’t need to
provide that space or that food, waste and oxygen. What if the virtually
linked crew were all in stasis pods, and they only thought the ship was
huge? The military could stack hundreds of pods in a ship smaller than a
current submarine. Heck, they could stack even more pods if they lopped people’s
legs off (I wouldn’t put that past the military engineers).
So now I had
disoriented people waking out of stasis during a crisis, with no buttons or
levers, no physical space to move around, and no legs.”
MilSciFi: “Do you have any future plans for
stories set in the same universe?”
Lyman: “I’ve written a prequel to this story to explain just how
the crew of The Glory got into the mess they’re in, but don’t currently have
any plans to write additional stories.”
MilSciFi: “What other upcoming works are on the
horizon for you?”
Lyman: “I’m currently working on Book 2 of an apocalyptic urban
fantasy trilogy.”
MilSciFi: “How would you describe your experience
working on the book?”
Lyman: “A lot of fun.”
MilSciFi: “What is your favorite story you have ever
written and why?”
Lyman: “A linking story between my current Book 1 (“Dwellers in
Twilight”) and Book 2 (“The Hedgehog”). I couldn’t get the plots of the
two books to work together (they occur simultaneously in different parts of the
world). So I played a what-if: What if the hero of book 1 met the
hero of book 2 a few years ago and they didn’t recognize the significance of
the other? I accidentally solved a number of my own conundrums and was
able to understand my two heroes better.”
MilSciFi: “Do you write under any other names?”
Lyman: “Nope."
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