I first met Jeff Provine through his “This Day in Alternate History Blog” where I found his short alternate history scenarios to be a fun way to waste time at work. More importantly, I learned he was fantastic writer and was happy to see him win the 2015 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. Recently Jeff published a new book, Hellfire, and when Dag asked me if I would like to interview Jeff, I jumped at the chance. Check out our conversations below on alternate history, steampunk and…ghosts?
Welcome to SFFWorld, Jeff. Tell us a little about yourself.
Thank you for having me! I’m the kind of guy who’s always up to something, making something new. That may have come out of growing up on the old family farm where we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. Everybody has those notions that strike them like “wouldn’t it be cool if X?” or “somebody should do Y.” I have a habit of lingering on those thoughts, reviewing what it would take, and finally saying, “Well, why not?”
As an example, I started a charity ghost tour at the University of Oklahoma in 2009. I’d done some backpacking in Britain beforehand and went on many, many ghost tours there. On one, I told my friend Tess the only ghost story about Norman I knew at the time (a little boy who roller skates around the top floor of the old infirmary on campus). She suggested I should make my own ghost tour. I scoffed, but soon I was digging around for more home-grown lore. The annual Halloween tour started out with friends and family in 2009, and by 2012 we had over 150 people showing up. Since then, the tour has become a monthly affair that has hosted over 4,000 guests. It’s expanded, too: I founded another tour for downtown Norman in 2015. And the History Press contacted me about writing the stories down, which has led to two local collections, Campus Ghosts of Norman and Haunted Norman, another about our old territorial capital Guthrie, and Haunted Oklahoma City coming this fall. All that just because I couldn’t let a whim of a suggestion go.
This may sound like a dumb question, but do you think ghosts are real and why?
I get that question fairly often, though it always seems to blow my mind since I hardly consider myself an expert. I’ve never seen a ghost, though I have heard some spooky sounds. Still, not anything that I could label scientific proof. There are three modes of thought that seem to float around. One is that ghosts do not exist at all; all the “evidence” is misconstrued as part of a collective illusion. Another is that ghosts are emotional imprints reenacting major events or even people who are unable to cross over for various reasons. Believers here often mention the Laws of Conservation, stating that people’s spirits must become something. The third, which does not necessarily discount the second, is that there is a whole host of forces beyond humans, dark ones, bright ones, etc, and some of those like to take on a persona of a haunting, making the story real.
For me, I have talked to so many people who have no reason to lie about things they’ve witnessed. Evidence is certainly pointing to something out there. I don’t know the exact details, but it’s good think we go on.
What got you interested in alternate history?
I’ve always been a big nerd, gobbling books on science and history since I was little. While it had always been clear that writers could tinker around in science fiction, I was blown away by the thought of alternate history. I’m sure the first I’d ever heard was the classic “What if the South had won the Civil War,” most likely from Turtledove’s Guns of the South. I’ve been fascinated ever since, reading both serious studies in counterfactual histories and just about any alternate histories I can get my hands on. It’s a thrill chasing down the butterflies that take flight after a “what if?”
You are the founder of This Day in Alternate History and recently succeeded in writing a different alternate history scenario for every day of the year. Why did you start this blog?
I was in bed with a fever, rolling around trying to get comfortable in the sweaty sheets. My mind was bouncing between spurts of crazy thoughts and a droning sense of “uuugh.” I settled on thinking about Will Rogers, the cowboy philosopher, and for some reason wondered, “What if he hadn’t died in that plane crash?” It was an interesting little point of departure that I didn’t think anyone had played around with in collections like What If? and Alternate Presidents. I determined that I’d write my own. Then my fever-addled mind started thinking about other bits of history that could go differently, so it evolved into a whole collection. As I was researching, I kept coming across “on this day” and “this day in history” discussions, so I decided to do This Day in Alternate History. It was a major project, and five years and 365+ articles later, I’ve still got a whole list of alternates to explore.
What did it feel like when your short story, “Kiss From a Queen” won the 2015 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award?
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it at first. I had to mark the email announcement “unread” and come back to it to make sure I hadn’t misread it with wishful thinking. It’s a great honor. I’m proud to have a story in Jim Baen’s memory. He was a leader in publishing who gave us so many great stories, and Baen Books continues to host some of the best sci-fi and fantasy anyone could want.
Your new book, Hellfire, just came out. What is it about?
In 1856, the world is driven on Newton’s Catalyst, a miraculous powder that makes fires burn hotter than they should. Steam-powered ships navigate the seas, railroads cross the land, and airships glide in the skies. Locomotive fireman Nate Kemp discovers a terrible secret about the catalyst: the heat is from hell itself. It’s steampunk, it’s horror, and it’s alternate history, set in the great state of Gloriana, which grew from the colony Aaron Burr began west of the Mississippi.
What inspired you to write it?
Steampunk is an amazing genre. The aesthetic, the creativity, the strong archetypes, all of it great. One problem with it, though, is getting enough power to drive giant mechanical spiders or what have you, since old steam engines generally had 5-10% efficiency. I was thinking about applications for wormholes like transporting heat from a central location, and then it struck me: what has more heat than the Lake of Fire? With a conflict like that, I knew I had a story to tell.
Who designed the cover?
The cover was done by Cora Designs. It’s really excellent work. The fire and smoke motif play well into the steampunk world, as do the cogs and the costumes for models. I’m especially impressed with the transformations over the course of creation in the artwork: psychiatric nurse Ozzie Jacey looks just like I’d pictured her.
Are there any other projects that you are working on?
I’m always up to something. With Halloween just a few months down the road, a good deal of my energy is going toward ghost stories and local legends. On top of that, I’m working on an educational video series on creative writing. There are a lot of great writing videos out there on inspiration and flow, but I want to discuss the next level with the nitty-gritty mechanics of story.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
The most meaningful advice for each person will depend on where they are.
For folks trying to find their voice, read. Consume at all levels, taking in as much creative juice as you can. Make notes about what you like and what doesn’t work for you. Analyze it to find out why.
For writers who are getting their stories down, revise before you begin and after you’re done. An early outline of “Kiss from a Queen” had a wizard and a dragon in it. That would’ve made the story dumb.
For those who have put a little out there, keep going and spread the word! Social media is a great way to connect and show that you’ve got a story they need to hear. Once you’ve hooked them with one story, give them a wink and tell them another.
And for everyone: write. Write, write, write, and write. Do it because you love it, even when you may not like it.
Interview by Matt Mitrovich – SFFWorld.com © 2016
