Interview with Marti Ward, Author of Klandor Rising

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Klandor Rising?

It’s about nice, cuddly aliens who maybe (like us) aren’t all as nice as they seem. It’s about prejudice and exclusion. It’s about how to do colonization right—in the real world, or the universe. It’s about learning from our mistakes… or repeating them and facing the consequences. It’s science fiction that’s actually scientifically realistic. It avoids the standard tropes of space operas and intergalactic wars. It’s a return to the kind of sci-fi Isaac Asimov and Anne McCaffrey used to write, stories both of us have loved from the very beginning.

Marti here. These stories were my father’s. The first box set, Moonchild Rising (the prequel to Klandor Rising), came out the day he died. His fervent wish was that I bring as much of his incomplete and unpublished writing to publication as I could. So the idea for Klandor Rising was his. The fourth of the four novellas was actually the first one he wrote, followed quickly by the first novella in the set. The next two were mostly written by me, based on his notes—filling in the generation between the first contact story and the murder mystery in the final/original novella.

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

The Way We Were (for Irene; the eponymous, discriminated, orphaned Moonchild who, in this second Rising series, becomes the commander of the survey expedition.)

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

High/Dragon/Developmental Fantasy and the SciFi that has the same magic (like Anne McCaffrey’s PERN – best series ever written) – not the modern kinds of SciFi that are just fairy tales, soap operas, and Napoleonic wars with unrealistic space dressage.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

There are around 1,000 books on my Kindle right now, across a range of genres; mainly fiction, mostly fantasy. The PERN series by Anne, Todd, and Gigi McCaffrey sits in pride of place opposite me as I write, occupying an entire row beneath a shelf of hardcover editions of the books I’ve written or edited. I’ll also be rereading Louisa Locke’s Paradisi/Caelestis trilogy, along with the latest additions. The mark of a superlative book is that you want to read it over and over again.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

The first contact scene with Don and Fessi brought together all of our extensive background and knowledge in real anthropology and cross-cultural sociolinguistics, as well as the challenges of portraying truly alien beings while avoiding all the standard tropes.

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

Well, there will often be a cat on my lap, indeed, while writing this, one has been under my hands, whipping her tail in my eyes whenever I don’t give her enough attention. She actually featured on the mockup cover of Cassandra Lost and inspired the cats that appear in all four of my Marti Ward novels.

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

Many, but the one I write by is “putting the science back into fiction.”

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

Don’t take people at face value – don’t exclude people, or pick on anyone, just because they’re different, or just the driver/cook.

Marti Ward is the author of the new book Klandor Rising

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