by Brian Owt

Ablation Cascade is your first work of fiction?

Yes. I've made a living as a writer for many years, but this is my first published work of fiction. It's a full-length novel with illustrations. So much for the wisdom of starting small.

How did you get the idea for the book?

I conceived the story over a decade ago when I was thinking about the problems posed by orbiting space debris. This was well before Alfonso Cuarón's movie Gravity brought the issue of space junk to public attention with some gripping visuals. (The specter of an ablation cascade, also known as the Kessler syndrome, goes back to 1978 when Earth's orbit was not nearly as crowded as it is today.)

When I had the glimmers of a story based on the problems posed by space junk, I was learning the craft of screenwriting, and I started working on Ablation Cascade as a screenplay. But the story was overly ambitious for a spec script, so I put the idea on hold.

After I decided that screenwriting was not in the cards for me, I thought about developing Ablation Cascade as a novel. At first I was reluctant. Writing a novel is a considerable undertaking, and finding your voice as a novelist requires practice. I was by no means sure that I could do it, but the story kept churning inside my head.

What made you decide to take the plunge and write a novel?

The more I thought about the story, the more I realized that the novel format allowed me to do justice to the story's characters, subplots, time lines, and locations. It gave me the opportunity to explore complex themes while cutting loose with high-action sequences and plot twists.

I began by expanding my screenplay outline, developing chapters that contained the major character back stories. As I sorted out the question of where on Earth (and I mean that literally) one could hide a stolen spacecraft, the settings for the action became clear. In turn, the plot and characters began to take on their final forms.

Did working on screenplays help you to write the book?

Absolutely! Writing screenplays gives you practice with crafting dialog that conveys character and mood. It also teaches you how to write scenes efficiently and effectively. Every story runs into plot issues, and when I encountered roadblocks, I would rummage through the screenwriter's toolbox for useful techniques to resolve the problems.

Of course, there are big differences between screenplays and novels. You can't move rapidly between scenes in a novel without confusing the reader — something my editor doesn't let me forget.

Unlike screenplays, novels employ exposition, which is a powerful tool, although one that can sprawl out of control. I like tidy exposition that makes its case quickly, so I developed a style for writing chapters that were rich with detail but that also moved swiftly from point to point.

Which writers influenced you?

I grew up reading the golden age and new wave writers of science fiction, though I've been influenced by a number of authors outside of that genre as well. An author's writing style engages me as much as the story, if not more. I resonate with styles that range from the dreamlike quality of Ray Bradbury to the brutal reality of Harlan Ellison. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is over eighty years old yet manages to sound contemporary while also raising issues we're still grappling with. What an extraordinary achievement.

My intention with Ablation Cascade, though, was to write a modern adventure novel in the vein of Jules Verne or Robert Louis Stevenson, replete with colorful characters and cliff-hangers. Today those types of books are called thrillers.

Admittedly, the spacefaring scenario at the heart of Ablation Cascade is a throwback compared to topics like virtual reality, genetic engineering, and climate change. But the story allowed me to explore issues of culture and technology by asking a simple question: How does something become junk? Stated another way, how is value lost from the things we cherish? That applies to the mental worlds we construct as much as to the physical worlds around us.

How do you envision the future you write about?

My sensibility is pragmatic, if darkly comic. Dystopian fiction is popular these days, and while there are numerous disturbing trends in our world, many writers treat the future as if it were the present with the volume on all of its problems turned way up. I write about adaptation to change, looking at social and cultural issues through lenses that are alternately hopeful and sinister.

Although the plot of Ablation Cascade turns on a fantastical event that requires a leap of imagination, I'm a realistic writer at heart. I imagine technologies that could reasonably exist within the next fifty years. The book's premise involves advances in rocket propulsion and materials science that make spacecraft stronger, lighter, and faster. Still, these imagined ships aren't close to traveling outside of our solar system. In a wormhole, they'd be crushed to dust.

Tell us about your background.

I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. Now I live in high-tech Seattle. I've studied physics, I've studied philosophy. For most of my adult life, I've worked in the software industry. I have always loved writing, and I'm devoting my time to pursuing my own peculiar interests in that field.

Is more work on the way?

I'm currently writing a second book that continues the themes of Ablation Cascade and tosses in a few more wrinkles. Speculating beyond that puts me too far ahead of myself.

Why did you publish an e-book?

I pursued traditional publishing, receiving interest as well as critiques that the book was too complex. I didn't want to simplify the novel’s political, cultural, and technological underpinnings, but I took to heart the criticism that I write about a number of complicated environments.

At that point, I realized how much it would help to illustrate the settings and the characters. Once I decided to do that, publishing a book on paper was out of the question because of the printing costs. (Or is it?) The e-book format eliminated that roadblock.

Did working with an illustrator influence your writing?

It sure did. Chris Unruh has a powerful visual imagination and a great eye for detail. Collaborating with him helped me to engage with the story visually. This led me to improve its structure and prose. As he fleshed out my ideas, I could see where my descriptions were not as precise as they should be.

Any advice for authors thinking about self-publishing?

Self-publishing is challenging to do well. The road from word processor to marketable book cannot be traversed by pressing a button. E-books are complex to format. If you don't understand the underlying technologies of HTML and CSS, you need to find someone who can produce the book for you. You also need to commission cover art. No matter how polished you are as a writer, your manuscript will benefit from the help of a good editor.

Once your book is available, you have to promote it yourself, hoping to find readers who will pass a good word along. A single author cannot match the reach of the publishing industry, so you have to create a grassroots campaign using any incentive you can get your hands on.

As if writing a good novel isn't hard enough, all of these production issues and promotional activities take considerable time and can incur substantial out-of-pocket expenses. Nonetheless, if you have the means and an entrepreneurial spirit, you can publish your book in a way that's quite gratifying.