Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I am quite wicked excited for *July!* as I have been wanting to dig back into reading Science Fiction for awhile now, and I had earmarked Summer as a brilliant place to resume my readings – as a gateway to what I’ll reveal as plans for this year’s upcoming *Sci-Fi November* (see thread) & “Sci-Fi Experience” (see thread) as I love participating in both yearly events! In previous years, I have had quite the epic collection of stories & authors to feature, whilst putting thought to mind original essay-style blogs about why I appreciate certain things – along the way, you could say I’ve disclosed quite a heap about my love & appreciation for *Classic Science Fiction* in regards to motion pictures & television series in particular!
In fact, it’s a rare day I find a ‘new’ science fiction series to attach my heart too – as I grew-up with Gene Roddenberry’s vision of Star Trek & George Lucas’s vision for Star Wars; the new bloke on the block isn’t winning brownie points with me, in fact, I’m the one who loathes seeing his vision succeed as too many children growing up on the Sci-Fi of today are limited by his vision rather than realising what came before he was given the reins. I never apologise for disagreeing with popular culture – I simply focus on what sets my own heart on fire in Science Fiction & Fantasy!
Last Sci Fi November, I had the true pleasure of being treated to my first introduction to Julie E. Czerneda’s epic series “The Clan Chronicles” (see thread) – a series I am returning too lateron this month, part of my focus of #FuellYourSciFi selections! Staying in tune with that direction of science fiction where writers fuse world-building & character driven narratives, it’s been a true pleasure of mine to find an author I’ve had my eye on via Seventh Star Press step forward to create a classical style of Space Opera I truly am thrilled to bits to be reading!
I knew instantly I wanted to interview Mr Sullivan – I’ve been reading through his blog, whilst interacting with him in-between reading his stories (see my thoughts on his Cosy Horror shorts: Darkness with a Chance of Whimsy) to such a level, I garnered a bit of insight into the kind of science fiction he personally enjoys. I used that as a stepping point in our conversation and captured not only his thoughts on space travel, classic sci-fi vs modern sci-fi but also, drew out some lovely author insights into how he created the world within the Red Lotus universe!
On a personal level of interest: finding someone who shares the same reaction to the ‘newest’ Trek was a blessing I never expected to find! Normally I find the contrary to be true! Therefore, it’s my absolute joy to be sharing this conversation with you – for everyone who loves the aspect of living in space & travelling amongst the stars, this series is seriously writ just for you! And, on the larkspur notion your wondering, how much of a sci-fi geek is Jorie? Scope out this post from Sci-Fi November 2013: Seventeen to Seven, plus my Top 30 Sci-Fi Movies & my Top 20 Sci-Fi Serials!
Drop back on Sunday, as straight before we’re all happily listening to the ‘boom-boom’ brilliance of celebrating our Fourth of July, I have some wicked sweet revelations to share with you about ‘Commanding the Red Lotus’!!
Money Can’t Buy Respect
Sayuri Arai, privileged daughter of a corporate mogul, abandons a promising career to find her own path. She invests in a broken-down asteroid mining ship and steps in as the commander of its crew. Every day presents a new challenge just to keep her ship from falling apart and the bitter crew from killing each other. Can Sayuri unite the feuding factions, or will her rivals turn the entire complement against her?
Commanding the Red Lotus offers a classic sense of wonder for today’s science fiction readers.
Volume One of the Red Lotus Stories, now in softcover for the first time. Commanding the Red Lotus includes the previously released ebook novelettes:
Fate of the Red Lotus
Red Lotus: Innocence Lost
Plus the brand-new novella: Mutiny on the Red Lotus.
For ease of reference, dear readers, I’ve embedded links routing to either Mr Sullivan’s blog, authors he’s mentioning in-line with our conversation and/or Wikipedia – as cleverly enough, he’s helped open my eyes to a few things in Sci-Fi I wasn’t previously aware of – thinking the same could be true to you, I’ve happily given you an easy reference point to extract further info!
Navigating Sci-Fi is a lifelong pursuit of mine – sometimes I wish I had someone to select stories for me to try and pop them off into a surprise bundle – this conversation felt like a lovely unexpected surprise to receive as Mr Sullivan & I share similar passions & sci-fi inclinations!
Commanding the Red Lotus is one-part a novel spilt through three separate short stories and one-part an anthology of an evolving series taking readers back to the heyday of Space Opera. How did you originally conventionalize the stories of the Red Lotus series to be presented to readers but also, as a series? How many more volumes like this one can we expect in the future?
Sullivan responds: Originally I was going to release each part as an e-book and then, after so many parts, put out a paperback collection. Seventh Star Press wanted to expand their ebook-only offerings and they were on board with me to try this. So we put out story 1 and story 2 as a 99 cent and $1.99 novelette ebook, respectively, but it turns out that we didn’t know how to promote the stories properly.
They just kind of sat unread. I’m not sure what went wrong, but I’d be surprised if I sold a half dozen on each title. This is a shockingly different result from SSP’s handling of paperbacks. But I knew the stories were solid, and as I was drafting story 3, I talked with SSP about re-thinking the ebook format.
So we “re-launched” the stories with Commanding the Red Lotus, a paperback of the third story that includes the first two, so it’s a novel-sized set of stories, and half of the book is brand new even to those few readers who originally checked it out. We went ahead and took down the ebook to story 2, and re-priced story one, “Fate of the Red Lotus”, as a forever-free download in most formats. This lets the readers essentially read the first 50 pages and check out the origin tale at no risk. We’ve had it out this way for a couple of months and it’s doing extremely well so far.
I have the next couple of novella-length stories planned in detail, and an overall story arc that can go several volumes. I’ve allowed myself room to go off on tangents while following the larger arc. I think there’s a lot to explore with the characters and the setting, and I can keep these going for quite some time. I’m thinking of putting the next two or three stories out in $5 digest sized novella paperbacks of about 40k words each (ebooks too, of course).
I frequently share table space with SSP local author peeps Chris Garrison and John F. Allen and they’ve already seen great success attracting readers using this format. I may stay there or eventually put them out as larger volumes. What I do know for sure is that I took a short break from writing to just see what I wanted to write next, and the world of the Red Lotus is demanding that I return to tell more stories there. So more Red Lotus stories are definitely on the horizon.
I love that your re-bundling the stories into short story volumes of connective story-lines! I cleverly called this technique something quite lovely on my forthcoming review; so I shall not spoilt it today! However, the beauty of this is that your willing to encourage readers across platforms; as I *love!* writers & publishers who acknowledge readers read individually in a medium of their choice. For me, as a now nearly extinct traditional reader, I have extra patience to find short stories releasing in print editions and/or have a fledgling hope for a day where they will be put into an audiobook release. Sometimes I will admit, it’s an irk of mine other publishers are not recognising some of us cannot transition to a digital platform (for me it’s my chronic migraines) thus, full props of respect to those who are doing an ace of a job at finding a balance!
I love reading your blog posts (not just yours, here I refer to the three of you!) wherein Ms Chris & Mr Allen & you all share your collective adventures touring on the circuit of bookish events! It’s quite lovely now that I’ve sorted which of you at Seventh Star have Instagram accounts, too! I admit, I learnt how to find those accounts via my Mum who follows Mama, Knitty & lifestyle bloggers – it was a mystery to me! On the level of smaller print editions – I’m starting to be pitched these lovelies as a book blogger – especially for collections of poetry, which warms my poetic heart – however, what I wanted to mention, short or long, stories that are available across platforms will always be treasured by me. I am thankful you’ve been meeting others like me who prefer print editions – thus keeping stories in print!!
I have two showcases upcoming this month of July on behalf of Ms Chris’s Trans-Continental series – perhaps these are two of the ones you were hinting about in the shorter print style!? I love how narrow & lovely they are to read – such a lot of breadth for the space! I also found writers using shorter formats via the Imaginarium 2013 convention via Twitter where I was following the journey of the now annual writerly convention in Louisville, Kentucky! Some of those sellers were from Etsy & others were from Small Presses I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of finding! I love how publishing is expanding to newer dimensions of how a story can become presented! I even have my eye on the publications routing out of Australia via Tiny Owl Workshop!
Although, the most recent lovely to grace my hands is the bounded manuscript edition of Anna Lee Huber’s As Death Draws Near which the publisher sent me ahead of it’s traditional print debut! It’s such a clever edition – a true throwback to the small clothbounded editions of Classical Literature!? Blessed my grandfather gave me his collection! My ruminations on that are forthcoming on the 5th of July; er, on Lady Darby, not the works of Classical Lit I intend to read in the future! Laughs with mirth.
I, for one, instantly knew you had crafted the kind of Classic-style Space Opera I wanted to see more life breathed into – even before I finished the very first installment of this first volume! It was that *wicked awesome!* Full of cheshire cat smiles knowing there is a heap more upcoming on the horizon!
You crafted such a clever character within the personality of Sayuri Arai – what motivated you to give her such a daring spirit to carve out a life beyond the one she had readily known and was quite literally handed? Was it to defy her father or was it to prove what she never thought she was capable of? or even a mixture of motivations?
Sullivan responds: Sayuri realizes that she has been handed some wonderful opportunities, but she is also confined by them. She’s the daughter of an entrepreneur businessman who hands her a VP positon straight out of college. She realizes she’s very lucky, but the fact is, she didn’t earn it, and that frustrates her.
I don’t think Sayuri set out to hurt her father. But she reached a point that all of us do when we grow up—that moment that we do that first action that breaks away from our parents’ desires that defines us as distinctly different from our parents. Voting for the other candidate, dating that person that might be trouble, for many writers it can be writing in a genre such as erotica or dark horror. There’s always a *thing*, and it’s individual to each of us. Sayuri’s breakaway happens to come with huge consequences. She’s never defied her father to any great extent, to be her own person, and when she finally does, it goes off like an explosion in the family dynamic. (All that said, I’m frequently surprised how many readers see “Tom” as an antagonist in the story. I think his response to Sayuri’s choice is decidedly graceful and loving, given how he might have behaved)
While Sayuri makes the choice to recognize what she wants and take actions to seize it, her sheltered existence and pampered upbringing prove to be her biggest liability. She just doesn’t know what she doesn’t know, and finds herself in way over her head and floundering to keep afloat as a commander of a ship she really has no business commanding. So while she “commands” the Red Lotus, she doesn’t COMMAND the Red Lotus, if you catch the nuanced difference. What she also has is a faith in human-kind and in the goodness of the people around her. But will it be enough to get her through this? That’s the focus of the story.
I’m reserving most of my commentary on the story til Sunday, as I wanted you to talk about how you approached writing it today, before I expanded on my readerly thoughts – however, I wanted to say, I had suspected the title of this collection of the Red Lotus stories had a duality of meaning – similar to the title of my first Stephanie Grace Whitson novel: A Captain for Laura Rose – in which ‘Laura Rose’ is both a lead character of interest but also the name of a steamboat! Yes, I did get clued into the differences you were nudging the reader towards understanding about who is truly in charge of the Red Lotus as I had this experience with the Laura Rose!
Your understanding of the genre rings true as soon as you open your eyes inside Fate of the Red Lotus as sensory speaking, everything feels and sounds just as it should be. Was this realistically authentic ‘taste’ of space hard to fuse to the page or did it come instinctively?
Sullivan responds: Well, it’s safe to say that in regards to traveling in space and being a passenger on a shuttle, disembarking onto a space station, walking the halls of a spaceship… I’ve spent hours upon hours daydreaming and speculating what that might be like. Pair this with an ongoing fascination for NASA mission footage, documentaries, and space travel fact, and I’ve had some very strong ideas what Sayuri might experience when she’s docking with the space station. I just put down on paper my best guess, based on a lifetime of daydreaming.
You’ve definitely nailed the realism as much as you gave the reader pause for thought about what it truly might be on a sensory level of experience! I love this truism & the commitment you put into bridging what is known, what is speculated at being experienced & what simply has to be set in theory before practice can become a reality! Lovely to walk inside your own ruminative thoughts on life in the cosmos!
Did you have input on how to guide the cover art for this edition? I was curious because the artwork truly captured how I would want to peer into a classically told Space Opera story collection! It’s a window into the world you’ve created but it has a level of intrigue about it as well – what were your first thoughts when you saw the cover?
Sullivan responds: Seventh Star Press allows us to offer a great deal of input into our covers, and every one of my books shows a cover idea that started with me sending an email pitching ideas, and in my case, scans of terrible sketches.
Some of my very favorites include Haunting Obsession (Bonnie Wasson’s interpretation of ghostly Maxine Marie may have literally taken my breath away when I saw the work in progress), Darkness with a Chance of Whimsy (My first collaboration with Enggar and I started by sending him a note and a series of photos asking to draw storm clouds over an Indianapolis skyline with smiley faces falling like raindrops—draw that! And he did!) to this one.
This is my fifth book with Seventh Star, I’m not new to this, so I was prepared when we started to talk ideas. I already had two concepts in mind and two “stickman sketches” conveying each of those ideas. In my mind, the one with Sayuri looking out the window at the ship was the more compelling, but I like to give artists options to go with ideas that play to their strengths. In this case, Enggar agreed; he took the idea and added something my sketch didn’t have—movement. Sayuri is stepping toward the window, giving it a sense of a person stepping away from their past and into their future. That made the image more compelling and brought it all together. I had to request one more draft because he had drawn the ship in a “hero shot” towering over Sayuri and dwarfing her. When I explained that the ship was a derelict and pathetic, that it needed more Millennium Falcon and less Star Destroyer, Enggar got it, and the second draft was something very close to what the cover ended up looking like. I think it represents the story very well, and I’m super-pleased with how it turned out.
The cover art for ‘Haunting Obsession’ is striking – I’ve not read the story within it’s pages, but I’ve felt captured by the artwork for a long, long time! It’s the whole concept of it really – how she is reflectively a ghost but transcends out of that ethereal existence a bit to cross into our reality as well? I like the dimensional appeal of how she presents herself but also, the haunting intrigue of why she’s poised this way & the meaning behind the object resting beside her – it’s a clever capture of imagery & illusion of story!
In regards, to ‘Darkness with a Chance of Whimsy’ I immediately loved it’s cheekiness of presenting setting with a genre selection – as well as just how brilliant the scope of it as a whole! I loved it up close & in person whilst I was reading the stories attached inside – some of my favourites to come across for Cosy Horror, whilst giving me a new thread of entrance in your writerly focuses outside Traditional Horror & Urban Fantasy. The colour tones & hues between the two covers blend well together – almost as if they were set to the same pixel depth of revelation?
For ‘Commanding the Red Lotus’, I only listed one slight issue about Sayuri on my review, but as a whole – I felt the shot captured how I would suspect to find the Red Lotus approaching the dock whilst feeling the anticipation of boarding her if I were Sayuri! Totally concur with the Millennium Falcon reference!! At times I was also thinking of the Maquis (from Voyager) or that ramshackle ship Worf loved from DS9: USS Defiant. The Maquis in regards to how a crew has to learn to work together, etc.
Space Opera is a deep passion of yours, curiously, how did you conceive of the story to be centered on a Japanese young woman full of moxie and heart? How did the culture of Japan influence the back-story on Sayuri?
Sullivan responds: Science fiction, arguably, thrives foremost in the United States and other English-speaking countries such as Britain and Canada, but if there is any culture almost as obsessed with SF as we are, it’s Japan. Their live action and anime contributions to the genre are nearly endless, starting with Godzilla and without thinking too hard (many of these are US titles and translations of the originals) Ultra Man, Voltron, Battle of the Planets, Robotech, Bubblegum Crisis, Akira, Star Blazers, and that barely scratches the surface.
My fascination with the SF media from Japan naturally leads to a fascination with their culture, and I wanted to have that same Japanese spirit of adventure represented in my stories. Add to that, one of my best friends from high school, someone who I stayed in touch with, just happens to be an American entrepreneur who does a great deal of business in Japan and married a Japanese woman named Sayuri. They gave me permission to use her, in my opinion, amazingly beautiful name. And this same friend was happy to brainstorm with me the business setting of a Japanese-owned company in a united Earth future and what that setting might look like. Also, he helped me get the Japanese curse words accurate. *grin*
I admit, I do not know too much about Japanese Anime – outside of the Manga books I spied at Barnes & Noble whilst enjoying a cuppa chai & a scone during a fireside chat with my best friends. However, I was drawn more to the conceptional artwork inside the volumes of Steampunk & other science-fiction and/or Ethereal art niches of delight! I loved the Fantasy overlays & the intensity of the visions coming forward out of those books – not so much the books focused on the Anime storyboards (where you’d find traditional Manga stories) but the ones which were art-focused and a streamline of an art anthology!? I had to hunt the shelves to find them and sadly had to put them back after I gushed my love over the pages – one day I shall collect them! Reason I bring this up is that I do love the Japanese style of artwork in regards to Anime & Manga – I simply haven’t had the pleasure of viewing the films and/or tv serials previously, as it wasn’t a junction explored in my youth. Except for a few exceptions here or there, most recently through a film I found via my local library whose title I’ll share as soon as my library’s card catalogue comes back online! It was such a heart-stirring drama – I oft find anime feature films to be emotionally convicting; this one truly touches your heart!
This is why I routed the links to Wikipedia – as I was curious about the references myself & wanted to help my readers route to more info in case like me, their knowledge is just as limited. I do know Dianna Gunn from The Steampunk Cavaliers will be keen on this section of the conversation – she’s mad for Anime!
The only reference I have out of your list is the edition of Godzilla feat. Jack Black from a contemporary remake of the classic in 2005. I had a hard time with that whole story-line as I had forgotten (despite numerous rides on Kong via Universal Studios!) the harder bits to the story! I honestly could never re-watch another variant of that story or of King Kong (as it was Jack Black’s version that killed the joy for me) – I did not realise these both realised the same year!? Huh. Ironic! They both were sombering films for me – very emotional to get through!
Love the back-story on the naming of Sayuri – what a wonderful gift to bestow your friends! And, I completely agree – about how you tethered together the culture & traditions of Japan inside the Red Lotus universe.
Is the title “Red Lotus” a hinting of the Japanese culture of your lead character or was it sparked by another influence?
Sullivan responds: If I’m being honest, it started out just being something that sounded like a cool Japanese name for a spaceship. That said, anyone who interprets the name as symbolizing a passionate protagonist who blossoms into her own person is offering an interpretation that I would not deny.
How did you shift Sayuri’s original interest in Dravin to the working relationship that they developed when they came to terms with the fact they both had the same interests in regards to the Red Lotus?
Sullivan responds: When Sayuri first met Dravin, she has no ties to the ship, she is free to admire his physicality and kind of crush on him. Once she allies herself with the ship and steps in as their commander, Dravin is positioned alongside her as her primary mentor and guide. She needs him; he’s responsible for her. That symbiosis makes things complicated, and that complication drives the rest of the stories.
Commanding the Red Lotus is a fusion of character-driven narratives, where you explore key lead and supporting characters; do you have a favourite amongst the supporting cast?
Sullivan responds: I like Dawn Vareens, the I.T. specialist. I like her practical outlook on her position and the role she plays on the ship. I like Terch, the security guard, he’s not the brightest bulb among the crew but he’s loyal and he takes pride in his work. Engineer Keller is fun to write. She’s used to practically running things and now she’s challenged by Sayuri. My favorite character, though, is someone who comes in later in a plot twist and whose story becomes almost as important as Sayuri’s. I was really anxious about how that person’s story might work and I’m really happy with how it all tuned out.
Why do you think classically written Space Opera dramas have fallen a bit from mainstream pop culture and why rebooted series seem to be raging, but lack the original heart & soul of their legacies? Which five stories set in Space do you feel had the best impression of what a futuristic life could be for all of us? What inspired you the most?
Sullivan responds: Wow, there’s a lot to sort through!
I see SF and pop culture in general repeating the early 70s period. Dystopia, I think, reflects where our mindset is as a culture. Looking around the past 15 years, there is much to be upset about, we seem stuck in a system that is broken and that does not have our best interests at heart. During the time of Watergate and the Viet Nam war, SF gave us Planet of the Apes, Logan’s Run, Omega Man, Damnation Alley, Soylent Green, to name a few. If those were made today, we would call them Dystopia tales.
Of course that era was also the era where Star Trek was born, along with 2001, tiny seeds of optimism which flourished in the 80s when space opera resurged big-time. The 80s seemed to be an incredibly optimistic time (regardless of what the economic news told us). We had a presidential cheerleader that the population generally got behind. We thought we could cure hunger with a pop song and couple of concerts. The Wall came down in Germany. Soviet Russia agreed to disarm nuclear weapons. The space shuttle program took off, and a shuttle launch was so common that it was just background buzz we grew accustomed to and, to our eventual detriment, began to ignore.
Looking at where we are now, it’s little wonder that an extended Dystopia era of pop culture has taken hold and refuses to let go.
It’s little wonder that a certain show that once came to represent the best and brightest future for mankind has been subverted into a cynical, brain-dead shadow of its former self (Star Trek—there, I said it) and one need look no further than the current incarnation of Superman to see where we are. When Superman is dark and joyless, the whole world is in a bad place.
All that said, I think when our culture turns a corner, then our media will turn a corner as well. I think it will be sooner than later and that Space Opera will be waiting for us when we get there.
Five influences: Star Trek particularly TOS; Babylon 5; Forbidden Planet; 2001 a Space Odyssey; and Andre Norton’s Solar Queen novellas. I’d be hard-pressed to name which one influenced me the most, rather, Red Lotus represents a distillation of all these influences and more.
Interviewer disclosure: the author did not capitalise that paragraph to the extent I’ve taken it, it’s simply that he’s expressed something quite eloquently I’ve been trying to disclose to my readers for a solid three years since I’ve participated in Sci-Fi November & the Sci-Fi Experience! To put it plainly: my sentiments EXACTLY Mr Sullivan! Rock on!
Ooh! Now in regards to ‘Planet of the Apes’ this is another love I’ve inherited from my sci-fi loving Mum & Da (of whom originally keyed me into Roddenberry & Lucas’s worlds!) – I haven’t yet had the pleasure of seeing the originals – a put-off marathon viewing for reasons I cannot remember ‘why’ (although, to speculate I think we perpetually misplaced the VHS editions!) which is how we ended up at the theatrical release for the remake in 2001 & due to how horrid they treated the sequel we opted out of continuing with it!
You’ve spoken so brilliant about Trek, Superman & the entirety of where reboots & remakes have declined in our modern age, I am simply full of smiles & a round of clapping applause in full agreement with you! And, counting down the days til we can return back to ‘normalcy’ in those worlds, as well! I mean, truly!
I grew up with a father who loved taping the TOS marathons in order for us both to enjoy watching them – him after work, me after a drudgery of school – it was a wicked lovely time for a father & daughter & Classic Trek such as TOS to give us laughter & heart-warming tales of friendship & space exploration! To me, Trek started with TOS both as a series and as the film collective of tales – my first Trek in a theater was The Undiscovered Country; still holds a special place in my heart, too!
Would you believe in my ENTIRE school, I was the only one who understood the concept behind Babylon 5? No, seriously – I do not exaggerate! I was constantly being asked to explain it – everything from the world, the setting, the station itself, the quirky supporting cast, the lead character changes & even the writing directions! Oy vie. It was brilliantly ahead of it’s time and blessedly bang-on brilliant! I had a dish back then, and just getting the signal to fire it into my television on a quasi-regular basis was golden aces to me! Dream of mine: collect the seasonal dvds & finally have a wicked good marathon re-watching!
Yes, yes 2001 is EPIC & Classic and just awesomesauce! Another film my classmates questioned me about endlessly — I would binge watch 2001 & 2010 back-to-back whilst in wait for something better than the recent sci-fi films that were irking my ire at the box office. I hungered for the quality & the world-building but also, for something solid to chew on that wasn’t debuting on television as a lot of the sci-fi I loved back then was on tv not in motion pictures; there were exceptions, but oy. Not many!
I’ve heard of the other two – I haven’t dipped into Norton’s collective works, but I believe their listed on my Classics Club List which is forever evolving as I move back into reading Classic Lit one year at at time!
You’re continuing to give us strong female leads inside your stories, where each of them has something to prove. Either to themselves or to others. What attracts you the most to crafting stories with characters that are still developing their lifepath and discovering their truer purpose?
Sullivan responds: Being a writer means getting the opportunity to tell the stories that I haven’t seen done as a reader and then crafting those stories. I tell stories about strong but vulnerable women because those characters fascinate me as a reader. I like stories about flawed people because we’re all flawed. Oftentimes we’re so caught up in our own flaws that we fail to see the obvious in front of us until it kicks us on the backsides and knocks us over. I like stories of people who have had that happen and then make the choice to get back up and try again. That is what makes us unique and special. Until we die, we have that choice to change our narrative, to take that one act and one choice that changes our path. It’s never too late to be a little smarter or be a little wiser than we were the day before. That’s what growth is all about.
I love your answer – it speaks to my own mind about this subject, too. This in-part why I love reading your stories and it speaks to your writerly style so well to help new readers discover a bit about what makes reading your stories so special for the first time or the thirteenth time!
The Red Lotus is its own unique character, whose personality is ruggedly quirky; was there something that made you smile about how this ship finds a way to being re-loved by a new crew & owner?
Sullivan responds: Thinking over this question, I’m smiling right now thinking that Sayuri is like Charlie Brown who picks the most pathetic Christmas tree in the park because all it needs is a little love. In some ways, Sayuri isn’t much different from Charlie Brown, but at the same time, Sayuri is also the tree. Dravin and the crew have to make the same choice to invest the time and love into her that she has made toward the ship. I don’t know, there’s probably something profound in there, but I can’t quite sort it out myself. For all my dark stories, I am told I can be naive and optimistic about life, and I think this book best represents that.
Did I answer your question? *grin*
Hmm. Truly!? Wells, then,… I’m following in your footsteps, Mr Sullivan in regards to being ‘naive & optimistic about life & the world’ – with the exception of Virtual Blue which pushed me a bit too far, though somehow I managed to finish it (not generally the case when I’m so far removed from what I find comfortable reading; my hat to you!), I hadn’t found your dark stories within your 10 year anthological collection to be overtly dark as much as they were curiously keying in on human nature & the introspection of choices that interact into our everyday experiences. Charlie Brown, eh? I’ll yield to you – it’s a comic I hardly read and an animated series I honestly couldn’t sink my teeth into, but I do know the gist of it. For this, I can agree – Sayuri does share that optimistic vibe about him but she’s also a bit of a composite of other Trek & Babylon 5 characters who are just outside my periphery memory bank to draw forward in name. The more I read your stories, the more I see how your influences of the genre affected your work in such positive strokes of new world-building & character development styling.
Was there a particularly difficult sequence to visualize prior to writing it for the series? Perhaps a technical part of the story?
Sullivan responds: During the third story when they are on the asteroid, I had to keep remembering about low gravity and life support helmets. Someone can’t just pop open a door and run outside of the ship without devastating consequences to the inside of the ship. The environmental reality of their situation required me to think some things through, acknowledge that the unloading ramp couldn’t just lead directly to the ship’s corridors. Logically, there would be an airlock, which required a little rethinking and finessing on my part when I got to the climax.
Single-handedly this was always a direct concern of mine – anti-grav & the whole curious environmental factors of off-Earth living & working! Doesn’t bear well at Space Camp I couldn’t handle anti-grav but I could handle re-entry? Isn’t that a kick of irony? No one wants to be bumped out of the Space Programme and down-graded to Mission Control – sadly that was my fate as a Camper!! At least I had a lovely scientifically creative convo in Sick Bay!
What would be your favourite dream come true when it comes to space travel and space exploration?
Sullivan responds: Two things. I would like to live long enough to see us have a permanent presence on the moon. I doubt I will be able to go, but I’d love to know that it has happened. I also would like to see Earth as a people put an end to this nationalistic attitude when it comes to space travel and exploration. I hear grumblings by others that see it as some sort of defeat that our astronauts catch a ride on Russian rocket ships to the International Space Station. I think instead it may be the first step to looking beyond our national interests. Our successes there through the years might finally get us to think about space travel as an Earth-centric venture rather than a contest of nations. I think that, if not for this squabbling, we may have been further along in the space program by now. But like I said, it’s about waking up one morning and making the choice to change how we do things. The world is getting smaller and smaller and a change in attitude is inevitable if we’re going to succeed in this venture.
I love this vision of yours – I think your right on the level where continuing our Space explorations should be through a united front & through a sharing of technology & advancement.
If you could live off Earth, what kind of a life do you think you would love to cultivate in Space?
Sullivan responds: For all my talk, I think I’m too practical minded to want to be the first explorer that sets foot on a new world. Let’s take Mars as the obvious example. I think we will go to the moon, I think we will establish a base there, and then we will take what we learn, establish a supply pipeline, and go on to colonize Mars. We’ll set up stations, then habitats, then a domed city, then domed cities, with a long term goal to terra-form the world. All the while, we’ll set up supply chains, create new industries and finally give our overpopulated planet a break when people move out to colonize a new world.
In other words, I wouldn’t be on the Mayflower, I’d be one of those colonists that come out after the towns have been established. Similarly, I’d love to set foot on Martian soil, but only after the dome has a backup atmosphere generator, the shell buildings have been constructed, and we have wifi connections to stream our movies and TV while sipping a lemonade and enjoying a Martian sunset through the glass dome. Hey, priorities, y’know, RJ needs his movies. It’s sorta like riding a roller coaster—it feels dangerous, but there’s a lot of safety features already in place. I just want to FEEL like a pioneer. *grin*
I am not sure why I smirked & laughed so much when I first read this response, except to say, my ancestors followed the Mayflower and arrived on the Fortune; so that might have a heap to do with it! Clearly, my family is used to ‘winging it’ without the proper provisions on arrival! Although, much is to be said to ‘arrive after initial colonization occurs’ as well – both points are valid & I cannot argue with your logic!
Sadly, there was this incredible mini-series in the late 80s about life on the Moon? I wish I could track down a copy of this on dvd or even VHS if it’s still hanging around somewhere in a used book or video shoppe, but the point is – at the very end, one of the couples was pregnant & expecting their first child. They could remain in Space but never go back to Earth or they could return to Earth but the child might not re-adapt to Space. It was a matter of where to live but also, how to live – as half the family was on Earth & they had gone to the new frontier. This is the only part I remember so vividly – but it spoke to some of the hurdles future generations will have to consider, as space travel & transport back & forth between the cosmos & Earth become more commonplace than theoretical. FYI: if anyone at least knows the *name!* of this mini-series, kindly tell me in the comments!?
Of course, part of me wonders why a lot of our technologic innovations stopped mid-Century and why our cars truly haven’t progressed past diesel fuell options (Who Killed the Electric Car is illuminating as it’s sequel) inasmuch as how dependent we’ve become on technology that at times we’ve forgotten (or at least erased partially) our humanity. It will be keenly insightful how we continue to find progress & the balance between living with how that progress continues to alter our lives. (or the manner in how we live)
I’d like to thank Mr Sullivan for such a stimulatingly brilliant conversation! This was seriously an interview that has entered into one of my top favourites to feature on Jorie Loves A Story!
Author Biography:
Best known for his ghost story thrillers, Commanding the Red Lotus is R.J.Sullivan’s fifth book and his first release in the genre he most adores. R.J.’s critically acclaimed, loosely connected ghost story trilogy and his short story collection are all available in paperback and ebook though Seventh Star Press. R.J. resides with his family in Heartland Crossing, Indiana. He drinks regularly from a Little Mermaid coffee mug and is man enough to admit it.
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