As anyone who was ever a kid on a playground can tell you, being able to call for a “do-over” would be as great in real life as it was in games of dodgeball.
Doubly so if the thing you’d get to do-over is the destruction of the Earth. Which is what happens, sort of, to Lieutenant Selene Genji of the Unified Fleet in Jack Campbell’s new time traveling science fiction space opera novel In Our Stars (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), the first in a two-part series.
In the following email interview, Campbell discusses what inspired and influenced this sci-fi adventure story, as well as why it’s a two-parter.
Photo Credit: S. Hemry
To begin, what is In Our Stars about, and when and where is it set?
When is it set? First in 2180, then in 2140.
Where? In space, on Earth, on Mars, and on the Moon.
In 2180, Lieutenant Selene Genji of the Unified Fleet watches Earth be destroyed by the forces of the Spear Of Humanity that want to cleanse the Earth of alien “contamination.” The immense forces unleashed by Earth’s death hurl part of the wreckage of her ship forty years into the past. Genji has a chance to try to alter the past to save the Earth. But, how? Genji, genetically engineered to contain some alien DNA, was seen as a monster by many in 2180, and is instantly feared and distrusted by many of those in 2140. Fortunately, she encounters Lieutenant Kayl Owen of Earth Guard, who risks everything to help her. And only she knows that First Contact with the first alien species encountered by humanity is about to take place, and everything that went wrong when that happened. Maybe she can change what will be, if she can stay alive for long enough.
Where did you get the idea for In Our Stars?
It partly grew out of thinking about an Andre Norton book, Secret Of The Lost Race, and how different that story would be if it were written today. So I decided to write that different book. Norton (like many authors) often wrote about exiles and outsiders. Gene Luen Yang (author of American Born Chinese) pointed out how universal that feeling of being an outsider is. So, two outsiders, trying their best to do what’s right and fighting against fear of the alien among us. That is a story that never goes out of style because there are so many different ways of telling it.
So, is there a reason why you set this story in 2140 and 2180 as opposed to, say, 2040 and 2280?
It felt right. Far enough in the future to show a world in 2140 that has been through tough times and worked out ways to deal with conflicts, but with hidden cracks that lead to the apocalypse of the Universal War in the 2170s.
I also wanted to show what a gap forty years can be in terms of not just technology but to society and norms. The reader gets to see how differently Selene from 2180 and Kayl from 2140 view the same things, because they really did grow up in different worlds. What each accepts as “normal” is very different, even though they were only separated by a few decades.
It sounds like In Our Stars is a military science fiction space opera story…
You could call it that, or simply space opera. Or science fiction. Or adventure. Or if-this-goes-on, alien-first-contact, what-if, pre-apocalyptic, romance, time-travel. Really, I don’t worry about specific genre boundaries. One of the things I find admirable about anime is that the Japanese authors don’t worry about boundaries, instead shoving together ideas and concepts and caring only about whether the story works. The best anime doesn’t use that as a license for anarchy, but as a means to create internally consistent stories born of a mixed bag of different influences. In my own way, I try to do the same things, looking at ideas from different ways to get different stories from what would otherwise by familiar settings.
You’ve written dozens of novels, both as Jack Campbell and under your real name, John G. Hemry. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on In Our Stars but not on anything else you’ve written?
As noted above, Andre Norton’s Secret Of The Lost Race played a role in coming up with this story, or at least inspiring the line of thought that led to it. Every story has been told before, in one form or another. But thinking about how others told a story can help inspire other ways of seeing and showing those general ideas.
There is one other book that played a surprising (to me) role, and that is the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Selene Genji let me know early on that (encouraged by her mother) she had clung to Marcus Aurelius as a moral compass in a world that was falling apart. When confronted with tough choices, she turns to Marcus Aurelius for guidance and advice. That made him an unexpectedly important part of the framework for her decisions.
How about such non-literary influences as movies, TV shows, or games? Did any of those things have a big influence on In Our Stars?
Of course! I can’t watch or play anything without analyzing the characters and the plot and where ideas can lead. Star Trek: TOS taught me early on that good sci-fi isn’t about special effects or spaceships, but is about the characters and the stories. Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back showed how to integrate action and story while putting characters through tough challenges. My Cousin Vinnie (I’m serious here) is a model of how to show someone encountering an alien society, and finding common ground with them, and how to do data dumps in ways that don’t just inform but really entertain. Good games (whether Wing Commander or Civilization or Dungeons & Dragons) require the player to think ahead and deal with unexpected developments, while showing how important underlying design of their worlds is. And, naturally, anime. The ideas and the execution of those ideas, in everything from Cowboy Bebop to Violet Evergarden can’t help but be inspiring. Basically, if I’ve watched it, read it, or played it, it has influenced my writing. (And a good D&D campaign is writing!)
Now, In Our Stars is the first book in a duology called The Doomed Earth. What was it about this story that made you realize it needed to be told in two parts as opposed to one or three or 37?
That’s how long the story was.
Seriously. I’d originally thought it would be a trilogy, but as I wrote it I realized that would be three books each only about sixty thousand words long, which are very short books by today’s standards. It felt fairer to readers to split it instead into two books. I never pad out stories for length, and try to allow enough room for the story to be told. In this case, that meant two books.
You’ve also said the second book will be called To Spurn Fate…
The title of the second book has changed (as titles do). It is now Destiny’s Way.
Gotcha. So when does Destiny’s Way take place in relation to In Our Stars?
The second book begins right where the first book leaves off, continuing the story without any gaps.
Do you know when Destiny’s Way will be out?
Destiny’s Way should be out in February of 2025, according to the latest I have from my publisher.
Upon hearing that In Our Stars is the first book of a duology, some people will hold off reading it until Destiny’s Way comes out, and some may also decide to read Stars and Destiny’s back-to-back. But is there any reason why you think people shouldn’t wait?
Speaking as the author, I think it’s a great story, so why wait to enjoy it? Can you imagine deciding not the watch Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977 so you could instead binge watch all three films when the last of the original trilogy came out in 1983? How much would you have missed by doing that? Sure, you want the whole story, but some time to think about and think over and enjoy the first book isn’t a bad thing. I’ve always liked wondering where the next book or episode will take a story, where the characters will go, what they’ll do, what will happen to them. You don’t have time for that if you wait and take them all in at once. Binging means all of the answers are there, which, yes, is nice, but also limiting to your own fun in imagining what comes next. I understand that some readers have felt burned by series that never brought out the later books. But waiting to buy until the entire series is out is the best way to guarantee the series won’t be finished, because if not enough copies of book one sell, book two might get cancelled. I think my readers understand that I don’t leave people hanging. Book two is already written. I always ensure I know where a series is heading before I start writing. (How can you stay on course in the plot if you don’t know where you’re going?) So, if someone wants to wait and binge, go ahead, but I think you’ll enjoy reading each book as soon as it is available, and trying to guess what’s going to happen in the second book.
Earlier I asked if In Our Stars had been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think In Our Stars — and, by extension, Destiny’s Way — could be adapted into some movies, a show, or a game?
I think the two books would make a great film trilogy. There are natural breaks for three films in the two books, and that would allow enough room to tell the whole story.
They could also work as a series, with so many different settings and encounters, of course.
And if someone wanted to adapt In Our Stars and Destiny’s Way into some movies or a TV show, who would you want them to cast as Selene, Genji, and the other main characters?
I think someone such as Jessica Henwick [The Matrix Resurrections] would be great as Selene Genji. For Kayl, someone such as [Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.‘s] Matthew Keoni Sato, or Kanoa Goo [I Was A Simple Man]. Dream-casting would have Awkwafina [Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings] as either Aunt Hokulani or Kayl’s sister Malani.
What if someone wanted to adapt The Doomed Earth series into a game?
I think it could work as any kind of game except probably a click & shoot [adventure game]. There are plenty of action sequences, but it’s not about shooting your way to victory. Any game focusing on decisions where multiple options exist would work well, I think.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about In Our Stars and The Doomed Earth duology?
Ultimately, the story is grounded in the idea that what we do matters, even if all of us are just trying to figure out what the right thing to do is. We matter, others matter, our actions matter. Even when it seems hopeless, we have to do what we can.
Finally, if someone enjoys In Our Stars, what sci-fi duology of someone else’s would you suggest they read while waiting for Destiny’s Way to come out?
Two come to mind, though there’s a real shortage of sci-fi duologies.
Laini Taylor (who I first noticed with the Dreamdark books) has a duology of Strange The Dreamer and Muse Of Nightmares. She’s not sci-fi but always an excellent read.
And something more classic from a brilliant writer, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable Of The Sower and Parable Of The Talents. Even though we’ve almost caught up to the “future” year of 2025 in Sower, the story is still great.
