Everyone, please welcome Michael Offutt to the blog today! He's here to tell us about his fantastic science fiction novel Slipstream.
Michael, tell us a little about yourself.
I work for the government. I read a lot of fiction. I’m a slow writer. It’s difficult for me to focus on things for
very long because my attention is prone to wandering. I’ll usually read four novels at a stretch
because I get bored of one and move to another. Cycling through them keeps them
fresh to me so that I can finish them.
In two sentences, describe your novel Slipstream. Jordan Pendragon is a 17-year-old boy that
undertakes a journey that not only unravels the mystery of his own birth, but
one of the darkest secrets of the universe. It’s a story with hockey sticks,
crystal spiders, and monsters from the Id.
Slipstream incorporates a lot of
science in it. How much research did you do for this novel? I’m a science and
math nerd. I read Hawking’s book called “The Grand Design” and had read a book
called “Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution”. I read those for
pleasure, so I don’t count them as research, but they helped quite a bit to
refresh my memory from college. I read a lot of science journals in-between
bouts of fiction.
I love the mythology represented within Slipstream.
Why did you decide to use Mesoamerican mythology? Jordan’s abilities are all
dependent on him being able to see what’s going on. So absolute darkness is
kind of his Achilles heel. This led me to research on the “Lords of Night”
which are meso-American gods. The evil people in SLIPSTREAM are trying to bring
the meso-American gods to life using a fusion of technology and flesh. It’s pure madness, and a nod to Aztec
mythology where they believed humans arose from the shattered bones of dead
gods.
The
humans of Avalon are living in a post-apocalyptic world. Outside the realm of the book (but in my
notes) there are people who claim their survival was foretold in Mayan pyramids
and interpret the survivors as a stand-in for “the shattered bones of dead
gods”. The trope of Life Green makes immortality a distinct possibility. So
those in power have come to think of themselves as new gods instead of as
humans (having far exceeded a normal life span) and they go about encouraging
this belief.
Some
even go so far as to claim that Avalon is in fact the underworld and that
people who don’t see this, are hiding from the naked truth. I should also point
out that Ian Gooding (the central bad guy) was born in the area of Guatemala.
So he is of Mayan descent (again not in the book) and is also a minor
archeologist (having found and translated the Popol Vuh). I know all of this
isn’t in the book, but I cut some 60,000 words from the finished manuscript to
come in at the highest acceptable word count. So yeah, Ian wants to become a
god because he rightfully feels that he has been chosen to summon back into the
world the nine Lords of Night because of something he read on the wall of an
ancient Mayan city lost within the jungles of Guatemala (look up the lost city
of Mirador sometime using Google).
I
had to cut huge swaths of text from my book. No one was going to publish a
180,000 word monstrosity. Background not essential to understanding the plot
got cut.
How did you go about creating the two different worlds (ours and Avalon)? My
long story is allegorical. You are picking up on that in just this book but it
becomes even more clear in the sequel. It’s completely intentional and yes, has
to do with Arthurian stuff.
What are you working on now? Is there a release date yet for book two in the
series? (Yes, I want to read book two now.) There is no
release date. I’ve got half of the book to rewrite based on feedback from
betas. I have no idea how long that will be. I’m slow…like a snail…when it
comes to writing.
If you could recommend one book, what book would that be and why? Neuromancer
by William Gibson. I love that book and it won the Hugo, the Nebula, and the
Philip K. Dick award all in the same year. It is what drove me to write
SLIPSTREAM.
Thanks
Cherie for the interview. You ask tough questions.
You're welcome! I loved the book and do look forward to book two.
 |
| Isn't it pretty? And very perfect for Michael's SLIPSTREAM! |
I
have a contest for the release of my book.
I will pick one random person who comments on this post to win a $5
Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the same person wins both
prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the sunlight. I hope whoever
wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that your email is linked to
your signature in some way. And yes, the crystal spiders
play an important role in my book.
Rules:
1)
Mark
my book “To Read” on Goodreads.
2)
Comment
on this post.
3)
Tweet
this post if you have twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the
“honor” system.
That’s
it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th. And thank you, Cherie, for having me on your
fine blog.
