(See below for a selection of Kevin J. Anderson's books.)

This July, I was fortunate enough to interview one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Kevin J. Anderson. An avid Star Wars fan, I first heard of Kevin when I read the "Jedi Academy" trilogy. This was followed up by Darksaber and "The Young Jedi Knights" series, which he co-wrote with his wife, Rebecca Moesta. Over the past few years, Kevin has created his own sci-fi epic, "The Saga of Seven Suns." Capturing the best aspects of his experiences writing in the Star Wars, X-Files, and Dune universes, Kevin's new saga introduces readers to fresh, evocative empires and societies.

The thing that impresses me most about Kevin’s work is his ability to create scenes and situations rich in detail, without dragging it out so long that readers get bored. He also juggles larges casts of characters with a level of mastery few authors attain. The individual character arcs are consistent, and you always know where you are when you turn the page.

All that said, it’s time for Kevin to have his say…

CWF: The depth of detail and characterization in your novels is amazing. What did it take for you to get to this level of writing?
 
KJA: The old cliché is “Practice makes perfect.”  I’ve published over ninety novels, and I honestly try to push the edge, at least a little bit, with each one.  I’ve written nine big DUNE novels with Brian Herbert, and just today I finished my edit on the sixth “Seven Suns” novel, and I’ve done a lot of Star Wars books, as well as my original novels.  I’ve become fairly well known for my “big epic SF” stories, but I’ve also penned modern-day high-tech thrillers (mostly with Doug Beason), detailed historical fantasies based on the lives of Jules Verne (CAPTAIN NEMO) and HG Wells (THE MARTIAN WAR).  I’ve done horror/suspense (by myself and one with Dean Koontz), straight fantasy, even comedy.  I keep practicing my skills and trying to do better each time.
 

CWF: How were you indoctrinated to science fiction?
 
KJA: I was raised in small town Wisconsin -- an environment that was a cross between a Ray Bradbury short story and a Norman Rockwell painting -- and I first knew I wanted to be a writer when I was five years old, after seeing the classic movie War of the Worlds.  I then watched plenty of monster movies, read comics, then SF novels.  By age 8, I wrote my first “novel” on the typewriter in my dad’s den, and I bought my own typewriter by the time I was ten.  I kept writing (always SF) and got my first rejection slip by age 12.  I sold a story to a small magazine before I graduated high school and sold my first novel, RESURRECTION, INC., by the time I was 25.
I worked in California for twelve years as a technical writer and editor at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the nation's largest research facilities. There, I met my wife Rebecca Moesta and also my frequent coauthor, Doug Beason.

CWF: Was there a single point of inspiration for “The Saga of Seven Suns,” or was it a culmination of ideas? Either way, could you describe it?
 
KJA: “Seven Suns” is, in a sense, an homage to everything I love about the genre -- big evil robots, spectacular pageantry, galactic empires, cosmic-scale wars, alien cultures, lots of action and big ideas.
 
When I was working on several STAR WARS novels for Lucasfilm, I had an idea for creating a giant story arc that would cover a great many novels, probably written by different authors. (Lucasfilm eventually did this in the “New Jedi Order,” but they used their own story idea.)  I needed to think of a story big enough to carry such a plot over so many books.  I had an image in my head of Lando Calrissian’s “Cloud City” on the gas giant Bespin (remember, from EMPIRE STRIKES BACK?) -- and a truly gigantic hitherto-undetected alien ship, like the Mother Ship from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, rising up from the clouds below to destroy Cloud City.  Aliens living deep within gas-giant planets!
 
A few years later, when I was reading some of the epic multi-volume fantasies by Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, I asked myself why nobody was doing the same thing in science fiction.  That was what I’d rather be reading.  I remembered the big idea I’d had about aliens in the gas giants, and used that as the starting point for developing a really big epic, with big and small characters, huge events and personal ones.  And as I kept developing it, the story kept getting bigger and bigger.
 

CWF: Has your wife, Rebecca Moesta, contributed to your work with “The Saga of Seven Suns”?
 
KJA: Rebecca has directly collaborated with me on many novels, but she always reads and edits every single manuscript.  I brainstorm many of the ideas and plot threads with her, and she reads the book at least twice, once as a “big read” for large-scale structure and characters, and then a detailed fine-line edit.
 

CWF: Do you have favorites among your characters? Were any of them inspired by people important to you?
 
KJA: There are so many characters over the course of these six books, and they change from book to book.  One of the main villains, Chairman Basil Wenceslas, starts out as cool and hard but very capable, and over the course of the books he gradually goes closer and closer to the edge.  I also like Dobro Designate Udru’h, a truly vile alien controller of a breeding camp, and yet as the story goes on he doesn’t seem to be so bad after all.  No one is a direct carbon-copy of people I know, but there may be bits and pieces mixed throughout.
 

CWF: If you were given the opportunity to live in any sci-fi or fantasy universe/world—other than ones of your making—which one would you choose, and why? Or would you choose not to leave, and why?
 
KJA: Well, most of the universes where writers set good stories have something terribly WRONG with them -- otherwise they wouldn’t make very interesting stories!  I love reading and writing in the Dune universe, but I sure wouldn’t want to live there.  Star Wars?  Too many stormtroopers!  Star Trek?  Not too bad, either classic period (although a bit too many transporter accidents) or Next Generation.  Battlestar Galactica?  Yuk!  Great show, but horrible living conditions!  I think I’d rather stay here and sleep in my own bed.
 

CWF: What is the strangest place you ever sat, stood, or laid down to write?
 
KJA: When I was writing one of my X-FILES novels, a very creepy scene, I was out camping, sitting on a creaking canvas chair, hunched over the glowing embers of a campfire late at night and dictating into my tape recorder.  A breeze kicked up, stirring some embers and smoke drifted across my face. And then a black bear sauntered right around the edge of my campsite, looked at me, and kept strolling along.
 

CWF: What do you love best about the area in which you live?
 
KJA: I do all of my first drafts by dictating into a microcassette recorder, just like a classic storyteller.  I go out hiking in spectacular scenery -- the mountains of Colorado, the deserts, deep canyons, ancient ruins, thick forests -- and speak aloud the story that I’m reading inside my head. I can really sink into the scene, visualize all the details, live within the characters’ heads. It really helps me focus and crystallize details and characters.
 

CWF: If you could teach one thing to everyone on the planet, what would it be?
 
KJA: Think!  Too many people mouth what others have told them, march in lockstep, and never bother to run what they believe through a BS detector.
 

CWF: If you could go somewhere (on Earth) you’ve never visited, where would that be? Why?
 
KJA: Antarctica.  It doesn’t seem to be a spectacular vacation spot, but it sure would be something to see.
 

Here's the quirky question Kevin chose:
#14: Where’s the best place to eat a PB&J sandwich? If you can’t have milk, what would you drink with it?