Why Murderbot is tough to write and other sci-fi secrets – Interview with Martha Wells

martha wellos fugitive telemetry

Why Murderbot is tough to write and other sci-fi secrets – Interview with Martha Wells

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3

Interview Timeline

Martha Wells has written many fantasy and sci-fi novels, short fiction and novellas. She’s also written Star Wars and Stargate novels as well as worked on Magic:The Gathering. She has won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards for her work. She recently released a new Murderbot novella and we spoke about the novella, Murderbot, her other works, and her inspirations. Fugitive Telemetry (Tordotcom, 2021)

0:54 – Martha talks about how she chooses the idea to write.

1:49 – Martha talks about being excited by her stories and writing.

3:05 – Martha talks about what parts of the story she wants to be engaged by.

3:37 – Martha talks about the Murderbot series and Murderbot.

6:42 – Martha talks about he chooses between writing a novel versus a novella.

8:22 – Martha talks about writing novellas.

9:24 – Martha talks about the difficulty in writing science fiction with new technology

11:43 – Martha talks about her inspirations.

14:53 – Martha talks about her interest in true crime and

16:45 – Martha talks about her previous mystery novels.

18:24 – Martha talks about the aesthetic of the book.

19:31 – Martha talks about sci-fi mysteries and noir.

21:10 – Martha talks about enjoying archaeology.

22:20 – Martha talks about enjoying revision.

23:51- Martha talks about her writing routine.

25:25 – Martha talks about her cats.

25:44 – Martha talks about how her writing process has changed over time.

28:31 – Martha talks about attending conventions.

32:13 – Martha talks about meeting celebrities at cons.

33:22 – Martha talks about how busy authors can be.

34:35 – Martha talks about having been a gamer.

36:00 – Martha talks about the video games she enjoyed.

36:55 – Martha talks about world-building.

37:58 – Martha talks about the Murderbot character.

40:16 – Martha talks about the future of Murderbot.

41:27 – Martha talks about her writing output.

42:10 – Martha talks about sci-fi versus fantasy.

43:10 – Martha talks about fantasy writing.

44:42 – Martha talks about her favorite character to write.

45:56 – Martha talks about enjoying Star Trek, Godzilla, and other things when she was young.

47:09 – Martha talks about writing Stargate and Star Wars novels.

48:43 – Martha talks about working on Magic: The Gathering.

49:16 – Martha talks about writing for other properties.

51:48 – Martha talks about promoting books.

52:51- Martha talks about her earlier works.

53:29 – Martha talks about how she was able to write for Stargate and Star Wars.

55:08 – Martha talks about the contracts for Murderbot.

56:40 – Martha can be found at marthawells.com and on twitter @marthawells1 and on marthawells.dreamwidth.org

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3

https://publishing.tor.com/fugitivetelemetry-marthawells/9781250765376/

http://marthawells.com/

https://twitter.com/marthawells1

http://marthawells.dreamwidth.org

Contact Information

For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.

Guests: Martha Wells

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, tordotcom, science fiction, fiction, star wars, locus award, hugo award, Nebula award,

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cris Alvarez Full Contact Nerd Interviews

Why Project Hail Mary is awesome and other sci-fi nuggets – Interview with Andy Weir

Andy Weir Project Hail Mary

Why Project Hail Mary is awesome and other sci-fi nuggets – Interview with Andy Weir

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f

Interview Timeline

Andy Weir spent over two decades as a software engineer before publishing the wildly popular novel The Martian which also came out as a movie starring Matt Damon. He also released Artemis, another successful novel, and has just released a new novel about a galaxy threatening danger. We spoke about the novel, Andy’s previous works, and his approach to science fiction and writing.  Project Hail Mary (Ballantine Books, 2021)

0:53 – Andy talks about where the idea of Project Hail Mary came from.

5:06 – Andy talks about the details of the story.

6:40 – Andy talks about the research he did for the book.

8:07 – Andy talks about the various sciences he studied for this book.

8:51 – Andy talks about other Earth disaster works.

12:35 – Andy talks about space psychology and details of the story.

14:25 – Andy talks about the science and his plots.

16:06 – Andy talks about calculating stuff for the novel.

17:15 – Andy talks about his motivators.

21:35 – Andy talks about technology and dystopia.

24:56 – Andy talks about the four canonical plots.

25:59 – Andy talks about how many Beatles eggs are in the book.

27:30 – Andy talks about humor in his books.

28:36 – Andy talks about his writing process.

32:16 – Andy talks about his favorite board games.

34:09 – Andy talks about how he doesn’t like to fly.

36:10 – Andy talks about conventions.

37:50 – Andy talks about the games he prefers.

39:11 – Andy talks about changes in his writing methods.

42:51 – Andy talks about one of the central components of the novel.

43:12 – Andy talks about the Martian

44:06 – Andy talks about his previous work.

46:21 – Andy talks about how much he writes.

47:35 – Andy talks about what his goals had been for writing the Martian.

48:47 – Andy talks about loving time travel.

51:09 – Andy talks about the Back to the Future DeLoreans.

53:30 – Andy talks about being pigeon-holed in a writing style.

54:48 – Andy talks about the heist works he likes.

56:02 – Andy talks about his writing career.

1:00:12 – Andy is at andyweirauthor.com

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611060/project-hail-mary-by-andy-weir/

https://www.andyweirauthor.com/

Video version of the interview: https://wp.me/p7CDU9-5aL

Contact Information

For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.

Guests: Andy Weir

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, Ballantine Books, science fiction, fiction,

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cris Alvarez Full Contact Nerd Interviews

 

 

How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee

Suparno Banerjee has been a life long fan of science fiction. He studied science fiction and now teaches it as an associate professor of English at Texas State University. He recently wrote a book on the development of Indian science fiction. We discussed the book and his science fiction interests. Indian Science Fiction: Patterns, History and Hybridity (University of Wales Press, 2021)

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, videos, University of Wales Press, science fiction,

Cris Alvarez Full Contact Nerd Interviews