Featured Interview With Steve Bates
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Arlington, Va., a close-in suburb of Washington, D.C. I graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and now live in Ashburn, Va., just west of Dulles International Airport. So I am a Virginia guy.
I don’t usually volunteer my age, but I will say that when I was a pre-teen, you could still hear cows mooing at a small dairy farm near my home. My parents had bought their house for less than $20,000. Now there’s a subway station near there and you can’t find a house for under a million dollars within miles. I still like that area, but it has changed.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started writing in high school for my school newspaper. I embarked on a career in journalism, working for small newspapers, large newspapers, magazines, and websites. At some point, I just decided that I wanted to write fiction.
It was a strange transition. I had to retrain my brain to stop presenting facts and to create characters and actions and entire stories that had genuine appeal. I’m still fine-tuning that transition. Often, when I write a short story or a chapter of a novel, I write the first draft relatively quickly, then I go back over it for days or even weeks and polish it until I feel that it works.
I hope to write until my brain gives out.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read a lot of nonfiction as well as fiction. My first science fiction book was “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury. The most recent sci-fi novel I read was “Eversion” by Alastair Reynolds. In between there have been countless novels, novellas, and short stories. If I had to pick a favorite author, it would be Philip K. Dick. He questioned reality in a way that was way ahead of his time. But there are so many more: Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Roger Zelazny, Alice Bradley Sheldon (who wrote under the pen name James Tiptree Jr.). More recently, I have been delighted by Dan Simmons, Ted Chiang, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and many others.
Among my favorite nonfiction writers are Brian Greene and David Deutsch. The vistas they open regarding emerging theories about physics and the cosmos are more breathtaking than almost any fiction I have read.
In my writings, I am inspired by real people. My wife, Jean, and my son, Jeffrey, are foremost among them. Professionals farmers, dog walkers, bloggers, and anyone else who has overcome adversity or simply challenged themselves to achieve provide plenty of inspiration.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Castle of Sand” is set on a remote planet. An ark that is being built in Earth’s orbit must leave on short notice because a pathogen released in a war is so powerful that it will inadvertently wipe out all humans on the planet. The Ark isn’t ready, but off it goes. Guided by an AI, it travels for hundreds of years until it lands on a planet that might support human life. But none of the descendants of the original passengers survived the journey. None of the people who traveled in cryogenic suspension survived. There are just seven uploaded human consciousnesses and an AI named Hubert.
Hubert awakens the consciousnesses, places them in robotic bodies, and tells them it’s their task to reestablish the human race using tissues from the frozen bodies. Several of these minds balk at the task. It falls to Maria, a soccer mom from Columbia, Md., to lead the effort. Numerous challenges put that task in doubt, but eventually, nearly 20 babies were born. Once they are old enough to reproduce, they are directed to do so constantly. But these teens start to rebel; they have no memory of or interest in Earth or humanity and want to forge their own lives.
Meanwhile, a hostile native race and a planet-wide AI make their lives miserable. But Maria and a few helpers persevere.
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