Interview!
Isaac Wilcott, who maintains Icshi the largest and best Van Vogt information site I’ve come across, interviewed me on NULL-A CONTINUUM. It is a long interview, and you’d have to be a real fan of Van to catch all the references. It was a pleasure talking with another fan well-read in Van Vogt.
http://home.earthlink.net/~icshi/Interviews/wright.html
Isaac Wilcott:
What was the most challenging thing about writing NULL-A CONTINUUM?
John C. Wright:
The greatest challenge was the negotiations between the publisher and the estate of van Vogt to get the permission to write it. Indeed, the manuscript was written long before the negotiations were complete. I will not bore you with the details of the legalisms; but I am thankful for the patience shown by all parties involved.
That is not a fair answer to your question. The answer is I had no difficult in writing this book at all. I was “in the zone,” feverish with inspiration, riding hide high on the tide of wild and wonderful ideas, mining a motherlode of rich storytelling resources. Since I felt free to draw upon everything van Vogt wrote for inspiration, and since van Vogt is the most imaginative writer in Science Fiction (I hurl down my gauntlet at any who says otherwise) I had no lack of ideas.
The framework of a van Vogt tale, his storytelling technique, allows great flexibility in conceit: think about it! Since Gilbert Gosseyn is shot to pieces in the first third of the first book, and wakes up in another body on Venus, what in the world could happen to him that would be ruled out by the plot logic? Since he does not know who he really is, who could he really not be?
In such a rich atmosphere, against such a wondrous backdrop, can I be blamed if I allowed my writer’s imagination to soar so high the air got thin? There was no question of holding back; the only question was whether the wing muscles on my muse could stand the strain.
No, this book was a delight to write. The only challenge was trying to reach the high standard set by van Vogt. Whether I am equal to the task or not, the kind readers must decide.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
