Interview with Colin Alexander, Author of The Case of the Princess and the Interstellar Bounty Hunter

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Case of the Princess and the Interstellar Bounty Hunter?

The story began, as all of my stories do, with the mental image of a character in a scene. In this case, it was a bounty hunter, the character who evolved into Sol, sitting in a bar and being asked to find a kidnapping victim. The setting was the Interstellar Reach of Humanity, a rather grim fictional universe that I first used for Complicated: The Interstellar Life and Times of Saoirse Kenneally, although that book is set about a century before this one. For me, working from the initial image is like solving a puzzle. What happened to cause that scene? Who are these people? What flows from the decisions they make? In this story, I found myself with characters who have been broken in different ways by their lives, have made compromises, and have sold off some bits of themselves over time. Often, it is the characters who dictate the direction of the story to me. In this case, it grew into a science fiction mystery with a touch of noir. Through the whole process, the theme that kept repeating itself to me was that things are not always what they appear to be. This ended up in the WS Gilbert epigraph at the beginning of the book and I hope you will agree.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of The Case of the Princess and the Interstellar Bounty Hunter, what would they be?

I have never thought about theme songs for characters, but I will now! For Martin, it would be “One Tin Soldier” by The Original Caste. For Sol, I will go with “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake. Finally, Claire would take “Army of One” by Bon Jovi. We could have fun with this.

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

I read a lot of history, historical fiction, and science, but my favorite genre is science fiction and fantasy. I read across most of the sub-genres in this area, from high fantasy to hard science fiction. My favorite authors reflect this, going from older ones such as Robert Heinlein, JRR Tolkien, Poul Anderson, and CJ Cherryh to new writers such as Andy Weir, SL Huang, and Tamsyn Muir. My writing also falls into the field of science fiction and fantasy, primarily science fiction, although my first two books were actually mysteries.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

My TBR pile is too big to list here in its entirety. If I grab a bunch from the top, which means what I am likely to read sometime soon, I see: House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel, Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman, The Last Tsar by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Justinian by Peter Sarris, and Supermassive by James Trefil and Shobita Satyapal. There are more. I need a new bookcase.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Oh my God, I only get to pick one? I would have to say that I most enjoyed writing the last chapter, but I can’t say more about it because of spoilers. Since I have to leave that one alone, I would pick the opening scene where Martin meets Sol and we are introduced to the world and the purpose of the story, and then the scene where we meet Claire and learn what she is like. So, I managed to fit three into this one.

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

I write my first draft entirely in longhand using a special ballpoint pen my wife gave me. I have no idea what would happen if I lost that pen. I also seem to have standardized on fifty-sheet, white paper pads from Staples for writing that draft. Does this qualify as quirky?

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

The quote I like best is from Theodore Roosevelt. It comes from a speech he gave in 1910 called “Citizenship in a Republic” and it is often referred to as “The Man in the Arena.” The whole quote is too long to put here, but it tells you to do your best at a job worth doing, that you will make mistakes and may even fail, but making the effort to achieve a meaningful goal is what you need to do.

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

I would like readers to remember having fun with the read, being surprised, and that things are not always what they appear to be. See, I got three into this one also!

Colin Alexander is the author of the new book The Case of the Princess and the Interstellar Bounty Hunter

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