Ep 7.16 - LIVE! Interview with Neal Asher

Best-selling science fiction author Neal Asher sits down to talk about his newest novel, Weaponized, as well as his short stories Bad Travelling and Mason's Rats, both of which are featured in the latest volume of Love, Death, & Robots on Netflix.

Hosts: Josh Hayes, C. Steven Manley Guest: Neal Asher

00:00 New Intro!

-Discord server is up! https://discord.com/invite/t96CVRD

-Keystroke Coffee is live! https://keystrokemedium.com/product/keystroke-coffee/

-Use Plottr! https://plottr.com?ref=190

04:42 Weekly update— Antique Futures Edition Josh: Working on a short story for Jeff Haskell’s Grimm’s War universe. Two chapters away from finishing Tranquility #3. Might have to change the title to Weaponized again (thanks, Neal!). Watched and highly recommends Top Gun: Maverick.

Neal: Working books called Weaponized and War Bodies and putting together a collection of short stories for publication.

Chuck: Working on Jack Darque #3. Lots of family time. Reading Jonathan Maberry’s Kagan the Damned. Watched the new season of Stranger Things. https://amzn.to/3zyuIIV

15:08 Main Event— LIVE! Interview with Neal Asher

-Neal talks about ‘Bad Traveling’ episode in Love, Death & Robots, Season 3. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20192968/

-‘Snow in the Desert’ was in Season 2.

-‘Mason’s Rats’ is also in Season 3.

-‘Bad Travelling’ is the Trolley Problem (but a lot messier). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

-The story of how his stories got picked up to be in Love, Death & Robots.

-Work with Tim Miller started with some work on Heavy Metal movie concepts.

-David Fincher films that also rivet you like ‘Bad Traveling’ Ex. Se7en https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

Ex. Fight Club https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/

-The business of turning stories into other media (films, shows, games, etc.).

-Neal’s writing/editing process (no word counting on editing, one project at a time).

-Editing backwards. -Josh is using OpenDyslexic font, which is helping with his editing. https://opendyslexic.org

-Neal’s writing process (he’s a pantser!). -Edit 2,000 words, write 2,000 words and stop.

-Plot threads move to characters that carry the story forward.

-The change in focus from writing trilogies and series to standalone novels in a shared universe to allow a reader more than one entry point.

43:25 Sponsor Hyperspace Outlaws: A Space Opera Adventure (Galactic Core Book 1) by Mike Luke T. Barnett https://amzn.to/3NrxXpH

46:09 Main Event— LIVE! Interview with Neal Asher, Continued!

-Starting to writing a short story and a novel came out how the backstory met the main plot at the climax.

-A scifi writer is required to use the name Ursula at some point.

-Love fo Iain M. Banks’ disjointed timeline in Use of Weapons https://amzn.to/3mBTjFc

-What’s next for Neal? Another trilogy or two in the wings, one in the same universe as The Departure (The Owner Book 1) https://amzn.to/3xKFI4U

-Including ‘Mason’s Rats’ into the collection for those who want a physical copy of the short story. -‘How do you write a book?’ = ‘How to run a marathon?’ Start and do the work? -Maybe the real question is ‘how to get a book deal’?

1:06:15 Closing remarks

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