Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber discuss the follow-up story to their Asimov’s Reader’s Award-winning novelette, “The Hind.” Don’t miss “The Death of the Hind” in our [November/December issue, on sale now!]
Asimov’s Editor: You two seem to make quite a team for these generation-ship stories. Did you have “The Death of the Hind” in mind when you wrote that award-winning first story, “The Hind”?
Kevin J. Anderson & Rick Wilber: Yes, we aimed all along at future installments. We really enjoyed working together on “The Hind,” and the story as we told it had room for at least one more installment, since the ship was traveling under control again at the end of that story and we wanted to see where both the story and the ship would wind up. But the great reception of “The Hind,” winning the Asimov’s Readers’ Award for novelette and then later winning a Canopus Award for best interstellar fiction—short form, was certainly a motivator for us to press on and complete the second story.
AE: The very nature of a generation ship story is that, over time, we meet new characters as a new generation takes over. You’ve kept some of the main characters from the first story in this second installment, but brought us some new ones, too. Tell us about these new characters.
KJA&RW: Right at the start of “The Death of the Hind” we meet Dothan, who’s our protagonist in this story. Dothan plays an important role in this sequel as a fine pilot and the calm voice of reason when disagreements arise. Readers first met Dothan as Kym’s infant in the final paragraphs of “The Hind.” Kym was the hero of that story so it’s fitting that her daughter, a talented and strong adult now, is the hero of the new story. There are villains, too, in the new story and they connect to the first story, as well, so there’s a nice through-line there. We wanted “The Death of the Hind” to stand alone for those encountering these characters and their troubles for the first time so we slipped in the backstory here and there to bring those readers up to speed. We think it’s pretty effective at that.
AE: Speaking of through-lines, when you blogged on the writing of “The Hind,” you two mentioned that it began as a conversation during a long drive through the Rocky Mountains. Did you map out this second story then, or is there another drive involved in this second story?
KJA&RW: There was another drive! Just as in “The Hind,” we were both teaching at the annual Residency for grad students and faculty of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Western Colorado University. Rick teaches in MFA program in Genre Fiction there and Kevin is Director of the Publishing Program. As usual, Rick flew from Florida, where he lives at nearly sea level, to Colorado Springs a day early to acclimate and the two of us then drove the next day over to Gunnison, Colorado at 7800 feet, where the Western campus is, to start our parts of the residency. We roomed together at an AirBnb there and had a lot of great conversations, of course. But the bulk of the story was planned out during the drive to Gunnison and then really came alive when Kevin took a mountain hike one afternoon and dictated the story’s first draft during that hike. He handed that off to Rick who, a couple of months later, came back with a more polished version that was quite a bit longer, and after a bit more back and forth we submitted to Asimov’s. Happily, it won acceptance and now it’s in the current issue, to our delight.
First of all, we want to write entertaining and informative story. But it’s true that science fiction often offers a fresh perspective on contemporary social issues, and these stories have certainly done some of that.
AE: You’ve taken on some interesting issues in these stories, from ageism and dementia in “The Hind,” to the importance of the intellectually disabled and the denialism of the truth by some factions in “The Death of the Hind.” Are these things that matter to you both?
KJA&RW: Sure. First of all, we want to write entertaining and informative story. But it’s true that science fiction often offers a fresh perspective on contemporary social issues, and these stories have certainly done some of that. In “The Hind” it was Sudio, an elderly woman suffering from dementia, who recalled the singular key that unlocked the computer to save the day for everyone. In “The Death of the Hind,” we see some of the generation ship’s struggles through the eyes of a young boy named Lonnie who has Down syndrome. It’s Lonnie who ultimately provides a certain moral clarity in the story. Rick is the parent of an adult son with Down syndrome and often includes characters with Down syndrome in his stories. We felt that Lonnie, the son of our hero Dothan, had an important role to play in the story.
AE: What’s next for these characters and their outpost on a distant planet?
KJA&RW: We’re at work now on the third story, which has to do with issues of colonialism and survival and aliens and innocence, revolving around our Down syndrome character Lonnie and his contact with beings who’ve come to this planet to recover their own lost colony, only to discover that Earth colonists have arrived there, too. We think it’s a lot of fun and has some important things to say.
AE: And is there more to come after that?
KJA&RW: Who knows? We’re having fun with it and there’ll be a low-residency stay next summer, too, so we’ll see what happens!
From Earth to the Stars 