eanne Cavelos started out as an astrophysicist and mathematician teaching astronomy at Michigan State University and Cornell University and working in the Astronaut Training Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center. She has since become a top author, editor, scientist and teacher within the genre of the fantastic. As an editor, she created the Abyss imprint for Dell Publishing, publishing renowned authors Poppy Z. Brite, Kathe Koja and Tanith Lee, among many others, and winning the World Fantasy Award while she was at it. She has gone on to write such acclaimed works as The Science of the X-Files (Berkley/Boulevard) and The Science of Star Wars (St. Martin's).
Somehow, she manages to find time to run Jeanne Cavelos Editorial Services as well as Odyssey, a six-week writing workshop held in New Hampshire College.
Cavelos is no stranger to the unique Babylon 5 universe and the tales not covered by the televised series. Her novel, The Shadow Within (Dell) told the stories of Morden, Anna, John Sheridan and the crew of the Icarus when the Shadows were awakened. This time around, she covers the mysterious Techno-mages in her new B5 trilogy, The Passing of the Techno-Mages (Del
Rey), beginning with the first installment Casting Shadows, now released. More information on Jeanne (and her iguana) is on her Web site, www.sff.net/people/jcavelos.
Was it difficult to follow J. Gregory Keyes' and Peter David's work on the last two trilogies?
Cavelos: I didn't look on it as some sort of competition, so it wasn't difficult at all. I think we each have our own styles and strengths, so we can each make our own contribution to the B5 universe.
Their work was actually helpful to me. I referred to Greg's books to see how he'd described telepathic scans, since I have a telepath in my trilogy. What was interesting was that he described the scans mainly from the telepath's point of view, while I describe scans from the recipient's point of view. I think the two perspectives work nicely together.
Peter was writing his books at the same time that I was writing mine, so we conferred on a couple points. I told him a little about techno-mages so we wouldn't have any major inconsistencies, and he told me about the Drakh, so my treatment of them would mesh with his. It was great to have the opportunity to make everything consistent (I hope).
How much will be revealed about the Techno-mage belief system?
Cavelos: Over the course of the trilogy, you'll find out all there is to know. The mages have certain principles in which they all believe. Those core beliefs--their Code--hold them together. Yet there's also great diversity among them, so they disagree on many things. The trilogy covers a key period for the mages, during which their order undergoes major changes.
What was it like to work with J. Michael Straczynski?
Cavelos: I had a great experience working with Joe on my previous B5 novel, The Shadow Within, so I felt very comfortable agreeing to write the trilogy. We all understand that tie-ins need to be consistent with the spirit and the details of the series. But I think Joe, as a writer, also understands that writers need freedom to create something of their own within those parameters. Without that freedom, tie-ins become mechanical exercises rather than vital works of art. I know the idea that tie-ins could possibly be art seems ridiculous to many people, but I have a huge respect for B5 and the writing of the episodes. I feel the novels should be of that same
high caliber--should be treated (by the writer) as equal in worth and potential to any other novel. That's how I approached the books, and Joe has been very supportive in allowing me the freedom to bring my own ideas and variations to the story he outlined.
The process of working with him consisted mainly of two parts. First, if I had a question about something--say, a date when something happened, or a couple facts that seemed inconsistent with each other, I would e-mail Joe and Fiona Avery. They were both very helpful. They'd give me the answer if there was one, or if there wasn't, I'd propose something, and they'd give the okay.
The other thing I did was just keeping Joe informed about what I was doing, so he could let me know if he had any problem with it. After receiving Joe's outlines for the trilogy, I wanted to flesh things out, establish characters, and plot events in detail. I'd never written a trilogy before, and I wanted all three books to really work together--I wanted to set up plotlines in Book 1 that wouldn't come to fruition until Book 3, and that sort of thing. So I wrote a 200-page outline for the trilogy (okay, I'm ... let's just call it organized). I sent that to my editor at Del Rey, and to Joe and Fiona, so they could see what I was planning to do and raise any objections before I got into the actual writing. But Joe was fine with the outlines.
Is there a B5 character that you'd like to write a novel around? What might it involve?
Cavelos: There are so many great characters on B5, that's a hard question. But I feel in most cases Joe showed us the major story of each character's life right in the series. Galen, Elric, Morden and Anna Sheridan are all exceptions to that, which is why I enjoyed writing about them so much. I think it would be interesting to write a novel about a pre-Shadow Within Morden, working for Earthforce's New Technologies Division.
Considering some of the criticism Star Trek fans have leveled at B5 in the past, can we hope to see these two fanbases peacefully coexist?
Cavelos: At this point, I think they are peacefully coexisting. At least I don't know anyone who's still fighting over which is better. We should just be happy that science fiction is doing fairly well on television and in the book market, so that high-quality product has some chance of getting exposure and reaching us.
Do you approach writing horror any differently than your SF?
Cavelos: Not really. I do a lot of research for everything I write. The subjects being researched might change, but my process is basically the same. If I write about a character's arm being burned, then I need to know how it would look, how it would feel, how it would smell and how it could be medically treated, if that's part of the story. I think giving details that allow readers to feel like they are there is critical, no matter what genre I'm writing in. Most of what I've written recently has actually been a science fiction/horror combination (I'd put all my B5 novels in that category).
Can we expect to see a Science of Babylon 5?
Cavelos: I'd be happy to do something like that down the road if they wanted me to. There's certainly more science in B5 than in a lot of other science fiction. Right now I'm developing a near-future science-fiction novel of my own, so I'd like that to be my next book (assuming a publisher buys it). It involves some fascinating research I discovered while writing The Science of the X-Files. After that, I'd love to visit the B5 universe again, either in fiction or nonfiction.
We've seen cameos from the ancestors of B5 characters in the past trilogies. Can we expect something similar from this set?
Cavelos: No. The trilogy is set during the time of the B5 series, so you'll see many B5 characters involved in the storyline, particularly in Books 2 and 3. John Sheridan, Anna Sheridan, Morden, Londo, Vir, Kosh, Garibaldi, Lorien and Elric (the Techno-mage from "The Geometry of Shadows") all play interesting parts. Characters from Crusade are also featured--Galen,
Alwyn and Isabelle. Galen and Elric are the main characters of the trilogy.
I tried to write the trilogy, though, so that readers could understand it even without having seen Crusade or B5. If I've done my job correctly, people who have seen both series will gain extra enjoyment from seeing how events in the books relate to those in the series, and from learning more about various characters. But those who don't know B5 backwards and forwards should still be able to become involved in the story and enjoy it.
Were you allowed to go off the outline JMS provided?
Cavelos: I guess I answered this in part earlier. While the general outline of the story is definitely Joe's--and it's a great story!--I changed a number of things and added many others, in places where I felt the changes would allow me to better tell the story Joe envisioned. I thought Joe was very wise in keeping the outlines general, conveying more the emotions and motivations the mages might be feeling rather than laying out everything in great detail. I wouldn't have any interest in writing a novel where all the decisions a writer normally makes had been dictated to me; there just wouldn't have been any creativity to it.
To give you one example of something I changed in Book 1, Joe's outline called for a love triangle between Galen, Isabelle and another male mage. This would trigger a fight between Galen and the other mage. I felt that the fight between Galen and the other mage (who became a character named Elizar) would tie into the overall plot better if it was not motivated by rivalry over Isabelle but by a desire for power on Elizar's part. (Why he wants this power is something that we figure out only later.) So I cut the love triangle and added other motivations, but the fight between Galen and Elizar remains.
Do the techno-mages have an overall role in the B5 universe?
Cavelos: That's a fascinating question. The answer is yes, more than you can imagine. You will learn their role in the last sentence of Book 3.
The writing styles of the past trilogies mesh very easily with the B5 mythology we've come to know from the TV series. How did you continue this unique thread in The Passing of Techno-Mages?
Cavelos: Since the trilogy occurs concurrently with the series, it was very interesting to think about how the mages' story intertwines with and affects the B5 story as we know it. I tried to be consistent with everything that's been established in the series, yet at the same time reveal that we didn't know the whole truth of certain events. You'll find the trilogy closely tied to several B5 episodes. I don't think I'll be revealing any major secrets if I say that Book 2 includes events from "The Geometry of Shadows"--the one episode of B5 in which mages appear. But you'll discover that what you thought happened in that episode is not what happened at all. Appearances can be deceiving, and the mages, like any good magicians, are all about deception and manipulation.
How did your experience writing your previous B5 novel, The Shadow Within, prepare you for this series?
Cavelos: The Shadow Within actually serves as a sort of "prequel" to the trilogy. As I said earlier about B5, it's not necessary that you've read The Shadow Within to understand and enjoy the trilogy, but you'll get added pleasure from the trilogy if you've read The Shadow Within.
I really became steeped in the B5 universe writing the earlier book, so that familiarity helped a lot in writing the trilogy. To do a good job, avoid inconsistencies and play off of established facts, I had to know the series extremely well (and I also had a great team of B5 fans helping me out where my memory failed). There were also certain themes that I had introduced in the earlier book that I found I could now explore in more depth and examine from a different perspective. That was very interesting. And plot points that I had worked out involving Anna Sheridan, Morden and the Shadows come back again in the trilogy.
Writing The Shadow Within in eight weeks (the amount of time given to me by the publisher) helped make writing the much more complex trilogy--where I had about six months for each book--seem manageable. I needed every minute of the six months, though. I followed a strict regimen, ingesting large quantities of Diet Coke, chocolate and grated Romano cheese, and eliminating several hours of sleep a night.
What did you learn by writing The Passing of the Techno-Mages?
Cavelos: That Brach's is my favorite type of chocolate, and Russell Stover my second favorite.
Seriously, I learned a huge amount. I believe Orson Scott Card said, "To be a good writer, you have to know everything about everything." I can't say I know that much, but my research has certainly taken me in some fascinating and varied directions. I learned a lot about how magicians work, the history of magic (many of the mages in the book are named after real magicians), how to read body language, how the brain works, the damage caused by burns (which the mages seem prone to), micro-electronic devices and other topics I'd rather keep secret for now. I also learned a fair amount about military figures who used misdirection (one of the mages' favorite techniques) in wartime. I love looking at history for parallels of situations in my books, because I find history to be a great resource--truth is usually stranger and more interesting than fiction, and when I've never been in a particular situation myself, I like to learn about people who were, and how they reacted. Since my husband studies history, he's great at giving me examples.
I also learned a lot about my weaknesses as a writer. It's my feeling that the journey to become the best writer I can be is a lifelong one, and I'm constantly trying to identify my weaknesses and improve those areas. I have many people read various drafts of my manuscripts and rip them apart--er, I mean critique them. That feedback is invaluable in showing me where I've done what I intended and where I've failed. A few of the things I learned on these books--I tend to belabor the obvious; when I try to be subtle no one gets it; and I like to start too many sentences with "And," "But," and "Yet." I cut out about 800 of those in Book 3. Hopefully I'm making progress on these areas and can look for a new bunch of weaknesses to target.
Who influenced you as a writer?
Cavelos: So many people, I hate to name anyone, since I'm sure to leave someone out. But I'll say Frank Conroy, Ursula LeGuin, H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, among many others.
How can writers incorporate the science back into science fiction without becoming inaccessible?
Cavelos: I think it's important that any science included in the story be relevant to the plot and to the theme (and it would be nice if it was also important to the character). Science shouldn't be included for the sake of proving one's knowledge or justifying oneself. An author's purpose is to tell a story, and if the science is in service to the story, and it is conveyed clearly and with only those details that contribute to the story, then I think readers will remain interested and will be able to understand. I'm not of the school that things should be explained in great scientific detail just to prove they are possible. A couple years ago, Dr. Miguel Alcubierre wrote a fascinating piece describing how warp drive might be possible. That was a scientific article in a science journal, which is where such a discussion belonged. Not in a novel.
In the trilogy, you'll find scientific concepts and information introduced only when they are important to the plot, theme and character--at least that's what I was trying to do. Many things in the trilogy aren't explained scientifically at all, because the characters don't understand them.
How did your stint as an editor affect your writing?
Cavelos: Editing has improved my writing a great deal. I'm much more aware of the common pitfalls in writing, so I'm less likely to fall victim to them. I also think I've attained some degree of objectivity about my work that helps me to see some of the flaws and attempt to fix them. Editing (or critiquing) the works of others can help any writer improve his skills. That's why I stress critiquing so much at the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop that I run.
Have the effects of film and television been good or bad for the SF genre?
Cavelos: Filmed SF is different from written SF. The expectations of the audience are different, and the techniques and tools the creator uses are different. Many developing SF writers have gained the majority of their knowledge of SF from TV and movies. That background does not serve them well as writers--you need to read to be able to write. There are many common flaws in the work of beginning writers that immediately reveal their lack of knowledge of written SF. I don't blame films and TV for that; we've had some wonderful filmed SF, and I value what those forms contribute to our genre. I do wish that written SF received more attention, because wonderful work is being done in that form as well. Speaking in very general terms, written SF allows for more sophistication, more complexity of ideas and characterization and plot. Filmed SF allows our genre to reach out to a larger audience, and offers exhilarating visuals and a more immediate, visceral experience. In a way, Joe managed to get the advantages of both forms in B5, because the series is in many ways a filmed novel.
Horror is an emotion; can SF be equated to an emotional response?
Cavelos: SF is not as focused on a particular emotion as horror is. Emotionally, it's a more diverse genre. But most SF makes us feel awe and wonder--at moments we can have an almost religious sense of our own smallness in the face of a vast universe. I'd say that a fair amount of SF also evokes horror.
How do you keep work like The Science of ... fun instead of feeling like academics?
Cavelos: In the case of The Science of The X-Files it was easy, because the show itself often has a great sense of fun. I can't imagine anything much more fun than researching whether humans might be genetically altered to have green blood, or whether a man whose every cell was cancerous might regrow a severed body part. I guess that tone carried over into The Science of Star Wars--those movies also have a great sense of fun and adventure, and, if I can, I want to make the exploration of issues like traveling through hyperspace fun, too (it ain't like dusting crops, you know).
How does one write, teach, edit and still find time for an iguana?
Cavelos: When the iguana declares that it is mating season and you're the lucky object of his affections, it's hard to fit in anything else. But it is very flattering.
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