In the follow-up to Admiral, the intergalactic war has ended and hostilities between the Evagardian Empire and the Commonwealth are officially over, but the admiral is far from safe. . . . We have talked to Sean Danker about his new novel Free Space that is being released next week.
We’re speaking as your latest novel, Free Space is being published. Can you tell us a little about it?
Free Space is the direct sequel to Admiral, and it picks up shortly after the first book ends with Salmagard about to return to duty, and the Admiral emerging from hiding to meet her. Things don’t go as planned, and when the Admiral is involved, it’s usually safe to assume nothing is happening by accident.
In many ways Free Space is quite different from the first book in the series. What new goals did you set yourself for Free Space?
Admiral was very self-contained, and only hinted at the bigger picture and the Admiral’s plans and identity. Free Space is the beginning of a transition into the larger, more serial story about who the Admiral is and what he’s really trying to do. The goal has always been to keep things moving fast and for the reader to always be guessing.
When we talked last year you mentioned that the whole series had already been written. When can we expect the next book and how many books will there be in total?
Everything’s always subject to change prior to publication, but the books are all written, and right now the Admiral’s story is arranged across six volumes. Free Space is the second, and it comes out May 2. As for when to expect the third book, that’s a question you’ll have to pose to the publisher. Apart from the main Admiral series, there’s a horror novel starring Deilani from Admiral. It takes place just before the events of Free Space, but it doesn’t have a release date. There’s also a big, Evagardian military adventure that acts as a sort of prequel to the Admiral series, and that one’s scheduled for next year.
When you started the series did you have all the details planned from the beginning or did many things change and evolve as you wrote the story?
Every word of every book is building toward something very specific, all planned from the start. A few details have changed along the way about how we get there, but this series has always been headed for the same place.
How do you feel you as a writer has developed since you started on the first book?
This is the first time I’ve completed a series of this type, where the series is one big story rather than a sequence of episodes. What that means is though the pace is fast, some of the bigger stuff takes some time to bloom. At every stage I’ve had to weigh the impact of a slow burn against more commercial, blockbuster storytelling sensibilities. My goal has been to find a balance between the two so I could tell such an unorthodox story in a way that anyone can pick it up and enjoy it. I won’t say I’ve completely nailed that, but I’ve definitely made progress.
What has been most surprising to you in your writing and publishing career so far?
The world of books is strange and opaque. The industry moves at its own pace, and so do I, so that’s something I still have to figure out. I was formerly in the military, and now I’m a social worker – so at this point the bulk of my professional life has been spent working for the government. There’s definitely some culture shock there for me; the publishing industry plays by a very different set of rules than what I’m used to. I have a lot to learn.
What can you reveal about the next book in the Evagardian series?
The third Admiral volume represents a major escalation in all aspects of the story. Higher stakes, bigger revelations, and a wider, stranger universe. In Free Space we start to get to know the real Admiral and the real Evagard. As we go beyond it, we go deeper. In the first volume the Admiral is at the mercy of circumstance and medical issues; in the second he’s not much better off. So far the readers haven’t had a chance to see him at his best. He’s a strategist, he’s always a step ahead, and yet he’s always fighting to catch up, or even just to survive. Starting in book three, that all changes.
Do you also have other projects you work on?
Absolutely. In the Admiral novels there’s a lot of talk about a mysterious event called the Unification, and the birth of the empire. That’s not a throwaway reference; there’s actually a very robust story there about the Empress and the events on Earth that led to the future we see in the Admiral novels, and I’ve been working on those books for years. I’ve also done mystery and suspense novels, and a lot of fantasy lately. I even tried to write a historical bodice ripping romance, but my agent said it was a historical gothic. I don’t believe her. I mean, a bodice actually gets ripped in the book. I’m not kidding. Literally ripped! How is that not a bodice ripper? It totally is.
Thanks for having me.
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Interview by Dag Rambraut – SFFWorld.com © 2017
