Ask the Author: H. Paul Honsinger
Answered Questions (22)
H. Paul Honsinger
Thank you for the kind words about my writing. There is another prequel out, "The Hunters of Vermin." The next full-length novel, picking up where "Brothers in Valor" ended should be out in late 2018 if all goes well with my health and other issues. I'm working very hard on it.
H. Paul Honsinger
Yes. Trying to get follow up novel out in late 2018.
H. Paul Honsinger
See other answer posted today.
H. Paul Honsinger
I did just publish a short "Young Max" novel, called "The Hunters of Vermin." The follow up to "Man of War" should be out late this year--I hope.
H. Paul Honsinger
See other answer published today.
H. Paul Honsinger
See other answer published today.
H. Paul Honsinger
See other answer published today.
H. Paul Honsinger
None. Zero. Zip. Nada. No influence at all.
H. Paul Honsinger
See other answer posted today.
H. Paul Honsinger
Sorry for the long delay in answering. I tend to forget about Goodreads for months at a time. I'm going to try to get the first book of the next series in readers' hands sometime this year, depending on the breaks. Along with the health issues, though, I'm having to relocate my family on fairly short notice, which is highly disruptive to the whole process.
H. Paul Honsinger
Thank you for the good wishes.
H. Paul Honsinger
I have not yet made sexuality an issue save a brief mention in my self-published novella "Deadly Nightshade," there is a mention of Max being involved with Admiral Hornmeyer's beautiful red-headed niece and that being the reason he was sent alone in a tiny ship to the edges of known space. Whether I make it a factor and, if so, when and how, are bridges I have not yet built, much less crossed.
There would certainly be some homosexuality on naval vessels, but I suspect not much more than in the general population today as sexual orientation seems to be a matter of brain architecture and not learning (but I'm no brain scientist). I can guarantee you that the young boys are sacrosanct and that anyone who touches them improperly is dealt with very severely, if he survives the wrath of the old chiefs who watch over the lads to be brought to trial. Such a man is just as likely to have a "tragic airlock accident."
The navy likely provides some kind of outlet for the men on shore leave by means I would probably leave vague.
The bottom line is that these books are not about that aspect of the human experience, much as the novels of the "Ships of Wood and Men of Iron" genre on which these books are patterned made little or no mention of sex (save some discussion of romances, women pursued, etc., but no description of their horizontal activities). I may take things in a different direction as the series develops, or I may write a different series that is put together along a different set of themes.
There would certainly be some homosexuality on naval vessels, but I suspect not much more than in the general population today as sexual orientation seems to be a matter of brain architecture and not learning (but I'm no brain scientist). I can guarantee you that the young boys are sacrosanct and that anyone who touches them improperly is dealt with very severely, if he survives the wrath of the old chiefs who watch over the lads to be brought to trial. Such a man is just as likely to have a "tragic airlock accident."
The navy likely provides some kind of outlet for the men on shore leave by means I would probably leave vague.
The bottom line is that these books are not about that aspect of the human experience, much as the novels of the "Ships of Wood and Men of Iron" genre on which these books are patterned made little or no mention of sex (save some discussion of romances, women pursued, etc., but no description of their horizontal activities). I may take things in a different direction as the series develops, or I may write a different series that is put together along a different set of themes.
H. Paul Honsinger
There's no way that it will be available in the next couple of months, as it is still being written. I can't predict an availability date because I don't know when I'll have the manuscript ready and because I have only an option from the publisher and not a firm commitment. If 47North and I come to terms, then the book will take another 4 to 6 months to be available. If we do not, I will have the choice of shopping it to other publishers or self-publishing (more likely the latter). Self publishing would make the book available within days of my being finished with the manuscript and putting it through our in-house editing process (my wife is an excellent novelist herself and she's a big help with these things). So, right now, there are too many variables. Health has been a big issue for me, with flu, bronchitis, a flare in my fibromyalgia, some serious heart issues, and one or two other issues making themselves known and making writing very difficult.
H. Paul Honsinger
I believe the publisher takes care of these things, but I'll look into it.
H. Paul Honsinger
I plan to continue to write about these characters in this universe indefinitely. The close of the "Man of War" Trilogy will be followed by what I am tentatively calling the "Brothers of the Black Sky" Trilogy, the first volume of which I hope to have out sometime in 2016. I also am writing a follow up to the "Deadly NIghtshade" novella which is a prequel to Man of War, entitled "Hunters of Vermin." As the novellas are self-published, "Hunters" will be out in a few months.
H. Paul Honsinger
I don't want to give the impression that I have a detailed idea of what is going to happen in Book VI, because I don't, at least in terms of the main plot. This is not the way most people who write series write, but I don't do anything like most people--I'll try to explain. The universe in which my books exist is fully developed in my mind and has been almost from the beginning. So, I know who the aliens are who transplanted the life forms that evolved into the Krag, how Max and the Vaaach know each other (btw, that flashback was cut from Book III in editing--I'm seriously considering issuing it as a self-published novella), etc. It is just a matter of when I'm going to reveal it since you don't dump all your back story on readers right away or, in fact, you never give them all of it--there must always be thing that they want to know that you haven't shown them yet.
As for the main story, I have only the most general idea what it is when I start the book and am often surprised to see it develop in a different direction. I frequently write Max into tactical jams without having any idea how he is going to get out of them. The development of the story is organic--my characters and universe are very real to me, so I sort of just set them in motion, watch what they do, and then describe it for my readers, almost as though I am watching a movie (complete with James Horner or Joel Goldsmith or Basil Poledouris soundtrack--and, yes, I know that Poledouris is dead).
I don't remember ever making a specific change to a manuscript in response to reader feedback, but I suspect that reader feedback influences my writing in a general way by giving me a sense of what people like and don't like. It's hard to ignore something like 800 customer reviews.
But specifics from reviews aren't part of what I consider when I write. Well, um, er, except that there was one very long review by one (really nasty and condescending plus navally and militarily ignorant) reader on Amazon lambasting me for being so staggeringly stupid as to not equip the Cumberland with a particular feature. I put that feature on a Krag ship in Book III and Max used it to bring about the painful death of its senior officers. I had long ago thought about that feature and decided not to use it because of the result that took place in the book--but the decision to make that result part of the story in Book III was probably triggered by that review. There is also one reader who said "stealth is life" in an Amazon review--I used that formulation in Book II (with his permission).
As for the main story, I have only the most general idea what it is when I start the book and am often surprised to see it develop in a different direction. I frequently write Max into tactical jams without having any idea how he is going to get out of them. The development of the story is organic--my characters and universe are very real to me, so I sort of just set them in motion, watch what they do, and then describe it for my readers, almost as though I am watching a movie (complete with James Horner or Joel Goldsmith or Basil Poledouris soundtrack--and, yes, I know that Poledouris is dead).
I don't remember ever making a specific change to a manuscript in response to reader feedback, but I suspect that reader feedback influences my writing in a general way by giving me a sense of what people like and don't like. It's hard to ignore something like 800 customer reviews.
But specifics from reviews aren't part of what I consider when I write. Well, um, er, except that there was one very long review by one (really nasty and condescending plus navally and militarily ignorant) reader on Amazon lambasting me for being so staggeringly stupid as to not equip the Cumberland with a particular feature. I put that feature on a Krag ship in Book III and Max used it to bring about the painful death of its senior officers. I had long ago thought about that feature and decided not to use it because of the result that took place in the book--but the decision to make that result part of the story in Book III was probably triggered by that review. There is also one reader who said "stealth is life" in an Amazon review--I used that formulation in Book II (with his permission).
H. Paul Honsinger
1. Yes, but not in Book III (which you should be able to buy sometime in early 2015). That is part of the very long term story arc for this series with hints beginning to show up in Book IV or even Book V and developing into something very important down the road in Book VIII or so.
2. Yes. There is counterpoint story in Book III involving the adventures of the 16 year old Ensign Max Robichaux in which he encounters the Vaaach. This counterpoint story continues in Book IV and maybe further. I haven't decided yet. But, absolutely, you will get to see Max's history with the Vaaach which will really open a window into understanding who Max is and why he fights the way he fights.
2. Yes. There is counterpoint story in Book III involving the adventures of the 16 year old Ensign Max Robichaux in which he encounters the Vaaach. This counterpoint story continues in Book IV and maybe further. I haven't decided yet. But, absolutely, you will get to see Max's history with the Vaaach which will really open a window into understanding who Max is and why he fights the way he fights.
H. Paul Honsinger
For years I've been hearing that, as a writer, you are supposed to "show, don't tell." So, I had gone to some pretty convoluted and elaborate lengths to do that in my first two books. My editor, Mike Shohl, told me that--in some cases--it is not only OK to tell, not show, but almost mandatory. When you can bring the reader along with you more compellingly, more interestingly, and more believably by telling, then you should tell. That and that my characters should talk about food less. I answered that I'm from South Louisiana and my mother's people are Cajuns--we talk about food all the time. But, some of the food talk had to come out.
H. Paul Honsinger
Absolutely. In fact, I drove the ladies who worked at my local public library nuts from my lobbying to increase their science fiction collection. They got to the point where someone would call me when they got something new. When I was a teenager, I subscribed to magazines as well: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Omni, etc. This is the stuff that influenced me--when I write, I am drawing on that experience more than any other, which is probably why some people have said that my writing is a throwback to an earlier era, because that is the soil that my stuff grows out of.
H. Paul Honsinger
I'm working on completion and editing of the third book in the "Man of War" series, "Brothers in Valor." It should be in readers' hands early in 2015.
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