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Your quick and affirmative response to our request for an interview has made us, the Kayip Rihtim team, and our members very happy. Here are our questions.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s true that John Perry treats most situations with humor \u2013 it\u2019s his way of dealing with an overwhelming change in his life. Think about it: If you lived all your life on earth and then went into space, and were required to fight all sorts of alien life who wanted to kill you, you would have to find a way to have it all make sense in your head, too!<\/p>\n John Perry is also meant to be a person that most readers can understand and sympathize with \u2013 he\u2019s a normal person instead of a superhero. I think that makes him accessible and someone most people, wherever they are, can see themselves knowing and liking.<\/p>\n John Perry is not named for me \u2013 he\u2019s actually named for two members of the American rock band Journey. His first name comes from the keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, and the last name comes from the former lead singer, Steve Perry. In the first chapter there\u2019s also a character named Steve Cain, which is the first name of the singer and the last name of the keyboardist.<\/p>\n People often ask me if John Perry is supposed to be me, and I tell them no \u2013 although when the story starts he does live in my hometown! But as a person he\u2019s different than I am. Of all the characters in Old Man\u2019s War, the one who is most like me is Harry Wilson.<\/p>\n When I wrote The Ghost Brigades, it was supposed to be a sequel to Old Man\u2019s War, but one of the things I worried about is that people would see the new book without having read the first book, and would put it down because they thought they wouldn\u2019t be able to follow what was going on. I didn\u2019t want that to happen, so I wrote a book that I thought could stand alone \u2013 that is, if you only read Ghost Brigades and not Old Man\u2019s War, you would still have a good time with it. One way to make that happen was to give it a whole new lead character, in this case Jared Dirac.<\/p>\n Jared did have to be different than John Perry in part because I didn\u2019t want readers to think I could only write one type of character. But also, he was a certain type of character \u2013 he was a member of the Special Forces \u2013 and as that type of person, he would have a different sort of life than John Perry and other humans would. For that reason, he had to be portrayed differently and have a different personality.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t personally see John Perry as an older brother to Jared Dirac, but I can see why others might want to, and I am fine to let them make that association.<\/p>\n I had no idea that Old Man\u2019s War would be as successful as it has been. When I wrote it, I wasn\u2019t thinking about sequels or a series or anything else; all I was thinking about was writing the story and making it right. I think that\u2019s the best way to do it: Just focus on what you\u2019re doing right now, and then deal with the future if it happens.<\/p>\n That said, I think it\u2019s very cool that my books have been translated into so many languages all across the world. I love getting the copies of my books from other countries, and I like the idea that, for example, somewhere in Turkey right now, someone is reading a story of mine. It\u2019s mind-blowing, if you think about it.<\/p>\n The secret is my mother-in-law. No, really: My mother-in-law Dora does not read science fiction, but because I am her son-in-law, she wants to read what I write. I want her to be able to enjoy it, so when I\u2019m writing science fiction, one of the things I ask myself is: How can I explain this topic or event in such a way that Dora can understand it, but it\u2019s still interesting enough for people who read science fiction all the time? If I can do that, then, as you say, anyone can read the books.<\/p>\n Also, I\u2019m a big believer in the idea that science fiction should have at least a couple of writers working in it who reach out to readers who have never tried science fiction before, and make it easy for them to enjoy it. Here in the US, we call that \u201cgateway science fiction.\u201d Most of my books are that sort of science fiction. I get a lot of readers who tell me \u201cI don\u2019t usually read science fiction but I like your books,\u201d and I tell them thank you, and point them in the direction of some other science fiction authors and books they might like.<\/p>\n I like to think the \u201creal me\u201d is humorous most of the time and serious when he needs to be, but one of the great ironies of life is that we are not always a very good judge of who we are as people. You would have to ask one of my friends what I am like in real life. I am sure they would tell you many things \u2013 some of them things I wish they would not!<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know enough about the literary scene in Turkey to give you any advice that would be useful, I suspect. That said, since you asked, one thing I would be willing to believe is that in Turkey people enjoy science fiction films, television shows and video games \u2013 so making the argument that this is just a different way to enjoy stories they already know they like might be the way to go.<\/p>\n\n
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<\/a>Well, John Scalzi the writer mostly works alone and doesn\u2019t have to find a way to find common ground with anyone; John Scalzi the president of SFWA has to work with the Board of Directors and is responsible to the organization\u2019s 1,800 members. So indeed the two jobs require different skills. It doesn\u2019t mean that the writer and the president are two different people, just that one job asks for certain things from my brain, and the other job asks for something else.<\/p>\n\n