Love…it’s exciting and new. Or at least it can be if you’re caught in a time loop.
Which brings me to Mike Chen’s new romantic science fiction novel, A Quantum Love Story (paperback, Kindle, audiobook).
In the following email interview, Chen discusses what inspired and influenced this time loop love story, as well as how lovey it gets for those of us who are romantically challenged.
To start, what is A Quantum Love Story about, and when and where does it take place?
It’s a time loop! That’s the most important thing to know, though it does stand apart from most time loop stories as those typically involve one person carrying knowledge forward from loop to loop. In this case, it’s two: strait-laced neuroscientist Mariana and technician / megafoodie Carter.
This takes place about 150 years from now, but like all of my books, the location is the San Francisco Bay Area. And as always, a shoutout to my alma mater UC Davis.
Where did you get the idea for A Quantum Love Story?
The basic characters and arc for this book have existed in multiple forms over the years, including a story pitch for a popular franchise, a graphic novel proposal, and a YA novel proposal. Each version evolved the story, and then when it was time to submit a follow-up to Vampire Weekend [his 2023 novel], I realized that I really loved these two characters and wanted to give them a shot at a full story. This basic story structure then meshed with all of the crap we were going through in real life circa 2020-21 with the pandemic, just the way it felt endless and terrifying but also strangely liberating in how it kind of forced us all to reset and assess things. And then realizing that there wasn’t a single clever trick to get out of it, that humanity has to wait it out to the best of our abilities.
But, at the same time, silver linings happened. I watched as my daughter met one of her best friends in a friendship grown on Zoom despite the fact that we’re in San Francisco and they’re in Los Angeles. They see each other on Zoom every few weeks to watch movies and play video games together. It’s the idea that through this really horrible, terrifying thing, two people who otherwise would never connect can meet and fundamentally change each other’s lives.
So all of those ideas synthesized into this book, and while it’s a time loop story, it’s also a story about connection and grief.
A Quantum Love Story is obviously a sci-fi novel, but the title suggests it has romantic aspirations as well. But how romantic is it? Like, will someone who’s dead inside enjoy it?
I like to say that it’s as close to romance as I will ever get. Which means it’s not romance in the traditional sense. I guess you could call it a slow-burn love story. There are some “meet cute” elements but no “one bed in a hotel room” type tropes.
Instead, it’s really about how two people who would have never otherwise met find each other and how they can be good for each other — and when they realize that, what far will they go to keep what they’ve found. I saw an early reader say that it was a love story in that it’s about fighting for a chance with someone you care about, not swoony heat, and I think that’s pretty accurate. For me, I always find that much more interesting in character development.
There’s an act 3 twist to the love story as it intertwines with the main plot, and I think that leans much more into the longing part of it than traditional romance. So what I’m saying is on a scale of 1 (engineering textbook) to 10 (Harlequin romance novel), this is probably like a 7. Also ironically, my publisher is an imprint of Harlequin.
A Quantum Love Story is not your first published novel. Are there any writers who had a big influence on Quantum but not on your other books?
Structurally, it’s really inspired by Catriona Silvey’s excellent Meet Me In Another Life. I love that book so much that I told Catriona as soon as I finished it that I was super jealous I didn’t write it. This is kind of the next best thing. If you’ve read that book, you’ll understand why when you read this one, though I don’t want to spoil either.
What about non-literary influences; was A Quantum Love Story influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games? Because the plot makes me — and, I’m guessing, absolutely everyone — think of Groundhog Day.
Well, any time loop story is going to naturally be influenced by other time loop stories. And as a sci-fi geek, I’m pretty well-versed in them, from Star Trek: The Next Generation to Star Trek: Discovery to Star Trek: Prodigy (all with different takes on it) to Legends Of Tomorrow to The X-Files. So the trick is that each of those is different in terms of solution, structure, and character beats. My goal was to make sure I didn’t unconsciously rip off something from media that I love, so I really wanted the structure of this book to stand out. I think the idea of having two people active in the loop is a significant difference from a lot of these stories, and also the nature of this book’s third act twist.
And what about your many rescue animals? What influence did they have on A Quantum Love Story?
I try to put at least one of my rescue animals in each of my books, It’s a way to give them a bit of immortality despite their relatively short lifespans.
For this book, I chose our adorable dwarf cat Maggie, who was rescued off the streets at a relative’s house. All of the mannerisms in the book exactly match our Maggie, who is like this stereotypical ball of joy…which is very much not like our other cats with much more attitude. 
Maggie
As for the dog in this book named Buddy Ed (nicknamed B.E.), he is based on a very, very affectionate and lovable pit bull named Butt-Head. Butt-Head was my wife’s stepfather’s dog and he was the gentlest dog I’d ever met. Despite their harsh reputations, pit bulls really are a product of their environment; you give one enough love and structure and they turn into these big teddy bears. There’s a thing B.E. does where he likes to lean against people’s legs like a hug. That’s 100% from Butt-Head. That dog just wanted hugs all the time. He was a very good boy and we miss him very much.
Now, along with A Quantum Love Story, you also have a Star Trek graphic novel coming out soon called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog Of War. What is that book about, and when does it take place in relation to the show?
The Dog Of War is considered a “lost episode” (really, a lost two-parter) that takes place in the middle of season 6; specifically by stardate and plotting, shortly after the episode “His Way.”
In this story, Quark acquires contraband from a mysterious broker in the form of some rare equipment — and also a rare, genetically purebred Welsh corgi, which he names Latinum to show how that’s how he feels about the darn mutt. In that contraband is also a piece of tech that could possibly turn the tide of the Dominion war: an augmented Borg headpiece that can interface with any computer network at the speed of thought.
The story is partly dog shenanigans, partly war story, but of course, A story and B story have to meet in the final act per all good Star Trek episodes. So the fate of Latinum is also tied into the morality of the Borg device and Sisko’s Borg PTSD, particularly his history with Jean-Luc Picard.
Basically, I took this as my one shot to write Deep Space Nine (which I will publicly preach as the greatest TV show of all time) so I threw everything I could into it. Including the most badass Jadzia Dax sequences I could think of.
The cover has a bunch of dogs on it, not a Klingon or Cardassian trying to look all mean, which makes me think this might be a bit tongue-in-cheek.
There’s definitely humor in it. The upcoming releases is the trade paperback, so they chose to use Jake Bartok’s excellent variant cover that mocks up the Star Trek: First Contact poster. It’s honestly one of the best things I’ve ever seen, I can’t believe they let us get away with it. The release has all of the variant covers in there, including a spin on DS9‘s famous baseball episode, Lower Decks style. The art team really embraced the humor aspect of it, because dogs make everything better.
However, I would say that it’s a humorous story in the same vein as the best funny Star Trek episodes: DS9‘s “Take Me Out To The Holosuite,” Strange New Worlds‘ “Those Old Scientists,” Voyager‘s “Bride Of Chaotica.” That is, the story is very, very grounded in the world of DS9 and is never broad comedy for the sake of slapstick or cheap laughs, everything is very character-driven. I have received a lot of feedback that readers could hear the voices of the actors as they read the dialogue, and that’s the best compliment I can get. That means I hit the mark, which is a responsibility I take very seriously.
Going back to A Quantum Love Story, earlier I asked if it had been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think Quantum could work as a movie, a TV show, or a game?
I would think a film would work best for this, unless someone was up for a limited series (though apparently studios aren’t fond of the profit margins on those). It’s got a very clear cut beginning, middle, and end, and I don’t think it could go on indefinitely in terms of additional seasons.
And if someone wanted to adapt A Quantum Love Story into a limited series, who would you want them to cast as Carter, Mariana, and the other main characters?
Fun fact about my creative process, I tend to cast actors in each role to give myself a visual and voice reference. In this case, I actually hadn’t cast Mariana and Carter until about halfway through the writing process, which is unusual for me. But I was watching the live-action version of Cowboy Bebop with John Cho and Daniela Pineda in the leads, and they really clicked for me. (Aside: I’ve been a Bebop fan since it aired on Toonami way back when, and I really enjoyed the live action series despite some pacing issues; the cast was perfect and I am still really mad they didn’t get a second season.) Carter and Mariana thus became those two actors, and they didn’t have last names at the time either, so I just grabbed the actors’ last names, too.
So, is there anything else people need to know about A Quantum Love Story?
I have a pretty consistent focus on characters, whether that’s my original novels, Star Wars, or Star Trek. So if you’ve read my previous work, you’ll probably enjoy this one as well.
Finally, if someone enjoys A Quantum Love Story, which of your other original novels would you suggest they check out next?
Like I said, my tone is pretty consistent in terms of writing character stories against fantastical backdrops. So it’s really what sub-genre the reader wants.
If they want more time travel, Here And Now And Then is a father / daughter time travel story very much inspired by Doctor Who and the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Inner Light.” A Beginning At The End has been called a “cozy post-pandemic story” about found family. We Could Be Heroes is about a superhero and supervillain who decide they’re better off as best friends. Light Years From Home is like an X-Files episode that focuses on the family of the alien abductee. And Vampire Weekend is about a punk-rock vampire dealing with issues like generational immigrant trauma and trying to find a band.
They’re all different by sub-genre, so I would say to make your pick based on that.
