Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching a lot of that show 9-1-1 lately, but I find myself appreciating EMTs even more than usual…and I’ve always appreciated them a lot.
It’s also why I’m excited for Patrick Chile’s medicinal science fiction space opera novel Interstellar Medic: The Long Run (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), in which an EMT becomes an E.T. EMT.
In the following email interview, Chiles discusses what gave him the idea for this story, as well as his plans for a companion novel…and maybe more.
To begin, what is Interstellar Medic: The Long Run about, and when and where is this story set?
It begins in the present-day American Midwest, specifically Indiana. Melanie Mooney is a rural paramedic who’s so dedicated to her job that her personal life is almost nonexistent. That dedication occasionally leads her into trouble by charging into situations that maybe demand extra caution.
On her way home from work one night she comes upon just such a situation with a crashed aircraft. She quickly learns it’s not an aircraft, it’s a crashed alien spacecraft, and Melanie becomes caught up in a world that she’d previously relegated to supermarket tabloids and bad History Channel shows.
Where did you get the idea for Interstellar Medic: The Long Run?
There wasn’t any one thing that inspired it. The idea formed in my mind over a few weeks way back in 2021, really out of the blue.
My wife is a nurse, and started her career as an EMT, so that was an obvious influence.
But why or how I made the leap to “what if a human medic had to care for space aliens?” I honestly can’t say. It just popped into my head one day and I started thinking through the story arc and character motivations. Once I had all that sufficiently worked out, I pitched it to Toni Weisskopf at Baen and she loved it.
Is that why Melanie is a paramedic as opposed to a surgeon or a pediatrician? Or a vet for that matter?
Part of Melanie’s backstory is that she’d been a veterinary student and left her doctoral program to become a paramedic, for deeply personal reasons which are revealed along the way. The veterinary training helps her a lot, but I wanted her to be a medic because the first-responder aspect would open up a lot more possibilities for adventure and interaction with all of the alien cultures that make up the Galactic Union. She needed to be out there, in the field, encountering these beings in their native environments. An MD would be more static, if that makes sense.
I suppose it could’ve been a Doctors Without Borders sort of thing, but there was a more practical consideration: my limited knowledge of medicine. While this isn’t “hard” science fiction like my other books, I strive for accuracy. Getting my head around a paramedic’s skill set was going to be hard enough, and there was a lot of studying. I spent some time with the medics from our local fire department and did a couple of ambulance ride-alongs to get the details right. The guys I’d been working with read the first draft and said the Earthbound scenes were spot-on, which was a huge encouragement.
This is also an adventure story that develops Melanie’s character along the way, not an “emergency of the week” type of thing. The medical aspects aren’t really the point; they’re more the vehicle to challenge her, confront her inner demons, and accomplish things she couldn’t have imagined on Earth.
Similarly, is there a reason why her new job as an ET EMT takes her around the galaxy as opposed to just having her deal with aliens here on earth? Y’know, kind of like Men In Black meets St. Elsewhere or something.
Let’s face it, traipsing around the galaxy in an interstellar ambulance sounds a lot more exciting. It opens up so many avenues for adventures and other surprises.
Interstellar Medic: The Long Run sounds like it’s a sci-fi space opera story…
It’s very much space opera from a different perspective, told through the eyes of a present-day human who can’t quite believe what’s happening around her. One of the reasons Melanie’s recruited into the Galactic Union is because they have a shortage of beings who are willing to provide medical care for others outside of their own species. It’s a highly advanced civilization, but it’s not Utopian by any means. There’s no overarching medical drama, but there is a fair amount of adventure and small moments with big impacts. The story culminates in a catastrophic mass-casualty event which forces Melanie to pull all of her training and experience together to manage. This event has effects which will carry over into the next book.
Interstellar Medic: The Long Run is your seventh novel. Are there any writers, or stories, that you feel had a big influence on Interstellar Medic but not on any of your other books?
My previous books have all been near-future sci-fi, leaning more toward technothrillers than anything else. But this is my first novel with space aliens and interstellar travel (at least the kind that doesn’t involve flying through a wormhole). I thought it was a good opportunity to have fun with a lot of classic sci-fi tropes, but there weren’t any particular stories that influenced it.
How about non-literary influences; was Interstellar Medic: The Long Run influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
There’s undeniably a Men In Black vibe, in that there’s a lot of humor that comes from having an unsuspecting human forced to interact with bizarre aliens that she formerly didn’t believe in. Given the setting I suppose this was unavoidable. I also wanted to poke fun at some sci-fi clichés, like the unpronounceable names that consist of nothing but consonants and apostrophes. Melanie reduces them all to silly nicknames, so readers will only have to endure the originals once. I also had some fun with alien abduction stories, which I won’t spoil here.
And what about Beanie and Frankie, your lethargic dachshunds? What influence did they have on Interstellar Medic: The Long Run?
Beanie is sadly no longer with us. His health had been declining for a while and took a turn for the worst last fall, so we had to do the thing every pet owner dreads. He’d been by my side, literally, for every single book I’ve written. This was his last. I’m learning how to write without him.
Frankie is still here, occupying space on our sofa. He seems a little off without his brother around.
Frankie
My condolences.
Now, you mentioned earlier that there’s a “next book.” Does that mean that Interstellar Medic: The Long Run is just the first adventure of many for Melanie?
It is. I mentioned that Toni loved the idea, but she also said this story was really two books. The first establishes Melanie’s character and her initiation into the Union. The original tale which I had in mind will appear in the next installment, The Long Way Home. In that one, Melanie will have been separated from Earth for a long time and is becoming anxious to get back. She joined the Union Medical Corps voluntarily, but each run takes her farther from Earth in terms of distance and time, because relativity is a thing no matter how advanced you are. If she does this much longer, she’ll be so far removed from the human existence she knew that going back would be pointless. She’ll have to make some difficult decisions, and if she wants to get home she may have to trust in some unsavory characters to do it.
So, will it just be the two books?
If only to finish the story that’s been burning up my brain for the last year or two. The Long Way Home should be out in the spring of ’25 and right now there’s no set number beyond those.
If it grows into a larger series, it’ll be open-ended so readers can enjoy each book without feeling the need to wait for a conclusion. I’m working on the second installment right now and have already decided on a way to wrap up Melanie’s current arc while leaving it open for more. I love this character and don’t think she’ll be going anywhere.
Earlier I asked if Interstellar Medic: The Long Run was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think Interstellar Medic could work as a movie, show, or game?
Of course I do. It could be a really fun movie, full of adventure and humor. Given that Melanie’s complete story will cover two books, a limited-run series might be a better fit.
And who would you want them to cast as Melanie?
I don’t generally picture actors in my character roles, and maybe I should. I’ll go out on a limb and say [Poor Things‘] Emma Stone.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about Interstellar Medic: The Long Run?
It’s a homage to classic sci-fi, alien abduction stories, and first responders who sacrifice a lot to keep the rest of us alive when we’re having the worst day of our lives.
Finally, if someone enjoys Interstellar Medic: The Long Run, what novel of someone else’s in which some human ends up with a job in space would you suggest they read while waiting for The Long Way Home to come out?
The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It’s a similar theme, of a young woman thrust into a life filled with weird aliens and her exposure to their cultures. She just doesn’t have to pull them out of crashed spaceships, protect them against emerging pandemics, rescue them from collapsed tunnels, and so on.
