Jason M. Hough interview
What is your latest book?
My latest is called Zero World, and it’s a near-future spy thriller about a parallel Earth that is 100 years behind us technologically, a scientist who finds this place and starts passing off our inventions as her own, and the assassin sent from Earth to stop her.
What writers influence your work?
Almost anything I read has an influence on me, but if I had to pick a few that I think have had a big impact, I’d go with (in no particular order) Stephen King, Guy Gavriel Kay, John Scalzi, Richard K. Morgan, Elizabeth Moon, and Ian Fleming.
Why did you decide to write about Darwin of the future, in your book The Darwin Elevator?
Initially I picked Darwin simply because it was close to the equator, and I needed an equatorial location for the space elevator at the heart of my story. It ended up being a fantastic place to ground the book!
What did you do before you took up writing?
I worked as a 3D animator and game designer for a number of years, and also as a product manager in the mobile technology industry.
Did you read much sci-fi/fantasy as a kid?
Yes! As a kid it was mostly Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein, and in my 20’s I got on a big fantasy kick and sort of fell out of love with sci-fi for a decade or so before reading Scalzi’s Old Man’s War.
There has been a lot of new and very popular sci-fi released over the last few years. Are we seeing a renaissance in the genre? Is this being driven by services such as Kindle Direct publishing?
It doesn’t have anything to do with Kindle Direct, although it is nice that there are so many great avenues for people who want to share their fiction. No, I’d argue that its simply that those of us who grew up with Star Wars, comic books, D&D, and video games are now adults with money to spend, and we’re raising a new generation who love these things even more than we do.
What are you working on next?
Right now I’m working on a 2-book follow up to the Dire Earth trilogy, which picks up right where The Plague Forge left off. I’ve got a few other projects in the pipeline as well, but I’m not able to talk about them yet. Stay tuned!
Jason M. Hough’s website can be found at www.jasonhough.com
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