Peter F Hamilton: Fan-asked Questions Answered

Did you send through a few questions to Peter? Well if you did, check out the 2 videos below – he may just have answered them! 🙂

Here in SA we’ve already got The Temporal Void on the shelves, but here are the links if you would like to order your copies – if you’re in the US, and if you’re in the UK. 🙂

Be EPIC!

 

Ask the Author: Peter F Hamilton

One week from today, acclaimed (and rightly so) epic SF author will be taking part in a video-interview, and fans of Peter’s work and SF in general are being offered a chance to ask him some questions! 🙂

The paperback edition of The Temporal Void will be hitting the shelves soon (it’s already here in SA), so Peter’s publishers are offering you all this chance to send through a question for Peter. 🙂 I interviewed Peter last year, so I’ll refrain from sending a question through. 🙂

All you need to do is send your question through to publicity (at) macmillan (dot) co (dot) uk , and put “Question for Peter F Hamilton” in the subject line. 🙂 If there’s anything you’ve wanted to ask Peter, now’s your chance! 🙂

As soon as the link to the video is available, or the video itself, I’ll be sure to post it here. 🙂

Order your copies here for US, here for UK, and here for those in SA!

Be EPIC!

 

I’m a Winner!! :-)

I was boared, checking out the blogs I usually go to, and saw the good news: I won the autographed copy of The Temporal Void that Pat was giving away over at the Hotlist! 🙂 So it’s gonna be Peter V Brett’s The Painted Man, Phillip Palmer’s Debatable Space and Peter F Hamilton’s The Temporal Void, all autographed, that are getting pride of place on my bookshelf!! 🙂 (Excuse me while I jump up and down a bit). 🙂

Also, check out Liz’s review of The Painted Man here: http://myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com/2008/09/painted-man-peter-v-brett.html

Trust Liz, Graeme and myself: the book is excellent! So stop procrastinating and buy it! 🙂

Anyway, still reading The Name of The Wind, and when I’m done with that, I’ll be reading Greg Egan’s Incandescence and C.C Humphreys’ Vlad: The Last Confession, as well as John Meaney’s Dark Blood. Plus there’ll be more interviews soon! 🙂

Also, follow this link over to Karen Miller’s page where you’ll be able to get more info on her Rogue Agent series, which begins with The Accidental Sorcerer, and you’ll be able to read an extract. 🙂 Here’s the link:

http://www.karenmiller.net/books.cfm?series=6&book=30

 

Be fantastic!

 

An Interview with Peter F Hamilton

Peter F Hamilton

 

Peter F Hamilton needs no introduction, but for the sake of the small minority of SF readers out there (and especially in South Africa) who have not heard of this giant of the genre or read any of his work, perhaps an introduction may be necessary. J And who better to give that introduction than Peter himself?

 

First off, thank you for giving up your time for this interview, Peter, and welcome to the South African SF-reading public! Would you please tell us a bit about yourself? What led you onto the SF path and the novels that announced you in the genre?

 

I started writing SF because it was the genre I enjoyed the most when I was growing up.  I was born in Rutland, England’s smallest county, which is a fairly rural area.  SF was great escapism back in those days.  Reading EE Doc Smith and Asimov and Clarke was a lot of fun; when I started writing those were the kind of themes and settings I wanted people to enjoy the way I had.  I started by writing the Greg Mandel books, he’s a psychic detective in the near future.  Then I moved on to Space Opera in the grandest EE Doc Smith tradition, firstly with the Night’s Dawn Trilogy, and more recently with my Commonwealth books.

 

Taking into account that you may have mentioned some of your influences in answer to the question above, are there any authors, both in the genre and out of it, whose work you follow?

 

There are too may to keep current with, especially as I now have kids.  But I do try and read Richard Morgan and Justina Robson, Al Reynolds, Dan Simmonds, John Meany and many others.

 

How, in your opinion, has the Science Fiction genre changed and grown through the decades, and do you think it has changed for better or worse?

 

Hopefully it’s improved a lot in literary terms.  I’m generalizing, but the so-called Golden Age of the 40s and 50s tended to concentrate on ideas at the expense of characters.  I don’t think that’s the case any more.

 

Your novels are filled with many different themes and concepts, with storylines encompassing a vast cast of characters and settings – were there any that were more challenging than most to explore?

 

Each of the big ideas has its own difficulty when it comes to setting it down on paper in terms of explaining it and making it believable for the reader.  If I can just get them all to tie together in the end I’m happy.   But some characters are a lot more fun to write than others, and easier, too.  The more I write about someone, the better I know them, which makes them easy to follow.

 

How much time do you usually spend on the process of putting the details where they are needed before diving into the process of writing the novel?

 

For something like the Void trilogy I’ll spend between 6 and 9 months getting all the details of the universe sorted out to a point where it fits together in a logical fashion, and I’ll also do a lot of worldbuilding as well.  Then when that’s in place I’ll start to develop characters.

 

 

On your website you have a section where you talk about the beginning of your ‘Night’s Dawn’ trilogy – I was curious what the reactions of your agent and editor were upon seeing the size of the manuscript? J

 

I think total shock is the most accurate description.  There had been a few books of similar size, but not many, and a trilogy of that length was just about unheard of.

 

Your novels feature artwork by the incredible Jim Burns – were you ever included in the process of getting the covers done; perhaps you and Jim had many discussions regarding the covers?

 

The way it works is that I send Jim some sections of the manuscript which I think will make good visual images.  Then while he’s painting them I’ll get calls and e-mails asking about colour and shape and all sorts of background detail, half of which I have to make up on the spot.

 

Will you please share with us the spark or collection of ideas that led to the creation of the Commonwealth Universe?

 

The whole travelling between worlds on a train came from a trip on the channel tunnel to France.  The rejuvenation theme was developed in my earlier novel, Misspent Youth, which followed the first person every to have the treatment; I wanted to see how a culture as a whole would deal with the concept and adapt to accommodate a population who basically didn’t die.

 

When you began writing Pandora’s Star did you already know how large the tale of the Commonwealth would become?

 

No, I was just focusing on that story.  The whole Void notion came later.

 

Were any of your novels influenced by real-world events that happened concurrently with writing the novels?

 

Occasionally, yes, I tend to reflect what goes on in the world within my writing.

 

If Hollywood ever comes knocking (assuming they haven’t already) would you open the door?

 

I’d be happy to.  However, given the scale of the books there would have to be a lot cut out to make one filmable.

 

Many believe that the event termed the ‘Singularity’ is approaching – what views (if any) do you hold concerning the ‘Singularity’?

 

Well we’ve just survived (so far) the black hole doom which some were predicting when they switched on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.  I’m not sure if a singularity is possible, or if so how far ahead it is (or behind us and it’s keeping quiet about itself).  There are always apocalyptic views about such events; I’m rather more pessimistic myself.  I don’t see it as a threat.

 

Finally, once you’ve finished with the Void Trilogy, where will you be taking us, and yourself, next? Any titbits for us?

 

Provisionally I’m thinking of doing a Young Adult trilogy which will be more fantasy based, and after that a stand alone SF novel again.  That’s about as much as I know for sure.

 

I extend my heartfelt thanks to you, Peter, for giving up your time for this interview, and for taking us with you into the incredible worlds you’ve created! J   

The Temporal Void

 

Interviews on the way

Thought I’d get you all up to speed on interviews that are on the way: 🙂

First off, I’ve finished Black Ships, and I’ve posted my review, so get out there and buy the book!

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Ships-Jo-Graham/dp/1841496995 

&

 http://www.amazon.com/Black-Ships-Jo-Graham/dp/0316068004/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219745038&sr=8-1)

 You’ll love it! 🙂 I’m waiting for Jo to send back the interview questions (when she gets time 🙂 ) so that’ll be up soon, and I’m also waiting for Peter F Hamilton to send back the interview I sent him (though I saw on his blog that he had an unplanned visit to the hospital – everything seems to be okay though 🙂 ) so that will also be up here soon. 🙂

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get Joe Abercrombie for an interview, but that’s totally understandable – he’s busy with his next book, so yè, let’s all leave him alone. 🙂

 Till next time, Be Fantastic!

 

Upcoming Posts. :-)

Well, there we go. 🙂 David is, let me tell you, a wonderful gracious guy. I’ve been lucky enough to have had some very cool interviews with some very cool people, and I know the trend will continue. 🙂

I’ve got a link for David’s site on the right under ‘Authors’ so go check it out! 🙂

I’m reading Jo Graham’s Black Ships at the moment, (as I’m sure I’ve already said), and Jo has (as I’m sure I’ve already said) graciously agreed to an interview, so I’ll finish the book, get my review up, send her my questions and then post it here. 🙂 The next author in line will probably be Peter F Hamilton; as soon as I get a chance to type out the questions I’ll send them through to him – if you’re reading this Peter, thanks for waiting! 🙂

In September, I’ll have two Karen’s and one Kate: Karen Traviss, Karen Miller and Kate Elliot! 🙂

And (this is something new I’ll be starting), I’ll be creating a new blof here on WordPress for news and interviews with other authors, the first of which will be Tess Gerritsen! 🙂 More details on that as it happens. 🙂

If I’ve forgotten something, I’ll be back later to update. Until then,

Be Fantastic!

 

More Great News!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I received confirmation from Peter F Hamilton that I can do an interview with him, so stay tuned for that! 🙂 I should have it done and sent to him today, and as soon as I receive it back I’ll get it posted here. With links to his website and other stuff of course! 🙂 So, that’s the good news. 🙂