Page Created: 04/25/21. Last Updated: 04/25/21.
WIL MCCARTHY
Meeting Date: June 12, 2021.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 47 .
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A with Science Fiction / Science Writer.
Author Site: http://www.wilmccarthy.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Wil-McCarthy-Author-110826547031605/
Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_McCarthy
Notes:
The post-meeting Virtual Diner Run chatter included discussions of GALAXY QUEST, STOWAWAY, STAR WARS prequels, RAYNA & THE LAST DRAGON, GODZILLA VS KING KONG, the effects of covid-19 on the television series, EQUINOX, obsolete computer products, and states of matter (ions, isotopes, etc). There were 14 attendees.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2021 Philip J De Parto:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County conducted its monthly meeting through zoom video conference on Saturday, June 12, 2021. Science fiction / science writer Wil McCarthy was our speaker. Wil lived in Bergen County many years ago and was a member of the Association in 1984 and 1985.
Our speaker is a hard science fiction writer whose best-known genres novels are BLOOM, a New York Times Notable Book that deals with runaway nanotechnology, and THE COLLAPSIUM, a Nebula Award nominee about programmable matter and the first book in the Queendom of Sol series. Other books include AGRESSOR SIX and THE FALL OF SIRIUS (military science fiction), MURDER IN THE SOLID STATE (near-future murder mystery), ANTEDILUVIAN (time travel), and FLIES FROM THE AMBER (first contact), and RICH MAN'S SKY (near future social commentary). His short stories have appeared primarily in ANALOG and in ABORIGINAL SF. He is the author of the science book, HACKING MATTER, the co-author of the SyFy Channel movie, BASILISK - THE SERPENT KING, and wrote I Love Bees, a promo radio play for Halo 2. was a science columnist for SyFy and for WIRED magazine.
Wil McCarthy's first short story sale was Amerikano Haika to ABORIGINAL SF in 1991. His first novel was FLIES FROM THE AMBER in 1995. There were some ups and downs, but he was pushing his way into the top rank of science fiction writers when he walked away from writing for 15 years.
Wil is an engineer with over two dozen patents. He became interested in the concept of programmable matter and launched a technology incubator company to research and deliver products from this concept. (I am not an engineer, but the basic concept seems to be that one uses nanotechnology to create a material which can be reconfigured into a number of pre-programmed states at the flick of a witch. So that you could have a block of this matter and push a button to transform into a chair, push another button to make it a table, and push another button to return it to its original state. This is greatly, greatly simplified. It also turned out to be beyond the reach of our current state of technology.)
Outside investors took over the company and fired him. Wil has no idea of what became of the company's research and products.
He then had another setback. Our guest was in a serious automobile accident which not only injured him physically, but also damaged his memory. He has gaps in his memory with no recollection of some movies and television series he watched, as well as other empty spots.
He decided to return to writing and discovered that the publishing landscape had changed dramatically in his absence. The writers who are doing well are the ones who are good with Social Media. Social Media is not one of Wil's strong points. He also carries the stigma of someone having a reputation as a "difficult" writer from his time with Del Rey Books.
Fortunately, Baen Books made good on their long-ago offer to publish him should he ever decide to resume writing. He delivered ANTEDILUVIAN, which is definitely not what they were expecting, but they did publish it. They were much happier with his next book, RICH MAN'S SKY. The book speculates a future where space travel is the exclusive purview of tech moguls. What could possibly be wrong with that? Wil read the opening chapter of the book at the meeting. He is at work on a sequel, POOR MAN'S SKY.
Baen has republished the Queendom of Sol series. The rest of Wil's backlist is handled by Reanimus Press which produces ebook editions and subcontracts print copies to Amazon Press.
Wil McCarthy writes a novel in three drafts. The first draft is basically a very detailed outline. He adds in sensory details and other bits of writerly craft in the second draft. He then does a final rewrite. This is where the magic happens, if it happens at all. The first draft contains all the major plot points. If he needs to research details about an aspect of the book, he types TK and moves on. When the draft is complete he does a Search for TK and researches anything he skipped over. This may entail reworking some material leading up to TK.
Among his observations were that an artist follows his muse. A commercial writer follows his mortgage. Another was that there are two types of characters. One type knows what's going on. The second hasn't a clue. The second is usually more interesting. Much more appears on the new club website at 2021 - 06/2021 Meeting.
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Notes which did not fit into the Newsletter Account:
AGGRESSOR SIX
..........Military science fiction novel.
..........Sequel is THE FALL OF SIRIUS.
..........Outline for unwritten third novel in the series is on his website.
ANTEDILUVIAN
..........Return to writing after 10 year absence working on tech businesses.
..........Hard to categorize time travel book.
..........Baen had long-ago (15 years) expressed an interest in the author. Weren't keen on book but took it.
BLOOM
..........New York Times Notable Book.
..........About Gray Goop Problem - runaway nanotech devours everything and turns it into sludge.
..........Surviving humanity lives in outer space.
..........Nanotech has similarities to mold.
THE COLLAPSIUM
..........A science fiction faerie tale.
..........Del Rey hated it and fired him.
..........Picked up by Bantam as paperback original.
..........Modeled on the island nation of Tonga, the world's last absolute monarchy.
..........Collapsium world is last monarchy in the future.
....................Princess Diana was the world's Princess. People secretly crave a monarch to adore.
..........Became first in Queendom of Sol series.
..........Made Amazon's Best of Y2K Books.
MURDER IN THE SOLID STATE
..........One vote shy of being a Hugo nominee for best novel.
..........A near future murder mystery about physicists.
RICH MAN'S SKY
..........Near-future science fiction about multi-billionaires running private space programs.
..........Read first chapter.
..........Baen happier with this one.
..........Recent HC release.
POOR MAN'S SKY (forthcoming)
..........Sequel is set among the lower class: criminals, union leaders, etc.
HACKING MATTER
..........Science book on programmable matter.
..........Grew out of series of articles.
BASILISK: THE SERPENT KING (co-scripter of made for SyFy Channel movie)
..........Wil wanted to do Art. SyFy wanted schlock. They brought in Chase Parker to rewrite his script. Result is about 50/50.
..........Was SyFy's highest-rated movie in its timeslot until Sharknado.
Talked about Brane Theory.
Feeding the monster: The monster requires a steady stream of science articles to be happy. Devours Science News Magazine every two weeks.