A military science fiction thriller that portrays a dystopian future of corporation greed, exploitation and secrets worth dying for. With billions of dollars at stake, the corporations will do everything in their power to keep their secrets safe.
In this Cover Reveal we’re happy to bring you the cover of Cyborg by JCH Rigby who we also got to ask a few questions about the cover and the new book.
What new goals did you set for yourself with the new book?
The “super soldier” is a recognized science fiction trope. When I began The Deep Wide Black series, I was interested in exploring what might motivate a soldier to accept the extensive surgery which would be required to become “enhanced”, as the soldiers call it, what he’d be likely to experience, and how it might feel to live like that. So it wasn’t really about the battles and action scenes – although there are plenty of those! – but actually a chance to explore a life which is part human, part machine, but all soldier.
The enhanced soldiers – they hate to be called “cyborgs” – are mentally and physically much faster than you and me. If you were altered in that way, how would people react to you? What would they see? How would society treat you? Most importantly – once governments or corporations have invested huge sums of money in you, would you retain any kind of personal freedom? And if you survived years of conflict, could you ever go back to your old life?
The soldiers’ experiences and memories are valuable sources of reconnaissance data, so they are routinely downloaded for analysis by military intelligence specialists. But our memories are a large proportion of our personalities, and an unexpected consequence for one soldier is that his downloaded memory becomes self-aware, as an avatar of his original self. For a man who likes climbing mountains, drinking beer with buddies or flirting with a pretty girl to wake up as data inside a computer network would be traumatising. How will he cope with that?
Many cultures have myths and legends about warriors or knights sleeping the decades away, deep inside a mountain, ready to save the kingdom in a time of great need. There’s a similarity here which I wanted to explore. After action, the enhanced soldiers are sent into a kind of recuperation state. Their awareness is slowed down to a standby condition which they call “the dreamtime”, in which they rest while their wounds are healed – or while they are redeployed to a new and unexpected conflict. Each time they wake, these sleeping warriors will encounter vastly changed societies. Their families are long dead, their wars have been forgotten. Their unit is their only family now. How does that feel?
New book and a new cover by Duncan Halleck. Can you tell us a bit about the new book cover?
From the moment when I first saw Duncan Halleck’s amazing cover artwork, I was enthralled by it. It depicts a pivotal scene in the novel. A party of scientists, escorted by soldiers, are warily picking their way through the hull of a vast alien spacecraft, one of an eleven-strong fleet of derelict vessels.
There has clearly been a battle, but there is no sign of the combatants. Who were these beings? Are the aliens still on board? Are the humans in imminent danger themselves? Well, yes, they are; but the danger comes from a completely unexpected source.
What happens in the next few seconds will change the fates of billions, across dozens of planets, and play out over several centuries.
How did you work with Duncan from the idea to the final result?
Duncan Halleck asked me to highlight a number of scenes from the novel which would speak for the book’s main themes. I offered three which I felt had strong visual characteristics, put them in the context of the novel and identified what I felt was significant about them. And then I said – you choose.
The key thing is that Duncan chose the scene which you see here, and I can see why. As I say, it’s a pivotal scene. So much of what comes afterwards springs from this very moment.
Was it a very interactive process?
I love the entirety of this image and every detail, but you might be surprised to learn that I hadn’t visualised it as clearly as this! It was a glorious surprise when I saw it.
Part of me wanted to tell Duncan exactly how to do the job, but I knew that that made no sense. It’s important to trust the artist’s creative talent. Duncan has conveyed a sense of the drama of the moment, of the impotence of a single human in the face of vast forces, of the unknowable extent of this alien craft.
So as a way of working, I couldn’t be happier with it. Artist and writer have clearly defined roles, and we trust each other to fulfil them.
What do you personally feel is most important in a book cover?
We all know the cliché about not judging a book, etc.. But if I walk into a book shop or scan my screen for ideas about what I’d like to read next, I’m looking at thousands and thousands of titles. So of course a little help is welcome. If I’m seeing a smiling celebrity, a glorious landscape or a quirky flowery typeface I’ll have a good idea whether to slow down or not.
Do you remember the Victor Gollancz yellow dustcovers? When I was a kid, my local library kept science fiction on the general fiction shelves. I could spot the yellow Gollancz books from the far end of the library, and I went straight there. That’s how I discovered greats such as James Blish, Poul Anderson, Philip K Dick, Fritz Leiber…
I believe that Duncan Halleck’s cover tells you straight away that this is “traditional” science fiction, with big scary stuff going on involving huge unknown machinery. So if you’re looking for mediaeval poetry, perhaps this isn’t for you. But, importantly, it’s not generic sf either.
As a reader, I always feel a sense of shared excitement when I find that the cover of a book is more than merely a signpost to a genre, and represents specific characters in a particular scene. Duncan has done exactly that: we want to know what happens after the moments shown here. The cover is a critically important element of the book, and that’s as true in the world of online publishing as it ever was in traditional print.
*****
Interview by Dag Rambraut– SFFWorld.com © 2017
JCH (Charlie) Rigby Bio
Prior to his SF novel series set in the galaxy of The Deep Wide Black, JCH Rigby (Charlie) wrote well-received short stories and professionally-performed plays, on subjects as diverse as a comedy about a mediaeval bishop who takes up piracy, and a satirical near-future in which motorbikes are forbidden until a covert brotherhood of bikers reclaim their ancient freedoms. In the 1990s he published and edited the Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine Far Point. Later, he developed “Nano Futures”, mini short stories which distil SF tropes into one hundred words. After Ampleforth and Oxford, Charlie served with the Royal Air Force Regiment in Cold War West Germany, in Northern Ireland, in Cyprus and in the Falkland Islands. When his first military exercise was launched, he watched from underneath his steel helmet as a squadron of Vulcan bombers scrambled from a Cambridgeshire runway. There and then, he knew he’d made the right career choice. The “big boys’ toy box” thrills continued with Scorpion and Spartan light armoured vehicles, cross-country motorbikes, helicopters, Hercules transport aircraft and a huge range of things which went bang, generally when they were intended to. Much of the rest of his service seemed to involve carrying heavy things while running, generally in bad weather. He subsequently worked in the print industry and in publishing. Born in Newcastle, he lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire, with his extremely tolerant wife and the world’s fastest Labrador retriever. Father to three daughters, he is joyously surrounded by smart and wonderful women.
