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Jack Campbell has published multiple sci-fi and fantasy book series over the years that are extremely popular. Two of his most popular series are the Lost Fleet series and the Legacy of Dragons series. In March 2018 I spoke with Jack about his writing.
1:28 – Jack Campbell talks about his latest work which is part of the Lost Fleet series.
5:01 – Jack talks about how he balances sci-fi and fantasy elements in his novels.
6:20 – He makes sure he maintains consistency in the rules of what characters can and can’t do in the world in which they live.
7:17 – Jack talks about how he meets deadlines and gets what he wants in his novels.
9:15 – His Lost Fleet series was inspired by the idea of a Long Retreat type story in Star Trek. The second inspiration was the idea of a sleeping hero returning to save the day for some society.
12:25 – Jack decided to get into writing seriously once he retired from the Navy. He felt he had stories he had to tell.
14:41 – Mixing short story and novel writing at the same time can help keep your writing progressing.
15:44 – Jack’s first success was selling a story to Analog magazine. After selling three stories he was part of the Science Fiction Writers Association.
17:31 – Attending conventions are exhausting but very energizing overall to see his fans and hear from them.
18:35 – He finds it difficult to listen to his own books as audio books. But the feedback from his audio books has made him more aware of names and language elements in his books.
21:24 – He loves Andre Norton, CJ Cherry, and Lee Brackett. He read a lot of books when he was young. But now that he writes he doesn’t have as much time to read. He does try to keep up with science discoveries though.
25:05 – He was living on Midway Island when the original Star Trek series came out. He would watch the shows on a base movie screen. He learned that it was the characters, not the special effects, that made the story. He watches a lot of anime nowadays. The mashups they create in anime can be amazing. He also loves anime soundtracks.
27:35 – The interest in time travel wanes once you have kids and you can develop a fear of doing something that could cause them to not exist.
29:58 – His website is Jack-Campbell.com.
Links of interest
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Jack Campbell
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, lost fleet, legacy of dragons, writer, sci-fi
