Ask the Author! (Please!)

[raindropreader]

Thank you for such awesome and detail response. Shows your dedication towards your readers and also how you love writing.

I want to second this! Very thorough responses that show time was taken to quote parts of the book, answer each nuance of the question, etc.

[Damis Seres Rodriguez]

Hello Jude! First of all i want to say, that as a doctor, the mere idea of a book about clones turns me into a child on christmas eve. That being said. What do you think that is more likely to happen first, a scenario the likes of your book where humans take a hold of genetic ingenierie to create a supply of servants (not to say slaves), or another where something too similar (and at the same time completely different) like artificial intelligence takes place for the same purpose.
Granted, probably neither is going to happen within our life spawn. Alas, entertaining to think about

Damis, I know this question was for Jude and not me but I had to tell you I absolutely love this question. I read a ton of dystopia so I think about this often... I’m inclined to think that AI would use humans as slaves before the cloning and using clones as slaves essentially. But then... we can’t truly know I guess. However with the speed of our tech not progressing as fast as one would think I have to go with AI.

So kind of you, thanks. And well, humanity has a background of people enslaving people throughout history, so I don't find that scenario hard to believe in general.

[blessing_bona]

Or, you know, say, "Hi!" to the author. Or point and laugh at the author. Or send the author a virtual chocolate chip cookie 'cause they're the only kind she's allowed right now.

Ahem.

Hi! My name's Jude Austin, and I'm the author of Project Tau. I used to be a reviewer and editor for OBC before I decided to try things from the other side of the fence.

Hey Jude, how does it feel to be on the other side?

[Jude Austin]

Thank you for such awesome and detail response. Shows your dedication towards your readers and also how you love writing.

I want to second this! Very thorough responses that show time was taken to quote parts of the book, answer each nuance of the question, etc.

Thank you guys as well I hope people will keep questions and comments coming for a long, long time (this book or other books or non-Projects-related stuff is all fine ) It's no fun if I'm writing in a vacuum It also helps me a lot to see what works and what doesn't work, so I can - hopefully! - keep improving

Hey Jude, how does it feel to be on the other side?

Hi blessing_bona!

All in all, it feels great! I've never regretted my decision to jump the fence

The only downside is that I'm not allowed to reply to reviews. This isn't an honor system; whenever I read a review, there's a big red banner right across the top which says, "Authors and publishers are not able to post replies in the review topics," and the Reply box is missing. Usually, that doesn't bother me and I think it's a very good thing overall, but there have been reviews of other books that I've really enjoyed reading and that have made me want to buy a copy, and I can't leave a comment for the reviewer saying so.

This also goes both ways: very occasionally, people still comment on reviews I've written (Voices of Hope in particular kind of exploded in terms of comments; I think it must have been BOTD at some point) and I can't thank them. If you're reading this and you're one of those people, I'm not ignoring you and I'm grateful for your comments; I just can't tell you directly

[blessing_bona]

Wow. This must be hard.
I guess the world should a way to tweak the saying "you can't eat your cake and have it".
Overall, you're doing great. We'll just help you on the review end

[Northernbird84]

It's so great to see an author taking the time to talk to their readers, I love that! Big wave from Sheffield England, I have to be honest I haven't read the book yet. I'm in the forums having a nosey before I decide to buy it or not Stay Safe xxx

[Jude Austin]

Wow. This must be hard.
I guess the world should a way to tweak the saying "you can't eat your cake and have it".
Overall, you're doing great. We'll just help you on the review end

That sounds like a good deal Reviews, discussions; it all helps me a lot

It's so great to see an author taking the time to talk to their readers, I love that! Big wave from Sheffield England, I have to be honest I haven't read the book yet. I'm in the forums having a nosey before I decide to buy it or not Stay Safe xxx

Hi Northernbird84!

It's great having readers talk to me too I was terrified when I started this topic that nobody would want to talk or ask me anything, so I'm thrilled to get so many responses!

And--ooh, Sheffield! Home of Sean Bean, and, uh, Sean Bean and, erm, well...Sean Bean? (Sorry; I've never visited that part of the UK, but I'm a huge Sharpe fan ) Big wave back from Chiba, Japan!

There's a new edition of Project Tau now, with an extended prologue, so you're (hopefully) getting the best version. Or, at least, the most up-to-date version

[Scholardavies]

Hey Jude,

I must say that your book is a magnificent piece, It triggers my brain work!
I want to know if you have ever been involved in such event or scientific process or it was reported?

[rjohnston815]

I did not take the time to read through all of the questions, so please forgive me if you've answered this question elsewhere. Did you do much research on actual cloning? I'm just curious as to some of the ideas that came across in the book, like the reasoning behind the first 7 clones that died because of not understanding the organ cloning (or that the Kata clone that was killed would have had organs that deteriorated quickly)... Is that all based on science? Just curious...

[Jude Austin]

Hey Jude,

I must say that your book is a magnificent piece, It triggers my brain work!
I want to know if you have ever been involved in such event or scientific process or it was reported?

Hi Scholardavies!
Honestly, no. I don't have a scientific background at all, so the story is all out of my own head. To the best of my knowledge, we still can't clone/grow humans to the extent that GenTech do in the books. I doubt I'll see that in my lifetime, but who knows?

I did not take the time to read through all of the questions, so please forgive me if you've answered this question elsewhere. Did you do much research on actual cloning? I'm just curious as to some of the ideas that came across in the book, like the reasoning behind the first 7 clones that died because of not understanding the organ cloning (or that the Kata clone that was killed would have had organs that deteriorated quickly)... Is that all based on science? Just curious...

Hi rjohnston815!

Most of what happens in the book comes through pure logic One thing that did stick with me, though, was something one of the scientists said about Dolly the cloned sheep. Paraphrasing from memory, it was something like, "For every one successful Dolly, we had nine failures," but that scientist would never elaborate on what the failures were.

In the book, GenTech need a full set of working organs to clone someone. This is also why there are so few Projects in the books' universe; the general public would rather those organs be used on life-saving surgery than creating a new person who may or may not survive the process. That said, GenTech's primary income comes from cloning organs, rather than living beings, so they do have their own in-house supply

However, transplanting organs is a tricky business (if you want to do a heart transplant, for example, you can't just open the chest and plop it in). The scientists' titles of "Doctor" aren't just honorary; all of them are extremely gifted, experienced and highly-qualified surgeons, regardless of how terrible some of them may be as human beings (*coughDennisoncough*) Hooking up organs to work with each other and getting the timing right is much harder. I believe that in the future we will have ways to store donated organs that means they're still viable, but as soon as you take them out of that storage, you're chasing the clock, and most organs only last for hours.

So yes, I believe the first group of Projects failed because of poor organs or because their bodies rejected the transplants, or because the scientists involved in those early clones weren't quite as knowledgeable as those that would come after. Epsilon was the first success, in terms of actually surviving the process, but his, erm, behavioral issues meant that he was useless in terms of training. I think the scientists would be reluctant to actively destroy their first true Project, though, which is the main reason why Epsilon's still around. In GenTech terms, he's a kind of wild pet that none of them really like. Epsilon's behavior resulted in GenTech lobotomizing future Projects. They went a bit too far and the few Projects that were capable of being trained were very simple and animalistic. The first, non-lobotomized Project that worked out exactly as GenTech had planned was Sigma, and later Tau

When GenTech started playing around with genetics and tweaking things to give Tau super-strength, that opened up a whole new can of worms and a few more deaths. Some Projects died, but it was impossible to know if the gengineering had caused their deaths, or if it was for a whole other reason. This is explained in-book as part of the reason why Mason's so keen to keep Kalin; a natural human will have no underlying problems caused by cloning, so if he mutates Kalin and Kalin dies, then it's obviously the gengineering at fault. If he mutates Kalin and Kalin survives, GenTech has another Project to sell and it can also branch out into offering mutations for natural humans.

I also envisage different qualities of organs (sometimes the cloning process fails with those, just like it does with people) and the better quality ones costing more, kind of like the transplant equivalent of private healthcare. Dennison knows full well what's going to happen to the Kalin clone - poor Project - so he rushes the job through and uses bargain basement organs, knowing that no one will investigate, given the cause of death - gunshot wound to the chest - is very clear.

Some people commented that the Kalin clone would be different in terms of scarring, dental records (fillings etc). That's absolutely correct, but the only people who are likely to know about any identifying scars are Kalin's own family, and given their son's rather messy end, they won't want to look too closely at the body, and the clone can be identified without needing to use dental records Cremation is very much the norm, so "Kalin's" body was sent back to his parents, who had it cremated.

[Pearl Hijabi]

Hello Jude!
Well I still have to read the book but from the reviews and some above comments i get the book is really intrigued and engaging. Most of all I love how you want to engage with your readers and how your replay are through and friendly. And since most of my questions are already asked I'll ask "Tell us a little about you ". If that's not a problem

[Diana Lowery]

I will just jump in on the "I don't usually read science fiction" bandwagon, but...I enjoyed this book. You made me have sympathy for the characters (human and non) and that made all the difference. My question is: Were you a writer before you became an OBC reviewer? How did that experience affect your skill as a writer?

[Jude Austin]

Hello Jude!
Well I still have to read the book but from the reviews and some above comments i get the book is really intrigued and engaging. Most of all I love how you want to engage with your readers and how your replay are through and friendly. And since most of my questions are already asked I'll ask "Tell us a little about you ". If that's not a problem

Hi Pearl Hijabi!

Thank you I try my best

About me...let's see, now. I've been living in Japan for the past five years (first Yokohama, then Tokyo, then Chiba) and don't see myself leaving any time soon. I'm married and we have a rescue cat called Anko who keeps himself busy fighting the Dastardly Dangle Mouse, the Evil Turtle-Bird, and my feet. That last one I could do without, but he seems to think my ankles are out to destroy the world, and must therefore be attacked with extreme prejudice and many glompings and chompings We're getting another rescue cat called Chame (cha-meh) from the same center soon, so hopefully they'll keep each other busy. Or gang up on me. I'm not quite sure which.

I write part-time for a bilingual Japanese travel magazine called WAttention, go hula dancing, and am a qualified scuba diver. Unfortunately, the only dive center near where we live isn't very good, so I'm stuck on dry land. I also dabble in indie game development and art, although I'm not very good at that last one and most of my efforts are confined to my monthly newsletter.

Oh, and my favorite drinks are Dr. Pepper and Original Lucozade. I'm teetotal and I have a mild caffeine allergy (Coke is fine; coffee isn't) so I'm a little restricted on what I can drink

I will just jump in on the "I don't usually read science fiction" bandwagon, but...I enjoyed this book. You made me have sympathy for the characters (human and non) and that made all the difference. My question is: Were you a writer before you became an OBC reviewer? How did that experience affect your skill as a writer?

Hi diana lowery!

Thank you so, so much! I take it as a gigantic compliment when people who don't usually read science fiction say they enjoyed Project Tau

The answer to your question is a resounding YES I was an OBC reviewer from February - August 2018. That's a rough estimate from my published reviews page; I think I officially jumped the fence some time in September, but don't quote me on that

The truth is that I've always been a writer. I haven't always been a published writer, but I honestly can't remember a time when I haven't been writing something. (I do, however, remember getting into trouble at school plenty of times for writing stories instead of doing my homework ) I was probably the only kid who spent more time in Word than playing games!

My first publishing success came when I won a writing contest at the age of 12 to write the next episode in a serial, and have it published in the magazine. I was also published in a few fantasy ezines as time went on. My novel Tsunami (fifth book written; first book published) was published in 2008, ten years before I'd even heard of OBC, and Project Tau - despite being written in 2006-ish - was published in 2016, two years before I joined OBC. The only post-OBC novel to be published is the sequel to Project Tau; "Homecoming."

[Pearl Hijabi]

Hi Jude!
Wow you are a very interesting person. And I really hope the cats leave your poor feet and gets busy with each other. And your activities are just wow. Thank you so much for the reply.

[Dreamer80]

haha! Hello Jude. I hope you're good. I often read many scenes and wish to write but can't bring myself thinking how'd I show it to my family. So, how did your family react to the book, and especially all the scenes of torture?