Los Angeles Times piece on The Massive
Here’s a short interview re: The Massive. I tried to be really candid with this one, and there’s interesting bits about research and writing and format, and also this:
HC: There’s been so much post-apocalyptic fiction in recent years and wonder whether it’s because we are so anxious in an age when technology has advanced so far while ethics have not — intelligence run rampant, wisdom withering. Then part of me thinks that maybe it’s just a way for storytellers to find a wild frontier now that the western is gone…
BW: It’s certainly a rich genre for writers to tap into, and there is a real coolness factor to it. But for me what drives me to it is fear. Meaning, actual tangible, real-life fear, mostly as a dad of two little kids. I believe hard times are coming, and maybe I’ll grow old and die before it hits, but I bet my kids won’t, and it’s tough to think about the reality that they’ll probably not have enough free water to drink, or will suffer in some other way like that. Will they be able to spend time in the sun? For their entire lives they’ve lived in an America at war — ones of its own choosing. Will they never know a different America? Maybe I’m exorcising demons in writing about this. But maybe I just can’t stop thinking about it.
Maps for The Massive. Just arrived from eBay, a haul of 60’s-era Nat Geo maps. When it comes to research, I can’t ever turn down a good map.
The Northmen came to Paris with 700 sailing ships… At one stretch the Seine was lined with the vessels for more than two leagues, so that one might ask in astonishment in what cavern the river had been swallowed up, since it was not to be seen.
– recalled by ABBO THE MONK in Wars Of Count Odo With The Northmen In The Reign Of Charles The Fat
