Gary Raham moved to Colorado 55 years ago, armed with degrees from the University of Michigan, and taught biology on the Eastern Plains in Akron, Colorado. To combine his interest in science, writing, and art, he became a graphic artist in Fort Collins while learning the craft of writing. Ultimately, he became a freelance writer and illustrator under the business name Biostration. Learn more at https://www.rgaryraham.com.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?
Raham: This book is the last in a four-book “Dead Genius” series that took a crooked path to come into being, as most creative endeavors do. In some ways this book was inspired by my entire 60-year career as a biologist, writer, teacher, and illustrator. However, the main character, Rudyard Albert Goldstein (Rudy), probably came into existence sometime in 2016 when I got the idea to write “A Once-Dead Genius in the Kennel of Master Morticue Ambergrand.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek adventure in which Rudy (inventor of the Biomic Network Algorithm) dies, but his brain and neural patterns are harvested by an unscrupulous doctor to be preserved in the bowels of an AI (artificial intelligence) called Mnemosyne (aka Nessie).
Themes that I pursue in this book and those that followed reflect what I have learned as a biologist over the years: Life is complicated, unbelievably intertwined from the microscopic realm of bacteria, viruses, and fungi to the macroscopic creatures like us with delusions of grandeur. And, as biologist Lynn Margulis once said, “Life did not take over the world by combat, but by networking.” I postulate that any human-alien encounters will involve not just a meeting of human and alien minds, but a meeting of the complicated biomes that support them as well.
SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?
Raham: I included the short prologue that appears in the beginning of the book to introduce the character of Gaidra, the merger of the global intelligences of Earth (Gaia) and Jadderbad (Hydra). This helps set the tone of a global intelligence frustrated with the actions of her brainy metazoans and intent on teaching them a lesson in proper behavior on a planet with limited resources.
UNDERWRITTEN BY
Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.
Then, I selected Chapter 5, partly for its length (fairly short), but also it introduces readers to the story through the viewpoint of one of the alien species (Grovians). Hopefully, readers can empathize with the plight of two otherworldly close friends who suffer a tragedy, while also seeing humans through their Grovian array of multiple and faceted eyes. This chapter also sets humans and aliens on their path to work together to find Nessie’s Citadel stronghold and perhaps gain access to some of the powers she has acquired over the millennia.
SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? And once you did begin to write, did the work take you in any unexpected directions?
Raham: I’ve always been fascinated by deep time and deep space. As a kid I was inspired by Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books which involved a psychohistorian named Hari Seldon who created a plan to reduce the period of collapse of a massive human galactic civilization to a “mere” 1,000 years.
In college, I also enjoyed the writing of Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist obsessed with the changing roll call of creatures over geologic time and the vast distances between the stars. After college, when I came to Colorado to teach biology at the high school level, I joined the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS) and enjoyed taking field trips to unearth Cretaceous fossils in Colorado’s ancient sea beds or Paleozoic fossils from even deeper in time. Those experiences led to my first science fiction book for middle school students: “The Deep Time Diaries.”
Did the plot take unexpected twists and turns? You bet. That’s part of the fun of writing fiction for me. I know where I want to go (in general terms), but have to let the characters take the lead each day in actually getting me there. Sometimes their destination is not quite what I had initially envisioned. In fact, I was probably three quarters into the book before I had an “Ah, ha” moment telling me where my characters really wanted to go.
SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?
Raham: Yes, the craft of writing is a continuous learning experience. “A Singular Prophecy” took me 10 years to write and a lot of that was the result of honing my ability to plot a long narrative and improve my techniques of characterization, voice, etc.
“Not Quite Dead Geniuses at Large on an Angry Planet”
Where to find it:
- Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
- Libby: E-books and audio books
- NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
- Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide
SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.
Writing my next two novels took about a year each because the use of many writing tools had become almost second nature to me. Also, I learned to “loosen up” my narrative style from the more condensed form you need to write short fiction. (You can be more expository with novel length books — which is good for fleshing out strange worlds and complicated sagas as long as you don’t abuse that freedom and ramble to the point of boring the reader.)
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Raham: Because I had originally thought I was writing a series of somewhat related short stories, I had to find a good way to tie them all together. I hit upon the idea of creating a series of “interludes” featuring Rudy and Nessie to accomplish that. Later on, I decided that making Rudy and Nessie actively involved toward the end of the book helped to integrate the earlier “character cameo” segments.
The other big difficulty when writing a novel series is to keep good track of your fictional “lies.” I had to study my earlier books to make sure I didn’t misname something or forget what plot elements and time sequences I had established in the earlier books. Readers love to find such inconsistencies — especially science fiction readers.
SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be?
Raham: I would like readers to come away with the idea that we humans are a chimera of organisms that have co-evolved for 4 billion years on a planet well-suited to nurturing life. To avoid extinction as long as possible we need to recognize our co-dependence on other forms of life and learn Lynn Margulis’ lesson that cooperation trumps combat when it comes to long-term survival. (But don’t forget to have fun in the process of surviving.)
SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and people’s access to them, has become increasingly contentious, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries and generally the availability of literature in the public sphere?
Raham: Don’t be afraid of new ideas or people who aren’t exactly like you. To that end, I don’t believe in banning books or the ideas contained therein. We all should have the freedom to live, learn, and adapt to change and the freedom to explore all the ideas humans can conjure to live long and prosper.
We humans show our best qualities when we nurture and protect each other — people whom we consider members of our own “tribe.” We commit atrocities when our definition of “tribe” excludes fellow humans based on superficial characteristics like skin color and sexual orientation.
We also can’t ignore inconvenient truths because of our tribal affiliations. Science has proven to be an effective, even if flawed, method to uncover objective truths that may not conform to the way we might want the universe to operate.
SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write?
Raham: I’m a morning person. After a half hour of reading and some exercise routines, I devote the hours before noon to writing. I reserve afternoons for illustrating projects, necessary chores, advertising and other business matters.
I usually write in my downstairs “cave” while listening to classical music, but sometimes I write on a laptop at the kitchen table. I tend to quit about 4 p.m. and often watch TV with my wife in the evenings or go to the occasional social event. I’ve kept a journal for years, although much journal time is now devoted to writing a monthly newsletter to friends and fans.
I also volunteer as a naturalist with the City of Fort Collins, and am co-editor of “Trilobite Tales,” a publication of the Western Interior Paleontological Society. I hunt fossils now and then and also travel with my wife, who still competes in track and field throwing events for seniors. One never knows where a new writing idea may sprout.
SunLit: Do you think humans will ever meet another “intelligent” species (and survive the experience)?
Raham: Short answer: Unlikely and maybe. Longer answer: The universe is so vast and so old and the series of evolutionary events that led to human civilization so rare, that I think meeting another equally complex creature before we become extinct ourselves is unlikely. If we do, however, that species may either be so advanced that they don’t recognize us as peers or so strange that we have no common point of connection. They might decide that humans are worthy of extinction, worth keeping as pets, or not worth the bother. Or, more hopefully, they might be grateful not to be alone in a scary universe.
SunLit: Tell us about your next project.
Raham: I just finished a new short story (really!) entitled “Spiders’ Man.” I’m hoping to sell it to Analog or Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine. It’s a post apocalypse/first contact story set in the relatively near future. I hope you will find it available to read soon!
A few more quick questions
SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore that you dread but must do to achieve good things?
Raham: Writing for me is an obsessive-compulsive joy. I never tire of it.
SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?
Raham: I wrote a story in elementary school about some intelligent ants that nearly got run over by a lawn mower. I always liked that one.
SunLit: When you look back at your early professional writing, how do you feel about it? Impressed? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Wish you could have a do-over?
Raham: I know some things could have been better in my early professional writing, but if you wait to write a perfect manuscript, it never sees publication. The fact that someone thought it was good enough to show an audience is a sign that it achieved what creatives hope to achieve: to commit successful brain surgery on an unsuspecting reader and make them feel the surprise and wonder that you feel about some topic dear to you.
SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine having over for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?
Raham: Loren Eiseley because of his fascination with deep time and space and his ability to write lyrical prose. He wasn’t a fan of my “hippy generation,” but I think we were entranced by the same mysteries.
Ray Bradbury because he wrote with a combination of mystery and grace that amazed me when I was young.
Theodore Sturgeon because he was a science fiction writer ahead of his time who emphasized fascinating characters rather than some new scientific development.
SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?
Raham: Not a quote per se. I’ve found that the most useful advice for a fiction writer is to have an interview with your characters to find out what makes them tick. Also, if writing is really important to you, put it at the top of your list of things to do — even if you can only devote a few minutes to it each day.
SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?
Raham: That I’m a science nerd and hopeless bibliophile.
SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?
Raham: Classical music or soundtracks without vocals that put me into a reflective frame of mind.
SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?
Raham: I was drawing and writing comic books by third grade.
SunLit: Biggest fear as a writer?
Raham: Losing my mind. I’ve spent many decades filling it with stuff.
SunLit: Greatest satisfaction as a writer?
Raham: Knowing that I have made a connection with a kindred spirit.