Sci-fi author Mark Everglade joins me today and we’re chatting about his novel, Inertia.
Bio:
Mark Everglade has spent his life studying social conflict. He runs the website www.markeverglade.com where he reviews cyberpunk media and interviews the legends. He also runs Cyberpunk Day each year with the Coalition to bring dystopian fiction to a new generation. His short stories have been featured beside authors such as Cory Doctorow, Cat Rambo, Jim Keen, and Walter Jon Williams.
Welcome, Mark. Please tell us about your current release.
Inertia is about a young woman, Ash, who is trying to solve the global warming crisis on another planet in deep space. As she researches the issue, she soon knows too much after learning how the government and big corporations are profiting off the planet’s destruction. After surviving an attempt on her life, she needs help, so she contacts the man her mother told her to stay away from her entire life, the man who doesn’t even know she exists: Her father. Together they travel across deserts and glaciers to start a grassroots movement to get the truth to the people, before the powers that be destroy what remains of their homeland.
What inspired you to write this book?
I believe that literature that doesn’t explore serious issues is often just vain entertainment, and that books serve a much larger purpose than just to put a smile on one’s face. One must learn in the process and be inspired to see their own potential to change the world by witnessing the characters overcome their plights. In this case, I took on global warming from a young woman’s point of view, as it is the younger generations which will soon pay for the older generation’s errors and consumerism if we cannot be innovative in creating technology to ameliorate the problem. Setting the book in space allowed me to avoid some of the controversy this issue (which is non-controversial among scientists) has in the United States. It is disappointing when public health crises like global warming or the pandemic become politized for parties’ electoral gains.
More information about my cyberpunk novel, Inertia, can be seen on my website, www.markeverglade.com.
What exciting story are you working on next?
I am working on a solarpunk sequel to Inertia which will be similar to the movie Waterworld with Kevin Costner (and hopefully more successful!).
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I’ve always written from the time I was a young kid and we only had typewriters. It was part of my identity, what I did to dwell in its escapism and enjoy the catharsis it creates.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I work full time, so I can only find time to write by stealing ten minutes of time here and there to write down notes. Then on the weekend, I can compile them into cohesive narratives.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like to make up cyberpunk slang for my characters to use like “glitchit, glitchin’, go hack yer’self,” and such.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
An environmentalist, so it’s apropos I would write a novel like Inertia.
Thanks for being here today, Mark.
Thanks for featuring me!