Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Ian G. McDowell
Book Title: The Anshar Gambit
Released: 12/17/22
Genre: SciFi Thriller
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “The Anshar Gambit”?
McDowell: I've been thinking a lot lately about the pace of technology, and how as a society we have given corporations free-reign to race ahead and figure out the consequences later. A lot of this book is just me processing those ideas while doing my best not to moralize. I also miss Michael Crichton, and wanted to write something that scratched my own itch for a kind of smart "airport book."
Timing-wise, I wanted to write a novel before it became an obsolete skill. I started writing the book when it became clear generative AI was taking off, and finished editing about a week before ChatGPT was released. So I think I made it in just under the wire :-)
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
McDowell: It started with a deep-cut nerd joke. When explaining cryptography, there's a convention of using the names "Alice" and "Bob" for the two people trying to talk securely to each other. That's where Alice and Robert came from. Marcos and Julian were just names that "felt right" for them, while Weizza is a Burmese word that translates roughly to wizard in their Buddhist mythology. It seemed fitting; she's the closest thing to a supernatural force in the book.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
McDowell: There's a lot of research that went into making the world if not possible then at least plausible, but if I got something really wrong, I'd love to hear about it. I've heard that the way you'll know you've made it writing action thrillers is when someone corrects you on your use of guns or related terminology. I look forward to that day!
If "The Anshar Gambit" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
McDowell: I am embarrassingly out of date on movie stars. Outside of books and indie games, I'm pretty disconnected from pop culture generally. I'll leave it to the casting director :-)
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
McDowell: Having "writer's block" is just a fancy way of saying I'm stuck. I learned through programming that if I'm struggling to make progress, I don't fully understand the problem.
For writing, the first thing I try is adding detail to my outline. This forces me to get concrete on the scene(s), and figure out where the hole in my understanding is. From there it's usually a few minutes reflection to fill in the gap that's holding me back, then I'm off to the races.
If I'm stuck conceptually and can't figure out what to put in the outline, then the world and/or the characters are under-defined. The solution is to write background information until I better understand my creations. When the world and the characters are sufficiently clear, the scene writes itself.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?
McDowell: If you're planning on self-publishing and hoping to make a business out of it, join the 20BooksTo50k Facebook group and just observe. There's a ton of high quality content, and any question you could conceivably have has already probably been answered by someone that's been through it.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
McDowell: I love sci-fi. I grew up devouring Golden Age sci-fi from my local used bookstore; I think I've read everything Asimov wrote that wasn't a textbook. More recently I've enjoyed working through Vernor Vinge's catalog. I think about A Deepness in the Sky more than any other book, which probably makes it a favorite.
What are you working on next?
McDowell: I just finished a draft of the first book in a trilogy about a group of teens living in San Francisco that channel magic powers by communing with extra-dimensional horrors. A bit of a departure, obviously. It was one of those things where the plot arrived fully formed in my head and I had to get it out before I could focus on anything else. I just switched back to working on the next Alice Knight book, the next story revolves around CRISPR and biomedicine.
Learn More About the Author and The Anshar Gambit:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089014419201
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here or Kindle Unlimited
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