One of the best science fiction series I’ve read in the past year is R. Peter Keith’s Wine Dark Deep trilogy. The sci-fi writer’s freshman foray into the literary world is a bold take on the space exploration sub-genre.
The series jumps into high gear from the first page when the crew of the Ulysses encounters a mission-killing problem on their way across the solar system. The very first sentence sets the mood for the rest of Book One: “Instantly, everything had gone to shit.”
After overcoming logistical obstacles in the first book, Captain Cal Scott and crew continue their trek further into the far reaches of the solar system in the next two books in the series. The characters are both interesting and realistic. Character development happens naturally. There are no long backstory slogs. We get to know the characters when it makes sense to the plot.
The pacing of the books is quick, despite Keith’s inclusion of the technicalities of space physics. His writing seems effortless even during multifaceted action sequences that involve characters doing complex procedures in space.
The author knows his stuff when it comes to space, having worked closely with NASA experts—including astronauts—as the creative director of a NASA partner company that makes space colonization simulation exhibits for museums.
It’s not just his writing that’s bold. Keith released all three books in the trilogy simultaneously. This Netflix style of instant gratification content delivery allows the reader to enjoy the series without waiting months or years between installments. This is a good thing because you’ll get quickly invested in the crew and mission of the Ulysses.
I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Keith about his new trilogy of books. He reveals some very interesting stuff about space exploration, his life, and the future of the Wine Dark Deep series. Keep reading for a fantastic interview with a talented sci-fi author.
AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR R. PETER KEITH
Peter, I was floored by the first book in the series. The book starts dramatically with the crew of the interplanetary spacecraft Ulysses facing a difficult dilemma. From there, Book One is a nonstop rollercoaster ride. The story has obvious connections to Homer’s The Odyssey. Even the title of the series derives from the epic poem. How did an ancient Greek work influence your writing of the Wine Dark Deep books?
First of all, thank you so much. I am impossibly gratified that you enjoyed it. I’m not just saying that, I really mean it. An author sits and imagines and tries to communicate via words on paper and to have people respond like this has been just soul-affirming.
How did an Ancient Greek work influence my writing some sci-fi books? I’ve always been a fan of the classics and the original (proto-Greek) work is still amazing and perplexing and so human and alien all at the same time. It has always influenced me BUT I have to say that the literal Odyssey of Homer was more of a map for me to follow as an author than it will be for a reader. The touchstones are there but they’ve been added to, subtracted from, mixed around and re-ordered. Many given different meaning by looking at the situation from another perspective.
Science Fiction can take many forms, so what drew you to writing a space exploration series?
I have always loved space exploration. I grew up in the wake of the Apollo program with all kinds of wonderful re-run space-age programming on television filled with that hopeful attitude toward the future. A future that was right around the corner! Of course, no one had the heart to tell me that the Kennedy era Space Age future had been canceled by the time the 70s came around. They let me be happy playing in the backyard with a whole bunch of garage sale procured space toys.
Flash forward to modern day and I’m the creative director of a NASA Space Act Agreement Partner company having just spent 5+ years collaborating with scientists and engineers and astronauts to design and tour an amazing simulation-based museum exhibit focused on the near-future (30-50 years) of human colonization of the solar system.
During the research for the design of this exhibition, I flew the lunar lander simulator at NASA’s Langley Research Center, I spent time inside an original Apollo LM (yes, there are a few that were not flown) and I sat at the controls of the Orion spacecraft at JSC with one of its engineers as we discussed its design and upcoming missions.
I literally spent months of time inside simulations of various vehicles, virtually exploring over 20 miles of the lunar surface near Whipple Crater on the Moon’s North Pole—at a scale accurate down to one foot. 12 miles of Mars in an area of the Mariner Valley called the Labyrinth of Night and on Ceres as well. Refining the simulations of the vehicles and their behavior with the help of advisors, and integrating them into a narrative framework within the exhibit that actually teaches visitors the basics of spaceflight.
These environments were re-created using laser altimeter data from various NASA orbiters. The vehicles are so plausible that the tank volume requirements for the various spacecraft were calculated by members of the same team that put the Curiosity Rover down successfully on the surface of Mars.
So when I say this stuff was real to me, you know what I mean. Lol. Because it was so real to me, I began to imagine the people who would live in these environments and command these vehicles. I thought about what they would be like, the challenges they might face and the unknown that would await them—and the characters and story really just came to me.
I like how you employ short chapters in the book. I found it kept the pace tight and always moving forward. Did your work designing educational exhibits for NASA influence how you communicate your story to the reader?
Yes, it influenced not only the story I wanted to tell but the way I told it. A museum exhibit, even one about a complex topic, needs to communicate its concepts clearly and quickly. I find constant parallels to that in all media that I find most effective.
When I was writing that first book my motto was “lean and mean.” I wanted it to establish the characters and earn the reality of their world so that the following books were free to get weirder and weirder.
I also didn’t want to bog it down with backstory and details of characters or entities that the reader just doesn’t care about yet. Why should they? They’ve just met them. The viewpoint of these books is not omniscient. I didn’t want to place the reader in some lofty spot like that, I wanted them stuck inside the spaceship with that crew and to have the characters and the mysteries reveal themselves along the way much in the way that, say, it was we first saw Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise. We knew absolutely nothing about his background, or any of the characters’ backgrounds for that matter, we learned who they were by observing their actions. Kinda like we do with real people.
While Book One keeps a fast pace, there is good character development with the primary characters Mission Commander Calvin Scott and Ceres Psychology Chief Helen Donovan. Was your degree in psychology helpful in developing characters and guiding their actions?
I think my psych degree has been helpful in a lot of ways, but the development of the characters—especially the dynamics on Ceres, which comes up again in later books, really comes from my history in entrepreneurial ventures. You can have a bunch of great people with a great plan and the proper resources and still everything can fall apart when reality diverges from what you’d planned for. The crew of the Ulysses and the cabal on Ceres somewhat represent the two ways that you can respond when the rubber meets the road.
Some of the most heroic moments of my life involve working together at the last moment to save amazing projects from failure through Herculean effort. Truly epic times. But I’ve seen moments like that that end up going the other way too. No one begins an endeavor by saying “It’s probably going to be a total disaster.” Lol.
We got to know the crew of the Ulysses a little in Book One. There seems to be a lot of potential for developing the crew members in Books Two and Three. Where does character development go from here in the series?
Well, as I alluded above, you learn the backstories of these characters as you go. I wanted the reader to feel like the new person at work. No one stops by and gives you their life story when you meet them and you wouldn’t believe a word of it if you did. You learn who they are by seeing them in action.
Another aspect of character development I have always been particularly fond of is the change in your attitudes towards a person when you discover various things in their past. I am hoping that there is a shift in how you view these peoples, and the actions you have seen them take, as the series progresses and different things are revealed.
As the books progress the psycho-sociological pressures on these characters mounts. By the time Book Four hits, the pressure starts venting in interesting and surprising ways as they fight to make their way home.
Your writing waxes poetic at points. There’s some amazing prose in Chapter 47: “The setting was so incongruous. A perfect bowl of night. Stars in incalculable number shining through luminous sheets of galactic material.” What is it about space that inspires you?
Thanks so much! You know, that passage was just inspired by the beauty of nature. I was staying on a Maine lake the summer before this big space exhibit was to hit and nothing was going right. All of the software was behind schedule, the plastics manufacturing for all the space capsules and modular elements was behind schedule and so nothing had been tested—and we were just 3 months from premiering at one of NASA’s biggest visitor centers. Less than 90 days before 8,000+ people per day were going to passing through it and nothing worked. If this project failed, the company that my partners and I had built for the last decade was going to fail with it.
I was impossibly stressed out and I went out to the dock in the middle of the night and walked down the slip and just lay down on my back and looked up into the bowl of night. I was just struck by the beauty of it, even in the midst of my fears and worry. I never forgot the moment.
It also helps that the exhibit turned out great, broke every attendance record for the center stretching back to their opening day decades earlier.
What was your process for writing the Wine Dark Deep series? How did you get from inception to publishing a three-book series?
I got the idea for that first book and those characters and it just really flowed. I wanted to create a series and I wanted that first book to serve as a fast and “mean” intro to their universe. Something that would make you want to read more. Then I had the idea for this larger series that combined a lot of things I had always wanted to read. I wanted to read something that took you, step-by-step from a realistic world like The Martian into something more fantastic like a Star Trek or Star Wars and EARN it. Earn every crazy twist and turn by making it all feel plausible. No matter how crazy it gets.
These are just the first three books. The full series should top out at 8-9 books. I’ve got it all outlined but as always I leave enough wiggle room for the characters to surprise me so there might be a detour or two—or maybe there’s a shortcut. Who knows? But there’s an overall plan and I am following it.
I’m fascinated by your decision to release the three books simultaneously. What was the thinking behind that?
I wanted to launch the series and give people enough meat to dissolve into for a bit. Give readers things to think about, even after they’ve finished, and hopefully hook them for the next installment in the series.
The other thing was that this is the Netflix world now. People want to binge. I want to binge. So I decided to hold back publishing until I was finished with the three.
In a previous article, you stated that you’re a life-long geek. What science-fiction inspired you as a youth?
So much! And not only sci-fi, I loved westerns as a kid. Nautical adventures like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I think my first exposure to sci-fi was probably Lost in Space re-runs and the animated Star Trek show. When I was nine, my dad took me to see the re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey in Cinerama (curved screen) and it utterly blew my mind. Right around the same time, he took a job with the parent company of Marvel Comics and so I started reading all of their output and I was just at that point set up as a giant geek.
If that wasn’t enough, Star Wars came out that summer.
Last question: You just published a trilogy of books in your first outing as an author. What’s next?
Wine Dark Deep Book Four: The Galactics!
Mr. Keith, thank you for sharing your insights and background on your exciting new book series.
If you’re a hard science fiction fan, you need to check out the Wine Dark Deep book series available for Kindle and in paperback published by Uphill Downhill Press.
