Sean Monaghan returns to the pages of Asimov’s with his latest space adventure, “Wildest Skies,” available now in our [November/December issue, on sale now!] In this enlightening Q&A, learn more about the movies and books that inspired Sean to write science fiction.
Asimov’s Editor: Is this story part of a larger universe, or is it stand-alone?
Sean Monaghan: To answer the question in a round-about way, I’m old enough to remember when the movie Alien came out, though young enough that its age restriction in New Zealand meant that I had to wait a few years before I got to see it. When I heard there was a sequel on the way, even as a teenager, I wondered how they might go about that. The film had had such an impact on me, that I couldn’t picture a movie where they Did The Same All Over Again would beat all interesting. I was impressed then, when Aliens came out, that it took the story in a whole new direction.
When I first embarked on “Wildest Skies,” I just wanted to write a fun adventure story with a character in a sticky situation. And it was a big story, covering a lot of ground and using a lot of words.
Ed Linklater’s story seemed to have been told.
But then my subconscious imagination held onto things and I found myself writing more stories with Ed. Taking him in, I think, different directions. And as the publication date in Asimov’s approached, I realized that all of the stories so far are prequel stories. There’s one about him and the crew training right before they leave on the mission (“Spindle Shatters”), and one about him looking for a job on Mars (“Martian Job Offer”) and even one with him as teen, about the age I was when I first missed out on seeing Alien, going with his family to see his first live rocket launch (“Launch Treat”).
Some of the stories are available now on my website and elsewhere, and some are out under consideration with publishers.
So yes, the novella “Wildest Skies” has turned out to be part of a larger universe, one that’s varied and distinct, but still, I hope, fun and full of adventure.
And all that said, I do wonder to myself if now that “Wildest Skies” is out in the world, will my imagination send me off writing sequel stories? What happens to Ed after the events on Dashell IV? I don’t know, but I kind of hope to find out.
AE: How did you break into writing?
SM: Back when I was first at university, oh so long ago, the English department published a vaguely annual anthology of local writing. I duly wrote a story and sent it in and was stunned when the print edition of the anthology arrived in my letterbox, with my story among the contents. Since then I’ve learned that editors generally make contact and send contracts before publication, but still, that was so uplifting and validating and gave me a vague kind of confidence to keep going. It took a while before further publications came my way, but now I seem to have reasonably steady stream of them happening, which is heartening.
I do wonder to myself if now that “Wildest Skies” is out in the world, will my imagination send me off writing sequel stories? What happens to Ed after the events on Dashell IV? I don’t know, but I kind of hope to find out.
AE: Do you have any advice for up and coming writers?
SM: Write.
I think that the venerable Mr. Heinlein said this many years ago. “You must write.” I think that any success I’ve had has come out of spending time in my writing chair and just writing. Practice, I guess.
The more you do it, well, chances are, the better you’ll get. I’ve met numerous writers who think about writing, or would like to write, or just get too busy, which is fine, but actually writing something is the key.
There’s also loads of advice out there about how to write, and I think another key is to find what works for you and go with that.
AE: Who or what are your greatest influences and inspirations?
SM: I write space adventure, plain and simple. I’m inspired by my reading from when I was a teen and our local secondhand bookstores were filled from floor to ceiling with battered and bruised paperbacks from the forties and fifties and sixties and seventies. I would shell out every last cent of my pocket money on a Friday night, buying up too many slim paperbacks.
Silverberg and E.E. Doc Smith and Asimov and Sheckley and Kern and Heinlein and Herbert and other less well-known names. Old copies of magazines like If and Galaxy and Amazing Stories. Some of those books were pretty explicit for a poor naive thirteen year old. Some of them failed to avoid mysogyny and racism and other things that would rightly and rapidly lead to cancellation in the here and now.
Many of them, though, from the more sophisticated writers, met those issues head on. After all, science fiction envisions a better future, and equality and tolerance were themes that I would like to think helped to shape the world as the modern era unfolded.
But it was the adventure I thrived on. Being able to visit distant worlds and contend with challenges of hostile environments and broken spaceships and dictatorial governments.
I would devour those books and return the following week for more.
AE: How can our readers follow you and your writing?
SM: My main website is www.seanmonaghan.com, but for this story there’s a special site with some of the other stories at www.wildestskies.com. On rare occasions I show up on facebook.com/seanmonaghanauthor, and sometimes at www.seanmonaghan.blog.
Thanks for the chance to participate in the blog.
From Earth to the Stars 