An interview with Brent Mueller…
[Sometimes I interview my characters. I know it sounds a wee bit schizoid, but they often spur me on when I’m writing their stories. I often feel I don’t give them enough credit. Here’s one of them who’s an old friend.]
Steve: Brent, you appear in all the novels in the Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection. You must be pleased that your many adventures during many centuries are now found in just one ebook.
Brent: Yes, thanks to you. Both Jenny and I are happy with how that came about. Maybe more readers will get to know us.
Steve: Speaking of Jenny, did you ever think you’d find her after all those years? When she disappeared in that ET ship entombed on Saturn’s moon Helene, it must have been quite a blow to you.
Brent: That can’t begin to describe it. And losing Rita was a second blow. It’s hard to get beyond losses like that.
Steve: Were you jealous that Jenny was with Henry Posada all that time in the ET ship?
Brent: I got beyond that. First, I found Jenny. Second, Jenny and Henry were just computer memories stored in that ship’s AI along with those ETs. Besides, Jenny and Henry were good friends when they worked for Isha Bai at the U. N. Space Agency.
Steve: Did losing Jenny lead to your becoming a Guide to the Way?
Brent: Yes. That helped me get through that ordeal. But losing Rita at the Battle of Sanctuary fractured my belief that I could help anyone find the Way. If I lost it myself, how could I lead anyone to it?
Steve: And you participated in many more space battles. If you’ll forgive me for changing the subject, what was it like to have those ETs who were with Jenny and Henry on the ship in your own head?
Brent: Weird. Jenny helped me through that. I think she felt a little guilty about it. It was a side effect of finding her, after all, but I never blamed her. That event sort of got lost in the shuffle because we became very busy, first saving Swarm from going crazy and then outwitting Negrini, that mad merchant. Near-Earth space was a lot more peaceful after that.
Steve: Do you regret that stopping that mad merchant ended all possibility for interstellar communication that is faster than that achieved by starships carrying messages, reminiscent of the old Pony Express?
Brent: Interesting comparison. I think Swarm did us a favor there, but other people might think otherwise, especially because Swarm kept that ability for itself. It means that some psychotic like Negrini can never establish a galactic empire, though. It also means individual planets have to solve their own problems and not depend on other planets to do it. Both are positive developments.
Steve: Thus preserving the Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets as a loose federation. That has pros and cons too, you know. Even ancient history on Earth before space flight showed that.
Brent: I’ll comment on that using an expression I often used as a Guide to the Way: it is what it is. We have to accept it and move on.
Steve: Segue to the next question: What future do you see for ITUIP?
Brent: Hopefully a galaxy-wide one where all intelligent beings can live in peace and prosperity, individual rights are respected, and we continue to probe the frontiers of knowledge.
Steve: We have to be ever vigilant to ensure all that.
Brent: Of course. Negrini showed we can never let our guard down.
***
You can follow all of Brent Mueller’s adventures mentioned in this interview and many more in the Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection for $5.99—one ebook that costs less than the ebook for the first novel in the trilogy. The novels, Survivors of the Chaos, Sing a Zamba Galactica, and Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand!, take you from the Chaos years of an Earth dominated by multinationals and controlled by their mercenaries to Humans’ first interstellar colonies and a first encounter. You will meet strange ETs, good and bad, bipeds and collective intelligences, and experience mystery and intrigue, as Humans expand into near-Earth space. Now available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s distributors (Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc).
In libris libertas!
