Catherine Asaro 2009 Interview
Catherine Asaro is nominated for novella “The Spacetime Pool.”
Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. What’s the appeal of science fiction for you?
From the time when I first learned to read, I’ve loved science fiction and fantasy; even before that, in fact, as soon as I was able to imagine stories in my mind. That step outside of the mundane universe has always fascinated me.
I read and heard in an interview that you were hesitant to write fantasy at first. What made you eventually venture into fantasy territory?
I didn’t know if I could write fantasy well. I enjoy it as much as science fiction, but for me it’s more difficult to do. As a scientist, I find it easiest to write hard SF. When I tried fantasy, I’d think of a scientific reason for the magic, and my stories would turn into science fiction. Then Mary Theresa-Hussey offered me the chance to write for Luna Books when they were launching their fantasy line. I had been mulling over some ideas, she liked them, and so it all happened. And this time the magic stayed magic. Though I must admit, it is mathematically based. I really enjoy writing those books.
There’s usually an element of romance in your stories. Is this a conscious decision? Why does romance appeal to you?
No, it wasn’t conscious. The stories didn’t feel complete to me without that relationship aspect. I don’t know why; I’ve just always been that way. Relationships and our emotional involvement with one another seems to me to be thoroughly tied up with story-telling.
How helpful is your scientific background when writing your books?
A lot. The science and research comes easily to me. And it’s fun.
Here’s an example: I came up with the idea for my novel The Quantum Rose when I was writing my Ph.D. thesis in chemical physics at Harvard. My doctoral work used coupled channel quantum scattering theory to describe molecular behavior. So the ideas of my thesis and the story wound all around each other. At the time, it seemed obvious that the characters and their actions were analogs to the mathematics and processes of coupled channel quantum scattering theory. Looking back, I’m not sure why all those analogies seemed so obvious. But I had a blast writing about it. That analogy remains one of my favorite aspects of my stories.
At what point did you consider yourself a professional author? What made you decide to pursue writing as a career?
It sometimes felt as if the writing pursued me. I finished grad school, did my postdoctoral work, and became a physics professor, and the whole time the stories kept pulling at me. I wanted to write more than teach. In the end, the stories won out. At the time, I was a professor at Kenyon College, where science fiction author Joan Slonzczewski is a prof in the biology department. We became friends, and she recommended me to David Hartwell, her editor. That was the beginning.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in your writing career?
Overcoming my shyness in talking to people and having my picture taken. It comes more easily to me now, but it didn’t when I first started. For the most part,though, people have been very kind about it.
Is it easy for you transition from short stories (novellas, novelettes, etc.) to novels? Which format do you prefer?
I’m much more a novel writer. That’s why most of my “short” works are novellas. However, I’m learning to write shorter fiction, too. I’ve a story in an upcoming Twilight Zone anthology that I think is one of my best.
When writing a story like “The Spacetime Pool,” what kind of preparations do you make? Did you envision the “science” aspect of it first or the characters or the plot?
I originally envisioned it as a book. I started it years ago, then put it aside. I was never sure what I wanted to do with the story. The characters and math of this one evolved together. That’s unusual for me; in most of my books, the characters come first and then the science/math. But in this case, they developed in the same time-line.
I had originally called the Fourier Hall in the story the Hall of Arches. But as I was describing that gorgeous hall, I realized the arches formed piecewise continuous functions, which you can model using Fourier series. I used to give my physics students problems like that. From there, the math ideas just flooded out.
I’ve included a picture of Moorish architecture showing arches similar to the type I envisioned in the story. I’ve also attached a mathematical plot modeling the arches. It’s not from a pure Fourier series; I used squared sine functions. I only needed a few terms to get a figure that close to the arches; with a more complex series, I could introduce a lot more of the small details you see in the architecture.
The second plot is the Fourier transform of the arches, what Janelle did by hand in the story. I used Maple, a math program that does a lot of the number crunching for you if you give it the equations you want to investigate. Janelle has a lot more patience than I do, to plot that all by hand. But then, she had a more compelling reason!
The story is up at the Analog site, for anyone who would like to see it. The address is:
http://www.analogsf.com/nebulas09/TheSpacetimepool.shtml
I also put an illustrated version up on my Facebook page: It’s given chapter by chapter in the “Notes” section:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Catherine-Asaro/33623623207
There’s some hard science puzzles in “The Spacetime Pool,” such as the part where Janelle is imprisoned. What made you decide to include such scenes?
Oh, that’s easy to answer. I coach math teams, including award winning students in the American Regional Math League, the USA Mathematical Olympiad, the USA Mathematical Talent Search, and for the younger students, MathCounts. The problem Janelle had to solve in the one scene is a classic math puzzle of the type you see on MathCounts tests. It’s not something most people would know off the top of their head, but these whiz students can zip through it moments. I had them check my answer when I was writing the story.
For unfamiliar readers, could you tell us more about your Saga of the Skolian Empire and Lost Continent series? What would be a good book to start with?
The Skolian Empire books are space adventure about the Ruby Dynasty. I started out basing the dynasty characters on the Greek pantheon from mythology, but it fast became clear that translating Greek gods and goddesses into a human dynasty made for a really dysfunctional family. So I just let the stories evolve the way they felt right.
The Ruby Dynasty books aren’t a series in the usual sense, because most of them stand alone. But they are all set in the same universe. The most recent book, Diamond Star, is due out from Baen in May 2009. It’s a good one to start with, because it doesn’t depend on the other books.
The Lost Continent Series is a collection of fantasy novels set in the same universe. A good one to start with there would be The Night Bird. I think it’s also one of my best. And it has a gorgeous, sensuous cover.
What projects are you currently working on?
I recently finished a music CD, titled Diamond Star, that offers readers a soundtrack for my book. Diamond Star. The CD will be released by Starflight Music in April 2009. The book tells the story of Del, a renegade prince who would rather be a rock singer than sit on the throne. His family wants him to stop, his friends want to use him, his label wants to own him, and his enemies want to kill him. Del just wants to sing—without starting an interstellar war.
To write the story, I needed lyrics to his songs, and to write those, I needed music for at least some of them. So I wrote words and a bit of music. In 2007, I sent one song to Hayim Ani, the front man for the rock band Point Valid. He “got it” right away, what I was trying to do. He had a natural feel for the idea. We started working together, and it grew into a great collaboration with his band and all these gifted musicians they brought into the studio.
Point Valid is an alternative band with Hayim on vocals and guitar, Adam Leve on drums, and Max Vidaver on guitar. Our recording engineer and co-producer, Dave Nachodsky, played bass on most of the cuts. The band wrote a lot of the music, with a few songs from me, and Hayim contributed three of his originals. It’s Point Valid’s second CD. Their first, Of Dreams and Memories, is available through CD Baby or iTunes. Songs from Diamond Star can be found at www.starflight-music.com.
(From left to right: Max Vidaver, Catherine Asaro, Hayim Ani, Adam Leve. Photo: Stephen Baranovics.)
Point Valid is dispersed right now. Hayim is in Israel to study for a couple of years and then serve in the military, and Max is at college in New York. Adam will graduate high school this year, study in Israel, and then go to college. But they’re all continuing their interest in music, and Hayim is writing the songs for another CD.
I learned to sing for the CD, doing backups and a ballad. I’ve always listened to music, and I trained in the piano from a young age, but I never sang. With this project, I found out I enjoy it a lot. I still have a long way to go, but I’m training at a music school and working with an accompanist, Donald Wolcott, an accomplished jazz pianist and rock musician. We do gigs showcasing the Diamond Star Project in the Baltimore area and at SF cons. I’m also learning covers by artists such as Nora Jones and Sade.
In October, I’ll be Guest of Honor at Necronomicon in Florida, and they’re bringing out Donald as a musical guest. We’ll be collaborating with a band there, at Necronomicon and possibly at another convention. It’s great fun!
I also joined the Central Maryland Chorale last year as a first soprano. Among the shows we’re doing this year, we’ll be performing Rutter’s Mass of the Children at Carnegie Hall.
So that’s what I’m working on.
Winner of the Nebula® Award for her novel, The Quantum Rose, Catherine emphasizes space adventure, world-building, and characterization in her fiction. Her latest SF novel is The Ruby Dice (Baen, April 2009), and her most recent fantasy is The Night Bird (Luna, June 2008). Her upcoming book—Diamond Star (Baen, May 2009)—is about a rock star in the future. It’s release is the culmination of another project; working together since 2007, she and the rock band Point Valid recorded a CD that offers readers a soundtrack to the book. This month, Starflight Music released the CD, also titled Diamond Star.
Catherine’s short fiction has appeared in anthologies and Analog, including “Walk in Silence,” “A Roll of the Dice,” and “Aurora in Four Voices,” all of which won the Analog Readers Poll for best novella and were nominated for the Nebula® and Hugo. She has a doctorate from Harvard in Chemical Physics and has authored scientific papers in refereed journals. Her paper, “Complex Speeds and Special Relativity” in the The American Journal of Physics (April 1996) forms the basis for some of the science in her fiction. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto, Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik, and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. She was a physics professor until 1990, when she became a fulltime writer.
Catherine also coaches the Howard Area Homeschoolers and Chesapeake team in the American Regional Math League. Her students have distinguished themselves in numerous national programs, including the USA Mathematical Olympiad, MathCounts, and the USA Mathematical Talent Search. She served two terms as SFWA president and is a member of Sigma, a think tank that consults for the Department of Homeland Security. Her husband, John Kendall Cannizzo, is a NASA astrophysicist, and they have one daughter, a ballet dancer who is currently a first-year student reading mathematics at Cambridge University in England.
Charles A. Tan is the co-editor of the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler and his fiction has appeared in publications such as The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories and Philippine Speculative Fiction. He has conducted interviews for The Nebula Awards and The Shirley Jackson Awards, as well as for online magazines such as SF Crowsnest and SFScope. He is a regular contributor to sites like SFF Audio and Game Cryer. You can visit his blog, Bibliophile Stalker, where he posts book reviews, interviews, and essays.
1. Heather Massey on 03rd May 2009 at 6:24 pm
Great interview!
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