On the Spot at BSC – Thomas Harlan interview

I and the entire staff of BSC Review are pleased to present the following interview I recently conducted with Thomas Harlan, whose third installment in his In the Time of the Sixth Sun series, Land of the Dead. The previous two novels are Wasteland of Flint and House of Reeds. He is also the author of the Oath of Empire series, comprised so far of the novels The Shadow of Ararat, The Gate of Fire, The Storm of Heaven, and The Dark Lord. Without further ado, let’s get on to the burning questions and Mr. Harlan’s curiosity-quenching answers!

Professor Crazy: First off, Thomas, before I get on to questions specifically related to Land of the Dead and your other books, could you please let me and the readers of BSC know some of the authors and books that’ve influenced your writing and that you’ve enjoyed reading in the past?

Thomas Harlan:  The three single greatest influences on my writing also happen to be three of the first books I ever read – or rather, had read to me: Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Herbert’s Dune and James Schmitz’ The Witches of Karres. Immediately following those three (who are kind of a tough act to follow) are writers like H. Beam Piper (Space Viking and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen in particular), anything by Leigh Brackett, Keith Laumer’s Retief stories, John Buchan (Huntingtower and Greenmantle come to mind), Talbot Mundy (The Nine Unknown), those crazy Germans (who get a shout-out in Land of the Dead) who wrote all of the Perry Rhodan books, Zena Henderson’s Stories of the People, Hayao Miyazaki’s epic, unparalleled manga masterpiece Kaze no tani no Naushika / Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind and – though he’s not a writer of novels per se – Akira Kurosawa, from whom I learned more about writing action and adventure from watching his movies than I would have thought possible.

You call your series In the Time of the Sixth Sun. Why is that, and what made you decide to base an entire SF series of books on an alliance between the Japanese and the Mexica Empire?

In Mexica (Aztec) mythology the history of the universe is divided into a series of millenia-long Suns – each of which has a birth, lifetime and death, far outpacing that of mortal men. The death of each Sun corresponds to some series of cataclysms which annihilate the world. This set of books – told mostly through the viewpoints of Gretchen Anderssen (our indomitable xenoarchaeologist), Mitsuharu Hadeishi (our cunning ship-captain) and their friends – is the story of the end of the Sixth Sun and what happened to humanity in that dark and terrible time.

The backhistory of the Alliance is more complicated than it might appear: as the Concordance suggests, there is a long and involved alternate history for the Sixth Sun books. Hundreds of pages, actually, sometimes detailing month-by-month events between roughly 1000 AD and 1776 AD (or so). The main divergence, of course, is the successful Mongol invasion of Japan. But there are thousands of other variations – large and small – which lead, in the end, to the conquest of the Earth (Anahuac to the Mexica) by the Aztec/Nisei alliance. All of that backhistory exists because for the last twenty years I’ve been running a play-by-email world-conquest game called Lords of the Earth. The Sixth Sun books are the projected future history of that campaign – advanced about five hundred years from the last game turn. Now, in the hundreds of turns that have passed, only a few players have been around from the very beginning in the same positions – Sweden, Denmark, Aztec and Japan (Nisei). This series of books is really for Chris, Richard, Menachem and Dan – a thank you for decades of perseverance in the face of every calamity I could think of to torment them with.

In Land of the Dead, characters like Prince Xochitl (by the way, phonetically speaking, how is that pronounced?), Oc Chac, and Green Hummingbird have one set of myths/legends that greatly influence them, and the character Mitsuhari Hadeishi is influenced quite a bit by the legend of his television hero and ideal, the Ronin Musashi.  When did you first hear/learn of these particular legends? How do they drive/motivate the main characters of your series?

First, Xochitl is pronounced sho-cheel.

The mythology driving Oc Chac and Xochitl’s reaction to the events in the kuub and within the Pocket are based on two divergent views of the afterlife and the underworld in Mesoamerican thought. Oc Chac is a Mayan, so his interpretation of what they encounter in the kuub is colored by his societal legends of Xibalba, the land of the dead. Xochitl – being Mexica – has also learned the Mayan legends, as well as those of his own people (derived, originally, from the beliefs of the Toltecs, when the Mexica had been their mercenaries). Oc Chac speaks most directly to the commonality between these pre-historic Earth legends and what they find – but there are many commonalities between the events in the kuub and the journey into the afterlife, as believed by the Mexica as well. The effect on the characters in the story is unsettling and drives their thoughts in darker directions than, perhaps, are good for them.

Hadeishi, on the other hand, is uplifted from despondency not only by the sudden onset of vigorous action, but by the exemplar of the sword-saint Musashi (the historical author of the Book of Five Rings). I love samurai movies more than almost anything else, so the chance to pay a little homage to dozens of archetypal scenes (and characters!) was too enticing to pass up. It also let me pull back a little more of the shadows hiding the past history of the Alliance, and the Earth, and all of the far-distant historical events which led to the present day. It also lets us see some of the foundation of Hadeishi’s character – the kinds of inner dreams and ideals which drive him, even though he may not be wholly aware of them.

For me, all of these things kind of came with the territory. My parents were anthropologists in grad school, then became a dendrochronologist and a botanist. My childhood was filled with all sorts of strange characters, and lots and lots of books. Many of those experiences make their way into these books as well. In addition, as I write one of these books, there is a flurry of research around the main themes I’m attacking, and the science as well.

Who, or what, is the Mirror-Which-Reveals-The Truth, and what “project” did Hadeishi “botch,” as you put it, to such a degree that it cost him his ship in the book House of Reeds?

The Mirror of Black Glass, the Tlachialoni, are the Imperial Secret Services. The “Mirror” refers to a magical object used by the god Tezcatlipoca to view into the hearts of men and divine whether they spoke the truth or not. In the Imperial system there are dozens of competing agencies under the umbrella of the Mirror – spying on all segments and levels of society – so the Mirror should not be thought of as a monolithic entity. For example, the nauallis – the Judges – are technically an agency of the Mirror, but are almost always at cross-purposes with the other groups.

In House of Reeds, Hadeishi needed resupply and refueling for his light cruiser (the Cornuelle) and put in at Jagan in the Bharat system. Unfortunately for him and his crew, they dropped right into the middle of a Mirror operation to provoke a native uprising, on Jagan, against the Imperial presence there. This particular exercise was being managed by the xochiyaotinime – the Priests of the Flowery War – to provide combat experience for several regiments of the Imperial Army, to “blood” the prince Tezozomoc (who had not managed to cover himself with glory previously) and – unknown to the priests (who are lesser members of the Mirror) – act as cover for a flushing operation being run by a highly-placed Mirror agent called Itzpalicue who was hunting an alien presence only peripherally indicated by scanning data. In this mess, Hadeishi and the Cornuelle were intended to play the part of the “elderly warrior” who watches over the novices when they first go into battle. Quite unfortunately for Hadeishi, he had kept the Cornuelle out on patrol far too long, exhausting himself, his crew and his munitions supply. Due to these factors, he failed to properly play his part, resulting in the destruction of both his ship, as well as the xochiyaotinime control ship in orbit over Jagan.

In my review of Land of the Dead I primarily focus on (for better or worse) a major battle that takes place in a strange area of space called the kuub. The battle is between Imperial and the alien Khaiden spaceships.   Could you explain for our readers what the kuub is, and why these opposing forces are so interested in this area of space?

The kuub is a region of dense interstellar gasses, protostellar debris and energetic forces. A wasteland devoid of planets, suns or political control. A hazard to navigation avoided by all sensible beings. The perfect place, of course, to hide something… at the beginning of Land of the Dead, a force of Imperial scout ships is destroyed by something deep in the kuub, provoking a vigorous response by the Méxica. A Fleet squadron is dispatched to investigate – including the newly minted Captain Susan Kosho, who had been Hadeishi’s second-in-command on the Cornuelle – along with a bevy of science ships. All of this activity does not go unnoticed, however, drawing the attention of both the Khaid (a hostile alien species) and various human political groups who do not believe the Empire should gain control of the “weapon” believed to exist at the heart of the desolation. The question of what that “weapon” might be is the trigger for Gretchen Anderssen’s involvement, as well as the scale of resources committed by the contending parties. Many of the interested powers believe the “weapon” is not only from one of the previous Suns (that is, of immense age) but also something that can actually be comprehended and controlled.

Gretchen Anderssen’s role seems to be becoming a stronger, more prominent one as your series progresses, though she played a pretty important role in the previous two novels, also. I didn’t write about her much in my review, but I did touch on the comment that Green Hummingbird makes about how she’s different from most other humans.  What is it about Gretchen that makes her so different, and that she can do that Green Hummingbird can’t, but needs her to do?

First, my intention has always been for Gretchen to be the centerpoint character of the series. She’s our lead-in for every situation, and probably the most sympathetic point of view for the reader. Particularly in Wasteland of Flint, where she’s in the vast majority of the scenes. Not so much for House of Reeds and Land of the Dead, as the canvas is getting larger… but at the same time, her role is becoming more pivotal for the larger events. This is most clearly going to be shown in the next book, River of Ash, which focuses in on her very closely.

Now as for Green Hummingbird’s statement that she is different from the regular run of humanity, and this has led to her being able to perceive things others cannot, I’ll ask you a counter-question:  do you believe he was telling her the truth? I’m not sure I would believe anything that crazy old sorcerer might tell me.

I didn’t want to give away too much of the plot, but I mentioned in the review also that on the other side of the kuub Commander Susan Kosho, Gretchen, Green Hummingbird, Prince Xochitl and the other crew personnel of the Naniwa discover a planet-sized artifact that resembles a sunflower.  What made you decide on this shape for the artifact? Does it have to do with the Fibonacci sequence both it and actual sunflowers display in nature?

The shape and structure of the artifact come from the world view of the creators. As it happened, the Fibonacci sequence came into play with both the device and the builders, and tied into the shape and appearance of the artifact, which then led me to (with an excellent suggestion from one of my readers) to calling it the Chimalacatl (or sunflower). So it was… organic in its development!

What does the artifact use as its power source? I ask this because I think it’s a pretty cool power source, if such a thing could ever be achieved.

You expect me to remember all of these details?!  Actually, all the builders needed to do was achieve balance in the system – the very large system – they had created. The power source for everything they were attempting to accomplish was the infall of matter from the three brown dwarf stars. The result of that infall was the generation of a rotating magnetic field of tremendous strength. The placement of the sunflower – at the Lagrangian balance point of the entire system – and the placement of the Thread meant that not only could they raise and lower – ah – things a distance of an AU or so, but that the Thread itself generated electricity in vast quantities from induction. You can do the same thing with the Earth’s magnetic field, if you suspend a copper cable from orbit so that it passes through the rotating planetary field. Your anchor at the top end needs to remain static, letting the rotation of the Earth drive the generator. This one is just… larger.

Who in mythology was Hunahpu, what is Mictlan and Xibablba, and to what do they correspond in Land of the Dead?

In the Mayan epic Popol Vuh, Hunahpu and his brother take revenge on their murdered father by descending into Xibalba – the Mayan underworld – to contest with the dark gods dwelling there in the ceremonial and sacred ball-game (the ullamaliztli). After many trials, they succeed and Hunahpu ascends to become the Sun-God. There is a similar Aztec (Mexica) story involving the hero Blue-Hummingbird-on-the-Left (Huitzilopochtli) and his own birth, adventures and eventual ascendancy to godhood. In Land of the Dead, at least as far as the characters know, none of them are these hero-archetypes. Instead, they stumble upon the debris left behind by some time-lost hero-king who attempted to become a god itself. Many of the attributes of the kuub, and the Pocket and the things found within do call to mind the legends of the Mayan and Aztec underworlds…

Do you have plans to continue this series and your Oath of Empire one? If so, and you’re currently working on a novel, do you have a working title yet, and when can we expect to see it published?

If I get the opportunity, In the time of the Sixth Sun will be eight books. The next in the series is River of Ash, which is set in the Imperial Méxica capital of Tenochtitlán and involves Gretchen Anderssen in a very peculiar murder and intrigue amongst the factions of the royal family. When will it be done? I have no idea. In a time before children (B.C.) it would already be done and turned in…now post-children (P.C.) it might be done in a year or two if I’m lucky!

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Thanks once again to Mr. Thomas Harlan for agreeing to participate in this interview! If you like suspenseful military SF with lots of action, and a good mixture of both hard science and mythology, you’re sure to like reading Land of the Dead as much as I did!