Author: Roland Hughes
Title: John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars
Publisher: Logikal Solutions
ISBN: 9781939732002
Pages: 274, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Fiction
Author Interview with Roland Hughes
Author Interview with Roland Hughes
Title: John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars
Reviewed by: Darcie Martin, Pacific Book Review
Today we’re talking with Roland Hughes, author of “John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars.”
PBR: Why is the book titled ‘last known survivor’ when it is mentioned that another government bunker survived, and in the epilogue it is hinted that Susan Krowley’s mother may know John Smith?
Wow! You’re good! You’ve actually cracked the walnut. I must apologize in advance because like that walnut shell your answer has many pieces.
Years ago when I wrote “Infinite Exposure” I included the following dedication:
“For all of those willing to step back and see the whole board, not just listen to what the announcer says and be spellbound.”
Congratulations, consider yourself among that uniquely qualified group!
You only asked one question but hit on a few different things. Yes, some people rode it out in a bunker in Fieldspring. But, as Susan stated “They claim their ancestors came out of a bunker, as well.” Only the descendants still survive. One has to wonder what was in the bunker as well since Susan had been there yet never heard of a computer.
This novel dances at the edge of what is “known”. Most of what is “known” is wind. By that I mean it is completely false without a shred of evidence to back it up. When I was in the fourth grade the “science” portion of our studies actually had textbooks telling us meat contained maggots naturally and if you left it lying out the sun would drive the maggots out of it. I kid you not. This happened in my lifetime! It was “known”. Putting it in publishing terms, many people “claim it is known” that Amazon is the largest book seller in the world, but to date, like the maggots containing meat “science” there is no physical evidence to back it up. Their SEC filings tend to lump all revenue together so nobody can split out their server rental business from their blue jean sales.
As far as Susan’s mother and her friend Giana (which is a nod to Whoopi Goldberg’s character Gianan on Star Trek TNG) knowing John Smith, that is a topic to be explored in the next book. Susan is our entry point into this world and this is something not yet known to her. My plans for the future of this world/work is to jointly write the next book with an as of yet unchosen gifted young writer to finish fleshing out the platform of this world, then handing the series off to that person or team to continue on. This really is the type of thing which needs a twenty something to take over not only so they can expand it in ways older people wouldn’t dream of but so another generation can have something really great of their own.
The science fiction world is starving for something good to actually be continued. For evidence of that you need look no further than the new generation of Star Trek which is reworking the old story lines.
PBR: What inspired the repeated stress on the difference between reporter and journalist?
CNN. I’m old enough to remember when they used to hire journalists. Now it is just a bunch of opinions and talking heads. That may sell commercial time but it is not journalism.
PBR: How is John Smith getting nutrition/food inside the bunker after all this time?
Running water from a protected well and MREs.
PBR: Is there inspiration behind November 13th 2013 being doomsday? If so what is it?
There was a lot of significance at the time I was writing it. Some would say there is even more now. It was a date not too far in the future so some might actually pay attention to the story because of it. It was just shy of being one year off the Mayan calendar date everyone was chatting about. Most importantly, it gave John Smith the opportunity to talk about 1984. Most people who read that work in high school will agree it has finally happened. It also allowed John to pass along his most important piece of knowledge “People who read science fiction tend to focus far too much on the dates instead of the sequence of events.”
PBR: Is Susan Krowley’s mother the girl whom was living inside the neighboring bunker, surviving through some unknown way?
I guess we shall all learn the answer to that in the future. As I said before, this work dances on the edge of what’s “known.”
PBR: Do you have a specific writing style?
I go where the characters take me. I see all kinds of writing “advice” posted by others about using an outline and story boarding. Couldn’t care less about that stuff. At most, when it “feels” like I’m half way through a book I will make a list of existing and future chapter titles. Even now I only really “know” the title for the next book, the one which will need a young author to help co-author. “John Smith – The Last Gift of Atlantis”.
The problem with rules & tools writing is the fact you generate oatmeal. No author wants to hear it, but it is the truth. Rules & tools are fine if you are writing non-fiction given the outcome is predetermined but they have no place in fiction. I didn’t “plan” on this book being an interview. I honestly thought the interview would end quickly and the characters would move about to tell their story. It didn’t happen. The characters felt a need to create their own “Barbra Walters Special” and it was my job to let them do that. This is their story and their world. Like the reader, I’m just a visitor.
Many authors’ talk about the reward they get from writing. Most people think it they mean the big fat checks they take to the bank, but that is not always the case. In this particular case the characters chose to make my reward the epilogue. Judging from your questions those brief few words managed to touch something in you. That is wonderful. For me, the epilogue was much more than words. For a brief period of time the characters allowed me to “see” that scene with Majel Barrett playing Susan’s mother and Whoopi playing Giana. Sadly, this cannot happen in real life because Majel (Gene Rodenberry’s wife) was taken from this world in 2008, but ever so briefly, in the span of time it took to write that epilogue, I got to “see” it. Following an outline or using some other tool would never have given me such a reward.
PBR: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
There are so many messages within it choosing just one would not be fair to the work. If the work is well done each reader should get from it their own set of messages and their own wishes for story arcs to spring forth, much like your wish for Susan’s mother to really be the girl whose family bunker was destroyed a thousand yards from John Smith’s.
To learn more about “John Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” please read the review at: Pacific Book Review.
