Featured Interview With Sandra Wagner
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a technologist and computer scientist. I’ve been working with computers virtually my whole life. I built my first computer when I was eight years old. It was a plastic kit that demonstrated the various ways a computer performs operations. I was fascinated with it for years. I was also one of the first to build what was called a personal computer, just as the microprocessor rage was starting. It was an eight bit 6800 computer that used audio tape to store programs. I designed and built my own peripherals for it. At that time people thought me a bit around the bend and asked “What are you going to do with it?”
I write programs for a living and for recreation. And I have been doing that for the better part of forty-five years.
I was raised in a mid-western town south of Chicago. While I now live in a different town, it is still in the same area as the town in which I grew.
I am owned by two cats and a very affectionate dog. Periodically the cats insist on editing my work by walking and laying on my keyboard.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have been fascinated with books my whole life. I don’t remember a time when a book I was reading was further than my arm’s reach.
I started writing late in life when the stories in my head could no longer be contained. They’ve always been in there, but couldn’t find a way out until now.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I grew up reading the works of John W. Campbell, Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clark. They took me to different worlds and expanded my mind and gave me a yearning for a future that was much more exciting than the mundane mid-western town I grew up in.
As I grew older, I read about vastly different ideas and the human condition from such luminaries as Harlan Ellison. Then I had what I called urban renewal for my head when I started reading John Varley and Bruce Sterling.
My favorite genre is Science Fiction. Specifically what is referred to as Hard Science Fiction. By which “hard” means realistic. Based upon real world physics and realizable conditions. For example stories set in space that use realistic rockets and the only way to make gravity like conditions is through acceleration or centripetal force. In other words no magic wands or spell casting.
I’ve been inspired by the works of Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson. Not only do they describe a thick tapestry of the world they write about, they use it very effectively to hold a mirror up to society and the human condition.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My book is called “Ship of Theseus”.
I have been reading science fiction almost from the time I could hold a book with my own two hands. One of the major genres in SF is the idea of “mind uploading” like in the Matrix movies. It is the idea of taking the mind from the body and running that mind on a computer. In many ways it is used as a simple plot device to move the story forward to realms that may contain dragons and dwarfs. And the process of uploading is so much hand waving like the idea of faster than light rockets taking people to other stars. Faster than light drives are rarely discussed in the story and are a simple plot mechanism to move the story forward.
I’ve always wondered what would really be involved with actually extracting the program that is the mind from the computer that is the brain and run that program on a computer. And in actuality the process would be vastly more complex than simply copying a file on a computer.
I don’t use the term “uploading” in my story because I think it is too simplistic a word. Instead I use the term “transcription” and those who have gone through the process are called Transcribed.
Also I explore the societal implications of transcription and how the Transcribed would be viewed. For example, how would a marriage change after one of the partners was transcribed to an motorized chassis? Also would society fear those who had been transcribed? Our society inherently fears change and those who are different. The Transcribed are extremely changed and different.
Another aspect of transcription that I explore is the effect on the person. Take your average person who is transcribed. What are the effects on their world view? What if they were spiritual or religious before being transcribed. Would they still feel that spirituality after becoming one of the Transcribed?
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