by Mike Collins

YMB: How are you feeling now, having just published the third book of your trilogy?

Nick Sagan: Thanks for asking. Now on the other side of this trilogy, I've got such a sense of accomplishment. For years I played in other people's settings (Star Trek, Zork, etc.), which was great fun, but not the same as building a mythology of your own. Here I got to take on challenges I'd never tackled before, and somehow it all came together. Now I see my books on peoples' lists of favorites and it's such a rewarding feeling, I don't know if I can even describe it. A long way from when I first started writing Idlewild, amusing the heck out of me, but wondering if it was something others could tap into and enjoy.

Let's start with Idlewild. It's hard to describe it. Part virtual reality thriller, part end of the world, part teenage angst…where did the idea come from?

Well, going through my teenage years felt like the end of the world. In a way it is; the kid in you is dying and the adult is taking his place. Death as transformation, like the tarot card description of death. That's a big part of where the idea came from. I also remember moments in my childhood that felt surreal enough for me to question whether they were actually happening. Could there be another layer of reality that I'd yet to discover? The virtual reality aspect stems from that. Finally, I remember thinking about the overlap between the various cliques in high school and the areas of influence for a pantheon of gods. Where is the intersection between a jock and a god of war? A "brain" and a goddess of wisdom? The class clown and a god of mischief? The intersection between a goth and the god of death led to my main character, Halloween, and when I tapped into his point of view, suddenly I was off and writing.

It's a pretty hair raising idea. A bunch of genetically built teens, taught in a virtual environment who are going to try and beat a plague that wiped out humanity and then bring civilization back. Why not aim a little bigger?

Heh! Yeah, I should have destroyed the universe or something. Maybe in my next series. I guess I don't like to make it easy on myself. Writing is about challenges. And ending the world is a subject that's dear to my heart. Well, make that preventing the end of the world. We live in dangerous times, and science fiction lets us raise a red flag at all the potential disasters we see around the corner. Hopefully, someone listens.

There is quite a bit of carnage in Idlewild. Not only does humanity go extinct, but several of our unknowing saviors also meet their end. Did you know from the beginning who was going to survive?

Not really. I knew Halloween would survive, and I knew some of the people he cared about wouldn't. Beyond that, it was all up for grabs. Very easily I could have, let's say, killed Isaac back in Idlewild. I had a sense of who he was back then, but it wasn't anything like what he would become. I'm glad I didn't kill him. He has a critical role to play in Edenborn (his ethos leads to Haji, who might be my favorite character after Halloween), and he gets his own voice in Everfree. I often think that the unconscious is several steps ahead of the conscious mind. Maybe I knew where I was going with all my characters from the get go, and it just took my consciousness a little longer to recognize it (and claim credit for it.)

Where did Halloween come from? I really like the character arc he goes through across the trilogy. Hal seems to come so far from waking up with amnesia to searching for kangaroos down under.

Paralyzed in a pumpkin patch to chasing kangaroos. From rebel to authority figure, loner to family man, amnesiac to someone who knows himself, lost soul to more or less at peace with all he's been through. It's been a long, strange trip for Hal, and I'm happy you like his arc. Like most main characters, he's a distorted version of the author. When I create I tend to take aspects of myself that I like and aspects I don't like, then fuse them together and distort the mix into a new point of view. Hal's got my anger and my sense of humor. Also my cynicism, that first sense of betrayal you feel as a teenager when you discover the world isn't the idyllic place you'd been led to believe. As a kid, you get lied to a lot, and here Hal's been lied to about the world. There's a sense of existential horror that fits nicely with the depopulated earth. And upon surviving all the deception and artifice, you want to stay true to yourself and to what's real. That's a big part of who he is.

Idlewild ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Did you know that you would be writing a trilogy?

Actually, I wrote Idlewild as a standalone, and while I wanted the option to continue it, I didn't know for certain that I would. My agent said, "So you have ideas where the story might go from here? Why don't you write up a proposal for it?" I did, and the next thing I knew: "We're selling it as a trilogy."

Moving on to Edenborn, the kids have grown up a bit. The idea of our world largely intact, though uninhabited is fascinating. Is this why you spread the cast out a bit?

It's a lonely world for lonely characters. I spread them out to show the ideological conflicts between them. Distances for the differences, so to speak. One group goes to Germany's technological center to look forward, while another goes to Egypt to tap into humanity's past. Meanwhile, Halloween stays in Michigan, isolated and embittered, until someone can bring him back.

The focus shifts a bit in your second novel as Pandora and Malachi take center stage. Did you plan to have Halloween remain in the background for most of the first half of the novel?

Yes, I wanted to open the story up and put us in the heads of the other characters. It started with Pandora; Halloween has been in love with Simone throughout the first book, and here's Pandora who's in love with Halloween. Let's make him (apparently) unattainable, just as Simone was. So the first part of the story becomes, "What will it take to get Hal back?" From a writer's standpoint, I was torn. I'm a fan of Hal's point of view, and always get something out of spending time with him. On the other hand, I have to keep challenging myself, and wanted to find brand new perspectives. That's what led to Haji, Penny, Deuce, Pandora and Malachi.

Edenborn deals with some equally difficult issues. Had you figured that your trilogy was going to have more tough moments?

I like tragedies. I like consequences. I like watching characters go through crucibles, so they can evolve from innocence to experience, caterpillar to moth, child to adult. A few months ago, I discovered a message board where readers were talking about their favorite authors. Someone recommended me, and another said I was a great writer but something of a sadistic bastard to my characters. To me, that's a huge compliment. There are so many books and movies where you just know that everything is going to work out by the end, and so you never really worry about the characters. It only has the power to touch you so far. The stories I like are the ones where I really don't know how things will resolve, so I wind up truly caring about the characters. Now happy endings can be great, and I think there's something beautiful about bringing characters up to heaven after putting them through hell. But it's not the only way to go. I'm thrilled that people can read my books and not know what they're getting at the end: it could be dark, happy or bittersweet.

In Everfree humanity has slowly started to come back thanks to the efforts of Halloween and company. But things don't stay great for long. Do you think humanity perpetually looks to shoot itself in the foot?

We've elevated foot shooting to an art form. The foot, the kneecap, the groin. Maybe shooting is too strong; let's just say that humanity is destined to continually kick itself in the nuts. That's just the nature of who we are, short sighted thinking, unintended consequences, millions of years of fight-or-flight evolutionary instinct up against just thousands of years of culture. We are very likely effed. But it doesn't have to be that way. We're also a resourceful, compassionate, forward-thinking species with a powerful drive for survival, and the ability to make this world a wonderland. Which will triumph over the other? We seem driven to form groups (social, racial, cultural, national, etc.) with which to persecute those not in the group that we happen to be in. Factor in technological advances in weaponry that makes it easier and easier to kill large numbers of people, and it appears that we're in for a very bumpy ride.

Are there any plans to visit with these characters somewhere down the road?

Halloween will always have a special place in my heart. I'm sure I'll write another entry in this series eventually. But I have other stories I want to tell, and I have so many characters clamoring for attention in my head, that the trilogy characters are going to have to wait their turn.

You've also worked as a screenplay writer. What are the big differences with that and writing a novel?

I enjoy both formats and I don't think one's better than the other. For differences, mostly it's a conflict between freedom and reach.

Freedom: There's much more freedom in novels. You don't have three act structure to worry about, and you don't have to worry about how expensive what you're writing will be to film. Movies take millions of dollars to produce, and because they're so expensive, producers and studio execs often tend to be conservative, unlikely to devote vast sums of money to a project unless it feels like other projects. That's why so many movies look the same, and why it's so great to see one that breaks out of the mold in a fun and interesting way. By contrast, books can take more chances. All you have to do is tell a good story.

Reach: Hollywood has better reach. If a million people buy your book, that's a huge best seller, but if a million people watch a TV show, those are disappointing numbers and the show might get cancelled. So you can reach more people in Hollywood, but it may be harder to tell the story you want to tell with the kind of depth you want to give it. On the other hand, that massive Hollywood reach depends on whether or not your work gets produced. You can spend years in that town making a very nice living on projects that get stuck in development hell, never seeing the light of day.

I think I'm happiest splitting my time between the two. It's fun to come up with ideas and then try to figure out whether they're better suited for books, movies, TV shows, videogames, etc.

What can fans expect to see next from you, Nick?

Many projects in the works: I have an idea for a fairly twisted novel that I'm piecing together; I'm working on a new script that's lighter in tone than anything I've written before; I'm also working up a graphic novel pitch; a videogame development company is looking for financing for a story of mine; I'm contributing to a non-fiction book about future technologies. Oh, and my first published short story is now available from Subterranean Press. It's their issue #4 about tweaking science fiction clichés. Had a lot of fun with it, and I hope you check it out.

Thanks for taking some time to talk to us!

It's been a pleasure. And if your readers have questions of their own, they can reach me through my contact page, my MySpace page or my blog. Love to hear from everyone.

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