I dislike book hype. Just like movie trailers, book hype can reveal all the good bits, making it a little pointless to read the thing itself. At first glance The Sleeping Giants digital cover doesn’t give us much to go on, intriguing as it is. The hardcopy cover does play on the plot though. And… uh-oh… the term “literary thriller” is being used to describe it. The phrase is right alongside comparisons to The Martian and World War Z.
All the alarm bells are going and I haven’t even laid my hands on a copy yet. But wait! I’ve made this mistake before! The blurb also mentions how waking up on giant metal hand is the defining moment which leads Dr Rose Franklin to becoming a world leader in her field.
Oh! Giant. Metal. Hand. So maybe something like Ted Hughes The Iron Man (you might know that story better as Iron Giant) or Pacific Rim? Oh…BattleTech!
Ahem. Where was I…?
Sleeping Giants is the first book of The Themis Files published by Michael Joseph here in the UK, and Del Rey in the US. Author Sylvain Neuvel is a self-declared robot tinkerer, I suspect he may even have a not-so-secret love of Star Wars.
I give up. Tell me, please, why should I read your book? (And I should point out that “Coz I wrote it.” is not an acceptable answer at all.)
You in particular? There is an interviewer in the book. He asks questions, like you, and he speaks in bold face. Enough said. Now, for everyone else. If you’ve ever looked up at the sky and wondered what’s out there, then this one’s for you. If you like science fiction where the science part holds water, conspiracies, geopolitical intrigue, there’s something in there for you. This is a hunt for truth, power, and giant body parts. It’s fast, the story format is fresh and unique, and it’s a fun, quick read. Did I mention giant metal body parts?
Not happy with being the debut author of what looks to be one of the biggest books out this year, Themis Files has been optioned for movie treatment by Sony. I know a book contains more of the story than the film, but can I be super lazy and wait for the film to come out?
No! Read the book! It reads like a movie anyway. I tend to visualize things before I write them down. I make little scenes in my head, camera angles and all. Then I let the characters talk about it, hoping you’ll see the same thing I did.
There is a range of characters to follow in Sleeping Giants, offering interesting insight into the implications of what has been discovered. Was any one character more interesting to write and research than the others?
Rose is the scientist on the team, and knowing what she knows took a lot of work. In terms of research, she was the most challenging character to write, in a good way. If you’re asking which character I enjoy writing the most, it’s a close call. I have a blast with the interviewer. He has a great personality, but his very existence is about hiding who he is. Letting you figure him out through dialogue when he’s doing his best not to let anything show is a whole lot of fun.
You use a journal form of narrative and an unknown interrogator to explore the viewpoints of the characters involved, doesn’t this risk distancing the reader?
The book is a great many different things, some more familiar than others. Journal entries are inherently intimate, and they’re not that different from any other first person narrative. The interviews are indeed a different beast. You’re not in anyone’s head. You spend time with the characters like you would with real people and you figure them out based on what they do, what they say, what they don’t say, like you would in a movie, or, you know, real life. It might seem odd at first, but you get to know the characters in a natural way and, in the end, I think the experience can be that much more rewarding. I want you to be involved. Why? Because readers are smart.
How much of your love for building (yes you may read that as ‘playing with’) robots influenced Sleeping Giants?
Don’t tell anyone, but this whole thing started as an excuse for making toys. I asked my son if he’d like me to build him a toy robot. Yes, right? Well my son, he was three at the time, is a bit more complicated than that. What kind of robot, dad? Where is it from? What does it do? He wanted a toy with a backstory. A few days later, we were watching Japanese anime about a giant robot from outer space – Goldorak/Grendizer: insanely formulaic, no plot, cool robot – and I started thinking about what it would be like if we found one for real. Now that would be fun to write.
If you owned your own planet would your robots adhere to The Three Laws of Robotics? Why?
I’m sorry. I stopped paying attention after “your own planet”. That’s what I want now. I want to own a planet. Do the robots come with it? If so, then I guess it’s not really my call. If this is a BYOR planet, then why not? The Three Laws always fail in book-worthy ways, and one can never have too much inspiration. Seriously, evil movie AI’s are always the second smartest thing in the room, aaalmost as smart as the main character. If we create an artificial system that can learn and evolve on its own, it seems pretty obvious it won’t plateau when it reaches my IQ. The real question is how do you begin to fathom the ethical issues of something that is light years beyond human comprehension? But I won’t have any of those on my planet, the one I own.
Aside from the second book, what else can we expect to see from your writing desk?
The third book. There’s at least three. I have a day job and a six-year-old kid, so you’ll see some smaller things – I just finished a short story I think is really cool – but I’m really focused on the Themis Files right now.
Thanks Sylvain! You win, I certainly need to read beyond the hype! You can order Sleeping Giants from Amazon, and follow updates on the Themis Files website. While you’re waiting for it to arrive, I recommend you visit Sylvain’s website. Only a true science fiction fan could put his linguistic talents to such…abuse?
*****
Interview by Shellie Horst – SFFWorld.com © 2016
