On the recent release of Empires: Infiltration and Empires: Extraction, both authors involved (Stephen and Gavin) wrote about their reaction to each other’s work, and the joys and perils of working collaboratively. CAUTION: Some of this may be NSFW.
Here’s the second part of this article – Gavin’s reaction to Empires: Extraction:
Empires: Extraction – A Reaction
Or what I wanted to call: ‘For f*ck’s sake he’s done it again!’ This will also be an object lesson in how not to do what you’re supposed to be doing.
So this is where I talk about my reaction to Stephen’s book Empires: Extraction. Extraction is part of the Empires shared world and runs in tandem with my own novel Empires: Infiltration. Basically the books deal with broadly the same events from two very different perspectives as two very powerful alien empires take an interest in Earth.
So here’s a quick look behind the curtain at this sort of thing. Close to publication time various interested parties put their heads together and come up with ideas of how to promote the books. Now my approach to this is that there should always be a value add for the readers, and that value add should be entertaining, and ideally amusing. Sometimes the ideas they (and both Stephen and I are part of this nebulous ‘they’) come up with are hard. Like this one. This wasn’t my idea. I don’t think it was even Stephen’s idea, as much as he enjoys making my life difficult. In fact, I’m going to find who was responsible for this idea and add them to my ‘to be mocked’ at a later date file.
So here’s the first problem. It takes about a year from finishing writing a book to it being released. During that year, even in the relatively sedentary existence of a writer, stuff tends to happen. Memories of events get squeezed out for other things, like Ultravox lyrics. I’m not saying that’s exactly what happened, I’m just illustrating a point whilst ‘dancing with tears in my eyes, weeping for the memory of a life gone by’.
Here’s the second problem with this. We didn’t read each other’s books like we were reading for pleasure, we were reading them as part of an, at times, complex process, and we were doing so again, and again. Our reactions, most of the time, were mostly: ‘What does this mean to what I’m doing?’ Which was at best: ‘That makes my life easy.’ Or at worse: ‘Blue screaming Jesus! What’s he done now?’
See, Steve and I have two different approaches to writing, which further complicated this process. I plan quite carefully and try and get my first draft as close to, what I hope, is going to be published. Steve does tonnes of drafts. Which is of course insane. He also writes faster than me.
So let’s talk about the positive reaction. Infiltration is an excellent book. As a stand alone, action-oriented, SF thriller it is more than capable of standing up, head held high on the shelves of the SFF section of any reputable bookshop. This is all the more impressive, he said patronisingly, because Steve is mainly known for fantasy. (Bless his little cotton socks!) But not only did he adapt to the new genre in a way I would have struggled with the other way around, but he also wrote the military sub-culture part of the book very well. (There’s this thing called research. And also copying your stuff – Steve.) In fact the only real problem about his fantasy background is his lack of knowledge about physics. (Standing right here, Gav. Right here – Steve.)
Now something that did stick out from the malaise of being two writers working on an at times tricky project with a deadline, however, was Steve’s aliens, the Weft. Now whilst, ultimately, they are going to get their arses kicked by the Pleasure, my aliens, (yes, Gav, I know you’re trying to provoke me again, but on reflection you’re right. The Pleasure will start using lasers visible in the vacuum of space and the Weft will simply cry themselves to death – Steve), they are a work of genius. Particularly the concept of a scientific soul, which I like to think of as pissing in the eye sockets of proselytising fundamentalists, be they religious or atheist.
Now let’s talk about the negative reactions, because let’s be honest negative things are more fun, and Josh. Who is Josh? Our editor perhaps? A mysterious third collaborator, a bit like the keyboard player in Iron Maiden? No. Josh is Tom Hank’s character in Big. I’ll explain:
You see, sometimes Steve gets carried away. Now, I am the first to admit that I likes me some big screen action. I like watching the Avengers extensively redecorate the centre of New York, and be called heroes for their troubles, as much as the next nerd (Avengers II: This time, we negotiate!) but you have to give yourself a place to go. These, after all, are only the first two books (er… hopefully) in the series. Which is why, when your collaborator wants to turn the Shard, a massive high rise building in central London, into a spaceship and fly it away, I said no. Reading that back, it occurs to me that I am the Grinch that stole Christmas.
Why didn’t I want to do this? I felt at best it was a bit Dr Who – nothing wrong with that, but the wrong tone for Empires, and at worse it was a bit farcical. The protagonists weren’t fighting Tharg after all (because Tharg is nice). And I did it because of Josh (and this was actually my thought process, I’m not making this up.) In Big, Josh is asked to test a toy that is a building that turns into a robot. Josh points out that a building that turns into something else is boring. Josh is right. So there was a ‘discussion’, with a tired and ill Steve if I remember correctly. I cried, and eventually got my way.
Or so I thought. Then there’s this: (link to Steve’s Empires: Infiltration – A Reaction). THE F*CKER’S ONLY GONE AND DONE IT AGAIN HASN’T HE! He didn’t get it in the book so he blogs about it! Steve, we didn’t turn the f*cking Shard, into a f*cking spaceship! Because it’s f*cking silly! We may have done something, which involved dropping a building, in a different part of London, that subsequently has a tangential connection to a spaceship (but to find out what that is you’ll have to read the books.)
Now, Steve, let this be an end to this. The Shard isn’t a spaceship, dragons don’t roost in its rafters just leave it alone now. Please.
EMPIRES EXTRACTION and EMPIRES INFILTRATION by Gavin Deas, published by Gollancz, 20th November, Hardback, £12.99
