Interview
1. How is your love of classical SF reflected in your writing? Do you use any specific writers as models? Do you "borrow" specific tropes or ideas from any writer(s)?
No, I don't borrow tropes or ideas, I couldn't write like that. I have to write purely from my own imagination, although a lot of my work comes from nightmares and personal experience/perspective. I'm not sure how my love of classical SF reflects in my work, although I obviously love the concept of colonies, alien life, conflict, and so forth.
2. What themes did you want to explore in Gardens of Earth?
A huge area that interests me is whether we could understand alien technology. We would likely consider it magic, if we couldn't - as history reflects with our own tech and colonisation. There's also the fact that, sooner or later, each colony would want it's own independence and identity. Again, you only have to look at history to see that. When we colonise space it will only be a matter of time before the colonies break away, and what then?
3. How does Gardens of Earth fit with your previously published works? (Is it a progression or a clean break? Is it something you could only have written at this stage in your career?)
It's a new series, one that stands apart from all of my previous work. No, I don't think I could have written this before. Although Gardens of Earth is still military scifi, it has strong elements of fantasy and horror. I've written in all of those genres, but not combined them like this before. Then of course, there is the romance aspect. Readers always appreciate a little of that, and the tale hinges on it.
4. Gardens of Earth is the first novel in a series. Do you have a sense of how long the series will be? How much of the story do you have planned out and how much do you leave to inspiration in the moment?
The work writes itself. I do plan work out, of course, but I only work out one - or two - books at a time. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, and it can take you in all kinds of directions.
5. Gardens of Earth deals with very personal subject matter. What is the process by which you take your personal experiences and transform them into a fictional narrative?
As in my Darkening Stars series, a lot comes from my personal experience and that of others. I often don't realise that I have been weaving these components into my work for, as I have said, it writes itself. I personally know many veterans with combat PTSD and my protagonist created himself based on some of those experiences - plus a somewhat bizarre if not vivid imagination
6. Why write this story as speculative fiction rather than autobiography?
Because it is fiction. That said, I've been asked many times to write the story of HMS Invincible in the Falklands War. But that's not something I can do, it's too personal a subject. You have to feel the need to write something and that's not something that I can force. I have written a non-fiction book in the past, but that's about martial arts, another great interest of mine.
Bio
Born and raised in Slough, Mark Iles began studying the martial arts when he was 14 and joined the Royal Navy at the age of 17. A voracious reader, he used to devour up to three paperbacks a day - primarily science fiction, fantasy, and horror - by the likes of John Wyndham, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Ray Bradbury, Brian Lumley, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, and a plethora of others.
After The Falklands War, Mark was drafted to Hong Kong, where he began writing features for a variety of martial arts magazines, and short stories for a wide range of markets. In 2012, he decided to challenge himself and undertook an MA in Professional Writing, followed by Diplomas in Copywriting and Proofreading. With over 200 short stories and articles under his belt, the book he wrote for his MA Project, A Pride of Lions was published by Solstice - followed by two other novels, a short story collection, and four novellas. His latest novel, Gardens of Earth, book 1 of The Sundering Chronicles, was published as an ebook by Elsewhen Press on 6th August; it will be published in print in October. Currently, Mark is working on the second in the series, as well as another short story collection.
Blurb
Corporate greed supported by incompetent surveyors leads to the colonisation of a distant world, ominously dubbed "Halloween," that turns out not to be uninhabited after all. The aliens, soon called Spooks by military units deployed to protect the colonists, can adopt the physical form of an opponent's deepest fear and then use it to kill them.
The colony is massacred; in retaliation, the orbiting human navy nukes the planet. In revenge, the Spooks invade Earth. In a last-minute attempt to avert a war, Seethan Bodell, a marine combat pilot sent home from the front with PTSD, is given a top-secret research spacecraft, and a mission to travel into the past along with his co-pilot and secret lover Rose, to prevent the original landing on Halloween and stop the war from ever happening. But the mission goes wrong, causing a tragedy later known as The Sundering, decimating the world and tearing reality, while Seethan's ship is flung into the future.
The Spooks win the war and claim ownership of Earth. Seethan wakes, alone, in his ejector seat with no sign of either Rose or his vessel. When he realises that his technology no longer works, his desperation to find Rose becomes all the more urgent – her android body won't survive long on this new Earth. Gardens of Earth is the first book of The Sundering Chronicles. The story tackles alien war, a future that may be considered either dystopian or utopian, depending on whom you ask, and a protagonist coping with his demons in an unfamiliar and stressful environment – not to mention immediate threats from a pathological serial killer, the remnants of Earth's inhabitants now living in a sparse pre-industrial society under the watchful eye of the Spooks, and returning human colonists intent on reclaiming Earth.
Excerpt
"When was the last time you saw your landlady, Mrs Maskill?"
"A few mornings ago, at breakfast. Why?"
She glanced at her companion and he gave a slight nod. Then Wilson said, "I'm afraid we've some bad news for you. Your landlady, Mrs Maskill, is dead. She's been murdered." Seethan was on his feet in a second, followed by the officer facing him. "What? Murdered…by who?"
"She was found by a friend of hers, a Jillian Mitchell. It was her who called us. A man was recorded leaving the scene earlier today and was arrested shortly afterwards. Luckily, we were able to track his movements and intercept him enroute to the spaceport."
"Are you talking about Alan?"
"Look, I know this is a shock but we'd like to ask you a few questions," she said, avoiding the question.
He nodded, feeling numb and light-headed.
"Professor Harding says you've been here for three days. Is that correct?"
"Yeah, we've been working non-stop on a military project; and before you ask, sorry, but I can't discuss it. Official Secrets and so forth. If you have any questions you'll have to go through the Professor and then the Ministry of Defence, but security will be able to confirm my presence here. We've been working until late and it requires that I stay over. Listen, are you going to tell me or not? It was that son-of-a-bitch Alan, wasn't it."
"What makes you say that?"
"He was there when I left home the other morning. He'd been there all night. They were getting close, apparently."
"All I can say is that it's the man you call Alan who we've taken into custody. I've told you that because we'd like you to come with us down to the station and identify him. Is that all right?"
Links
Elsewhen Press:
Kindle links:
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-KindleUK
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-KindleUS
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-KindleAU
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-KindleCA
Others:
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-Google
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-iTunes
https://bit.ly/GardensOfEarth-Kobo
Books2Read:
https://books2read.com/GardensOfEarth
Social media links
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mark-Iles/e/B004YZBP3I
http://www.twitter.com/welcometoearth
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-iles-82267a33
