Q.1)Hi, Mr. Pickover! Thanks for letting me interview you for our mailing group P.A.T.H. Tell me a little about you. Who you are? What do you do for a living besides writing novels? Do you have hobbies or any interests that you want to you share with us?

Hi Marisol, thanks for your interest. It is always a delight to talk with you and other fans of Piers Anthony. Here is some information about me. I received my Ph.D. from Yale University's Department of Molecular B Biophysics and Biochemistry. I am the author of over 20 books on topics ranging from black holes, to time travel, to computer art, to the possibility of alien life -- and these books have been translated into many foreign languages. I'm the associate editor of several journals, the holder of over a dozen patents dealing with computer interfaces, and a puzzle columnist for magazines such as Discover.

I'm currently a Research Staff Member at the IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. My popular web site features his works and has received over 200,000 visits and numerous awards. (The web site is: http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/home.htm

My primary interest is finding new ways to continually expand creativity by melding art, science, mathematics, and other seemingly-disparate areas of human endeavor. Last year, I published four books, each in a separate scientific field, and also Spider Legs with Piers Anthony.

My hobbies include the practice of Ch'ang-Shih Tai-Chi Ch'uan and Shaolin Kung Fu, raising golden and green severums (large Amazonian fish), and piano playing (mostly jazz). I am also a member of The SETI League, a group of signal processing enthusiasts who systematically search the sky for intelligent, extra-terrestrial life.

Q.2) Tell me how do you come about with the idea to write your novel. How did you get Piers to collaborate with you? How do you compare your writing style to Piers?

Here's how the collaboration started. I had just finished reading Pier's fantastic novel Virtual Mode and decided to send him a draft of Spider Legs. To set the stage, I mailed Piers my book "Computers and the Imagination," and I thought this would prepare him to receive further material from me. I waited a week or two and then sent him the draft of Spider Legs. After some hesitation on Piers's part, it seemed like we soon had a meeting of the minds. What you read is the result after Piers considerably expanded and applied his creative talent to the original draft.

Collaborating turned out to be quite easy and rewarding, and, oddly enough, choosing a title was one of the more difficult jobs. I had originally called the book Phantom, but Piers pointed out that this title had been use very often in the past. Before we finally arrived at Spider Legs, we considered other titles: Legs, PycnoPhantom, Killer Legs, Pycnophbia, Spider Hunter, and even 20,000 Legs Under the Sea.

I found Piers to be incredible at breathing life into the characters, making sure they had sufficient motivations for what they were doing, making them seem real... It has been a real honor to work with him.

Q.3) What kind of research do you need to do when writing the story? Do you think that is possible that one day something like the sea spider can grow as big as in the book?

In our novel, giant sea spiders terrorize people on the Newfoundland shores. But the most important and exciting fact for you to remember is that pycnogonids, or "sea spiders," are real. The large deep-sea Colossendeis is real! Pycnogonids are among the strangest creatures on Earth. About 600 species are known. They are mostly small forms, not over 10mm long, although some of the deep-sea forms can almost reach human size. Especially for your readers, I've added several real photos of pycnogonids to my web page at http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/home.htm. Just search for the phrase "sea spiders," and you'll be rewarded with something creepy.

Pycnogonids are carnivorous animals that suck out the juices of their prey. The sea spider's digestive system is so massive that it extends into the creature's legs. Sea spiders are more common in the cold Arctic and Antarctic seas than they are elsewhere, although they are found in all seas. Less is known about the deep-sea forms. My fascination with pycnogonids peaked several years ago when I read about a 12-legged pycnogonid found near Antarctica of all places. Its proboscis was much longer than the rest of its body. One of the challenges in the book was scientific. How could such a creature grow so large and still have the strength to move and get sufficient oxygen to its muscles? We give some detailed scientific recipes for creating the monsters, but I don't want to give too much away now.

Q.4) Tell me a little about your non-fiction books? What are your interests when you write non-fiction books? Do you have plans to write other fiction books?

Yes, I have some other novels seeking publishers. Some recent nonfiction books include: The Science of Aliens, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen, and Time: A Traveler's Guide.

Q.5) What has been the response to Spider Legs so far?

I hope readers enjoy the book and appreciate the unusual characters. To paraphrase one review I saw for the book, "It's an ecological thriller in the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' Peter Benchley's 'Jaws,' and even the 'Alien' series of movies. It has humor and horror, science and fantasy, tension and frivolity, absurdity and deadly seriousness. But mostly, it seems to be about love and a concern for humanity."

Q.6) I see that you have really interesting hobbies, Ch'ang-Shih Tai-Chi Ch'uan and Shaolin Kung Fu. Can you elaborate a little bit about this? What exactly are those disciplines and how you combine them with your scientific life?

Tai Chi is a set of slow movements designed to improve body flexibility, relaxation, strength and even self defense. Kung Fu is faster than Tai Chi and more directly applicable to self defense. I think both these activities complement the scientific, intellectual life. And these disciplines are certainly good for us writers who don't get enough exercise!

Q.7) I see that you are part of the SETI League. I have an interested about SETI, because when I was 11 years old, I visited the Radiotelescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and I remembered vividly how awesome was and the purpose of the place, to try to find extra-terrestrial life. So could you tell us more about your experience with them? What do you exactly do? What is your belief about Extra-terrestrial life?

I have always been fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life. My research and ideas are expressed in my recent book THE SCIENCE OF ALIENS. I believe it is almost certain that life exists on numerous worlds based on what we know of life on earth which seems to inhabit even the most extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, etc. However, I am not certain that there are other space-faring species in our universe. Although our universe is vast, the road to lifeforms sufficiently intelligent and dexterous to build spaceships may extremely rare. We may be truly alone.

Q.8) Also in your novel, I notice that one of the main character has a strongly concern about all animals, specially marine life and we learn her worries about the current ecological crisis in the world. As I person, what is your position about these issues? What do you think could be a solution or solutions to our planet problem of population, animals and plants extinction and pollution?

Actually, it was Piers who suggested concern-for-the-environment" as a motivating force in some of the characters lives. I do see human population control as a problem in the sense that people who are less educated or less able to care for children tend to have more children than the more educated and wealthier people. This imbalance will probably cause us great problems

Q.9) Finally, what will be your advice for hopeful writers out there?

The best advice for hopeful writers is to write and then get friends to give you feedback on what you write.

For fiction writers, here are my famous "Rules to Make You, Your Publisher, and Your Readers Happy by Cliff Pickover" Copyright 1999, by Cliff Pickover

If you follow these rules exactly, they will give you a good chance at getting your fiction published:

1. Show Not Tell

It's better to show through a character's actions then "telling" by having the narrator describe.

Please do not "tell."

Example 1:

"Garth became nervous" is "telling". It is better to "show" with:

"Garth's hands began to tremble."

Example 2:

"Garth did not want to go down the hall with the Major" is "telling." It is better to "show" with:

"What?" Garth said, "There's no way in hell I'm going with you!"

2. Body Movement

Occasional reference to body movement is good so that characters are not disembodied talking heads. It's also important to occasionally use body movement *before* a person talks to establish who is talking (before the reader reaches the end of the sentence).

Example:

"When are you going to leave for France?" John said, could be cast as:

John took a slow breath. "When are you going to leave for France?"

3. Short Better Than Long

In real life, people often talk in short sentences and phrases, rather than in long drawn-out sentences with big words. Another dialog tip: use contractions where possible. For example, a character is more apt to say: "I'll" than "I will."

4. Break the Dialog

Always insert a "he said" or "she said" as early as possible into a line of dialog (if a "he said" is even needed at all).

Example:

Never do:

"Yes, I will kill him, but not until you buy the peaches for dinner," he said.

Instead do:

"Yes," he said, "I will kill him, but not until you buy the peaches for dinner."

5. Use Active Voice

Don't say: "The paper was placed on the wall by the Major."

Use active voice: "The Major placed the paper on the wall."

6. Avoid Omniscient Narrator

Books have more immediacy if you stay within one character's head, and therefore the narrator does not have knowledge of what other people are thinking. For example, in some of the best novels, we are in a single character's head for most of the book. We can't suddenly know how another character is feeling. The main character can't read her mind. We can suggest how she feels through the protagonists opinions and what he sees and hears, and what she says and does. (Some people use an omniscient narrator, but the best books avoid it.)

7. Don't Rush The Scene

If a scene sounds rushed, with too little attention to detail and texture, than more words are needed to draw out the action and suspense.

8. Natural Dialog

If you are unsure if the dialog sounds natural, read it out loud to yourself. This is a great way to make sure the dialog is natural.

9. Involve All Senses

To really get the reader involved, try to stimulate more of the readers senses. For example, if you've gone ten pages without stimulating the reader (and character in the book) with an odor, or interesting tactile feeling on the skin, sound, or taste, the book will have less immediacy.

10. "Said" is Fine

I notice some writers seem to dislike using "he said" and try to replace the word "said" with words like commanded, remarked, uttered, began, etc. Perhaps they feel that too many "saids" stick out.

However, you don't have to be afraid of using too many "saids". In fact, it is much worse to try substitutions. The best writers use "said" almost all the time and let the dialog convey the meaning.

For example,

"Get out of here now!" he commanded.

is much worse than

"Get out of here now!" he said.

The word "commanded" is an unnecessary distraction. In any case, it's obvious the sentence is a command.

When readers read "said", their eyes barely pause. The "said" goes almost unnoticed. This is what you want. Replacement words, such as "remarked", stick out obtrusively which is what you don't want. For these reasons, some authors don't even use "he asked" for questions; rather they do: "Where is it?" he said.

If you subscribe to Writer's Digest, your writing will improve.

This Interview is copyrighted by Marisol Ramos © 1999.

This interview was done through email in March 19, 1999. You need the permission of PATH manager, Marisol, to use part of this interview for your website or any other medium. To ask permission just e-mail Marisol at marisol@piersthread.com. Thanks, MR.

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