NPH Interviews David Wellington: Paradise-1, Banana Bread, and Horror.
NPH Interviews David Wellington about his newest novel, Paradise-1.
An action filled, fun and exciting read for fans of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy readers.
Back when Zombies were fresh, and not quite everywhere you looked, I found Monster Island by David Wellington. It had great and unexpected characters, a different take on zombies and made for a great read. It’s sequel Monster Nation. I thought was even better as it added the development of the outbreak and even more unusual characters. Years passed. The Last Astronaut came out. It surprised me that it was from the same author, but I thought it was a great and original novel. So, when I saw Paradise 1, categorized as science-fiction/horror from David Wellington my response was, “Shut-up and take my money already.”
I wasn’t disappointed; the horror was there, the non-stop action, the insane AIs, (who doesn’t love the idea of AIs gone mad?) the frozen space yams. The artificial lifeform/robot character that would be in great company with Martha Wells’ Murderbot. I liked it so much that I reached out to David for an interview because I had one burning question that needed an answer.
When is the second book coming out?!
Ha! I don’t have a date for you. But Soon. Ish. I’m just finishing up the first draft now.
Then let’s go on to the rest of the interview…
I really enjoy your work; all your characters are always original. Could you share how you developed the characters for Paradise 1? You mentioned them being a co-operative effort. And I think you developed Rapscallion (who’s awesome btw) on your own.
Thanks so much! Yeah, Paradise-1 was one hundred per cent a collaborative effort between me and the editorial staff at Orbit UK. They came up with a plot outline and some preliminary character sketches. From there it was my show—I developed the story, built the world, fleshed out the characters. I can’t take complete credit for Rapscallion, honestly. His name and his basic character were provided to me.
When did the initial cooperation end, and your work as a writer began?
I mean, I wrote all of Rapscallion’s jokes! Seriously, once I had the basic outline I was given almost completely free rein. My editor at Orbit wanted a plot outline, which I provided, and then some sample chapters but once those were approved I was allowed to write the whole book without any interference. They liked what I came up with so much that for the second book in the trilogy (which I’m writing now) they didn’t even need the sample chapters. They just set me loose. It was a lot less restrictive than I expected and it showed me they had faith in my work!
What is your process for writing?
It changes from day to day. I know some writers need music or to have a tv on in the background—not me. I need silence. Other than that I can write anywhere. I went to a friend’s wedding once—a fellow writer—and ended up splitting a room with a friend. He woke up the morning of the wedding to find me sitting on the bathroom floor, typing away. I didn’t want to wake him early with the sound of my keyboard!
Did you always knew that you’d wanted to be a writer?
Not until I was six years old. That was when I saw Star Wars. In 1977, there was only the one movie. You couldn’t even watch it on tape or anything. When I realized I was going to have to wait years to see more Star Wars, I decided to write my own. And before anyone asks, no, the stories I wrote when I was six were not very good and I have no plan for publishing them!
Do you come from a creative family supportive of your goals?
Supportive, absolutely. Maybe too much… my Dad always told me I could do whatever I wanted. He was a little worried when it became clear there was only one job I was ever going to want to do. I’m very grateful he got to see the start of my career, and my success, before he passed. He was so proud of me! My mom just read Paradise-1. She liked it! She’s the kind of mother who would tell me if she didn’t like it, too. She’s always been my toughest critic—and back before I got published she was a great editor!
What can you share about the world building of Paradise 1? The main character are a mixed lot. One seems of slavic descent, possibly Russian. Dr. Zhang, we don’t know where he’s from. And Sam Parker is from a planet colony.
I wanted to keep the worldbuilding very light in this book. We know that Earth has a United Government, and that it’s pretty authoritarian. I wanted to focus more on the colony world, Paradise-1, though, so you get relatively little of that. It definitely has an effect on the story—I know a lot of secrets about Alexandra Petrova’s family I haven’t shared yet!
How’s Paradise 1 different from other established planetary colonies?
So the Paradise System is the first interstellar colony that Earth has set up, the first planet outside of our solar system where humans have settled. It’s about a hundred light years away so it’s not easy to get to but it’s Earthlike, in that it has a breathable atmosphere, the right amount of sunlight and water and you can grow plants there. Telling you more about the place would verge on spoiling the story.
Will we see more horror in the second book (I sure hope so)?
Absolutely. The story only gets darker as it goes along.
Was your publisher worried about the horror aspect of the book, or if it would affect sales?
Right from the start the idea was to create a trilogy of mixed science fiction/horror books. I had a lot of success with my previous book, The Last Astronaut, and we wanted to build on that while exploring a whole new story.
What is your attraction to the horror genre?
Horror was always my second favorite genre as a kid. I was a big Stephen King reader, right from the beginning. My Mom believes in absolute freedom of speech and so she would bring King and Koontz and Peter Straub books home from the library, and she would tell me, I don’t think you should read these, you’re too young and they’ll give you nightmares. She was absolutely right. She also said that if I wanted to read them that was my decision. I got infected with the horror bug pretty young… I like monsters, I like psychic kids and creepy dolls and corpses stitched back together wrong. It gets my blood pumping, the way science fiction gets my brain fizzing.
You also wrote science-fiction, The Silence trilogy, under the name of D. Nolan Clark, Will you be dedicating yourself to the science-fiction, science-fiction/horror genre in the future?
I have a ton of books I want to write, at least a couple dozen ideas floating around in my head. They belong to every genre you can think of. I tend not to worry about the genre when I start a new project, I just know what tone I’m looking for, what kind of feeling I want to leave the reader with. I usually know how the story ends, and then I work backward from there.
Last question, what is one thing you wished I had asked but didn’t?
What’s the secret to excellent banana bread? The answer is sour cream. Add about six ounces of sour cream to any banana bread recipe and it’ll come out moist and fluffy every time. If you’re avoiding lactose or animal products, you can use applesauce instead.
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