Trevor Hogg chats with Daniel H. Wilson, author of the recent sci-fi novel Robopocalypse…
The elder son of an automobile mechanic sheepishly confesses, “I always worked at the shop but I never did learn much about cars.” When asked if his father’s profession had influenced him, writer Daniel H. Wilson reflects, “You would think that but most of my research in grad school and most of what I studied was all math.” While obtaining a PhD. in Robotics, the native of Tulsa, Oklahoma embarked on a personal project which would spark a career of creating with words rather than mathematics. “With How to Survive a Robot Uprising I was using familiar pop culture themes to convey real information,” says Wilson of the book which was published in 2005 by Bloomsbury and won a Rave Award from Wired magazine. “I wrote it while I was in grad school. Carnegie Mellon has the biggest robotics program anywhere. There are so many different types of projects that are happening at any given time that it really boggles the mind. It gave me a chance to make the rounds and meet everybody and ask them how they would survive if the robot tried to kill them. I then wrote it in bite-size formats so that a reader would get a taste of the wide variety of the research that’s happening in robotics.” For inspiration, the university graduate consulted a number of survival guides. “Ultimately, it is pretty humorous and so I guess the fact that it is over-the-top humorous gives it a bit of that super dramatic 1950s flare.” The satirical work captured the attention of Hollywood with Paramount Pictures optioning the film rights, and comedian Mike Myers set to star; however, the project never happened.
When his Hollywood ambitions stalled, the future contributing editor for Popular Mechanics was hired as a columnist for the publication, allowing him to hone his writing skills. “I think what magazines do successfully is maintain a tone,” observes Daniel H. Wilson. “To some extent they don’t choose their audience, the audience chooses them.” The budding American wordsmith produced a series of humorous follow-up efforts titled Where’s My Jetpack? (New York: Bloomsbury, 2007), How to Build a Robot Army (New York: Bloomsbury, 2008), and co-authored with psychologist Anna C. Long, The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame: Muwahahaha! (New York: Citadel, 2008). After composing his first short story The Nostalgist (Tor.com, 2009), the Oklahoman moved comically beyond the world of science. “Bro-Jitsu [New York: Bloomsbury Children’s, 2010] is from my own family experience. I have a little brother who got bigger than me pretty quickly so I experienced the full [impact of sibling rivalry],” readily admits Wilson when discussing his first attempt at children’s literature. “That book came out of a childhood spent with a lot of noogies and wet willies and every other maneuver that’s listed.” To complete his two-book deal with Bloomsbury Children’s, the robotics expert returned to his academic background in 2010. “A Boy and His Bot was originally going to be much simpler. It was going to be more of a dragonology type book. Ultimately, the publisher decided to change that so I said, ‘Maybe this is my chance to write a book length novel,’ although it is a middle reader. So I took the opportunity. It was really difficult. I had to rewrite it three times. I learned a lot about writing a book. For some reason I thought it would be easier to write a middle reader before I wrote a full adult novel and I was so wrong about that.” Childhood movies, in particular The NeverEnding Story (1984), Labyrinth (1986), and The Dark Crystal (1982), helped to shape the tale consisting of a series of chapters featuring a “new, crazy fantastic scenario” which Wilson had accumulated over a period of time in his imagination. “What I was trying to do in A Boy and His Bot was to let this kid explore a world that didn’t have much to with human beings and to allow him to get a feel for himself from a robot’s perspective.”
Questioned whether he was concerned about being considered a novelty writer, Daniel H. Wilson answers, “I don’t have a problem with that; I’m really glad to be able to write anything. I joke that people tell me, ‘Oh, your book is perfect to read in the bathroom.’ My goal is to breakout of the bathroom and into the living room or next to the bed.” The novelist has made a concerted effort to make his goal a reality with his latest literary offering from Doubleday. “I didn’t want Robopocalypse to be derivative so I was careful to not repeat what people and I have already seen,” states Wilson of the story which revolves around an artificial intelligence named Archos that highjacks everyday and military technology, turning it against humanity with genocidal consequences. “I think he’s a pretty interesting character. In a lot of ways he’s complicated and has conflicting aims. I had fun writing him.”
Assembling the novel, which is written as a collection of eye-witness transcripts composed by human resistance fighter Cormac “Bright Boy” Wallace, was an enjoyable experience. “When I was writing Robopocalypse I got excited about some of the things that I had come up with,” enthuses Wilson, “although making the whole book come together and getting it to the final state was not always fun.” He goes on to add, “I love some of the stuff that happens in there. I’ve gotten a lot of positive reviews but when people have negative reviews I just don’t believe it. There are cowboys on top of walking tanks; tell me that’s not awesome!” As a result of the decade spent writing technical papers, the Portland, Oregon based author is not offended when presented with an opposing perspective. “When people do have criticism I don’t take it personally, I sort of feel that the stuff I make is out there on its own.”
Part Cherokee, the novelist incorporated his family heritage into one of the storylines. “You don’t see a lot of Native Americans showing up anywhere really,” believes Wilson. “It was a treat for me to be able to do that having grown up in Oklahoma where Native Americans are a big part of day-to-day life. Everybody there has some tie to Native American culture even if it’s just a basic tie of living in Oklahoma, which was once Indian territory for the United States. That was special for me to be able to write about because it’s something I know and I’m passionate about; it is somewhat unique to me. To be able to combine Native Americans and robots, I’m going to go out on a limb and say, ‘That’s probably somewhat unique.’” It was considered sufficiently unique by Steven Spielberg (Minority Report) and DreamWorks as the film rights were bought before the manuscript had been competed; the cinematic adaptation is presently in pre-production and is slated to be released in 2013.
“AMP is really grounded in the near-term future,” reveals Daniel H. Wilson of the techno thriller he is currently working on which is scheduled to be published by Doubleday in 2013. “Even in Robopocalypse, despite the fact that it’s this huge robot apocalypse, I don’t feel like I focused too much on the technology. I describe it when people are interacting with it but I don’t go bananas. It’s the same in AMP. I’m not that interested in describing every little detail of how a neuro implant would work or what you could do if the brain and the computer interfaced. There’s a lot of creative hard science fiction that goes through every possible literation of that. I’m really interested in my characters and also the impact this technology is having on society. AMP is not about gee whiz gadgets and people’s heads. It’s about human society re-orientating itself in the face of great technological change.” Wilson adds, “The frightening part for people is that they’re contemplating a day when you have to get something under your skin in order to communicate with other people in society, have a job, and be successful. That’s pretty scary.”
A major personal change for Daniel H. Wilson occurred when he became a father. “I understand the parent-child relationship a lot more and I think that’s something to draw on when you’re writing because it’s such a powerful dynamic. My daughter is only a year old so I haven’t been watching her and being reminded of my own childhood yet because she’s not quite there but I imagine that will happen.” Wilson has purposely made a move towards more adult-oriented material. “I feel like it’s a move forward. From now on I’m much more interested in writing fiction. At some point, if I write more nonfiction, I imagine I’ll be a little more serious about it. Those books are small, shiny, fun and quick to write, but you can only do so many of them. You look at them and they start seeming flimsy after awhile. My hope is that Robopocalypse and AMP and the books I write further down the line will hang out longer.”
Many thanks to Daniel H. Wilson for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.
For more on the author follow Daniel on Twitter and visit his website.
Read Trevor’s review of Robopocalypse and be sure to check out the second part of this interview, Rising to the Big Screen: Daniel H. Wilson talks about Steven Spielberg.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
