In a first for this blog, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a guest: science fiction writer Don Miasek. Don’s debut novel Pale Grey Dot is on the ballot for Best Novel at the Aurora Awards for Canadian science fiction and fantasy, and I’m very curious about what he has to say regarding the awards and his novel.
Aurora Award finalist—how does that title feel?
Quite nice! Technically this is my second time—Strange Wars was on the Best Related Work ballot back in 2023, but that was for editing an anthology, so any recognition there is just me stealing from the authors.
As for Pale Grey Dot, I am quite proud it’s being recognized. It’s my baby, and a lot of hard work went into it. It’s also a testament to the help I’ve had from my editors and beta readers.
The main thing that struck me about Pale Grey Dot is the focus on character and found family relationships—not necessarily what the science fiction genre is famous for. Is there a reason you opted to write a more character-driven science fiction story?
I’m always baffled by sci-fi not being character driven. Ok, sure, the sci-fi concepts are going to be front-and-centre, but why not both?
I want the reader to fall in love with the characters just as much as the sci-fi world. Their relationship drives the story. If they didn’t love each other so much, all motivation is gone.
I also wanted contrast between the characters. Jenna is the vicious rebel, Ezza is the prim-and-proper authority figure, and Cherny is somewhere in the middle. I fixated on the idea of them suffering the same setback—being fired after a mission gone horribly wrong—and each reacting to it in entirely different ways. Who is at fault for the disastrous Martian Insurrection? Ezza, Cherny, and Jenna offer opposing viewpoints.
I’m also a fan of taking different characters, making them all likeable, and then pitting them against one another. Each have good reasons for doing what they do. They’re justified in their own mind. This creates a wonderful nuance, where you learn what each character values. It also helps to drive up tension, since you know they can’t all win.
People often talk about “hard” science fiction vs. “soft” science fiction. Where would you say Pale Grey Dot falls on the scale?
Sci-fi hardness tends to fall in two categories:
1. Things people already know, and therefore only requires the author to adhere to it
2. Science that only 1% of the population will understand, and is therefore indistinguishable from being made up nonsense
For example, everyone knows there is no weight in space. If you have Kirk walk across the bridge with artificial gravity, you know that isn’t realistic. It’s a stylistic choice by Gene Roddenberry. For Pale Grey Dot, I decided to obey physics. That means characters float in their spaceships, need to clip themselves into railings to hold still, and can only walk when the ship is rotating. I did not have to explain to the reader how gravity works. I only needed to make it clear that I was going to be realistic about it.
On the other hand, ships in the Pale Grey Dot universe use nuclear pulse engines. This is a real theoretical method of propulsion, but I could have picked an ion drive, or impulse engines, or a transfusic flux phase-capacitor actuator. Nothing in the book would have changed if I went with gobbledygook, and the reader doesn’t need to know how it works. It’s the engine. It makes the ship go! Lesson complete.
Pale Grey Dot is hard on #1, but as I like to say, it’s “Accessibly Hard Science Fiction”.
Among the three point-of-view characters—Cherny, Ezza, and Jenna—do you have a personal favourite? Who was the most fun to write, the most difficult to write, and/or the most relatable for you?
I love all my characters!
That said, Jenna was the most fun to write. As mentioned above, I wanted a contrast between the characters, and Jenna is the one who finds herself in dilapidated cyberpunk slums, cheap motel rooms with mould growing on the walls, and broken down spaceships. She’s desperate, she’s hungry, she’s pissed, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. I could write that all day long!
Ezza, on the other hand, spends most of her time in civilization. Her warship, Starknight, is well run. It’s clean, it’s efficient, and the crew are capable. She can also be counted on to do the right thing. This is great since it highlights Jenna’s desperation, but it risks making Ezza boring. I had to work extra hard to make the environments and setpieces interesting, and to ensure she wai properly challenged. I gotta make my characters suffer, and because Ezza is so damn competent, I needed to REALLY make her suffer.
Cherny, as usual, was somewhere in between. He spends some time in the slums, and some time in civilization. The big draw of writing him was that he’s the one who has a tough decision to make. Jenna ain’t going to join the Earth Security Service. Ezza is also going to resist it. But my boy Cherny? He’s truly, genuinely tempted. I wanted the reader to see the upside of joining, both for Cherny personally, and also for the solar system as a whole. What will he choose? Gotta read to find out!
Another theme in Pale Grey Dot is conflicting loyalties: lingering loyalty to Her (whether real or artificial) vs. loyalty to the other Athena Six vs. consideration for the rest of the Solar System. How do the three main characters differ in terms of where their loyalties lie?
This goes back to making your characters suffer. That isn’t just physical suffering, but emotional as well. An easy way to do that is to give ‘em a dilemma—a situation where they must choose between two things they desire. Does Cherny want to stay with Her and live the wonderful life of an operative? Or does he want to rejoin his fellow Athena Sixers? Naturally, he tries to have both, but the story punishes him for his wishy-washiness. Sorry, Cherny, you must pick one or the other. No matter what, someone will be hurt by your decision.
Even Jenna and Ezza, who are a bit more consistent in their loyalties, have to make tough calls. Is Jenna willing to hurt innocents in her quest for vengeance? Is Ezza willing to dive back into the murky waters of the Earth Security Service, even if it puts her beloved United Fleet at risk?
The concept of Her (Karla) is fascinating, with how huge an impact She has despite minimal physical presence on the page. Could you describe how you conceptualized Her, and whether there were any changes in different drafts of the book?
I think She might be my biggest success. Even deciding to capitalize Her was a risk that easily could have backfired. Would the reader ever get confused between Her and any ol’ her? Would the reader wonder how the characters know someone is talking about Her when it’s in dialog? I had to be extremely careful to ensure it all worked. Heck, I wrote “I think” at the beginning of this answer strictly so She would appear in the middle of the sentence, and therefore the capitalization would stand out.
Beyond grammar, I had a lot of fun with Her personality. She’s a character of contradictions. She emotionally abuses her ‘children’, yet she’s willing to go out on a limb to protect them. She fights tooth and nail to keep them safe, yet She’ll discard them if need be. Does She truly love Her agents? Does She want what’s best for them? Jenna, Cherny, and Ezza have totally opposing opinions on this, and I want the reader to make up their own.
In addition, She was a great hook. A driving question I wanted in the reader’s head was just what was Her nature. Is she human? An AI? A whole team of people? Gotta keep reading to find out!
To my happy surprise, She exceeded my wildest dreams.
What’s next for you? Will we be seeing more stories in this universe?
There actually already is another story in the Pale Grey Universe. “For the Flesh and the Machine” was published in Polar Borealis back in December 2021, years before Pale Grey Dot hit the shelves. So if you’re interested in a little Jenna story before the events of the main book, check it out.
To answer your question about the future, stay tuned. The Pale Grey story has only just begun…
Note from Y.M. Pang: The deadline to register to vote for the Aurora Awards is fast approaching! If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident: you can become a voting member for the bargain price of $10. This gives you access to all the nominated works, including 10 novels (featuring Don’s novel Pale Grey Dot), 5 short stories (featuring my story “Blood and Desert Dreams”), 5 novelettes/novellas, and 5 poems (featuring my poem “Cthulhu on the Shores of Osaka”).
- July 12 – Membership payments close, Voters’ package download closes
- July 19 – Aurora Awards voting closes
