Having previously collaborated on a comic book as well as a novel in which characters from their individual novels work together, writers Rob Hart [Assassins Anonymous, The Warehouse] and Alex Segura [Secret Identity, Alter Ego] have teamed up again, this time on a sci-fi space opera spy novel called Dark Space (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook).
In the following email interview, Hart and Segura talk about what inspired and influenced this sci-fi story, as well as why they decided to write it together.
Rob Hart (Photo Credit: Michael McWeeney),
Alex Segura (Photo Credit: Irina Peschan)
To start, what is Dark Space about, and when and where does it take place?
Hart: Dark Space is set a future where humanity has established a city on the moon — New Destiny — and is taking its next big step: visiting an exoplanet outside our solar system. It follows the pilot for that mission, Jose Carriles, as well as Timony Corin, a disgraced spy on the moon.
So, who came up with the idea for Dark Space?
Segura: I think I had the first germ of the idea; to do something along the lines of Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica, a space opera, but have it be more grounded, and perhaps feature more of an espionage bent. With that, I texted Rob and asked if he wanted to jam on it. He agreed almost immediately.
And where did you get the idea for the specific plot of Dark Space?
Segura: From the same well where we get most of our ideas. I dropped a few things I’m obsessed with — Star Trek, John le Carré’s Smiley novels, the world today — and that got us, generally, to Dark Space. Once Rob and I started cooking, the big theoretical stuff became a story.
And why did you decide to write it with some other person as opposed to on your own?
Segura: I like collaborating with Rob. We both have a great work ethic, aren’t precious with ideas or our words, and really just do our best to make the book the best it can be, without being territorial or petty. He’s a great teammate.
And then Rob, what was it about Alex’s initial idea that not only made you want to write it with them, but also made you think you were the right person to write it with them?
Hart: I’ve worked with Alex before, and it’s always a blast. Our styles and work ethics really mesh, and writing a novel takes a lot of work — navigating that with someone else makes it easier (at least for us).
So, is there a reason you set Dark Space on a space ship, and one headed outside our solar system, as opposed to on an alien world or in a space station?
Hart: I think for a lot of the themes we wanted to explore, it made more sense to nudge humanity into the future, rather than leap forward too far, so there was still a clear connection to where we are today.
Segura: We wanted to explore that moment where we, as humanity, cross a line into the great unknown. It felt right.
Now, Alex, you said Dark Space is a sci-fi space opera story…
Hart: I’m not entirely sure it counts as space opera. Maybe a little. I don’t know. I don’t understand how genres work.
Segura: I think it’s a sci-fi spy novel, with a lot of heart.
You both also talked about how you’ve worked together before. You previously co-wrote Bad Beat, which crossed over Alex’s Pete Fernandez novels and Rob’s Ash McKenna series. Did you learn anything writing Bad Beat that made doing Dark Space easier? Or made this book better?
Hart: That was our first gig working together, and we learned that we can work well together, which was the most important lesson. We further honed it doing the Blood Oath comic together. So by the time we got to this, it certainly felt like a continuation of what we’d already been doing.
Segura: Yeah, I think we learned that we could do it and the end result would be different from anything Rob or I would create on our own, and I think both Blood Oath and Dark Space fall into that category. It’s something unique to our partnership.
Along with Bad Beat and Blood Oath, you’ve both written novels on your own as well. Alex, you have the aforementioned Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, as well as the Star Wars novel Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall, while Rob, you wrote The Warehouse and The Paradox Hotel. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Dark Space but not on anything else you’ve written?
Hart: Dark Space feels very different than anything I’ve written. The Warehouse and The Paradox Hotel were both sci-fi, but they were both focused on singular locations. For this, we had a much bigger stage to play on.
Segura: Dark Space reminds me of a lot of the Star Trek and Star Wars novels I read as a kid; stories that were embedded in sprawling, fictional universes. Stuff by folks like Timothy Zahn, Diane Duane, Michael Jan Friedman, and Margaret Wander Bonnano. Stories that feel important but that give a hint to a bigger story.
Hart: I was also a huge fan of The Martian by Andy Weir, though Weir worked very hard to make the science accurate, whereas I just sort of stopped worrying about accuracy and just wanted to make it fun.
What about non-literary influences? Was Dark Space influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games? Because both of you have written stories in the Star Wars universe; Rob, you contributed “Due On Batuu” to From A Certain Point Of View: The Empire Strikes Back, while Alex, there’s the Poe Dameron novel I mentioned, as well as the story “Resolve” in the anthology Star Wars: Stories Of Jedi And Sith.
Hart: I’ve been steeped in sci-fi stuff for a very long time, so I feel like this is just an amalgamation of all that. But I would say there’s some Andor in the DNA here.
Segura: Andor for sure! I think Rob and I watched that around the same time and just had a similar “yeah, that’s it” response to it.
But I only think about influences when the story is percolating in my head, like you’re collecting little pieces. Once you start sewing it together it becomes its own thing and I try not to be a sponge at that point.
Now, sci-fi novels like Dark Space are sometimes stand-alone stories and sometimes part of larger sagas. And both of you have written stand-alone books as well as ones that were part of a series. So, what is Dark Space?
Hart: We would love for it to be a series.
Segura: It will be a series.
And if this happens, what are you thinking?
Segura: We have ideas for the next few installments.
Earlier I asked if Dark Space was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think Dark Space could work as a movie, show, or game?
Hart: Oh man, I think it could work as pretty much anything. I had never thought of it as a game but now that you’ve said it…I’m in. Video game developers, I’m on social media. Find us.
Segura: Yeah, the story is pretty flexible. I’d love to see it adapted in some way.
And if some video game developer did track you down on social media, what kind of game do you want them to make out of Dark Space?
Hart: It would make a pretty good role-playing game, or maybe a shooter, but with sneaking around. I don’t care who makes it as long as it’s good and I can play it on my Xbox.
Speaking of adaptations, Rob, in the interview we did a few years ago about The Warehouse, we talked about how Ron Howard was going to direct a movie based on that book. What ever happened to that?
Hart: Not much! They went through their process and it didn’t end up working out. Village Roadshow currently has the rights and they’re trying to develop it as a TV show. We’ll see how it goes.
Does that mean you wouldn’t want Ron to direct the Dark Space movie? Because he did a really good job with the Han Solo movie…
Hart: I’m not saying no to anything. And I thought the Han Solo movie was pretty fun, given the circumstances.
Alex, in the same vein, in the interview we did about Blackout, when I asked if there had been any interest in making a movie or TV series out of the Pete Fernandez Mystery novels, you said, “‘Stay tuned’ is all I can say.” Can you say more now?
Segura: Not really, but there are reasons for that which is telling in its own way.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about Dark Space?
Hart: I would say that it’s a thriller, and it’s got some dark elements, but it’s ultimately fun, and hopeful…exactly the kind of stuff I like to get out of science fiction.
Segura: It’s a story about screwed up people trying to do some good in the world — and it happens to be set on a spaceship and lunar colony. As with Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and other, big, epic sci-fi stories, it’s still about the characters. And this story succeeds because, I think, the characters feel real.
Finally, if someone enjoys Dark Space, what sci-fi novel or novella of someone else’s would you both suggest they check out?
Hart: I think the last really good space novel I read was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I read it in one sitting.
Segura: I really liked Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under The Sea. It’s a quick, haunting read.
