Interview With Authors Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
Larry Niven has won five Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award, and the Locus Award for his novels and short fiction, and has been named an SFWA Grand Master. Among this New York Times bestselling author’s many science fiction novels are Ringworld, The Mote in God’s Eye, and Destiny’s Road; his fantasy novels include The Magic Goes Away. Niven has frequently collaborated with other authors, including Jerry Pournelle, Gregory Benford, and Steven Barnes. He lives in Los Angeles.
Steven Barnes has won the Image, Endeavor, and Cable-Ace Awards, and also wrote "A Stitch in Time," an Emmy-winning episode of The Outer Limits. This New York Times bestselling author’s novels include Lion’s Blood; Beowulf’s Children, cowritten with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle; Star Wars: Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss; and Casanegra, cowritten with Blair Underwood and Tananarive Due. Barnes and Due are married and recently directed their first studio film, The Keeper, which is based on their graphic novel of the same name. Barnes and his family live in Los Angeles.
Niven & Barnes’ new collaboration is Ice Vegas, and they recently talked about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for Ice Vegas?
LN: My wife Marilyn grew gradually sicker over four to five years, and I was facing writer’s block. Steve stuck with me. We fished up some old ideas, and shaped a story. Steve wrote. He knew I’d get inspired and catch up.
SB: Larry had an idea about a fabulously wealthy family abusing its power over generations to shape humanity. We talked about it while walking back from lunch one day, and I started asking questions about their intent, methods, and so forth, which suggested the nature of the opposition they might face. Over time, I realized no single incident would tell that story, and created a triptych, a three-part story with a wrap-around. It was complicated and threatened to fracture…but then I realized that that fractured structure could express the mind of a certain kind of protagonist.
Are Spider, Carver, Windsor, or any of the other characters in the novel, inspired by or based on specific individuals?
LN: No. We’ve done that, but not this time.
SB: I had an uncle named Carver. But that was the extent of it.
Same questions for Forry and Augie (because I think there may be stories there)?
LN: No again, though I vividly remember Jerry Pournelle and me playing with an octopus in Emerald Bay, Santa Catalina.
Ice Vegas isn’t your first collaboration. You’ve collaborated on a number of novels in the past (including Dream Park, which was the first time I read either/both of you when it was first released). What was it like to co-write Ice Vegas? How do you approach and share the writing? What was that like?
LN: Steven knows I need to be jump-started. Once I’m in, I can do "magic": see implications my collaborator may miss; find ways to jolt him. It’s not easy to frighten a universal martial arts teacher; The Descent of Anansi.
SB: My process has always been to talk through the book, create as much of an outline as possible, and then create a first draft. Larry then responds to my thoughts, and the rewriting process is both a dialogue and a fabric woven of our absolute love of craft.
Were there any surprises or challenges for you during the writing of the novel that came from how you collaborated?
LN: Octopuses are surprising! They don’t need a brain upgrade. They’re very bright. They just die too fast. Extend their lifespan and watch. And I had to catch up with Steve’s invention, Spider.
SB: The "tryptych" structure meant there were four different stories interwoven to create a fifth, the complete novel. We hadn’t tried that before.
How did the novel evolve and change as you co-wrote and revised it? Are there any characters or scenes that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published version?
LN: I think we lost nothing, but the novel evolved a lot. Spider started quite vague, took shape as we wrote. Descriptions needed a lot of work.
SB: Agreed. Spider didn’t know herself, so it seemed legitimate to discover her as we proceeded. I genuinely didn’t know how it would all come out for her, and that was exciting.
How familiar were you with cephalopods prior to creating Forry? Did you have to do a bit of research? If so, what was the most interesting or surprising thing that you learned during your research?
LN: Steven, you researched hydrogen fusion. Surprises? And octopuses are a surprise edge-to-edge. Nine brains. Camouflage (In Emerald Bay, the octopus I was holding faded to match my hand!) Hacked cages.
SB: Larry knew more than I did, but yes, we researched. Fortunately, fandom is quite generous, and we found enough information. Forry surprised me: I didn’t realize how important he would be, especially in the very last interaction.
You’ve both written novels, short stories, and screenplays. Is there a format that you prefer over the others?
LN: I use Write. I like both collaboration and solo flights.
SB: I might like solo novels and screenplays the best. But have enormous fun playing with Larry.
Is there something you haven’t done yet but are hoping to have the opportunity to try?
LN: They’re in Ice Vegas! Fishing up our old ideas is what got me writing again. Fifty years ago, Steven wanted us to watch tourists coping with both broken illusions and real damage after a quake hit Dream Park. We moved that to the Esher Hotel. I’ve wanted to put a fusion plant on the Greenland ice cap. I wanted to watch an ex-President recovering from Alzheimer’s... recovering memories nobody wants described. Now they’re done.
SB: My wife and I are planning to direct a feature film.
You both live in the Los Angeles area. Do you have any favorite places? A hidden gem that someone visiting should not miss, but would only learn about from a resident?
LN: Gems don’t hide; they advertise. But don’t miss the cluster of museums around the La Brea Tar Pits, and sample the Tarzana restaurants.
SB: When I was a kid, we’d go to Ferndale in Griffith Park. There’s a stream there, and you can catch crawdads by tying a string onto a knot and trolling it through the water until they latch on. A lot of good hours spent doing that.
If/when Ice Vegas is adapted to film or series, who would your dream cast be?
LN: I’m hopeless with names. Steven?
SB: And older Chiwetel Ejiofor for Carver, perhaps. Or a younger Danny Glover. Spider? There's a part of me that would look to an unknown actress from the Middle East or India. Someone exotic and with an undercurrent of real danger.
Ice Vegas ends with a bit of a cliff-hanger! Is there a chance readers will be able to join Spider on another adventure in the future?
LN: We have no such plans... but writers go on dreaming after a book has been published. Ringworld became four, then nine.
SB: I have a notion, but Larry and I will concentrate on the next project, Skycon. Once we’re finished with that…who knows?
What’s currently on your nightstand?
LN: It’s a Kindle. Reading chair, reclines. Hundreds of books, but currently a fervently researched tale of the Cold War, A Very Private Plot by William F. Buckley, Jr., and I’m a sucker for the Jack Reacher adventures.
SB: The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. The book that became Cape Fear.
Can you name your top five favorite or most influential authors?
LN: Terry Pratchett, Neil Stephenson, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Lee Child, and I’m hopeless with names. By the time I can name a new author, he/she is a Grand Old Man/Woman.
SB: William Shakespeare, Robert E. Howard, Octavia Butler, Robert Heinlein, and Leslie Charteris.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
LN: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Rocket Ship Galileo.
SB: Have Spacesuit Will Travel, The God Machine, The Five Chinese Brothers (I learned to read on that book!), Alice in Wonderland.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
LN: It’s the Oz books again. My mother got tired of watching me reread them, and locked them in a chest.
SB: I had to hide my own writing. My Mom was afraid I’d waste my life trying to be a writer, and would burn my stories when she was upset with my bad grades.
Is there a book you’ve faked reading?
LN: Never faked, but often allowed someone to assume I’d read, say, War and Peace.
SB: I remember implying I’d read the Mahabharata, whereas I’d really only read a section, the Bhagavad Gita.
Can you name a book you’ve bought for the cover?
LN: No, but it must have happened. I’m frantic about my own covers.
SB: The Frazetta cover for Conan the Adventurer nailed me.
Is there a book that changed your life?
LN: No... but Gene Wolfe’s quadralogy, Book of the New Sun, could do that.
SB: Martin Caiden’s book The God Machine introduced me to the concept that a person willing to die to accomplish their aims is damned hard to stop.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
LN: Book of the New Sun, add Gene Wolfe’s The Castle of the Otter to complete. Then read Good Omens.
SB: Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The father of "self-help" books. I was shocked to discover how many people lie to themselves about wanting money.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
LN: No. I can reread some books, and I always miss or forget details.
SB: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
What is the last piece of art (music, movies, TV, more traditional art forms) that you’ve experienced or that has impacted you?
LN: It’s a window into a haunted wood, with a witch at work. If you could shrink, you could walk right in. My nephew and I independently found this artist at the Seattle Worldcon. I bought the one, but Tim bought three of her works. Her name: Volva Vargaldar.
SB: The movie Sinners blew my mind.
What is your idea of THE perfect day (where you could go anywhere/meet with anyone)?
LN: Make me healthy. Failing that, I would watch a movie made from my (our?) work. Ringworld, A Mote in God’s Eye, Lucifer’s Hammer, Ice Vegas... in my mind, anything I’ve written, including collaborations, would make a great movie/limited series/holoflick.
SB: I would meditate, write, read, work out, and learn some new martial arts strategy, see a movie, and hang out with my friends and family.
What is the question that you’re always hoping you’ll be asked, but never have been?
LN: Oz helped shape Ringworld, but where did Candide come in?
SB: What human being taught you the most important lessons?
What is your answer?
LN: Teela Brown’s luck shaped half my plot through all four books. I left it open: was she bred for luck, or just selected for it?
SB: My mom. She taught me that I was worthy of love and that, if I wanted to be successful, I had to study successful people.
What are you working on now?
LN: With Steven: a novel, SkyCon. We’re reviving Gil the ARM, and telling of a 2120s World Science Fiction Convention held mostly aboard a gigantic dirigible. And—a publisher is putting together an anthology of ARM stories.
SB: SkyCon, a solo novel, The Dead Lands, a feature film, and raising my son. Also, a journal designed to transform the reader in fifty-two weeks.
