Official Interview: Craig W. Stanfill
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Official Interview: Craig W. Stanfill
Official Review
Kindle Edition
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1. Why did you start writing?
It all began with an argument I had with a friend, over freedom of speech on the internet. "The companies can do whatever they want," my friend would say. "The First Amendment doesn't apply on private property."
I was aghast. "Haven't you read any of those science fiction stories where the companies have taken over? You don't want to live in any of those worlds."
This provoked a big, blank, stare, so I decided to write the book they needed to read, beginning with an epic rant by a yet-unnamed protagonist:
"The AIs are always here, watching everything I do. What do I read? What do I write? What do I hear? What do I say? What makes me happy? What makes me sad? ... Can they read my mind? Not exactly, but they can infer a lot. They usually know what I’m thinking before I do."
I gave her a name, then began to write her story, starting with an ordinary day in her life, bringing her to the point of rebellion, and finally allowing her to experience the consequences. I found myself spending more and more time at the keyboard, and the more I wrote, the more fulfilling I found it to be.
I was hooked.
2. What do you find most difficult about the writing process?
The most difficult thing about the writing process is the process itself. There is a lot that goes into writing a book; a lot of creativity, a lot of imagination, and considerable craft in wrapping these ideas in a well-told story. Pulling all these aspects of writing together to produce a novel is quite an undertaking. My own bugaboo is revising; I spend an inordinate amount of time writing and rewriting things until I am happy with them. I'm hoping that, with practice, I can produce something I'm happy with on the first pass rather than the third, and can get to the point where I can get a novel out in six months rather than the year and a half that it took me to create The Prophecy of the Heron. I'm very happy with the results, but not with how long it took.
3. Let's focus on your book Terms of Service. How about a quick synopsis for those that don't know?
Terms of Service is a retelling of George Orwell's 1984, updated with internet technology and artificial intelligence.
At the start of the book, Kim, seems to have it made. She has a decent apartment, a prosperous lifestyle, and a steady job at The Artificial Intelligence Company. And then, one day, she strays out of bounds, sees things she wasn't supposed to see, learns things she wasn't supposed to know. Her inquisitiveness brings her to the attention of 'the Director,' the shadowy master of the AIs, and she is recruited to create a self-aware, sentient AI. Her success at this task rockets her to the apex of society, but as she is drawn ever deeper into the Director's web of lies and deception, she begins to see things as they are. In the end, Kim is brought a momentous decision: will she rebel, or will she do as she is told? To find out how that turns out, you'll have to read the book!
4. Artificial intelligence plays a big role in your book and has been the subject of many a sci-fi book. Do you believe AI will ever become self-aware?
Maybe, someday, but self-awareness is only one aspect of a more important question: what does it mean to be human? Sentience is an essential part of it, to be sure, but there are other things in the mix: emotions, intellect, a sense of right and wrong, the ability to enjoy something, and most importantly, free will. To explore these issues, I have created a parallel universe of 'virtual reality' and populated it with a variety of cybernetic beings having various combinations of these traits. The AIs, for example, are self-aware but do not experience emotions as we understand them. They have a strong sense of right and wrong, but they do not have free will and are frequently forced to do evil deeds. Are they human? It depends on who you ask.
5. The reviewer praises the vivid personalities of the characters and the great world-building. How did you make the story so realistic?
Honestly, that's the easiest part for me. I have a vivid imagination, and the ability to build up a thing of great complexity in my mind, piece by piece, and understand how all the parts relate to one another. Strangely, that's how I design software, too.
6. Which character do you most relate to?
It would have to be Quinn, Kim's friend from school, a successful musician and a free spirit. She is wealthy and has an astronomical social merit score, but she hates the industrial garbage that The Music Company forces her to play in the nightclubs. She creates a tiny bubble of freedom around herself so she can enjoy her real passion - Jazz - and stays within that bubble. Mostly.
7. Is there a message you want to convey to your readers?
You are hereby awakened. Open your eyes. Think for yourself.
Reality is an illusion. Most of our information comes from electronic sources these days, and many of the people who control those sources are liars. They create realities that don't exist, but which are entirely self-consistent as long as you disregard any information which contradicts your view of the world. It is difficult to see things as they are, but nothing is more important.
8. What's on your agenda next?
I have just finished writing The Prophecy of the Heron, which continues the story of Kim, picking up a few hours after the end of the first book. For the next few months, I'm going to be focused on getting the word out on it; I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I think that people are really going to enjoy it. After that, I'm going to take some time off, to think, to sit back and relax. I've been writing obsessively for most of the last five years, and I need a break. At some point I will write a sequel to Prophecy, but that will probably not be my next project. The 'AI Dystopia' I've created is a fascinating place, and I think people want to learn more about the people and places in the first two books.
I like to end with fun questions.
9. If you could spend a day with another popular author, who would you choose and why?
John Scalzi, without a doubt. Old Man's War got me seriously hooked on his writing.
10. What's your guilty pleasure?
Obsessively reading the news on my iPhone. It's true. I'll go to the same news sites, over and over throughout the day, waiting to see if something new has shown up.
11. What phone app do you use most?
Facebook, without a doubt. Another guilty pleasure of mine.
12. What's your favorite quote?
From George Orwell's 1984: "In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it."
That, in a nutshell, is the world we may be creating for ourselves. I hope we don't.
—Neil Gaiman
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