I am
pleased to share with you a fantastic interview with an incredible sci-fi
author, Diann Thornley Read. I’ve met Diann in my writers group online, the Authors’
Think Tank, and later in person at the LTUE Writers Conference. She has
been a great source of information and is truly a good friend.
Diann
wrote her first story at the age of five and never stopped writing. She taught
herself to type on her father's ancient manual typewriter at the age of six
because that was faster than pushing a pencil. After winning a statewide
writing contest, junior high division, at the age of fourteen, she began her
first novel, which was based on the Arthurian legends. This endeavor filled
most of her high school years and freshman year of college--until a handful of
friends introduced her to science fiction. There she stayed writing numerous
books. And here is the interview:
The
Sergey Chronicles were originally published by Tor in the late 1990’s but it
was then called The Unified Worlds Saga. How do you feel about the name
change?
Diann Read: I made the name change myself. The
books are, after all, about the Sergey family, not about the interplanetary
alliance called the Unified Worlds (which is similar to our NATO). Admiral
Lujan Sergey (Commander-in-Chief of the special forces group called the
Spherzah), his combat surgeon wife, Captain Darcie Dartmuth, and their teenage
son, Tristan Sergey, get caught in the political/military intrigue leftover
from an old war, and discover it's up to them to stop an impending new threat.
There
are currently four titles in The Sergey Chronicles, do you plan on
continuing the saga now that you have the books available as an eBook?
Diann Read: Actually, there are three
books--Ganwold's Child, Echoes of Issel, and Dominion's Reach--but for the
Kindle (and soon-to-be Nook) editions I also created an omnibus version: All
three books in one download--and there are two covers for the omnibus! But back
to your question. I've had a few requests from readers about my age for more
stories about Lujan and Darcie and what they do after Dominion's Reach. I'd had
no idea there was a market for middle-aged action heroes! I have loads of ideas
filed away, so I may eventually go back and write some of those stories, but
they'll likely be novelettes or novels rather than full-fledged books. (I'm
currently working on a new YA series that's got my full attention.)
Orson
Scott Card has said about book one, Ganwold's Child, “This novel is
exemplary for showing how the effective military mind really works—you’ll find
no romantic military nonsense here.” Can you share tips on how you created such
a fantastic space military? Was there anything you used as a reference guide?
Diann Read: Well, I spent 23 years in the
USAF, both on the active duty and reservist sides, and did a few deployments to
"interesting" parts of the world, so a lot of the military stuff was
drawn from personal experience. I wasn't a pilot but I did work around some, so
I picked their brains for the pilot-specific details. When I brought back the
first draft of Tristan's pilot training to one of my fellow officers, he went
off into a corner to read it and next thing I knew he was laughing out loud. I
thought, "Oh no, I'm never going to live this down!" but I gritted my
teeth and asked him, "Okay, what did I do wrong?" He said,
"Nothing! It's exactly right. I just can't believe you went into so much
detail." Well, he'd given me all that detail!
What
do you like most about writing Sci-Fi?
Diann Read: World-building, including
climates different than ours, and coming up with strange (and sometimes
violent) plants and unusual animals. I enjoy anthropology, so I really enjoy
creating new cultures. I'm especially having fun with that in my Seventh Shaman
series.
If
you could be any planet in our solar system, besides Earth, which you be and
why?
Hmmm, I've never thought about that.
Saturn, probably. If you've ever seen NASA photos of Saturn (my husband, Jon,
is a rocket scientist at NASA), those rings are breathtaking!
Do
you have a favorite character that you’ve created? What about them do you like
best?
Diann Read: That's like asking which is your
favorite child! And by the time you've written a book or three about your
characters, you do feel like you've brought them up! I was madly in love with
Lujan while writing the Sergey books--that was before Jon came into my
life--but Tristan and Akuleh (protagonist of the Seventh Shaman series) are my
boys. They have enough in common that they'd probably become buds if they
met--after some initial mutual misgivings--but there are some distinct
difference between them, too.
What
have you learned the most as a published author?
Diann Read: To take the bad with the good,
accept it, and move on. In other words: Keep Writing!!! Not everyone is going
to love everything you produce. After Ganwold's Child first came out from Tor
Books in 1995, one critic said it was only good as a script for a video game.
But all three Sergey books were out by the time I deployed to Bosnia in late
1997, and a handful of SpecOps guys liked them so much they made me an honorary
member of their support team and took me along on one of their weekly runs up a
local mountain. (Only time I've ever seen human bodies steam the way a horse
does when you take off the saddle after a hard ride in winter! Watch for that
in a future book.)
What
advice can you give to a writer just starting out? Are there any mistakes to
avoid?
Diann Read: Do your homework (research) on
your subject so you really know what you're talking about. That's a lot easier
now with the Internet than when I was researching all the medical stuff for
Dominion's Reach. Don't be afraid to try new things--within reason, of
course!--just for the experience. Wherever you go, always have some way to take
notes--you never know when you're going to get that blockbuster idea! Most
important, write SOMETHING every day, even if it's just a few sentences. You're
not really a writer if you don't really write.
What
book, besides your own, do you recommend every writer have on their bookshelf?
This can be anything from crafting tips to a novel you just love to pieces.
Diann Read: Here are two must-haves for my
professional library: Hooked, by Les Edgerton. He focuses on gripping
openings but also talks about story structure, and ratcheting up the tension
and conflict. Hands down the most useful how-to book I've ever read! And Painless
Grammar, by Rebecca Elliott. A very clear, concise, and even slightly
comical approach to all those pesky issues like lay/lie, was/were, and
who/whom.
Is
there anything else about your books that you’d like to share, or anything
you’d like to shout out?
Diann Read: We haven't talked much about my
current project. The Seventh Shaman series is similar to the Sergey books,
except aimed at the YA audience. My protagonist, Akuleh (the name means
"Looks Up," which he has to learn to do on a few levels, but he goes
by Ku), would be American Indian if the books were set on Earth. Having a
non-Anglo protagonist was a very deliberate choice; I see far too few
non-Anglo, especially American Indian, kids in YA fiction.
Ku is an orphan being brought up by an abusive stepmother. He knows a prophecy
was made about him at his birth but he doesn't know what it said, so when his
stepmother starts calling him Death Bringer he believes the worst. Time to
leave before anyone else he cares about is killed! So he runs away from home,
lies about his age, and joins the military. Ku also has a snarky streak, which
is a lot of fun to write.
Like
Lujan, Ku is a natural combat pilot, but that's as much curse as blessing
during pilot training. He also has to deal with cultural issues--his latent shaman
capabilities, which adds a fantasy element, his clan's traditions, and that
prophecy--on top of facing prejudice and the usual teen challenges of boy-girl
relationships and heartbreak. In the end Ku will hear the contents of the
prophecy and learn that his life does have worth and purpose--a great purpose. And that's the message I want to
get across to kids, especially at-risk kids.
Where
can we find more about you and your books?
Thank you so much for letting me
interview you for the blog.
Diann Read: You're very
welcome, Mikey. Thanks for letting me interview you, too!
