Exclusive Interview: “United We Stand” Editors John Ringo & Gary Poole

 

Be they zombie-related, medically-induced, or a religious prophecy fulfilled, stories set during apocalyptic events, or after, are often dark or depressing or dour.

But while the one chronicled in the Black Tide Rising series is grim, in the following email interview about the new anthology United We Stand (hardcover, Kindle), series creator John Ringo says, “… the thing that shines through in all the books is hope.”

Which is why I hope you will enjoy the following email interview, in which John and co-editor Gary Poole discuss this anthology of Black Tide Rising short stories, which features contributions by Brian Trent, Lydia Sherrer, Mike Massa, Jody Lynn Nye, and others.

John Ringo, Gary Poole

 

For people who haven’t read any of the Black Tide Rising books, what is this series about, and what kind of a world are they set in?

John: A plague causes most people to go violently insane. Civilization falls. Survivors start to rebuild.

And what kind of zombies are we talking about?

John: Zombie is really the wrong description. Years later I ran across the 28 Days movies and realized I’d sort of written a fan-fic without ever seeing the movies. Rage zombies is the colloquial term.

The difference in the original books and most of the anthologies is that the rage zombies are more or less background. it’s why things are messed up but the main characters have generally found smart ways to deal with the issue of not-particularly-smart-weak apes.

It’s been said that, unlike a lot of apocalypse stories, the Black Tide Rising series is hopeful. Why did you decide to take this approach as opposed to looking at things from a more pessimistic perspective?

John: It’s grim, don’t get me wrong. But one of the things that annoys me about most post-apoc that you see mostly in television and film is that the survivors are…not the sort of people who would survive. And they make a lot of very basic mistakes that I think stem from the writers being…not the sort of people who would survive.

They also are very selfish. “I’m going to survive and I don’t care much about others.”

The primary Black Tide Rising books, and most of the anthology stories, are about people who are the sort to buckle down and do the smart, and sometimes cold-blooded, things that you do if you’re a pragmatic humanist in the situation. You do what it takes not only to survive but to help others and to grow as a community.

There’s nothing about the “lone wolf” because the lone wolf won’t tend to survive.

So, the thing that shines through in all the books is hope. Not hope to rebuild civilization as it was. The dead aren’t coming back. But to rebuild something that lasts and will continue to build.

So with the four short story anthologies that you’ve assembled — Black Tide Rising, Voices Of The Fall, We Shall Rise, and the new one, United We Stand — are they set at the same time as the novels, and deal with the same characters, or are they about some different aspect of the story?

Gary: Each anthology has a specific theme, and we allow the authors to play around in the sandbox, so to speak, creating their own characters and settings. Each anthology takes place in a specific time period. The first, Black Tide Rising, was set concurrent with the first novel, Under A Graveyard Sky, and each subsequent one was about six months or so later on, which the current one about two years after the collapse of civilization.

And what then is the connection between the stories in United We Stand?

John: Most of the stories in United We Stand are about groups coming together against common issues. These might be human issues, two groups uniting to defend against a common enemy, or environmental problems. But it’s primarily about how societies start to unify and grow.

This against the background of the restored United States, though all the stories are not U.S. based.

How do people come to write stories for these anthologies? Like, for United We Stand, did you approach writers you like, did you have people submit ideas and then picked the ones you liked the most, did you guys come up with story ideas and then send them to specific writers or let the writers pick which they wanted to do…what?

John: All of the above. Gary did most of the solicitation on that one. And we gave them a general outline of the theme and go at it.

I prefer that something come from an author’s heart than to nit-pick specific things. There was one query about something that I’d left out intentionally that sort of gets resolved in this anthology and I got queried on that and went, “Okay.”

I like to let people run. I don’t write to a formula and I don’t expect others to.

Gary: One of the great things about the Black Tide world is that so many very talented authors have wanted to write, using the setting to explore a wide variety of themes and situations.

So, did anyone submit a story, or an idea for a story, that really surprised you? Like they had a take on things that was totally unique?

Gary: One of the most interesting stories, to me, was Mel Todd’s “Do Not Steal,” which deals with one of the most difficult situations to address: rape. This was her first story in the anthologies, and I was very impressed with how she handled a very touchy subject in a unique way that fit perfectly into the universe. She’s a rising talent in the industry and I look forward to seeing her future work.

Now, John, along with United We Stand you have two novels either just out or coming soon: Beyond The Ranges (out May 7th), which you co-wrote with James Aidee, and Through The Storm, the second book in the TransDimensional Hunters series you write with Lydia Sherrer, which is out now. Let’s start with Ranges; what is that novel about, and when and where is that story set?

John: The novel begins abruptly. Humanity is plucked off the Earth and then (as it turns out) two million years later finds itself in a space station orbiting a terraformed world. The “national divorce” has taken place, though there are other societies in the system and we’re supposed to start over with much more advanced technology.

The majority of the story is from the POV of a character who was not a “failure” in life but has never really been a success. But his many, many jobs over the years and his interests over the years make him if not “uniquely” qualified to grab the opportunities presented then successful in doing so.

It’s mostly about him having a butt-ton of fun on a new world, exploring and getting to know it and figuring out how to get people all ‘stuff’ that people need, want and desired. Mostly seafood.

Everyone who has read the advanced copy has asked, “Is there going to be an anthology?” I hope so. It’s a very big story that needs more input on it. There are a half billion stories to tell.

Beyond The Ranges sounds like it’s a sci-fi space opera story. Is that accurate?

John: Sort of. It’s more a very old fashioned colonization story by people who have no moral qualms about colonizing a “made to be colonized” world.

And then, for Through The Storm, we did an interview when that book came out, but for people who hate clicking links, what is that novel about, and when and where is it set?

John: It’s set in the near future and is about a gamer girl who has stepped out “into the real” (which is the title of the first novel) playing an augmented reality game.

The game’s premise is that the world is being invaded by TransDimensional beings that are starting to negatively effect the information and power grid. Enough spread and they might cause the fall of civilization.

As she progresses in the game she starts to wonder about some aspects of it and if she’s really playing a game or not.

(Hint: No, she’s not. It’s real. That’s not a spoiler since the reader gets to look behind the scenes in the first book.)

Through The Storm is a military sci-fi gamelit story; Beyond The Ranges is a sci-fi novel; while United We Stand collects post apocalyptic stories. How, if at all, do you feel working in such different genres influences what you do?

John: All three came from three different places. So…there’s some thematic influences that drive through all of them. The importance of both the individual and the group / team is pretty thematic in all of them. But they came from very different places, so there’s not exactly overlap.

I don’t have a lane.

It’s been a while since I had this many books coming out with my name on them. I hadn’t realized they were all coming out at once.

(Feverishly goes back to writing…)

Going back to United We Stand and the Black Tide Rising series, with eight novels and four short story anthologies, some people might find it daunting to start this series. Do you each think the anthologies are a good place to start, or do you think people should go back to the first book, Under The Graveyard Sky?

John: Graveyard Sky. The reason being it delineates what’s happening very clearly. Also, the boarding scene. If you read it for no other reason, read it for the boarding scene.

“What boarding scene?”

“You’ll know. You willlll…”

Also, Graveyard Sky is just a page turner. It’s one of those books you don’t start before bed or you’ll hate yourself in the morning.

Then go to the anthos if you’d like or read the series. You can start at United We Stand.

Then you’ll go back and read all the books. You willlll…

Gary: I always encourage people to start with the first two books, Under A Graveyard Sky and To Sail A Darkling Sea as their introduction to the series. Not only are they great books, but they lay out the entire world so that readers of the anthologies will be able to understand the background and how it all ties together. There are also more novels and anthologies in the pipeline, so there will be plenty of new stories to tell and books to read in the not-so-distant future.

So, is there anything else you think people might need to know about United We Stand and the Black Tide Rising series?

Gary: I have written in my forewords to each anthology that the entire Black Tide series is really about the most human of all emotions: hope. Even in the face of an insane amount of adversity, there are still people who refuse to go quietly into the good night. To me, what makes the anthologies so interesting is seeing how many different ways there are to show both hope and adversity, which are the opposite sides of the same coin.

Finally, I’m going to put you guys on the spot. Gary, if someone enjoys United We Stand, and they’ve already read all the other Black Tide Rising books, which of John’s non-Rising novels would you suggest they check out and why that one? And John, do you agree with Gary’s choice?

Gary: That’s actually a hard question because John has created a lot of very interesting series. I can’t speak for anyone else, but aside from Black Tide, my favorite would be the Troy series that starts with Live Free Or Die. One of the best of the current era of “hard” science fiction series, with plenty of action, believable (and treacherous) aliens, drama, heartbreak, and science that is based on hard reality.

John: I’d like to throw in here that I’m doing another series that is up to six books (more or less, two are short) on Substack. And even explaining the “genre” is difficult since it’s a… (deep breath) cyberpunk / conspiracy / action / teenage / superhero / anti-hero series.

Which is so completely different than anything I’ve ever written before it’s…

I don’t have a lane!