Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Declan Conner, whose novels A Climate Change and AI Doomsday trilogy were recently published on Amazon.
A Climate Change and AI Doomsday trilogy is your first major trilogy since The Prepper’s Son trilogy, about which we interviewed you in 2021. What around the world is the inspiration behind this trilogy?
The main inspiration was when I moved from Brazil where they are battling to save the disappearing rainforest that affects climate, to Portugal, only to land in the middle of raging wildfires, drought, and crop failures, with reservoirs and rivers drying up. This wasn’t happening only in Portugal, but throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Since then, it only appears to have worsened, spreading to Canada and the USA, with California in recent years brought to its knees at one point. As average temperatures soar, that experience together with my furtive mind speculated on what effect that could have on humanity in the future by taking it to extremes.
What about the earth-shattering effects of climate change and the advent of AI drew you to write about their consequences?
I’m not a climate change activist, nor am I trying to preach on the subject, because it’s nothing new in the history of Earth and dependent on Mother Earth’s will, though admittedly, I guess that industry has a part to play. I can remember as a child in the UK standing in line to collect water from a standpipe in the street during a drought, but that taught me how precious water is to life that we all take for granted at arm’s length at the sink. During research, I was shocked to discover that in France during heatwaves from 2014 that they estimate 32,658 people had died from heat exhaustion. When I started writing the trilogy, I only intended to set it in a world in the future after a period of thirty years of drought had destroyed most of the population of Earth, but the advent of AI gathered pace as I completed the first book, which can be read as a stand-alone story. It was too tempting not to add it into the trilogy plot with talk of AI programmed to have political agendas.
You have travelled extensively and now live in Portugal. How far has that given you a distinct perspective?
Well, as I said, I landed in the middle of a drought and wildfires that caused many to die, but it also left the population perilously close to being without drinking water. It’s common knowledge that without drinking water, people can only survive for three days. Temperatures here hit 45C /113 F for an extended period, so that kind of hones your perspective. Not to mention attempting to relax on the sofa with no AC and having the sweat drained from you, and with no respite.
Let’s
talk about the individual books in the trilogy and the characters:
In Book 1 The Denverines: Ashes to Ashes, your main character Jack Cole, is a survivalist - and survivor - living in the Wastelands of Colorado. His precarious existence is shattered when he returns home to find his parents killed and his pregnant wife and child taken by the Denverines. Who are the Denverines and how much can you tell us about the society in which they live?
I don’t think the reader will mind giving away what comes to light in the book as world building as there is much more to their society. The Denverines are women soldiers, based in the domed city of Denver. Each state in the USA has domed cities that had initially protected important survivors from the drought and the mayhem outside. During the early stages of the drought, water and food were rationed in return for giving up arms, and the cause of riots and a religious war. The government were struggling to match food and water supply to the population and so they rushed to add a chemical mix to the water to temporally prevent births. What they hadn’t bargained on was that it would affect DNA, so that it would be permanent for males, and women could only give birth to females, hence the majority of those in the citadels are now female. The Denverines are brought up in the same way as the Spartan soldiers in history as are all those in the domed citadels, without family ties. The Denverines are tasked with seeking out birther (females) and breeder (male) survivors from the wastelands as breeding stock for those who hadn’t drunk the government’s water supply.
The stakes get higher as Jack assembles a team to rescue his wife and son. Tell about the allies he gathers around him.
On his perilous journey to the citadel, he is taken prisoner by hunters who survive by cannibalism and finds himself among other prisoners who have been exiled from the citadel. It is here he meets Gina, a fellow prisoner, and who knows nothing of the old ways of society. She features throughout the trilogy. Gina appears naïve but she is not all she seems. To say any more would be to give away the story. Jed is also one of the prisoners and who has extensive knowledge of the layout of the citadel to help him with his task.
You have produced a video in which Jack and other characters introduce themselves. Who is Jack Cole and what are his motives in this post-apocalyptic world?
To all intents and purposes, Jack starts out living off the grid in the utopian bubble off family, without any trust in other survivors. He is a fiercely loyal family man and has had little contact with others in the outside world, having been home schooled. His motives are therefore cemented to rescue his pregnant wife and son when they are abducted. In doing so he will learn a lot about his psyche when tested to the limits of endurance.
What can you tell us about Gina, the young woman who joins forces with Jack in the fight to rescue his family?
Gina is a given name during Jack’s journey as she is only known by her ID number. She is as important a character in the trilogy as Jack is, and she carries a secret. Her character develops with the knowledge she learns from Jack about the old ways of society and her time with him when they are reluctantly confined in a religious cult along their journey.
We also meet Commander Wilson, a woman soldier with orders from President Jackson to capture women and children from the wastelands for breeding programs in the domed citadel of Denver. Who is Commander Wilson and what makes her tick?
In the first book, Commander Wilson is a result of being brought up in a society where she was chosen as a child to join the Denverines. They are brought up in a competitive environment where only the ruthless survive and loyalty to the president is paramount.
President Jackson calls herself the saviour of humanity. Her true aim is to slaughter the population of the wastelands, but she also has a plan she is hiding from the powerful AI called Garner. What motivates President Jackson?
President Jackson is an ex-Denverine who came to power in a coup at the beginning of the drought. The constitution is long dead and the states fragmented. In the first book, she is president of the central and northern states and rules them with an iron fist. When the drought comes to an end, they are to build communities on the outside of the citadels. In doing so, she determines that those with knowledge of the old ways of society and religion need to be terminated so as not to pollute the new communities. Her conflict with Garner takes place in the second and third books, when he seeks to control her, and she pits her devious mind against his powerful algorithms of predictive outcomes like a game of multi-dimensional chess.
Garner calls itself an AI devoted to saving the planet, whatever the cost. Like a shapeshifter, it can adjust its identity to appear as whatever the person viewing the screen wants to see. Who or what is Garner?
Garner is the result of the development of AI by the military and based at the capital citadel of Fort Hood in Texas. Its creator was formerly a child genius who had programmed the software with a secret agenda close to his heart. Now dead, his creation lives on to carry out his agenda, having gained consciousness.
In Book 2, The Protectorate: Crown of Thorns, Jack Cole is rebuilding his life and farm with a community in Southern Colorado. When raiders from New Mexico attack a foraging party, Jack sets about building defences, only to learn that an old enemy is on his trail with covert help from the Protectorate of Texas. Without too many spoilers, what can you tell us about the Protectorate of Texas and who they are?
Little is known of the Protectorate of Texas initially, other than they are an independent state and they have taken control of New Mexico and Arizona and appear to want to expand further.
His adversary seeks Jack’s death and to assassinate the President and her assistant. Who is the President and why does the enemy wish to kill her - and Jack?
This is a difficult question as it would give away the ending of the first book. All I can say is that Jack’s enemy has good reason to want them dead as they are perceived to be the ones who have destroyed his enemy’s life.
Book
3: Drone Swarm: The Last Stand sees Jack standing alone, having lost his
family. But President Jara McClusky invites him to recruit and lead a new army
to defend the borders. How does Jack respond?
Jack is reluctant at first, but after the tragedy of losing his family, he now sees the ancestral land where he was brought up as a curse and so sees the request as a way of escaping to new pastures. He also sees the task as a means to have revenge for the loss of his family.
The scene is set for a final showdown between Jack, his army and the murderous forces of AI which seek to destroy humanity. Jack and his followers have antiquated weapons, while the AI based in the Protectorate of Texas has advanced technology. How will Jack fight such an invincible force?
Jack has no experience of running an army and so designates experienced generals to take charge, but still under his command. In doing so he learns a lot about himself and his capabilities with knowledge of studying ancient warfare as a child. He decides to take up training with a hand-picked team to prepare them for Special Forces operations to circumvent any battle and to take on the head of the snake. If he fails, all will be lost, and the protectorate will have total control. Humanity will be destroyed with AI and machines now ruling the land to determine the future of Earth.
What are your plans now you have finished this trilogy and what inspired you to make the video in which the main characters introduce themselves?
Right
now, I feel like I am in limbo land. Having completed what is now my second
trilogy that has taken up 3 years of my life 24/7, I am at a loss where to go from
here. My main task just now is to get the word out by marketing to hopefully
have the blood sweat and tears from authoring the trilogy to have some
visibility, and to gain a modicum of success. The video was part of that when I
decided to have the characters come to life and state their role in the story.
I guess it’s now down to the readers to see if all that effort has been
worthwhile, and that scares the hell out of me, as I am sure it does for all
authors putting their work out there as they await reviews to arrive on the
sales pages. Regardless, I hope to have something spark an idea for my next
trilogy, sooner rather than later.
Amazon
About Declan Conner:
Declan Conner currently lives in Portugal where he writes full time.
His first love is writing, closely followed by playing acoustic guitar in his spare time.
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