Greg Bear
July 23, 1997

Moderator: Hi, we're almost ready to start.

war42: hello gregbear

IceGolum: hey gregbear

parameter: how do we ask questions?

parameter: ?

LastQuestion: * kneels and touches his forehead to the ground. *

IceGolum: simple ask them

Sundrift: hi Greg!!

Moderator: OK, we're going to go Moderated.

p-nut: Hi Gregbear

LastQuestion: Hi greg bear!

IceGolum: * crushes his face into the floor with his foot *

parameter: Hey there Bear

Moderator: To ask a question to Greg Bear, type "/msg Moderator" followed by your question.

LastQuestion: ow.

GregBear: Hi, glad to be here! Looking forward to picking up some good question.

parameter: ahh, msg

Moderator: We are now moderated.

Moderator: Don't worry if no-one can hear you talk, it's supposed to be that way.

Moderator: <uncas> to <Moderator>: Could you tell us about "/"?

Moderator: Greg, are you there?

Moderator: Greg?

GregBear: hello?

GregBear: "/" is a follow-on from Queen of Angels set about 50- years in the future,

GregBear: and involves many of the same characters but a substantially different scene.

GregBear: Public defender (police officer) Mary Choy is back but she's moved to Seattle from Los Angeles,

GregBear: In Seatle, she encounters what might be a suicide, or a murder,

GregBear: that somehow is tied in with an epidemic of theraputic fall-back

GregBear: that is, people who have been treated for mental disorders find their disorders are coming back.

GregBear: and the investigation takes her to the Independent Republic of Green Idaho

GregBear: which has semi-formally ceceded from the United States.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: Have you considered doing any other books along the lines of "Songs of Earth and Power"?

GregBear: No, I think outside of short stories I probably won't be writing anymore fantasy for some time. Several years at least.

GregBear: But that is one of my favorites of my books.

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: Greg, who were your favorite authors and your favorite works growing up?

GregBear: When I was growing up, my favorite authors were probably the same as most of the people online right now!

Moderator: To ask a question to Greg Bear, type "/msg Moderator" followed by your question.

GregBear: Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein...

GregBear: But by the time I was 16 I had added in Olaf Stapledon and a lot of others.

GregBear: By the time I was 23 I had branched out to include Joseph Conrad and James Joyce, Nikos Kazantzakis,

GregBear: Jorge Luis Borges

GregBear: and a lot of others.

Moderator: <p-nut> to <Moderator>: why no more fantasy?

GregBear: Most of the books that occur to me now are science fiction, and if a fantasy occurs to me, I'll start writing it.

Moderator: <Sundrift> to <Moderator>: Greg are any of your novels going to get the big screen treatment??

GregBear: Hard to say. I've got a screenplay of Blood Music going the rounds now.

GregBear: And there have been a flurry of interests in a book that I've just contracted for but not yet written, called "Darwin's Radio."

GregBear: But there's no serious project in the works as yet.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: Have you been reading a lot of Asimov in preparation for your Foundation installment?

GregBear: Oh, of course!

GregBear: Catching up on the Robot novels and the Foundation books.

GregBear: Reading and re-reading them.

GregBear: And, in effect, getting ready to channel Isaac, which is a fairly pleasant experience!

Moderator: <uncas> to <Moderator>: In Moving Mars you had succeeded in forecasting the Bose-Einstein-condensate. What do you feel about that?

GregBear: I doubt that I forcasted so much as I mimiced a phenomenon that had already been predicted - with, of course, much more melodramatic results.

GregBear: It's nice to know that no matter how weird one gets, science is going to come along and top it.

Moderator: <war42> to <Moderator>: how's is the best way to get published in this business of Sci-fi?

GregBear: first you have to write.

GregBear: then you have to write as well as you possibly can.

GregBear: Then you learn the names of the editors and the houses they're working at, and if possible you go to conventions and meet them.

GregBear: and then you keep sending your manuscripts out until you sell them.

GregBear: Meanwhile, it's a tough market now with a lot of competition.

GregBear: So my advice to any writer getting started is "don't quit your day job."

GregBear: Not even after you sell your first book - unless you sell it for a million dollars!

GregBear: But that's the kind of lottery ticket that rarely happens.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: What do you think of William Gibson?

GregBear: I think Gibson is the most likely science fiction writer in the last 10 years to end up in the OED.

GregBear: Besides having his finger on the pulse of what people want to read, he condensed a lot of ideas into one word: cyberspace.

GregBear: And it's not often that a writer gets so strongly associated with a science fiction concept that people start believing it's actually here.

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: What can you tell us about "Darwins Radio"? It sounds interesting.

GregBear: "Darwin's Radio" is about catastrophic evolution, but there are no monsters in it, no mutants, nothing that you might expect.

GregBear: Let's just say that the human race is pregnant.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: How did you first go about being published? Did you start by writing short stories for SciFi magazines, or by sending manuscripts to publishers or simply starting out writing for a newspaper?

GregBear: I started writing when I was 8 years old, without a clear idea where to send stories.

GregBear: By the time I was 12, I was submitting stories to magazines like Analog, when John W. Campbell Jr. was the editor, and the other science fiction magazines...

GregBear: and they all rejected me.

GregBear: When I was 15, however, I sold a story to Robert Lowndes, who was editing Famous Science Fiction and a number of other small magazines at the time.

GregBear: And he bought it and paid me $10 for it, and it was published the year before I graduated high school.

Moderator: To ask a question to Greg Bear, type "/msg Moderator" followed by your question.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: What are your thoughts about the recent flurry of news concerning the Mars Sojourner and Nasa's new policy of cheap(er) spacecraft?

GregBear: Well, I was down in Pasedena at Planetfest when the pictures came in.

GregBear: And the crowd down there was huge and diverse and enthusiastic.

GregBear: I think everybody there was just as enthused and amazed as the engineers that it all worked so well.

GregBear: And, in fact, the level of energy and joy was so high that it almost convinced me that the 90s might have really just gotten started.

GregBear: Maybe we're about to break free of the doldrums of the 1980s!

Moderator: <harris> to <Moderator>: Are you good friends with any science fiction writers?

GregBear: Yeah...look through the list of the Science Fiction Writers of America directory, and I've met most of them and are huge friends with many of them.

GregBear: But because they're scattered all over the planet, social visits might be less often than desired.

GregBear: Still, it's a treat to be considered a peer and a collegue by writers who inspired me when I was a kid.

Moderator: <candid> to <Moderator>: if there were one book for us to buy that you had written, what should we buy?

GregBear: Well, right now I say you should buy /.

GregBear: ["slant"]

GregBear: and if you've never read science fiction before, you might want to start out with Eon or Moving Mars.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: What is your favorite author now, based on all the science fiction you've read?

GregBear: I could recommend about 60 authors but picking a favorite out would be almost impossible.

GregBear: I don't believe there is such a thing as the Great American Novel or the World's Finest Author.

GregBear: I believe that we should partake of the entire feast and not just focus on one dish.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: Do you plan to do any more books along the lines of Moving Mars and the Bose-Einstein condensate?

GregBear: It's possible, but right now there's nothing in the works.

Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: In your opinion, why is NASA so interested in exploring Mars after all these years...would you write a book on it ?

GregBear: I think NASA has always been interested in exploring Mars.

GregBear: It was 21 years ago that the Viking probe landed on Mars.

GregBear: But I've already written my book about Mars and Kim Stanley Robinson and Ben Bova and half a dozen others have also written terrific books on Mars, and more are coming out every day.

GregBear: The most recent of them is William Hartmann's Mars Underground, which is quite good.

GregBear: And I have evidence that the engineers at NASA and JPL love to read books about Mars!

Moderator: <candid> to <Moderator>: what do you feel the internet has done to impact your career and the evolution of the science fiction genre?

GregBear: Well, not much. Yet.

GregBear: I first wrote about an Internet-like technology in the Forge of God in 1987, but so far I see far more potential than real results.

GregBear: Still, it's a lot of fun and the potential is huge.

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: What do you do to relax?

GregBear: Well, I visit bookstores far too often, hang out with my kids, read, watch movies or just stare out the window sometimes, which is what I'm doing right now!

GregBear: I also listen to music and have gotten quite find of my record collection once again - that is, old vinyl.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: How have your experiences as president of the SFWA affected your science fiction writing and career?

GregBear: Well, the discovery that I didn't want to be a politition was quite a shock and I soon realized that SFWA was a microcosm of the United States, that is about 1200 rugged individualists who were reluctant to run for office but who sure liked to make sure that others knew what was on their mind.

GregBear: This gave rise to the politics in books like Head and Moving Mars.

GregBear: It was quite a revalation.

GregBear: I was president from 1988-90, I believe it was.

GregBear: ?

GregBear: The memory grows dim - perhaps post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: What are you usually inspired by when writing a book?

GregBear: The problems that I haven't solved by the time I write the book, or the things that inspire me or make me angry, and they can come from almost anywhere.

GregBear: I try to keep up on all aspects of our culture as much as I possibly can.

GregBear: It's like swallowing a firehose.

GregBear: But the parts of the firehose that stick in my craw are sure to lead to novels or stories.

Moderator: <Sundrift> to <Moderator>: Greg how much coordination of effort with the other two authors of the Foundation Trilogy are you engaged in??

GregBear: A lot.

GregBear: Gregory Benford and David Brin and I have been friends for decades now.

GregBear: And we're all pretty deeply involved in writing these books.

Moderator: <uncas> to <Moderator>: How much science and how much fiction do you think there should be in SF and what is your relation to science?

GregBear: Well, I love science myself but I am not a scientist.

GregBear: That is, not a laboratory scientist at least.

GregBear: And I think the question is really related to another question, which is how much should the real world intrude into your life or your storytelling.

GregBear: As far as I'm concerned, a science fiction story is writing about the real world the way it's going to be.

GregBear: And I don't think that science is ever separated from our everyday lives.

GregBear: Remember, science is just a way of looking at what's going on around you and trying to figure out what's going to happen next.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: Are you a UFO skeptic?

GregBear: Yes.

GregBear: I think all the questions about UFOs are a bit disingenuous.

GregBear: since if you believe the polls, more people believe in angels and devils than in UFOs.

GregBear: And I give them all about equal weight, although I think that an encounter with a UFO is more likely than running into a devil.

GregBear: But if there are any devils online, I'm willing to stand corrected!

GregBear: UFO occupants, ditto.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: How much involvement do you have with your official Web page? :)

GregBear: The webpage (www.kaiaghok.com, and go to the Greg Bear page)

GregBear: It's run by Terran Joy McKenna, and I need to post a bunch of new material on it REAL soon now, perhaps as soon as I finish Foundation and Chaos.

GregBear: For example, I have some beautiful artwork from the Warner Books edition of my novel Dinosaur Summer, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, which will be out in February of next year.

Moderator: <harris> to <Moderator>: do you believe, one day, it will be possible to copy human minds into computers?

GregBear: Not easily. It'll probably be easier to create a neural network from scratch because what we've learned in the last few decades is that the human mind's hardware is the same as its software, unlike, say, a PC.

GregBear: where the chip is fixed, and the sofware flows through it.

GregBear: The human brain, like all truly thinking systems, is a continuous process which can suffer great dammage when it stops growing or when someone tries to change it drastically.

GregBear: As, for example, when you plug a serial cord into your right ear and try to set up your modem to drain your most recent thoughts!

Moderator: <Webby> to <Moderator>: could you tell us more about nanotech?

GregBear: Nanotech is just taking control of the processes that go on in ourselves all the time.

GregBear: We are made up of trillions of protein machines - essentially, miniature extrodinarily complicated factories,

GregBear: and nanotech is simply a way of putting those processes under intellectual control.

GregBear: Since these machines already exist and work in ourselves of course there's nothing theoretically impossible about nanotechnology!

Moderator: <wordsmith> to <Moderator>: Do you follow a schedule for writing? Do you write every day?

GregBear: I write every weekday and try to get five or more pages done each day.

GregBear: And I feel guilty if I don't but I usually allow myself a month or a month and a half off between novels.

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: Are you interested in writting other types of stories, Western, historical or perhaps biographical?

GregBear: Not right now. I've got so many books piled up that appear to be science fiction books that it might be 10 years before I get them off my back.

Moderator: <Sundrift> to <Moderator>: When is your Trilogy novel due to be published?

GregBear: Foundation and Chaos will probably be published in the summer of '98.

GregBear: And David Brin's book in the summer of '99.

Moderator: <LastQuestion> to <Moderator>: How much involvement does your family have in the characters and relationships that develop in your books?

GregBear: Probably a lot of subconscious involvement - mixing and matching, stealing incidents and psychological traits from both family and friends.

GregBear: But by the time it gets into the book, the mixing and matching have been so thorough that I don't think anyone can tell who's who.

GregBear: I also mix in a lot of fictional traits just to put people off the scent.

Moderator: To ask a question of Greg Bear, type "/msg Moderator" followed by your question.

Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: I think most sci-fi writers have this *gift* which allows them to kinda look into the future....what do you see in our future? Will we go on to become a more advanced civilization or will we end up killing each other?

GregBear: Well, I'm probably no better at prophacy than anybody else, but since we haven't killed ourselves so far if we survive the 20th century I think we have a good chance of following Buck Lighyear's adage, "To Infinity and Beyond!"

Moderator: <uncas> to <Moderator>: What is your opinion on religion?

GregBear: [typist takes all blame for typos]

GregBear: I'm fascinated by religion. Religion mixes storytelling with trying to understand what our place in the world is.

GregBear: And the myths and religious background of the human race is a treasure trove.

GregBear: As to whether I believe the dictates of any modern-day religion, the answer is flatly "no."

GregBear: I don't believe if there is a god, that it would take kindly to my telling it how to behave.

Moderator: <Sundrift> to <Moderator>: How intimidating was it to take on Asimov's vision?

GregBear: Perhaps not as intimidating as it should've been!

GregBear: Rereading all of his books and getting into his autobiographies reminds me very much of the unfortunately few occasions on which I was able to sit down and talk with him.

GregBear: But there's a part of Isaac that has always resided in my head, and he's a very pleasant friend to have around.

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: Do you follow a strict outline when you write, or does the story "flow" ?

GregBear: I usually have roadmarks along the way that I set up without any real clear picture of how to get to them.

GregBear: I'll make a few notes here and there, and try to keep descriptions consistent.

GregBear: But by and large the book develops in my head and on paper simultaneously.

Moderator: <Babydoc> to <Moderator>: When you say the technology is here how do you foresee the nano tech of "Moving Mars" developing from what is present?

GregBear: Well, I don't believe that nanotechnology as an articifical science is out of its embryonic stage yet.

GregBear: But considering the pace of the last few years I have no trouble visualizing it being fully developed, say within 40 to 50 years, possibly sooner.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: Do you like any of the current Science Fiction TV series'?

GregBear: I wish I had time to watch them!

GregBear: Usually by the time they're on, I'm reading stories to my kids and I miss most of them!

GregBear: The shows that I have watched, including the Star Trek shows, Straczynski's Babylon 5 and so on,

GregBear: have on occasion been very good.

GregBear: - but then, remember I've been a Trekkie since I was 16 years old.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: How did "Psychlone" come about?

GregBear: I've always been a fan of ghost stories and back in the late 70s I started reading Stephen King and also saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind,

GregBear: and in my own perverse way, mixed them up and wondered what it would be like to experience the world's biggest haunting.

Moderator: <uncas> to <Moderator>: In Nemesis, Asimov present his version of going faster than speed of light(hyperspace). Do you think it's a realistic idea?

GregBear: I think I believe more in the possibilites of wormholes than getting around the limitations of the speed of light.

GregBear: But I'm open to any theory that actually gets us there, and I've even made up a few myself that are pretty strange, to whit in Moving Mars.

Moderator: Please send your final questions to Greg Bear now. Type "/msg Moderator" followed by your question.

Moderator: <parameter> to <Moderator>: What do you think about the morality of human cloning?

GregBear: Humans are cloned all the time. They're called "twins."

GregBear: or "triplets," or "quadruplets."

GregBear: They're genetic duplicates of each other.

GregBear: And since Gregory Benford is himself one of these clones, outside of his intellectual capacities he doesn't frighten me too much.

GregBear: So I think the present political rucas is not only premature but probably a little hysterical.

GregBear: I don't think too many of us, even Saddam Hussein, really want to have exact duplicates of ourselves mucking up the landscape

GregBear: I know for sure that one of me is enough.

GregBear: On the other hand, the implications for any major biological process could be quite profound.

GregBear: For example, if you had the chance to have a backup copy of one of your unborn children made, just in case something should happen to one (heaven forbid), would you do it?

Moderator: <Devero> to <Moderator>: Do you write on a word processor? If so, when did you change over?

GregBear: I started writing on a computer in 1983.

GregBear: And old CPM machine.

GregBear: I currently use Windows 95, and Word for Windows, and Bookshelf, and they're all invaluable tools.

GregBear: I might point out however, that my father-in-law, Poul Anderson, still writes on an IBM Selectric!

GregBear: And seems to get his books done as quickly as I do!

Moderator: <ethome> to <Moderator>: In case we do learn how to travel through space by using wormholes and a person is needed to test it...would you go? why?

GregBear: I would go after they sent the chimpanzee, and he came back and still liked to eat bananas.

GregBear: Before that, not on your life!

Moderator: Thank you for spending time with us tonight!

Moderator: Any closing thoughts?

GregBear: Thanks for hanging around! I look forward to getting together with you all, perhaps in person soon.

GregBear: I'll be down in Portland, Oregon, Friday evening in Powell's City of Books at 7pm

GregBear: and also in California, in the Bay area,

GregBear: in Cupertino, Larkspur, and San Matteo between the 29th of July and the 1st of August.

GregBear: at A Clean, Well Lighted Bookstore.

Moderator: I will now make the room unmoderated. Speak at will, everybody.

Webby: Thank you Greg!

Devero: Thank you greg

parameter: Hey, what's the OED?

quarthex: thank you greg!!!

LastQuestion: * touches his forehead to the floor and starts chanting in reverence. *

Sundrift: Thanks Greg I really enjoyed it!!

LastQuestion: Thanks greg!!! :)

GregBear: Oxford English Dictionary!

Webby: param - Oxford English Dictionary

ethome: thanks Greg

Babydoc: Enjoyed my beloated logon time!!!

parameter: ahhhhhh

Webby: come again soon!

GregBear: Thanks to all, and everyone sleep cozy!

LastQuestion: Yeah it was so cool to have you here.

parameter: Bye

LastQuestion: greg bear is GOD, ladies and germs!