First off, let me apologize for the unconscionably long lag in responding. Truth be told, I’d thought the interview was over back in mid-November. I only happened on your December-vintage question when I returned to the scene of the crime to snag some text for my permanent records.

In any case, as to your question — namely, is there a character in Singularity modeled on Steve “Mickey-D’s” Kocan? — the answer is (as so many answers seem to be) yes and no. The character Alison is referring to would be Jonathan Knox, and while Jon is certainly drawn from my experiences as a consultant (which included, as a substantial fringe benefit, the occasional opportunity to observe Steve in action), he is at bottom a figment of my own imagination.

On the more general question of how characters get created in the first place, I’m about to start up a blog entitled “The Accidental Author” at my own website <http://www.billdesmedt.com> which will address many of these same issues. I hope you’ll drop by and check it out.

Best,
Bill

Thanks a bunch for all your kind words and good wishes. I’m really glad if Singularity spoke to you. Also glad you enjoyed the interview — Sweetwind, rickyjames, and janra all helped to make it a fun experience!

Best,
Bill

PS: Talking about outlandish — this afternoon I docked the Space Shuttle with the Space Station here at the Johnson Space Center (all in simulation of course). Words can’t convey the thrill!

I had the opportunity to read Singularity and loved it. I think Sweetwind really captured it with the comparison to The Da Vinci Code, though the premise still falls in the “outlandish” category for me, even though it is plausible (and fascinating) … but I think that’s just fine for a science thriller.

I really hope your novel does well … It’s so rare to find fiction that is at once entertaining, intelligent and laugh-out-loud witty. I encourage everyone to buy a copy to read and one to give away as a gift. We need to support good, smart writing and writers IMO. I’ve checked amazon.com and they’re marking it down 32%.

…Both for your terrific review and your insightful questions.

Inicdentally, I don’t know if any of SciScoop’s readers are in the Houston TX area, but if so I’ll be speaking Friday Nov 12th at 7:30 pm at the meeting of the Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society (open to the public; details on the JSCAS website. And, joining me on stage — reunited after 30 years — will be Drs. Albert A. Jackson IV and Michael P. Ryan Jr., to talk about the theory that gave birth to Singularity!

Congratulations, by the way, Bill – I see that Singularity is now #41 on the Amazon.com Science Fiction & Fantasy
Early Adopters List. Pretty darn good!

So, how could we possibly detect a subsurface primordial black hole cum magnetic monopole orbiting deep in the earth? Well, we might do worse than to look up.

Back at the end of June last year, SciScoop ran an article on the http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/7/29/7947/96432“>Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment mission – GRACE for short. As rickyjames describes therein, GRACE is a collaboration between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, which has already produced startlingly accurate new maps of Earth’s gravitational field by measuring the minute fluctuations it induces in the orbits of a pair of satellites.

Would GRACE be able to detect Vurdalak as it orbits round and round beneath the skin of the planet? Well, it might require some retooling first. As Doctor Jack comments:

QUOTE:
GRACE is undoubtedly the most sensitive tool available but it might not work in this case. The computer programs probably assume an unchanging mass distribution over short periods. The mascons [mass concentrations] GRACE was built to track don’t usually zip along at a speed of kilometers per second, after all. This strikes me as similar to the problems of gravitational astronomy and SETI. You have to be looking for transients or they’ll simply be filtered out as “noise”. On the other hand, you don’t want to record every hiccup.
:UNQUOTE

[Back to Bill again:] So, yes, I’d say the Vurdalak Conjecture is not only testable, but there’s an experiment running right now that might actually be able to test it. What’s more, reengineering GRACE to scout for the presence of a fast-moving, five billion tonne point-source hurtling along inside the mantle might not involve anything more than rewriting the code used to interpret GRACE’s data. Meaning we wouldn’t have to launch any new hardware into space (expensive) to launch our Vurdalak hunt.

First, though, somebody’s got to take the Conjecture seriously enough to start hacking. Who knows? Maybe Singularity will provide the needed nudge.

I hope what little I could offer was of some help. And I wish you every success in your own writing.

Best,
Bill

I’ve got an answer to this (hint: SciScoop ran a related story over a year ago), but I’d rather run it past “Doctor Jack” first — and maybe even get him to post himself.

If Jack hasn’t taken up the cudgels by tonight, I’ll take a stab at it myself.

Best,
Bill

I guess I was just trying to find some tips on how to get feedback but not act on it immediately (unless, as you say, it’s a major flaw). I like things to be as good as I can make them, so if I get a suggestion that is relatively small that I think will make my story better, I will still go back and rewrite…

Also, thanks for agreeing to do this interview :-)