Hellooo!

Starting with the excellent SF opera Fearless then its sequel Resilient Allen Stroud is creating some fantastic science fiction gripping, inventive and really feels a plausible if sometimes unsettling view of the future. Recently a novella series of ‘episodes’ in the series has been out the last six months starting with the excellent Europa we now have new tales within the series’ universe and its all coming together. I was delighted to welcome Allen back to the Stroud to ask a few questions on the series now that the episodes are completed

The Fractal Episodes was not what I was expecting after the first two novels? How did the idea for the novellas come about?

Entirely the suggestion of my publisher, Nick Wells. He prefers to call them ‘episodes’. He approached me with the idea of doing a selection of shorter works that would expand the context of the story. I jumped at the chance. It fits in with how I approach lots of different projects, but this has been nice in that it’s solely in my gift to develop and has expanded really quickly now that we have the six new stories released over the last six months.

The result means that now I have a broad canvas to develop. I was always a big Asimov fan growing up and the fact that everything seemed to fit together in his timeline was a major selling point for me. I learned much later about how many of his works had originally been serialized and then novelized. When I was young, that reading journey of collecting stories at the local library and figuring out where they fitted into everything else always appealed.

Did you know all the characters and locations you wanted to cover in the series?

I started with a rough idea of events I could cover and then thought about characters. There are some subtle links for the reader to find as they go through the different stories. Jezero for example was a nice connection opportunity for one character.

The main characters emerged from a few different ideas. I’m keen to make my version of the 22nd century as diverse and representative of diversity as possible. I tried to ensure that we had very different people in each story. Going forwards, I want to develop that further and challenge myself to write more distinct voices.  

Which of the stories was the hardest to write and why?

Each of the stories had to land. I’m not really a fan of endings that tie everything up, because that isn’t really a reflection of stories in life. I think when I was writing them, I would reach a moment where the story started to move towards its conclusion. That pivot was a little trickier to get used to with the shorter format. I think the ones with more moving parts at the end were more difficult in that regard. All of them were quite bittersweet. A few have very carefully developed themes about identity, humanity, ethics, and the like. I don’t recall a moment where I stalled, that does happen with some of my books.

If you visit one of the location (safely) for a day which would you choose?

Has to be Europa. That view of Jupiter! There is a wonderful short video you can find online called Wanderers.  It has a Carl Sagan voiceover and some amazing footage of humanity exploring the solar system. I watch that film every year. That definitely inspired the first Fractal Episode.

What challenges does a novella present a writer compared to a novel? What did you enjoy?

It was a lot of work in a fairly short period, but actually, because the stories changed, I was able to be pretty rapid. We spent a lot of Summer 2022 visiting different places in the camper van. A lot of the episodes were written really early in the morning watching the sun rise.

You’ve also composed music for each Episode. Did these evolve with the writing and what in a story influences a musical theme?

I tend to ‘see’ some of the moments in the stories while I’m writing. When I do, and it works, I head up to the loft and compose. Flame Tree were aware of that, and we’d talked a lot about trying to do more with that connected to the series. The music informs my writing process, so I can plug back into the series though listening to the compositions or composing more. It also means if we go for some sort of audio adaptation, we have a soundtrack already.

What else can we look forward to from you in the future and where can we find out more?

I’ve just finished the edits for Vigilance, the third full novel in the series. That’s due out in August at Glasgow Worldcon, hopefully. I’ve now switched gears a bit and am working on a Fantasy novel. I also have another historical dictionary to work on by the end of the year. Science Fiction Literature this time.

Going forwards the Fractal series will continue. I think after three novels we’ve reached the end of the immediate crisis, but there’s still so much to write about. I have a planned point around a century or two after the first book which I’d like to get to eventually.

What great books have you read recently?

Dark Dweller by Gareth Worthington is my recent read which I’m planning to review. I’m trying not to choose what I read next until I have a moment where I know I’m going to start it. I don’t want another book on the bedside giving me guilty looks!