Author Sean Williams Nominated for Philip K. Dick Award:

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The judges of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society have announced the nominated works, and one is Ace's own Saturn Returns by Sean Williams! Saturn Returns is the first book in Williams' gripping and bitingly intelligent new Astropolis series. It tells the story of Imre Bergamasc, who awakes after two hundred years to find that he's been the victim of an elaborate murder plot-one that changed the fate of galaxy.

Williams, an Australian by trade, was undoubtedly asleep when the nomination was announced. But when the waking hours down under synced back up with those at the Penguin offices, he was kind enough to give us an interview....

Jessica Wade: Congratulations on your nomination! What will you be doing to celebrate?

Sean Williams: Thanks! I'm on holidays in Darwin at the moment, up the tropical north end of Australia, so I might well have a G&T or two with my wife, Amanda. It's a tremendous honour to be on that list, and definitely worth celebrating.

JW: Saturn Returns is the first in your Astropolis space opera series. How would you define an "astropolis"?

SW:"Astropolis" is a word I coined off the cuff for the proposal, and which my agent highlighted, saying it should be the name of the series. He was right, as he always is. I wanted a word that captured the idea that the galaxy, as a home to humanity, could be likened to a city of stars. It might seem incomprehensible to us, confined to one solar system as we are at the moment, that we might one day consider one hundred thousand million stars our own, but people in the distant past might have felt the same way about megacities like Tokyo or New York. If we can imagine it, we need a word for it.

JW: What makes this particular world tick?

SW: It's a far future that operates according to the physical laws we think we understand at the moment--so no faster-than-light travel, no time travel, etc--but one which still contains incredible wonder. It's also very complicated, with a recorded history that stretches right back to the present day and remains as full of conflict and disagreement as our own past. I've been taking inspiration from Gothic novels while writing these books, so that gives them a slightly more torturous edge--but without bogging them down by mimicking the style of those wonderful writers, I hope.

JW: Where is the Astropolis series heading?

SW: Increasingly far into the future. My intention is to capture three very distinct phases in this arc of humanity's history: the aftermath of an empire's fall, the peak of reconstruction and a constitutional crisis, then the "weaponising" necessary to take on a powerful threat from the outside. It's impossible to capture every aspect of this huge story (hence, in part, the existence of the related novella Cenotaxis that's just come out from MonkeyBrain) but I like nothing better than a challenge.

JW: What's your favorite word (from standardized English or your own commendably inventive brain...)?

SW: I'd have to be immodest and say "cenotaxis," which means "empty order," since it's so fresh in my mind. Or "air-conditioner" because it's bloody hot and steamy in Darwin at the moment. :-)

JW: Incidentally, what's your favorite Philip K. Dick work?

SW: My favourite PKD novel is one you don't hear of very often: A MAZE OF DEATH. In it he invented a religion featuring a very high-tech sounding pantheon. The role of the creator is played by the "Mentafacturer", which I think is just a terrific word.

Sean's proud editor, Ginjer Buchanan, was also thrilled and on hand to say a few words...

JW: On a scale of 1 to 14.5, how excited are you that Sean Williams has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award?

GB: 15? It's a real honor, and the company this year is particularly distinctive.

JW: How long have you worked with Sean?

GB: I just checked my archived files and it's been ten years or more!

JW: Incidentally, what's your favorite PKD work?

GB: That's a tough one--I read The Man In The High Castle, which was The Book Phil Was Known For before Bladerunner was made, and loved it. But then, I do like alternate history. However, I think I would have to go with The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, a very late sixties novel, which reads like Phil was under the influence of some hallucinogenic or other when he wrote it! (Of course a lot of his books read that way!)

JW: Is it true what they say about Australians (full disclosure: I have no idea what it is they say about Australians...)?

GB: LOL! What's the line from the Men at Work song? "I come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder." Sean explained to me what chunder means. I'll never tell!

A hearty round of congratulations to Sean! And for those of you wondering more about the Philip K. Dick Award, it's presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. Previous winners from Ace include War Surf by M.M. Buckner, The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, and Neuromancer by William Gibson. First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, March 21.

--- Jessica Wade, Ace and Roc Associate Editor

Saturn Returns
Sean Williams - Author
$7.99 | add to cart
Book: Paperback: Mass Market | 6.49 x 4.29in | 336 pages | ISBN 9780441014934 | 24 Apr 2007 | Ace

Sean Williams, Saturn Returns, Astropolis, Philip K. Dick Award, Jessica Wade, Ginjer Buchanan, interview, Australia, Science Fiction, space opera, Penguin Books, books