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time.

So

a

little

bit

about

my

guest.

We

have

James

Bow.

James

Bow

writes

science

fiction

and

fantasy

for

both

kids

and

adults.

He's

been

a

fan

of

science

fiction

since

his

family

introduced

him

to

the

Doctor

who

on

TV

Ontario

in

1978

and

his

mother

read

his

classic

Science

Science

5

and

Fantasy

from

such

authors

as

Clifford

C.

And

J

R

to

I'll

get

him

to

say

it.

James

won

the

2017

Pricks

Aurora

Award

for

the

best

young

author

novel

in

Canada

for

Icarus

Down.

By

Day,

James

is

a

communication

officer

for

a

charitable

land

trust

protecting

lands

from

development

in

Waterloo

region

and

the

Wellington

County.

He

also

loves

trains

and

steer

cars.

He

lives

in

Kitchener,

Ontario

with

his

two

kids

and

his

spouse,

fellow

writer

partner

in

crime,

Aaron

B.

You

can

find

more

on

him

online

at.

James

Bow

Ca

and

you'll

I'll

have

that

across

the

screen

during

our

live

conversation.

So

let

me

get

James

in

here

and

let's

spill

some

tea

together.

Hi

there.

Hi

there.

Welcome,

James.

So

for

any

words

I

couldn't

pronounce,

could

you

pronounce

them

for

me,

please?

Well,

my

last

name

is

actually

pronounced

Bo,

not

bow,

but

a

lot

of

people

get

both.

I'm

so

sorry

about

that.

And

yeah,

I

like

trains

and

street

cars,

like

what

they

have

in

Toronto.

And

I

believe

it's

J.R.R.

tolkien,

although

I,

I

couldn't

tell

you

for

sure.

Well,

I,

I

really

apologize

for

saying

your

last

name

wrong.

So

you're

like

the

bow

and

arrow?

Yeah,

like

bow

and

arrow,

not

take

a

bow.

So

James,

I'm

going

to

take

you

way

back.

We

talked

a

little

bit

about

you

growing

up

in

your

bio

here.

So

who

is

James

as

a

little

guy

and

who's

James

now?

Well,

honestly,

I

don't.

You

know,

I,

I

see

the

same.

I

see

the

world

just

sort

of

the

same

eyes

as

I

was,

you

know,

when

I'm

10,

it's

as

big

and

as

terrifying

and

as

exciting

now

as

it

was

when

I

was

back

then.

I

was

living

in

downtown

Toronto

and

didn't

need

to

learn

how

to

drive

until

I

was

23

because

of

the

city.

Really

worked

well

on

foot

and

with

public

transit

and

I

was

living

with

my

parents,

of

course,

and

my

mother

read

to

me

before

Bedtime

really

quite

late.

Up

until

I

was

like

in

my.

About

12

or

so.

It's

one

thing

my

wife

Erin

and

I

have

resurrected.

She

has

me

read

to

her

before

we

head

to

bed,

before

we

go

to

bed.

And

that

helps

her

sleep,

but

it's

that

way.

It

also

makes

sure

that

we

keep

reading

and

we

have.

We

keep

on

seeing,

you

know,

getting

new

books

in.

And

so

back

then

I

was,

as

I

am

now,

quite

quite

the

nerd.

I

quite

liked

watching

Doctor

who

and

Star

Trek.

And

my

mother

introduced

me

to

a

whole

bunch

of

science

fiction

novels

from

the

50s

and

the

70s,

like,

as

you

mentioned,

Clifford

CMAC.

And

she

read

to

me

the

Lord

of

the

Rings,

JRR

Tolkien.

And

that

really

probably

just

set

something

off.

My

mother

was

also

a

writer

as.

And

my

parents

are

both

librarians,

so

they

had

a

love

of

books

that

they

transferred

onto

me.

Yeah.

So,

James,

did

you

find

having

somebody

read

to

you

really

open

up

your

imagination

as

a

child?

I

certainly

didn't

close

it

or

anything

like

that.

I

don't

think

it

hurt.

And

it

gave

me.

I

think

gave

me

an

appreciation

for

books.

Another

thing

that

helped

was

my

high

school,

Harvard

Collegiate

in

Toronto

at

the

time,

this

is

the

late

80s,

did

something

which

was

seen

as

quite

innovative.

They

just.

They

set

aside

20

minutes

of

the

school

day

after

homeroom

for

what

they

called

SPUR

or

silent,

personal,

uninterrupted

reading.

And

just

any

book

that

you

brought

in

was

fair

game.

And.

And

just

people

sat

and

read

and

I

don't

know,

I

don't

think

we

do

that

anymore.

And

I

think

that's,

you

know,

I

think

that's

been

a

big

loss.

It.

What

that

does

is

we

learning

about

a

book.

The

way

we.

We

tend

to

go

through

books

and

like

your

English

courses,

although,

I

mean

that

these

are

important

classes

where

we

learn

about

Shakespeare

and

whatever

else

is

on

the

curriculum.

But

the

way

we

get

in

depth

with

the

books,

the

way

we.

The

way

we

always

have

to

write

reports

about

them,

I

think

can

sometimes

wear

people

away

from

reading,

wear

them

out.

But

just

say,

this

is

your

time.

Bring

yourself

your

own

book,

whatever

you

want.

That

I

think

really

helps

build

love

for

reading

on

its

own

rather

than,

you

know,

it

may

means

that

reading

is

not

a

choreography

or

reading

is

not

homework.

Reading

is

just

something

that

you

do.

I

wonder

if

they

still

do

book

reports

in

school

today.

Well,

as

far

as

I

know,

I

mean,

my

kids

went

through

the

early

high

school

and.

And

I

mean,

they.

I

don't

think

much

has

changed

in

terms

of,

you

know,

you

read

a

book,

you.

The

Whole

class

sort

of

reads

a

book

chapter

by

chapter.

They

go

through

the

themes

and

the

meanings

and

the

metaphors

and

everything

and

it's

valuable

stuff,

but

it

is

still,

it's.

It

can

if

you're

not

careful,

sort

of

like

take

the

passion

or

take

the.

Just

the

whole

imagination

out

of

the

book

in

some

ways.

I

think

English

teachers,

although

they,

they

did,

they

did,

they

taught

these

books,

were

always

trying

to

find

ways

to

make

sure

that

didn't

happen.

And,

and

so

I

don't

think

that

has

changed,

but

I

have,

I

do

feel

that

I

haven't

seen

that

just

20

minutes

of

bring

your

book

and

read.

I

haven't

seen

that

these

days,

unfortunately.

Yeah.

So

what

books

would

you

bring

in

when

you

were

asked

to

bring

a

book

into

school?

Well,

I

mean

I

was

in.

I

was

enjoying

science

fiction

at

the

time

and,

and

I

was

enjoying

all

sorts

of

like

it

tended

to

be

heavy

on

the

action

side.

You

know,

that's

what

you,

you

know,

a

stereotypical

teenage

boy

type

thing.

Those

are

the

types

of

things

you

read.

I

went

through

the

foundation

series

around

then.

I

also

got

into

a

bit

of

the

spy

novels

like

39

Steps

I

recall

and,

and

stuff

like

that.

I

didn't

really

do

my

mother's

science

fiction

collection

till.

Until

much

later,

but

I

did,

I

did

find

things

that

were

sort

of

tended

to

be

at

more

action

oriented

or

genre

rather

than

literary.

So

James,

how

old

were

you

when

you

started

writing?

Well,

I

was

in

high

school.

I

was

a

Doctor

who

fan

since

1978

when

I

have.

My

family

happened

to

watch

an

episode

on

TV

Ontario

and

I

joined

fandom

when

I

was

12.

And

one

of

the

things

they

have

in

fandom

in

is

fan

fiction.

Fans

write

stories

set

in

the

universe

of

the

story

of

the

series

or

story

they

love.

And

I

got

into

it

then

a

lot

of.

And

as

I

went

through

high

school

I

graduated

to

editing

and

putting

together

fan

fiction

magazines.

The

whole

art

of

photocopying

and

getting,

you

know,

doing

our

own

print

run

with

the

Cirlox

binder,

you

know,

with

those

ring

things

that's

kind

of,

you

know,

there's

so

much

more

fan

fiction

around

now

and

not

all

of

it.

A

lot

of

it's

so

fat,

so

fantastic.

But

I

mean

I

think

the

whole

physical

copy

and

the,

the

production

process

is

something

that

is

sort

of

that,

that

I

miss.

But

yeah,

I

was,

I

was

passionate

about

that

hobby

but

I

thought

of

it

as

a

hobby

in

my

academic

work.

I

was

knuckling

down

and

toward

working

on

geography

and

urban

planning

and

going

into

university

for

that

degree

to

look

for

a

real

job.

And

unfortunately

I

graduated

with

an

urban

planning

degree

from

the

University

of

Waterloo

in

May

1995.

Oh,

just

right

between.

Not

sure

how

many

of

your

viewers

will

remember

that.

Recognize

these

names.

Bob

Ray

and

Mike

Harris,

the

leaders

of

the

government

of

Ontario.

Kind

of

gives

our

ages

away.

James.

Yeah,

that

does.

It

does.

But

I

mean

I

say

I

make

a

joke

of

this,

but

honestly

I

think

Bob

Ray

did

the

best

he

could,

but

he

was

still

governing

during

a

serious

recession

that

wiped

out

all

the

private

practices

that

would

typically

hire

a

young

graduate.

And

then

he

was

take

and

then

he

lost

to

Mike

Harris

who

was

this

conservative

who

then

did

a

big

cost

cutting

thing

with

the

government.

So

suddenly

I

was

competing

for

government

jobs

with

government

entry

level

jobs

with

senior

and

senior

managers

who

had

10

years

of

experience

or

more.

So

I

sort

of

come

out

with

of

university

with

this

degree

and

this

optimism

and

nobody's

hiring.

And

I

took

temp

jobs,

at

least

I

could

type.

I

fell

into

the

tech

sector

before,

which

paid

well,

but

was

a

soul

sucking

type

of

job.

I

did

more

of

these

low

level

administrative

jobs,

you

know,

paying

the

bills

and

scrambling

up

what

I

could.

But

what

I

realized

was

that

throughout

university,

throughout

high

school,

throughout,

even

these

jobs

that

I

was

working

on,

the

things

that

I

loved

the

most

was

when

I

was

writing,

when

I

was

creating

something.

And

so

when

my

in

my

you

try

to

figure

out

the

date

here,

I

guess

I

would

have

been

late,

very

late

20s,

early

30s.

I

decided

I'm

going

to

try

and

write

something

that's

in

my

own

universe.

I've

done

all

this

fan

fiction,

let's

try

to

do

something

that's

in

my

own

universe.

And

I

put

together

a

series.

I

put

together

what

became

three

middle

grade

young

adult

fantasy

novels

and

submitted

them

and

finally

got

them

produced.

They

and

it

became

the

Unwritten

Girl,

which

was

released

in

2006,

and

the

sequels

Fathom

Five

and

the

Young

City.

So

yeah,

I

officially

became

a

writer

when

I

was

34

back

in

2006.

But

honestly

I've

been

a

writer

since

I

was

in

high

school.

I

just

hadn't

realized

it

yet.

You're

also

a

freelance

journalist

as

well,

right?

James?

Yeah,

well

that

came

up

after

when

I

committed

to

writing

and

getting

my

fiction

published.

It

was

about

I

wanted

to

do

other

things

related

to

writing.

So

I

just

pushed

ahead

on

submitting

articles.

I

managed

to

get

a

few

contacts

in

the

publishing

industry

to

do

these

nonfiction

work

for

hire,

educational

books

for

kids,

for

school

libraries

type

of

thing.

And

those,

those

are

turned

out

Quite,

you

know,

a,

you

know,

a

whole

bunch

a

year.

They

give

you

a

topic,

they

say

you

have,

you

know,

you

need

to

give

us

an

outline.

It's

32

pages.

You

have

a

month

to

write

it.

Whereas

in

fiction

between

accepting

of

a

novel

and

the

publication

is

two

years.

This

was

a

lot

quicker

timeline,

but

that

was

exciting

in

its

own

right.

And,

and,

and

I,

and

I

felt,

and

I

was

privileged

to

be

able

to

do

that

and

when

a.

I

tried

some

business

writing

I

when

I

announced

a

call

from

my

community

newsletter,

a

newspaper

and

did

a

weekly

column

there

for

about

10

years.

And

that

pushed

me

into

the.

Being

a

communications

officer

for

organizations

like

the

Canadian

Water

Network

and

currently

Rare

Charitable

Research

Reserve.

So

I

am

privileged

to

be

able

to

say

that

I

work

as

a

writer,

as

a

communicator,

communications

officer

and

I'm,

I'm

proud

of

the

work

that

I'm

doing

for,

for

Rare.

But,

and,

but

fiction

is

still

my

first

love.

Unfortunately.

It

still

doesn't

pay

the

bills.

Right.

Writing

doesn't

pay

bills,

guys.

It

does

not.

I

mean

unless

you

work

really

hard

or

get

really

lucky

or

you're

doing

things

like

freelance

journalism

and,

or

you're.

You've

managed

to

make

maybe

become

a

communications

officer

for

a

particular

organization

that

you,

that

you

believe

in.

Yeah.

So

James,

tell

us

a

little

bit

about

that

organization

that

you

work

for.

The

Rare

Charitable

Research

Reserve

is

a

charitable

land

trust.

We

protect

a

land

from

development

and

maintain

it

in

as

natural

estate

as

possible

for

the

benefit

of

the

surrounding

community.

We

currently

protect

1500

acres

of

environmentally

significant

lands

across

nearly

a

dozen

properties

in

Waterloo

region

and

Wellington

County.

And

part

of

that

is

not

only

just

we,

we

don't

believe

in,

just

in

the

traditional

method

of

conservation

like

taking

a

land,

fencing

it

off

and

say.

And

keeping

people

out

and

saying

it's

protected.

Now

if

nothing

else,

people,

if

people

don't

understand

the

benefits

this

land

has

to

them,

then

the

political

will

to

protect

these

lands

in

the

future

won't

be

around.

So

we

try

to

integrate

these

protected

areas

with

you

know,

to

the

community,

with

the

surrounding

communities.

We

try

to

get

them

to

understand

what

these

lands

mean

to

them

in

terms

of

clean

air,

clean

water,

the

ability

to

walk

on

trails

in

some

of

these

lands

for

their

physical

and

mental

health

and

that

sort

of

thing.

So

I'm

the,

I'm

the

communications

officer.

So

I

do

things

like

produce

biannual

newsletter.

They're

bi

weekly

e

news

and

press

releases.

And

so

there's

a

lot

of

creativity

that

goes

into

that

and

that's.

So

there's

a.

So

it's

a

lot

to

like

about

that

job

for

sure.

And

that

area

is

gorgeous.

Like

I

mentioned

before

we

went

live,

I

was

just

there

a

couple

weeks

ago

and,

you

know,

there's

so

much

out

there,

especially

around

the

Peterborough

area

and

all

of

that,

like

beautiful

lakes

and

parks

and

scenery

that

you

want

to

see

and

check

out.

So

have

you

been

in

Kitchener

your

whole

life?

No,

I

was

born

in

Toronto

and

raised

in

downtown

Toronto

until

I

was

about.

Until

my

last

year

in

high

school.

And

then

my

parents

moved

with

me

as

I

went

to

university,

the

University

of

Waterloo.

So

I

was

in

Toronto

for

the

first

20

years

of

my

life

and

then

moved

up

to

Kitchener

Waterloo

and

have

been

there

ever

since.

Kitchener

Waterloo

is

about

an

hour's

drive

away

from

Toronto.

So

I

do

s.

And

I

do

sort

of

feel

like

I.

I

may

be

outside

of

Toronto,

but

I'm

still

very

much

a

part

of

Toronto.

It's

like

a

relationship

a

grandchild,

a

grandfather,

grandparent

has

with

their

grandchild.

You

get

to

go

into

the

city,

you

get

to

love

it

and

enjoy

it.

And

as

soon

as

it

starts

to

smell,

you

leave.

Yep.

You

leave

right

away.

Right.

Beat

him

up

on

sugar

and

then

someone

send

them

home.

Yes,

exactly.

So,

James,

can

you

tell

us

a

little

bit

about

what

the

Urban

Planet

Planner.

It

does?

Because

we

have

a

guest

here

that

would

like

to

know

more

about

it.

The.

Sorry,

say

that

again.

Why

the

field

of

urban

planner.

Urban

planning.

Urban

planning

is

the

design

of

cities

and,

well,

basically

the

design

of

where

people

live.

Okay.

We

do.

It

ranges

from

anything

from,

you

know,

zoning,

what

goes

where.

Where.

Where

do

we

put

the

houses,

where

do

we

put

the

commercial

centers,

where

do

we

put

the

industries,

where

do

the

roads

go?

That

sort

of

thing.

It's.

City

building

is

one

way

of

putting

it.

It's

also.

But

it's

also

about

how

to

make

spaces

livable

for

people.

So

that's.

So,

James,

do

you

work

with

the

city

of

Waterloo?

Well,

I

mean,

I.

I

mean,

I

came

up

with

a

degree

in

urban

planning.

The

official

degree

is

environmental

science,

but

I

didn't

end

up

being

in

the

field.

I

just.

So

I'm

this

person

who

has

these

skills.

Among

them,

a

degree

in

urban

planning

that

I

guess

informs

my

writing

when

I

write

about

people

in

cities

and

stuff.

But

I

have

not

been

able

to

sort

of

apply

it

to

a

professional

job,

although

as

a

communications

officer

for

a

charitable

land

trust

in

Waterloo

region.

There

is

a

lot

of

contact

we

have

with

the

various

cities

around

us.

And

so

I.

I

know

the

vocabulary

of

what

we

have

to

talk

about

with

these

people.

And

so

I

guess

in

some

ways

that

does

help.

There

is

some

connection

there.

So.

Yeah.

Oh,

that's

cool.

Yeah.

Well,

now

let's

get

into

your

tea.

The

tea

that

you

gave

me

was

timing,

timing,

excitement

and

Ariel.

And

before

we

went

live,

you

told

me

was

stretching

odd

for

Ariel.

So

let's

get

into

this.

Get

into

that

stretching

odd

with

the

timely

excitement

in

Ariel.

Well,

honestly,

I

was

put

on

the

spot

for.

It's

like,

what

give

me

letter.

Give

me

words

for

these

letters.

And

I

just

sort

of

put

down

what

came

up

first

and

timely

and

what

was

my

E?

Excitement.

Excitement.

Timely

and

excitement

just

sort

of

popped

up.

And

then

it

was

like

I

struggled

with

what

the

A

was.

And

when

I

say

I

stretched,

it

was

like

I

had

to

figure

I

wasn't

sure

what

to

do.

So

I

stretched

and

thought

about

it

and

came

up

with

the

word

Ariel.

Although

it's

more

based

on

Kate

Bush's

album

from

way

back

called

Ariel.

Yeah,

but.

So

that's

what

I

meant

when

I

said

I

was

stretching.

It

wasn't.

There

wasn't

a

lot

of

deep

thought

about

what

I

was,

what

those

were,

what

those

words

were.

Except

that

I

wanted

to

try

and

bring

in

something

that

was

different,

I

guess,

other

than

say.

And.

Well,

it

kind

of.

It

kind

of

resonates

with

what

you

do

too,

as

well.

Right.

Everything

takes

time

and

the

excitement

and

then

the

aerial,

like,

working

with

the

zones

and

plans

and

all

of

that.

Right.

Yeah.

Ariel.

I

guess

I

also

think

it's

like

the

big

antenna.

You're

up

really

high,

and

you're

looking

down

on

everything.

You're

looking

down

on

this.

You're.

You're

high

and

kind

of

vulnerable

because

it's

like.

It's

not

like

you

have

an

observation

pod

around

you.

You're

serving.

You're

way

up

there,

hanging

on

is.

Like

this

spindly

metal

scaffold.

It's

like

if

you

fall

off,

it's

a

long

way

down.

But

obviously,

that's

the

excitement.

That's

the

excitement.

At

the

same

time,

you're

looking

down

on

a

tremendous

view.

And

I

guess,

yeah,

I

could

probably

BS

a

sort

of

whole

idea

about.

That's

very

much

like

writing.

You're

looking

down

on

this

view

that

you're

privy

to.

Your

characters

aren't.

And

hopefully

when

you're.

This

is

also

a

view

that

you're

creating,

and

hopefully

you

do

a

good

job

on

it.

Well,

and.

And

that's

the

thing,

right,

is

the

twisted

tea.

I

love

these

twisted

teas

that

my

guests

give

me.

And

I

Liked

putting

you

guys

on

the

spot.

And

I

like

that

you

guys

really

think

about

the

words

and

that

because

they

resonate

with

you.

Right.

I.

I

can't

say.

Okay,

well,

James,

this

is

your

tea.

Like,

you

know,

timely

excitement

in

Ariel.

Because

I,

I'm

just

meeting

you.

Right.

So

I

can't.

I'm

just

gonna

guess,

right?

Yeah,

pretty

much.

But,

you

know,

it.

Our

teas

all

live

within

us.

You

know,

when

words

come

to

us

that

might

not

make

sense

to

other

people.

So

people

might

say,

well,

why

is

his

tea

that.

Why

did

he

give

those

words?

Right.

So

that's

why

I

always

try

to

dig

deep

into

the

tea

and

spill

it

and

make

sense

of

the

tea.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

James,

let's

get

into

your

books

because

Mickey

sent

me

the.

The

Sun

Runners.

What's

that

book

about?

Well,

the

Sunrunners

is

the

start

of

what

I'm

calling

a

sequence

of

books.

We're

calling

the

Silent

Earth

sequence.

And

the

backstory

behind

it

is

that

the

Earth

has

not,

never

does

not

solve

climate

change.

It

just

pushes

the

consequences

back

long

enough

that

it's

able

to

establish

colonies

throughout

the

inner

solar

system.

And

it

goes

on

for

a

little

while

before

the

consequences

of

climate

change

catch

up

to

Earth.

And

through

catastrophe,

instability,

war,

the

Earth

goes

silent.

And

all

shuttle

service

that

the

Earth

used

to

provide

stop,

stops.

And

so

the

colonies

of

the

inner

solar

system

are

left

on

their

own

in

various

stages

of

self

sufficiency,

or

in

Mercury's

case,

this

is

the

sun

runners,

not

self

sufficient.

Not

self

sufficient

at

all.

So

they

have

a

really

big

problem

because

they

were

importing

two

thirds

of

their

food

from

Earth.

So

it's

a

story

about

how,

how

they

deal

with

that.

And

it

takes

place

over

sort

of

two

sort

of

plot

lines

that

take

place

50

years

apart.

One

at

the

start

of

the

Silence,

where

a

young

officer

of

one

of

the

latitude

towns

on

Mercury,

because

these

towns,

these

cities

are

always

moving

on

rails

across

the

surface

of

Mercury

to

keep

ahead

of

the

dawn.

So

they

stay

on

the

dark

side

of

the

planet

and

avoid

the

direct,

you

know,

the

intense

direct

sunlight.

So

Adelaide

is

a

lieutenant

on

one

of

these

latitude

towns.

And

she

has

to

face

some,

make

some

hard

choices

as

that

eventually,

as

she

deals

with,

you

know,

this,

her

colonies

starvation

and

breakdown

of

order.

And

this

eventually

leads

her

to

wearing

a

wrought

iron

crown

as

a

queen,

or

officially

stadtholder,

it's

a

Dutch

word

meaning

steward,

in

charge

of

one

of

these

towns.

And

50

years

later,

her

granddaughter

Frida

is

a

crown

princess

who

would

really

much

rather

be

an

engineer

she's

like,

next

in

line

to

the

throne

and

her

dreams

are

shattered

when

an

accident

costs

her

most

of

most

for

arm,

one

arm

and

a

good

deal

of

her

hand,

other

hand.

And

also

it

turns

her

complete

life

completely

upside

down

when

her

mother

dies

in

that

accident.

So

she's

a

young

and

vulnerable

queen

and

butting

heads

with

her

grandmother,

Adelaide,

who

is

a

dowager

and

regent.

And

just

when

the

Earth

wakes

up

and

makes

contact

for

the

first

time

in

50

years.

So

Frida

would

like

to,

you

know,

wants

to.

Is

eager

to

end

Mercury's

isolation,

but

Adelaide's

suspicious

as

heck

and

worries

about

all

the

other

latitude

towns

willingness

to

accept

everything

the

Earth

has

to

offer

without

question.

So

it.

That's

a

brief

summary

of

what

the

story

is

about,

but

it's.

I

mean,

it's

about

a

story

of

intergenerational

trauma,

about

learning

about

your

own

privilege

and

overcoming

tremendous

obstacles

and

weather

and

the,

you

know,

the

dangerous

necessity

of

hope.

Oh,

wow.

So

it's

got.

It's

got

a

lot

in

it.

Yeah,

well,

I.

The

story

has

been

10

minutes,

10

years

in

the

way,

in

the

making.

And

a

lot

of

things,

when

I

write,

I

tend

to

sort

of

throw

things

at

the

wall

and

see

what

sticks,

and

then

I

sort

of

scrape

away

what,

you

know,

sweep

aside.

It's

like

cookie

spaghetti

right

on

the

wall.

If

it

sticks,

it's

cooked.

Yeah.

And

then

I

have

to

sort

of,

like,

clean

things

up

a

bit.

And

so

it

was

a

lot

in

there.

I

mean,

the

story

started

really

with

the

image

of

a

crown

princess

of

a

alien

world,

you

know,

of

this

very

technological

town,

but

somebody

who

had

all

this

privilege

and

sort

of.

And

royalty

wanting

to

do

a

job

that

was

a

lot

more

down

to

Earth.

And

I

expanded

from

that,

asking

questions

like,

okay,

who

is

this

woman?

Why

is

she

there?

Why.

Why

does.

Why

does

she

have

this

conflict

of

desires?

Why?

And

it

just

built

from

that

in

terms

of,

you

know,

I

put

the

story

on

Mercury

with

the

Earth

not

being

there.

Why

wasn't

the

Earth

there?

Why

was

it

silent?

And

initially

it

was

like,

why,

when

the

Earth

comes

out

of

the

silence,

why

is

Frida

initially

Frida's

mother

so

dead

set

against

renewing

contact

with

Earth?

And

Aaron,

my

partner

in

crime

and

fellow

writer,

mentioned

it's

like,

well,

if

her

mother

is

so

antagonistic,

maybe,

you

know,

maybe

she

was

there

at

the

start

of

the

silence.

Of

course,

I

mean,

it

couldn't

be

her.

That's,

you

know,

that's.

That's

not

enough

time.

So

in

the

shadows,

watching.

Yeah.

So

that

becomes.

So

that

that

role

became

her

grandmother,

Adelaide.

And

then

I

explored

Adelaide's

story.

It's

like,

why

was

she,

you

know,

what

happened

to

her

when

the

Earth

went

silent?

And

that's

how

the,

that's

how

the

story

built

just

from

that

one

image

to

a

planet

that

is

a

whole

colony

that

gone

through

hell

for

50

years

and

was

not

sure

how

to

respond.

Now

that

the

Earth

comes

back

and

then

going

even

further

from

that,

you

know,

I

have

to

ask

myself,

why

was,

why

did

the

Earth

fall

solid?

And

if

there

are

colonies

on

Mercury,

I

mean

Mercury

would

not

be

the

first

place

we

would

go.

What's

happening

on

Venus,

what's

happening

on

Mars,

what's

happening

on

the

asteroid

belt?

And

just

from

that

one

image,

a

whole

universe

grew.

And

part

of

that's

covered

in

the

companion

anthology,

Tales

from

the

Silence.

So

James,

how

did

you

get

the

title

for

the

book?

The

Sun

Runners

is

just

taken

from

the

whole

concept

of

these

towns

that

are

constantly

moving,

staying

ahead

from

the

sun.

They're

running

from

the

sun.

And

that's,

I

mean

that's,

that's

really

it.

I

will

say.

The

idea

of

that

came

from

Kim

Stanley

Robinson

and

his

book

2312.

He

pictured

this

city

on

Mercury

called

Terminator.

And

it

was,

the

brilliance

of

his

design

is

that

it's

on

rails,

but

the

stretch

across

all,

all

the

way

around

Mercury

and

the

sun,

it's

the,

the

heat

of

the

sun,

it

causes

the

rails

to

expand

which

pushes

the

city

further

and

keeps

it

in

the

dark.

It's

a,

it's

a

fail

safe

concept.

You

know,

it's

just,

it's

an

act

of

physics.

I

ran

with

that

idea

and

made

the

cities

mobile

so

they

could

go

faster

than

the,

you

know,

than

this,

so

they

can

move

ahead

into

the,

into

the

far

dark,

so

to

speak.

And,

but

I

made

sure

to

show

my

work

by

calling

those

rails

that

these

cities

were

running

on

Robinson

rails.

And

I

acknowledged

it

further

by

having

somebody

say

name

for

Kim

Stanley

Robinson,

the

renowned

21st

century

philosopher

who

believed

yada,

yada,

yada.

So

I

figured

that

way

he

wouldn't

complain.

So,

James,

your

books

are

for

the

young

adults,

right?

Correct.

I.

Young

adults

are

definitely

welcome

to

read

them.

And

I

do

love

reading

young

adult

literature.

I

feel

there's

a

nice,

there's

a

great

clarity

in

the

story

and

the

coming

of

age

tale,

which

is

in

a

lot

of

young

adult

fiction

is

just

such

a

powerful

plot.

And

so

I

come

back

to

that

again

and

again.

So

I

guess

I

write

what

I

want

to

read

and

I

like

reading

young

adult

and

so

My

books

come

out

as

young

adult,

but

I'm

not

intending,

I'm

not

like

firmly

saying

I'm

writing

a

young

adult

book.

I'm

writing

a

book,

it

happens

to

fit

well

with

the

young

adult

audience.

But

also

it's

if

anybody

else

wants

to

come

in

and

read

anybody

older,

because

there's

plenty

of

adults

who

like

to

read

a

young

adult

fiction,

they're

welcome

to

it

too.

So

James,

you

have

another

book

here

that

I

was

sent,

the

Tales

from

the

Silence.

Is

that

the

book

before

the

Sunrunners

or

after?

It's

a

companion

anthology

when

I,

which

when

I

wrote

the.

The

Sun

Runners

is

I

guess

the

first

book.

You

can

read

them

in

any

order.

Although

the

tales

and

sounds

would

have

a

couple

of

spoilers

for

the

Sun

Runners.

But

as

part

of

the

whole

expanding

of

the

universe

thing

that

I

mentioned

before,

there's

a

companion

novel

which

should

it

be

printed,

might

come

out

in

2026,

which

features

Venus

and

Mars.

So

I,

I,

you

know,

I

didn't

stop

writing

with

the

Sunriders.

I

burst

on

ahead

with

the

cloud

writers

and

I

had

a

couple

of

short

stories

or

short

story

ideas

with,

with

as

well.

And

I

didn't

want

to

go

through

the

whole

individual

process

of

submitting

these

things

through

magazines

as

long

alongside

the

Sun

Runners.

So

I

worked

out

interesting

arrangement

with

the

publisher

Shadow

Paw

Press,

which

is

this

Canadian

publisher

that's

doing

a

great

job

with

bring,

bringing

these

books

out.

And

I,

I

said

I,

if

you

will

take

the

risk

on

the

Sun

Runners

and

publish

it

traditionally

he

also

has

a

independent,

independent,

an

independent

publishing

wing,

then

I

will

put

together

an

anthology

and

put

it

out

that

way.

And

so

I

approached

a

number

of

authors

in

my

community,

Science

fiction,

Canadian

science

fiction,

young

adult,

even

my

old,

some

of

my

fans

and

old

friends

and

Doctor

who

fandom

and

invited

them

to

play

in

my

sandbox.

And

so

they

came

up

with

their

own

short

stories

set

on

other

parts

of

the

silent

Earth

universe.

We

have

stories

on

the

asteroid

belt,

on

Mars,

on

Venus

and

on

the

moon,

and

a

couple

of

stories

on

Mercury

as

well

through

within

this

50

year

period.

And

that

became

known

as

Tales

in

the

Silence.

So,

and

we

were

able

to

release

both

books

at

the

same

time

earlier

in

November.

If

I

remember

right.

I'm

trying

to

remember

Doctor

who.

That

was

the

guy

with

the

phone.

Phone

booth,

right.

Yep.

I

mean

it's

just,

it's,

we

just

celebrated

the

61st

anniversary.

It,

that

was

about

over

15

different

actors

who

have

played

the

lead

role

that

I

think

that

is

a

good

series

to

enjoy

and

write

Fan

fiction

for.

Especially

if

you

want

to

practice

the

craft

of

writing.

Because

really

at

the

core,

although

it

dresses

itself

up

as

science

fiction,

what

Doctor

who

really

is

is

a

story

about

a

wizard

with

a

magical

cabinet

that

can

take

him

anywhere

in

the

universe

at

any

time.

I

believe

it

used

to

play

at

6pm

where

I,

where

I

live.

Yeah,

that

would

have

been

PBS.

I

think

so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

TV

Ontario.

It

was

like

Thursdays

and

Saturdays

at

7:30.

And

you

know,

and

the

music,

of

course

it's,

you

know,

suddenly

become

a

lot

cooler

to

watch

it

now

that

it's

come

back.

Now

that

it's

come

back

and

it's

on

Disney

plus.

But

yeah,

that's

a

very

easy

show

to

write

fan

fiction

for

because

it's

like

you

have

a

portable

hero

that

can

be

dropped

into

any

story

that

you

choose

to

compose.

And

so

you

can,

you

can

take

any

sort

of,

you

can

take

the

hero

off

the

shelf,

you

take

various

villains

off

the

shelf,

or

you

can

just,

you

know,

write

your

own

story.

And

the.

In

the

what

the

hero

is

available

for

you

to

sort

of

set

things

rolling

and

it

allows

you

to

just

practice

the.

I

mean,

fan

fiction

is

fun

in

its

own

right,

but

it's

also

a

great

vehicle

for

practicing

and

beca.

And

improving

your

craft

as

a

writer.

So

James,

with

your

work,

do

you

time

travel

in

your

books?

Well,

I

guess.

I

mean

I,

I'm

visiting

the

future.

Well,

a

future

with

the

Sun

Runners

and

Tales

from

the

Silence

Icarus

down

as

my

other

science

fiction

book

that's

also

set

in

the

future.

My

fantasy

stuff

tends

to

be

contemporary,

so

actors

from.

Sorry,

characters

from

this

day

and

age

encountering

weird

and

strange

stuff.

So.

And

yeah,

I

get

deeply

involved

in

the,

in

these

characters

worlds

as

I

build

up

their

stories

and,

and

I

enjoy

seeing

what,

seeing

how

they

do.

So

I

guess,

yeah,

I'm

a

visitor.

I'm

the

camera.

I'm

the

camera

over

their

shoulder.

I'm

privy

to

their

thoughts

and

so

that's,

that's,

that's

a

kind

of

time

travel,

I

guess.

Would

you

like

to

time

travel,

James?

Well,

I'd

like.

I

guess

I

want

to

maybe

sort

of

see

if

there's

anything

to

sort

of

like

look

forward

to

after

four

years

from

now.

I've

thought

about.

Sorry,

I

have

thought

about

like

be

nice

to

go

back

and

see

what

things

were

like

my.

Or

when

in

my

childhood.

But

honestly,

I

mean,

we

may

say

that

things

are

worse

today

than

they

were

yesterday.

Things

weren't

as

good

as

they

were.

But

the

honest

truth

is

our

happy

childhood

came

with

A

whole

bunch

of

other

troubles

that

people

were

fighting

against.

Things

weren't

good

for,

you

know,

our

native

first

nations

people

with

the

residential

schools,

civil

rights

were

under

threat

and

had

to

be

fought

for.

So.

And

you

don't

have

to

go

back

very

far

for

people.

For

people

who

are,

you

know,

who.

Who

are

demon.

For

people

who

really

had

trouble

sort

of

standing

up

in

society

for

who

they

were.

So

I

believe

David

Suzuki

was

the

one

who

said

it's

like

the.

There

are

no

real

good

old

days.

The

good.

The

good

old

day.

The

best

day

is

today,

because

today

is

the

day

that

you

have

control

over

tomorrow.

Yeah.

So,

yeah,

I.

If

I

were

to

have

access

to

a

time

machine,

it

would

be

to

visit,

not

to.

Not

to.

To

move

out.

Right.

Just

and

pop

in.

Pop

in

and

out.

Kind

of

like

back

to

the

future.

Right.

Just

pop

in

and

out.

Be

a

tourist.

I

would

not

be

an

immigrant

or

a

refugee

from

the.

I

would

not

be

a

refugee

to

the

past.

So,

James,

do

you

have

any

books

in

progress

that

are

coming

out

in

the

future

that

you'd

like

to

talk

about?

Well,

the

next

release

from

Shadow

Pop

Press

is

a

book

that

I

released

in

2019

under

with

Roots

Publications

that's

being

reprinted.

It

was

called

the

Night

Girl.

It's

a

new

adult

fantasy

novel

set

in

Toronto

about

a

young

one

who

comes

to

the

big

city

looking

for

employment

and

finds

it

as

a

administrative

assistant

for

a

jobs

agency

that

finds

jobs

for

goblins

and

trolls.

You

could

say

her

boss

is

a

real

troll,

but

actually

he's

a

goblin

and

it's

not

that

bad,

that

sort

of

thing.

And

I

am

working

on.

I

have

a

draft,

but

I'm

working

on

revising

it

for

of

the

Cloud

Riders,

which

is

a

companion

novel

in

the

silent

Earth

sequence

set

on

Venus

and

Mars

a

little

bit

after

the

Earth

falls

silent.

So

it's

like

an

interplanetary

country

mouse

city

mouse,

where

we

see

these

compare

and

contrast

these

two

worlds

through

a

pair

of

characters

that

end

up

following

each

other

between

the

two

of

them,

the

two

planets.

So,

James,

which

planet

do

you

prefer,

Venus

or

Mars?

Well,

you'd

have

to

read

the

novel

to

see

why

for

sure.

But

I

think

I

definitely

would

prefer

Venus

because

it's

a

cooperative

society

where

people

are

trying

their

best

to

do

their

best

for

everybody.

Whereas

Mars

is

very

much

set

up

by

tech

Bros

and

has

and

is

run

by

the

families

who

are

operating

as

a

type

of

mafia.

So

I

think

Venus

has

a

kinder

society,

although

the

two

are

trading

with

each

other.

And

also

it

comes

up

Venus

has

Earth's

gravity,

roughly,

whereas

Mars

is

one

third

of

that

gravity.

And

that

presents

some

challenges.

If

Venus

were

to

recolonize

the

Earth,

for

instance,

they'd

be

able

to

stand

up.

Martians

would

not.

So,

yeah,

Venus

is.

Venus

is

the

colony

I

think

people

would

want

to

live

on

if

they

couldn't

live

on

Earth.

Assuming,

of

course,

they

could

set

up

a

decent

colony

for

it.

You'd

be

on

uber

zeppelins

flying

about

50

kilometers

above

the

surface.

And

so,

I

mean,

that's

just

so

cool.

So,

James,

how

do

you

build

your

characters

for

your

books?

Well,

a

lot

of

it

I

do

sort

of

on

the

fly

by

the

seat

of

my

pants.

I.

I

have

an

image

of

who

they

are

initially.

I

think

they

come

into

focus

enough

that

I'm

able

to

start

writing

and

exploring

who

they

are.

For

example,

Frida,

I

had

the

starting

point

of

a

princess

that

wants

to

be

an

engineer.

And

then.

And

then

I

explore.

You

know,

I

ask

the

questions

of

why

is

she.

Why

is

she

the

way

she

is?

And

then

why

are

the

people

around

her.

How

do

the

people

around

her,

you

know,

affected

by

her

or

affecting

her?

And,

you

know,

you

start

out,

I

think

you

start

out

with

very

basic

characters

that

you

embellish

as

you

go

along

based

on

the

answers

to

the

questions

that

you

ask.

Like,

we

start

out,

started

out

with

the

antagonistic

relationship

between

Frida

and

her

grandmother.

Why

was

she

so

antagonistic?

Why

was

she

so

cynical

about

the

Earth

coming

back?

Well,

what

was

she

like

when

the

Earth

went

silent?

So,

yeah,

it's.

I

mean,

it's

a

very

organic

process

for

me.

I

don't

have.

I

don't

make

charts

or

note

cards

too

much,

so

much

as

I

just

write

and

see

what

feels

right.

Although