Translating that earthbound experience to an alien world was a challenge, but it was one I felt I could meet. I'd written a couple of undersea stories before, the most realistic one being a near-future eco-short called "Seastate Zero," published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I knew what worked and didn't work in the undersea environment, and I had a pretty clear feel for the sensory details that might bring the experience to life for the reader.
To carry that into an offworld setting, I needed to combine elements of realism with an even greater sense of the inhuman. Dangers like decompression sickness and nitrogen narcosis still loomed—indeed, the bends would prove fatal to someone at a crucial part of the story. At the same time, this was an alien ocean, and unearthly elements pressed in on our people in unpredictable ways. I had a toolbox—to be used cautiously!—that included normalization and translator-stones and other alien technologies sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from magic (to quote Arthur C. Clarke). Perhaps those tools could help our band adapt to life under this alien sea. My goal was to write a plausible and compelling story, justifiable in terms of known science but with plenty of latitude for extrapolation. My biggest concern wasn't to persuade you that this is how it would be in an alien sea, but to convince you that this is how it could be.
As in the previous book, I left the storyline largely up to the characters: I turned them loose to see where they would go. God knows I didn't know where it was headed, except in the most general terms. The original proposal as I look at it now seems like an interesting premise for a different set of novels.
In an earlier afterword, I wrote about differences in the way writers handle the development of a storyline—some planning everything out ahead of time, and some discovering it as they go. That same principle applies to the characters who live in a story. Some writers excel at getting to know their characters in great detail before they ever let them step on the stage; these writers often have extensive biographies of their characters all written out and organized, for easy reference. It's a fine way to work—if your muse works that way. Others learn about their characters as need and opportunity arise. It requires interaction with other characters, with setting and plot, to ignite the synapses in the brain that make you realize, Oh yes, of course. He was a loner who worked on physics problems, and he was feeling keenly and morosely aware of his aloneness on the night that the aliens came. That's how it works for me, most of the time.
There is one character in this story about whom I knew a lot before I even began The Chaos Chronicles. That's the one who spends the least time on stage: Jeaves, the robot who makes his appearance on the final page. Readers of my Starstream novels (From a Changeling Star and Down the Stream of Stars, both available as ebooks) may have recognized Jeaves, who played a key role in both stories. We'll be seeing more of him in the books to come; and if you think this is the first clue that the Chaos universe is the same as the Starstream universe: Bingo, you're right.
* * *
I'd like to close with a few words about The Chaos Chronicles as a whole—and about Sunborn, the next episode in our company's journey (available in both paper and ebook from Tor/Macmillan). The series is taking far longer to write than I'd ever imagined. Life is like that sometimes. I'm grateful to the longtime readers of the Chaos books who have stayed with me.
There was a long, unplanned gap in publication between this third book, The Infinite Sea, and the fourth, Sunborn. For contractual reasons and because I needed a break from the world of chaos, I undertook an unrelated novel, Eternity's End, set in my Star Rigger universe. Maybe I should have guessed: Eternity's End took years longer to write than I'd projected. It all worked out well in the end, but by the time I got back to Bandicut and his friends, the chaos engine had churned things in my head to a fine murk. It took me years longer to sort out before I would finish Sunborn. As of this writing in 2010, I'm hard at work on the fifth book, The Reefs of Time. I've learned my lesson; I'm not going to predict a publication date.
You've been with me, and with Bandicut and company, for quite a journey so far. I hope you'll stick around for the rest of the ride.
Next up, Sunborn*.
—Jeffrey A. Carver, 2010
*Available in the U.S. as a Tor/Macmillan ebook. Available elsewhere as a Starstream Publications World edition.
Books by Jeffrey A. Carver
Seas of Ernathe
Star Rigger's Way
Panglor
The Infinity Link
The Rapture Effect
Roger Zelazny's Alien Speedway: Clypsis
From a Changeling Star
Down the Stream of Stars
Dragons in the Stars
Dragon Rigger
Eternity's End
Battlestar Galactica: the Miniseries
The Chaos Chronicles
Neptune Crossing
Strange Attractors
The Infinite Sea
Sunborn
The Reefs of Time*
Short Stories
Reality and Other Fictions
Going Alien
Boxed Sets
The Chaos Chronicles: Books 1–3
Dragon Space: A Star Rigger Omnibus
*work in progress
*****
About the Author
Jeffrey A. Carver was a Nebula Award finalist for his novel Eternity's End. He also authored Battlestar Galactica, a novelization of the critically acclaimed television miniseries. His novels combine thought-provoking characters with engaging storytelling, and range from the adventures of the Star Rigger universe (Star Rigger's Way, Dragons in the Stars, and others) to the ongoing, character-driven hard SF of The Chaos Chronicles—which begins with Neptune Crossing and continues with Strange Attractors, The Infinite Sea, and Sunborn.
A native of Huron, Ohio, Carver lives with his family in the Boston area. He has taught writing in a variety of settings, from educational television to conferences for young writers to MIT, as well as his ongoing Ultimate Science Fiction Workshop with Craig Shaw Gardner. He has created a free web site for aspiring authors of all ages at www.writesf.com. Learn more about the author and his work at www.starrigger.net.
*
For a complete guide to Jeffrey A. Carver's ebooks, visit:
www.starrigger.net/ebooks.htm
*
About Book View Café
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