Interview with Jeremy Clift, Author of Space Shield: The Wrath of the Sun

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

The idea for Space Shield grew out of my fascination with how dependent modern life has become on technology in space. GPS, communications, aviation, financial systems, power grids, and, increasingly, autonomous vehicles all rely in some way on satellites and precise timing. An extreme solar storm could disrupt many of those systems simultaneously, with consequences that cascade far beyond space.

The idea really began to take shape during one of my visits to the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. It’s a treasure trove for a science fiction writer because you can see emerging technology and talk directly with the scientists, engineers, and satellite specialists working on it. One conversation about the vulnerability of satellite systems to solar interference got me thinking: instead of simply trying to make individual satellites more resilient, could humanity eventually build something capable of protecting the planet itself?

That became the starting point for Space Shield. I imagined a future in which lunar industry has advanced far enough for humanity to manufacture an enormous distributed shield from the resources of the Moon and position it between Earth and the Sun. But once I had the technology, the more interesting questions followed. Who would pay for something built to protect everyone? Who would own it? And what happens when one corporation controls technology on which billions of lives depend?

Those questions turned Space Shield from an engineering idea into a human story about power, ambition, family, love, and sacrifice—all unfolding against a countdown to a potentially devastating solar event.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?

This is a fun one. For Arturo Rich, I’d choose “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters. He spends much of Space Shield trying to escape the enormous shadow cast by his billionaire father, Howie, and prove that he can make his own choices rather than simply inherit someone else’s empire.

For Airi Abe, it would have to be “Titanium” by David Guetta featuring Sia. She’s a test pilot, fearless and fiercely independent, and after surviving a devastating crash, she refuses to let it define her. There’s a resilience to her that makes the song feel right.

And for Howie Rich? Perhaps “Money” by Pink Floyd. Howie sees an existential threat to humanity and immediately understands that saving the world could also be an extraordinary business opportunity. That probably tells you quite a lot about him!

If Arturo and Airi needed a song together, I might choose “A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay. Their relationship develops against this enormous backdrop of the Moon, the Sun, and a planet running out of time, but ultimately, theirs is a very human story.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I write science fiction, but my reading is much more eclectic. I certainly enjoy good science fiction, particularly books that combine big ideas with strong characters, but I also read a great deal of history and biography. I spent many years as a journalist, so I suppose I’ve never lost the urge to understand why people behave as they do and how events, personalities, politics, and ideas come together to shape the world.

I’m also fascinated by literature itself—how great writing works and why certain books and plays continue to speak to us across centuries. Shakespeare is an enduring interest, and I enjoy reading criticism and discussions about his plays almost as much as the works themselves. Among contemporary writers, I’m particularly drawn to Rachel Cusk and other authors who experiment with voice, character, and the way we construct stories about our lives.

So science fiction is definitely my favorite genre to write, but I wouldn’t call it my single favorite genre to read. Reading widely outside science fiction is important to me. History, biography, literary fiction, and Shakespeare all find their way, consciously or otherwise, into the worlds and characters I create.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

My TBR pile is, as usual, rather ambitious. I want to spend more time with Iain M. Banks and his Culture novels. I came to Banks later than I should have, and there are still books in that extraordinary universe waiting for me.

I’m also looking forward to Ann Leckie’s Radiant Star, her new standalone novel set in the Imperial Radch universe. I’ve always admired the way Leckie combines enormous science-fiction ideas with questions of identity, culture, and power.

Then there’s Rachel Cusk’s Life of M, which is due out later this month. Cusk is about as far from space opera as you can get, but I find the way she experiments with voice, identity, and the boundaries between fiction and reality fascinating.

And on the nonfiction side, I have Robert Zubrin’s The New World on Mars on my list. Zubrin has spent decades thinking seriously about how humans might actually establish a civilization on Mars, so that’s obviously irresistible territory for someone writing about humanity’s future in space.

That’s a fairly accurate picture of my reading habits: give me space opera, experimental literary fiction, and a serious argument about colonizing Mars, and I’m happy.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

One of my favorite scenes to write was when the first elements of Kavach—the orbital shield—are finally launched from the Moon. I’d spent so much time researching and imagining how such an extraordinary piece of infrastructure might actually be manufactured, launched, and assembled that it was enormously satisfying to finally set it in motion.

The individual elements disperse and begin organizing themselves, almost like a murmuration of birds, gradually becoming part of this vast protective structure between the Earth and the Sun. It’s a moment when an idea that has seemed almost impossibly ambitious suddenly becomes real.

But what I enjoyed most was that the scene isn’t really about machinery. It’s about the people watching it happen. They’ve risked careers, relationships, and in some cases, their lives to get this far, and for a brief moment, they can believe they might actually succeed.

I also loved writing the quieter scenes between Arturo and Airi. Against this enormous backdrop—a threatening Sun, lunar industry, and humanity racing against time—their relationship brings everything back to a very simple question: what exactly are we trying so desperately to save?

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I’m afraid I don’t have a lucky mug or a cat sitting on the keyboard. My main writing quirk is that I’m very easily distracted! I’ll start researching one small scientific detail and suddenly discover that an hour has disappeared down some fascinating rabbit hole.

I do walk every day, though, and that’s probably the most important part of my writing routine. I often find that when I step away from the computer, problems with a character, a scene, or a plot suddenly begin to sort themselves out. I’ll set off thinking about one particular problem and come home with a conversation, a new scene, or sometimes a completely different direction for the story.

So I suppose quite a lot of my writing actually gets done while I’m not writing at all.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I suppose my philosophy is quite simple: try to understand before you judge. I’ve been fortunate enough to live and work in many different countries and cultures, and one thing that experience taught me is that there is rarely only one way of looking at the world. People’s beliefs and choices make much more sense when you understand where they come from. I think curiosity and tolerance go together—you listen, you ask questions, and you remain open to the possibility that someone who sees the world very differently from you may still have something important to teach you.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

I think it would be this: tomorrow is arriving much faster than we imagine. We often dismiss ideas as “science fiction” because they seem too distant or improbable to worry about today. But artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, autonomous vehicles, permanent settlements on the Moon, and our growing dependence on satellites are moving from speculation toward reality remarkably quickly. The same is true of the risks. An extreme solar storm isn’t something I invented for Space Shield. What science fiction allows us to do is take a real possibility, follow its consequences, and ask whether we are prepared for them. So if readers remember one thing, I hope it’s that science fiction isn’t only about imagining distant futures. It can be a way of thinking about decisions we may have to make much sooner than we expect. The future has a habit of becoming the present while we’re still debating whether it’s possible.