SPSFC 3 Author Interview - Haldane B Doyle

1.       What inspired the world, characters, or core concepts of your story? Was it a particular event, piece of media, or a speculative scientific idea?

I’m a fan of Professor Joseph Tainter (among other researchers), who predict that our hypercomplex industrial society will crumble in the future. Sci-fi visions of Star Trek seem silly in that context, an unending apocalypse is equally implausible, and returning to medieval times is plain unimaginative.

I wanted to explore what new civilisation could rise from the ashes of industrialisation and decided the only truly renewable resource is biology. So, I set about imagining a scientifically plausible society built from pure biotechnology (without the help of gleaming bio-labs or supercomputer-analysing genomes). The result was “Our Vitreous Womb”.

2.       How did you approach the creation of your main characters? Were they modeled after real-life figures, or did they evolve organically as you explored the world of your story?

The initial inspiration came from imagining life for the last surviving Neanderthals in a world overtaken by modern humans, and again for hunter-gatherers displaced by the first farmers. How strange did these new people seem to them? I figure the same will happen to us when a significant evolutionary innovation gives a new lineage an unstoppable advantage.

My main character (Oji Anabasi) is a “sapiens”, living in a world dominated by a new type of humans called Ostrals (comprised of countless specialised lineages). Oji embodies all the old instincts that the Ostrals have discarded- especially lust, shame and an overwhelming fear of his own mortality.

Originally, I tried writing the story from Oji’s perspective, but he was too unlikeable. So, I rewrote the work from four different perspectives- important people in Oji’s life from cradle to grave. This let me explore many different aspects of this society that were hidden from Oji, and get inside the heads of the Ostrals.

3.       Science fiction often delves into questions of ethics, technology, and humanity. What central theme or moral question does your story grapple with, and why did you feel it was essential to explore?

A big thematic focus was the balance between freedom of the individual versus obligation to the collective. Also, society today seems uniquely terrified of death (even compared to our recent ancestors). I wanted to explore how a society could be constructed if individuals felt no fear of death- if instead, they saw a painless end as a precious birth-right to claim whenever they wished. This was modelled on the concept of apoptosis- the programmed cell death that makes multicellular organisms possible. Likewise, humans tap into the power for self-sacrifice to create a social superorganism. Homo sapiens outcompeted Neanderthals because they formed larger groups and stronger alliances. The Ostrals represent the next step in that process.

4.       How did you approach the integration of futuristic technology or scientific concepts in your story? Did you base them on existing theories or let your imagination run wild?

 The story is a bit odd for sci-fi since it features no complex artificial technology. Almost all of that has been left in the distant past, replaced by pure biological technology instead (including the processes of genetic engineering). I have a background in research biochemistry, run an experimental farm (check out my work at zeroinputagriculture.substack.com), and have a passion for bioscience, so I had fun researching plausible mechanisms to build a functional biotech civilisation. There are a small number of other sci-fi novels that feature a lot of biology, but as far as I can tell none of them rely on biology exclusively, and most of them are toward the softer end of the spectrum in terms of their underlying concepts.

5.       The sci-fi genre provides a canvas to depict diverse cultures, species, and worlds. How have you incorporated representation and diversity in your work, and why do you think it's vital for the future of science fiction?

In the world I created almost everything we know about modern civilisation is long forgotten. Remnant populations of sapiens descended from Europeans, Asians (and Africans in later planned books) still exist but their time is running out. I try to explore issues around ethnic diversity through the lens of deep time, where the concerns of today eventually become a footnote in the history of our species, just as our entire species will likely become a footnote in the destiny of our planet. The point of view characters include a young sapiens woman, an Ostral woman selected to be irresistible to sapiens, an asexual albino female Ostral and a castrated Ostral male attracted to other males. Good science fiction has always explored the outer limits of human perspectives, and I hope I have managed to do so too.

6.       Every author has a unique writing process. Can you share a bit about yours? How do you manage world-building, plot progression, and character dynamics in such a complex genre?

I love the research and outlining phase the most since I am an ideas driven writer. Stories with a satisfying structure that packs a lot of ideas in a small word count excite me as a reader. I always aim for a novel’s worth of content in a novella length. During outlining I make tables to explore the relationships between all the major characters since I see interaction as the truest expression of personality. Also, I write a first-person summary of the plot from each character’s perspective to look for missed opportunities and inconsistencies.

I’m a big believer that drafting is the most delicate part of the writing process because it comes from the subconscious. During drafting runs, I read the chapter outline for the next day immediately before bed. This way I get a bonus eight hours working on the story while I sleep (or laying half awake, thinking about my characters). I wake up before dawn, head bursting with ideas, and get straight into writing until mid-morning.

Editing happens in a separate phase since it uses my brain very differently (and changing mental gears takes me several days). I try to write fairly clean drafts, but still spend a lot of time considering the rhythm and flow of the words (as well as clarity- plus I often add more description during this phase). A useful trick- turn your drafts into narration with text-to-speech. Every day I listen to a few chapters on repeat while I do farm work. I take it as a good sign if a clunky robot voice can hold my attention on the story while I hoe weeds.

 7.       What's next for you after SPSFC? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?

 There are three more planned novellas for part 2 of the “Our Vitreous Womb” series, but I felt like working on something different first. Right now, I’m about to draft “Anubis Laughed”, a 1980s dark nostalgia magic realism novel. The story starts with a sickly chemistry teacher, Nigel Spreckler, shortly before the world ends in a massive solar storm in 2013. The old gods judge his soul to be defective, unfit for paradise or oblivion. Instead, they send him back to a recreated Earth so Nigel can finish the novel he had poured his soul into to earn his place among the gods. Nigel is reincarnated as himself on the first day of school. The story features a heavy pinch of real-world environmental chemistry and nutritional science, on top of the supernatural framing structure. I guess I have a bad habit of writing stories that don’t fit into any pre-existing subgenres. I’ll figure out if it belongs in SPSFC4 or SPFBO10 once it is finished.