Interview with Peter Watts

Q: What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?

Well, I think my prose generallly kicks ass. And I'm more than decent at thought experiments. Characterization, maybe not so much. I'm kind of like the Rush of character development: I do one or two things really well, but I know my limits. My characters are always quite human, but they're not very humane. And I've been told that here in the real world, at least one or two people are.

I'd kill to have characters as heartfelt as Elisabeth Bear's, for example.

Q: Given the choice, would you take a New York Times bestseller, or a Hugo Award? Why, exactly?

NYT bestseller This has nothing to do with literary snobbishness (Christ knows I have to put up with enough of that shit here in Canada, what with a literary establishment that won't even look at a story unless it's about the lonely young daughter of a distant father, coming to terms with her burgeoning lesbianism on the misty and windswept shores of the Canadian Pacific. I mean, give me a fucking break.) The simple truth is, I got cats to feed, and rent to pay, and while I'd certain take any accolade anyone wanted to shove in my face, a NYT bestseller simply implies more bucks in the bank.

Unless it doesn't. In which case I'd go for the Hugo.

Q: In all honesty, I must admit to never having heard of your work prior to BLINDSIGHT, yet you have a few novels in your backlist. Can you tell us why we should pick up your earlier work?

The best reason for reading my stuff was perhaps best summed up by James Nicoll, who once said: "Whenever I feel my will to live becoming too strong, I read some Peter Watts". Other than that, I got nothing.

Q: Other than BLINDSIGHT, which of your works do you believe to be your strongest?

That depends what you're looking for. In my experience, people who aren't habitual readers of sf tend to prefer Starfish: it's heavy on ambience and angst and environment. It's moody, and you can kind of ease into it without too much background. Maelstrom, on the other hand, tends to appeal more to hardcore tech-heads: it's jam-packed with ideas, it hits the ground running, and it has a much denser feel than its predecessor. A lot of people who clapped politely for Starfish stood up and cheered for the sequel; conversely, a lot of people who loved Starfish felt completely clobbered by Maelstrom, and couldn't get into it.

If you've got a fetish for conspicuous consumption, Behemoth is definitely your choice. You get to pay twice for the same novel.

Q: The fact that you have your own website is an indication that interaction with your readers is important to you as an author. How special is it to have the chance to interact directly with your fans?

Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going. Interactions with publishers and agents tend to be more frustrating than encourageing. And given my royalties, there's no way I'm in this for the money.

It's actually one of the coolest things about being an author: people who are way cooler than you look you up and want to buy you beers (in fact, I'm nursing a bit of a hangover from one such an event even as I type). If I ever need the services of a private eye, a criminal lawyer, or a black-ops military computer dude- or if I need a Porsche serviced- I now know where to go.

Of course, the downside is the occasional stalker who lurks in the lobby of the Holiday Inn waiting for you at 2am. And no matter how interesting one's correspondence with fans can be, they tend to devour all your time. (Which is why I've owed certain e-mails for six months or more. To those people-- you know who you are-- er, sorry.)