1. Any advice for would-be sci-fi writers?

[Drog] Many of us have always dreamed of someday writing a great science fiction novel. We may have bought all those books on how to write a novel or a sci-fi novel in particular. We may have spec’d it out and even started writing the first chapter. Yet for some reason or another, it never actually happens. Between our day job (which leaves us exhausted and perhaps even requires we take work home) and our family life, there seems to be no time to write before we’re off to bed to start all over again in the morning. Your bio says that you “climbed the corporate ladder,” so you probably experienced similar difficulties and yet managed to overcome them. Could you provide any insights and advice to would-be science fiction writers regarding how to achieve their dreams, using your novel–and the process you used to write it–as a real-life example?

[Michael] Very interesting question. Besides having a full time job I have five other side businesses that I an currently managing. In addition, I try to dedicate most of my available time to my family. This leaves me with virtually no free time to do anything else. To write a novel, I had to start with scribbling my thoughts in my PDA and record them on the my pocket voice recorder. Late at night, when everyone would go to bed, I would sit down for about half an hour to forty minutes and I would transform those thoughts into paragraphs of my book. This is the only approach that would work for me. I guess determination and discipline were the only factors that attributed to my success with this novel. My heart goes out to all the struggling writers, however there is no magic formula that I can reveal here besides the two D’s mentioned above. It is a lot of hard work, mostly in time frames when one is too exhausted to even think straight. This is what the experience was for me. The message to the would-be science fiction or any other writers regarding how to achieve their dreams would be to hang in there and try not to lose your sanity in the process. Move forward in small chunks, be patient as it may take some time to get there and one day it will all come together in a great novel just like it did for me.

2. Reactions of your colleagues?

[Drog] As a technical architect and database administrator for a large company, what did your colleagues think of you writing a science fiction novel in your spare time? Did they know you were working on it or were they surprised after it was published? Were you at all worried that your superiors would view you as no longer being committed to the company, thinking that you would quit and write full-time if your book sells well enough?

[Michael] My superiors don’t yet know that I wrote and published a novel. Only a few selected individuals at work, mostly my friends, know about my activities outside the work place. When I told them they were very surprised. I was the last person they expected to see write a science fiction novel. W.R.T me quitting my primary job if the sales pick up, lets say that at this point the likelihood of that is slim. The state of our economy does not support strong sales in any field, especially in the field of books of science fiction genre. To tell you the truth, even if sales went through the roof, I would probably keep my job simply because this is also one of those things that I still enjoy doing.

3. Inspiration

[absurdhero] What Science Fiction authors have inspired you and given you ideas? Has some other genre been helpful instead? How have you developed your personal writing style?

[Michael] The two authors that I love most, that have greatly influenced my writing behavior were Asimov and Belyaev. Those two seem to have the best ideas and are able to present those ideas in a clear and concise manner. I try to imitate them as closely as possible. Their books were the only books I read as a child. The only other genres I read are the technical books and manuals that I need for my work. Unfortunately that is all that I have time for.

4. Short Stories?

[Drog] Many new sci-fi writers start off by writing short stories to establish their style and publishing them in magazines like Analog or Asimov’s to establish credentials before moving on to novels. But you seem to have gone straight to the novel. Why did you decide to forego the “short stories” phase? Without a history of published short stories, was it more difficult to get your book published? Do you have any unpublished short stories that you may share with the world some day?

[Michael] I think short stories is a great way to start one’s career in writing. I went straight to publishing a book because I felt that the ideas that I had would work well together in one novel. I felt that breaking them up in to smaller pieces would provide less value to the reader than the whole novel. I feel that going the route of ’short stories first’, would be more beneficial for those young inspiring authors out there that are trying to make writing their career. Getting their name known before they publish their first book has its advantages.

5. Why an alien invasion theme?

[Drog] Why did you choose to tackle the “alien invasion” theme for your first novel as opposed, say, to a near-future computer technology-driven plot, in keeping with your computer background? Was the plot for “The Neutrino Effect” mulling around in your head since your teens or was it relatively new? Were you inspired by older alien invasion novels or were you disappointed with them and thus sought to write a better one? Can you describe the evolution of the story?

[Michael] Another great question. Although “The Neutrino Effect” is a science fiction novel, the part about neutrinos is not. Those particles really exist in nature and it is just a matter of time before something like a neutrino transmitter will come to existence. When the device becomes a reality, this is how I perceive the reality to develop. Once we start transmitting using neutrinos, which have a potential to reach all corners of the universe, it will surely interfere with something out there. I do believe that it is mathematically impossible for us to be the only intelligent race out there in the universe. There are just too many stellar objects out there that could sustain life in different forms. Once we start interfering with their world they will probably attempt to do something to discourage us from interfering with their living patterns. Thus the story begins….

6. Announcing our presence to the galaxy

[Drog] Like a few other alien invasion stories, your novel is based on the idea that we brought it on ourselves by being so naive as to broadcast messages into space, believing that any extra-terrestrials that receive it would be benevolent in nature, or that the message would take so long to be detected by anyone that it wouldn’t matter if they’re malevolent. But perhaps the universe is chock full of hostile races or von Neumann probes programmed to destroy any potential rivals they encounter. SETI is all well and good, but do you think actually sending a message into the void would be dangerous? If WE were capable of interstellar travel, and we received a transmission from a civilization less technologically advanced than us, I’d be afraid for them…

[Drog--Clarification] Sure, we would like to know that we’re not alone in the universe and we’d like to have relations with an alien race and trade information and products, and the best way to meet them is to send out a signal and see if anyone answers. BUT doing anything to draw attention to ourselves like that may be horribly dangerous unless we feel confident that our technology is sufficiently advanced that we can defend ourselves. If there IS intelligent extraterrestrial life out there, they may very well be centuries or millennia (or more) ahead of us technologically–in which case we would be at their mercy. So perhaps it is in our best interest to keep a low profile and hide in our little solar system, hoping that nobody will notice us, until we either feel that our defensive technology cannot advance any further or that we are doomed to destroy ourselves anyway unless we get some outside assistance. So perhaps a single scientist or a single nation should not be allowed to make that decision to announce our presence to the universe, since it may spell our death sentence just as likely as spell the dawn of a new era for us.

[Michael] Agreed! Perhaps we should not make our presence so obvious, however we as a specie already launched so many satellites and other space junk out into space that we just may inadvertently attract someone’s attention. The fact is that we are here and we are messy. To amplify our chance of getting noticed may or may not be a logical thing to do. So the question becomes, do we always do what is logical? The answer, as I perceive it, may surprise you. As long as humans have feelings, logic is not very high on our priority list. This is why we launched all those exploratory missions to Mars and other planets. Our hunger for exploration exceeds our desire to conceal our presence, even if it means our total annihilation. Self preservation, with humans does not go very far, otherwise we would not have any smokers, drug addicts or race car drivers, as all these activities are very dangerous and can have an adverse or even devastating effect on one’s future. Vladimir sent the welcome message into space as a joke. However, that is not what attracted the aliens. What attracted aliens were the test transmissions that preceded the ‘welcome aliens’ message. ‘We first showed them that our transmitter worked by beaming a message across the sea to a receiver we’d stationed in the New Hong Kong province of Izeka Chan. Three of our technicians were there to receive the message and we were contacted a moment later by conventional cell phone that everything was coming through loud and clear. It worked beautifully.’ Vlad and others temporarily overlooked one small detail, that the test messages will reverberate in all corners of the universe, and they did. Thus, the damage was done long before the ‘welcome’ message was sent out. ‘So perhaps a single scientist or a single nation should not be allowed to make that decision to announce our presence to the universe, since it may spell our death sentence just as likely as spell the dawn of a new era for us.’ Perhaps. But are we there yet? Are we advanced enough to understand and measure the real threat behind our actions, and will inaction insure our immortality as a specie? Can we accurately predict the outcome of our behavior?

7. Parallels between you and your main character?

[Drog] Both you and your main character Vladimir Ustinov were born in Russia and emigrated to the U.S. Are there any other parallels to your own life? How much of “you” is in Vladimir Ustinov?

[Michael] Vladimir is what I would like to become when I grow up. Extremely successful entrepreneur with lots of friends in high places, whose life is filled with excitement and new ideas. This is what I would say if I had to summarize the answer in one sentence. In reality we are very different. My first priority in life is my family. I spend all of my free time with my loved ones and I would not trade this for the world. Vladimir has no family. Although both of us started as ambitious entrepreneurs he was not as fortunate in the ‘family’ department. He did not meet that special someone that gives meaning to every breath we take. Instead, Vladimir spent his adult years building his firm in the company of trusted friends. When I look at him, I see an individual who has what I am missing, and who is missing what I have. (He is everything I am not and vice versa.) If one would fuse both of us together, one would have what I call ‘everything one needs and more’. In our world that is considered Utopia.

8. Russian Influences

[rickyjames] Your work is described as optimistic, which with no disrespect intended is not traditionally considered a Russian literary trait. To what degree has your Russian background and your dual Russian / American heritage influenced the science fiction you have written and made it different from something that “just a Russian” or “just an American” would write? Are there any political parallels you intended with respect to colonialism or imperialism where your aliens come to “help” just like the Americans (and even the Russians) are often described as doing in Third World countries?

[Michael] Russians and Americans are more alike than are different, and are definitely more alike than most realize. Most view Russians as tough, stubborn, opinionated and … (fill in the blanks). And we are. However don’t let that confuse you. We are like that due to external elements that affecting our every day lives in Russia. However, underneath the exterior hard shell there is tenderness, love, understanding and all the other traits that the rest of the world shares. I’ve read many novels that were written by Russian and American writers and the only difference that I see is that all novels written by American writers end on a positive note. Russian writers don’t always follow that practice. Some Russian novels will break one’s heart, if the writer feels that this will generate more excitement in the audience. Russians try not to follow any rules, they just follow the ‘heat of the moment’. American writers try end their novels with the victory for the good guy(s). That generates a slew of positive feelings in the audience, along with national pride and all other feelings that apply, however I feel that this approach makes the novel more predictable and may take some excitement out of it. When I was writing my book, I tried to end it on a positive note to leave the door open for sequelization. I felt it would be easier to pick up the sequel if the first part ended with the victory for the main characters.

9. Predicting the future

[Machi] The recent events since September 11th have undoubtedly affected your perspective on what the future might look like. Political and military tides are heading towards a unified front against terrorist acts. Do you see, in some near future the G8 nations, being the main principals in this fight? Do you see a trend of serial terrorist wars in our future? Could new governments be formed by allied countries supporting the US? Could the upcoming events, without meaning to sound apocalyptic, mean a different era for the North American Continent in which involvement in terrorist type wars become a necessary foreign policy platform? While the optimism is present in your recent novel “The Neutrino Effect”, beneath the surface of your written storyline is a world which you have created to be more complex with all the political power struggles that are ever-present in our real world. Do you see our future bright but unsteady in its implementation of our wishes for peace and a better planet for future generations?

[Michael] This actually is a very interesting and complex question. Yes, I do see in the future the G8 nations being the main principals in the fight against terrorism. However, I think it will get a lot worse before it gets better, type of scenario. On 9/11 we (Americans) lost thousands of our finest men, women and children. We felt the pain because it happened on our turf and it happened to us. Other nations appear to be sympathetic to our loss and they understand how our pain feels, however it is not very obvious that they feel the pain the way we do. If they would feel the pain the way we do, they would understand that there is no place for terrorism in the modern world, and that the terrorism has to be stopped dead in its tracks before it does some major damage, before it de-stabilizes the worlds’ economies and starts something that is not easily repaired. The moment all the nations realize that, the world would unite with Americans and Israelis in our fight against terrorism. And yes, I do see that happening in the near future. It will probably take a few more terrorist acts throughout Europe and other continents, but I do see it happening in the next year or two. As far as forming new world governments by allied countries to combat terrorism, that is a little harder to predict. The next terrorist act or two will make that picture a little clearer.

10. Future work?

[Drog] Are you currently working on another novel? Can you share any details about it?

[Michael] Yes. Currently I am working on sequel to the ‘The Neutrino Effect: The World Builders’. It will be called ‘The Neutrino Effect: The War of the Time Weavers’. The novel will probably be completed by end of 2003. However, the actual publication date will depend on three parameters.

First parameter that will play a major role on the timeliness of publication is a measure of how the current book is doing in the market place. If the sales are strong and the revenue stream is strong enough for the finance of the second novel then the novel will go in to print as soon as it is finished. If the sales are sluggish, and in the current economic climate this is more likely, then I would probably either start seeking help from venture capitalists or go the usual Literary Agents route and seek the financial backing of the publishing house.

Second parameter has to do with the initial reviews and reviewers and their turn around time. Before I publish my work I prefer to get an initial feedback from about 30-50 readers to see what a knee jerk reaction of the general audience is. If the reaction is positive then that is a green light to proceed forward. If there are parts of the novel that are unclear or unbelievable then I try to re-visit those parts and address the concerns of my audience. That sometimes can add a few months on to the process.

Third parameter has to do with the timing of the introduction of new work in to the market place. The writers have to be very sensitive to the number of new novels in the same genre entering the market place at the same time. The last thing you want is for your novel to get lost in a long list of other science fiction novels entering the shelves of the book stores. This could also add a month or two on to the publication date.