AUTHOR INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: DANIEL H. WILSON (Amped & Robopocalypse)

INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL H. WILSON

+ 3 COPIES OF "AMPED" TO GIVEAWAY

Today on the blog I’d like to welcome acclaimed author and Roboticist, Daniel H Wilson.  Daniel has written numerous non-fiction and fiction books with robotics as the common theme – his most recent release is AMPED – check out my review here! Welcome Daniel…..

Hello!

Other than the book blurb…..can you please give our followers your take on what  AMPED is about?

Amped is a technothriller set in a near future when technology is turning people with disabilities into people with superabilities. As the larger populace realizes that soon everyone will need a neural implant to compete, some people begin to try and legislate away the existence of these implants (and the people who have them). A civil rights movement (slash civil war) is sparked, and people with implants, "amps," end up fighting for their lives.

My personal view when it comes to fiction books and movies, is that there is an element of truth, no matter how farfetched it seems to begin with……for scientific, medical and military breakthrough’s – someone had to have a farfetched or impossible sounding idea first!!

The crazy thing is that none of the technology in AMPED is far-fetched. Consulting with neuroscientists, I found that neural implants in the novel, such as the "Neural Autofocus" that lets kids concentrate, already exist and are in use in a variety of forms. It is great fun to inform people of the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are walking around with brain implants and watch their faces.

Having the knowledge you do in robotics, how much (and what) of your fiction writing could in fact be the next advancement in reality?  Could we in fact see implants becoming a reality?!

Ah, see previous question. :)

“Daniel H. Wilson 

 Robopocalypse

Steven Speilberg”

Did it ever occur to you when writing that the three names above would be linked for a movie/project?  What sort of impact has this movie deal had on your life?

The Robopocalypse movie is good news with the kind of magnitude that makes me suspect I'm asleep and dreaming, or the victim of an elaborate prank. The movie isn't filmed yet, so I have to try and remain skeptical of it... until that giant wakes up. Payment for the book rights has already put me (and my rapidly growing family) in a larger house, so who says robots never did anything nice for anybody?

I read that whilst obtaining your BS in Computer Science, you spent a semester studying at the University of Melbourne, Australia.  What made you head on Down Under?  How different did you find Uni life in Australia to the US?

Australia is such an exotic place from the perspective of a nineteen-year-old kid in Oklahoma, and studying abroad there was like a test for myself -- can I really go to the other side of the planet by myself? I studied only philosophy while I was there and had the time of my life. Realizing that there is only one test at the end of the semester, and that it counted for 100% of the grade, was exhilirating at first (no homework!) and then terrifying (should have done homework!).

Out of your non-fiction books, my son has begged me to let him read A Boy and His Bot….whilst my husband thinks Bro-Jitsu – The Martial Art of Sibling Rivalry should be a classic handbook in any household (just like Raising Boys and What To Expect You’re Expecting!).  What has been your most enjoyable and favourite book to write?

Every book that I am currently writing is my favorite book to write. This is probably because you become a little bit better at writing every day, and therefore a little more embarrassed of whatever you did yesterday. I'm not a good enough writer yet to be embarrassed about what I wrote this morning. Thank goodness for the little things.

An initial character in Amped, Samantha Blex departed very early but has received quite a lot of interest from readers.  She has a story – and we’d love to read it!  Samantha has her own Facebook page and hopefully soon a prequel to Amped based on her. 

When are we likely to expect something from Samantha?  And can you give us a little bit of her story?

Samantha is an implanted teenager who is a catalyst for everything that happens in the book. In the weeks before Amped was released, I thought it would be fun to hire a writer to create a blog told from Samantha's perspective. I found an MFA student here in Portland, Oregon (named Chelsea Bieker) and she wrote an amazingly deep account of Samantha's days leading up to the first page of the novel. It was wild to really get to know a character that I wrote in a whole new way, from the perspective of another writer. You can read about Samantha Blex at www.facebook.com/SamanthaBlex

 And finally, what can we expect from Daniel H. Wilson in the future?

I am hard at work writing Robogenesis, the sequel to Robopocalypse. I'm not giving away any details yet, but my research beyond robotics involves reading Japanese fairy tales, oral accounts of the narco wars in Mexico, and about the lives of child soldiers in Africa.

Thanks Daniel for taking time to answer some questions. Enjoy the awesome ride that you are on with the success of your books.

My pleasure! You can always catch up with me at www.danielhwilson.com or follow me on Twitter @danielwilsonPDX

I hope your enjoyed the interview and good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway below!

ENJOY!

MARISSA

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Thanks to the lovely Carol at Simon & Schuster Australia I have 3 copies of AMPED to giveaway.

2 x copies will be open to Australian Entrants Only

1 x copy will be open to International Entrants

Entry is EASY!

Complete the Rafflecopter form below.
Starts NOW!
Closes 12.01am 21st July 2012

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