Interview with J. C. Steel
Q.
You’ve just released book 4 in your Cortii series. For those of
us who don’t know, who are the Cortii?
The Cortii are a mercenary
organisation of genetically-engineered humanoids. They aren’t the
only mercenary units for hire in human-governed space, but much to
the annoyance of the governments and the other mercenary units, the
Cortii are both the most expensive and the most effective. They work
from space-capable Bases situated across humanoid space. These Bases,
also much to the annoyance of various governments, are hard targets
to the point where no Base has been successfully attacked in recorded
history.
Q.
So for a bit more information, I’m interested in what they look
like. Also, if they are based on any similar types from human
history.
Historically, Cortiians were
fully human – more of a militant cult than anything else,
pre-spaceflight. They colonised the galaxy along with the initial
human colonisation waves, but, like a lot of spacers, found that a
little genetic modification made life in space a whole lot easier.
However, unlike most humans, the Cortii didn’t stop at being able
to tolerate a lower-oxygen atmosphere and other minor tweaks:
Cortiian scientists went on experimenting to improve bone and muscle
density, range of telepathy and empathy, eyesight, hearing... Which
was fortunate for the Cortii, since about the time the majority
humanoid government of the time declared them outlaw, they passed all
the markers to become their own subspecies, with their own
citizenship.
If you met a Cortiian on the high street, you wouldn’t notice them; they specialise in undercover work, and can alter their appearances very effectively. Undisguised, they’re on the tall end of average, about six feet; skin colour varies, but has a coppery tone in most cases that adapts easily to high-UV environments; you’d notice higher than average cheekbones, which support larger sinuses. They’re mostly lean rather than bulky, and if startled (good luck taking a Cortiian by surprise), you might see them move quite a lot faster than average.
Q.
There’s a lot of action and adventure in these books. How do you
decide on the balance between making the prose exciting and punchy
while also taking time to fully describe the world you have created?
Confession: I’m an inveterate
pantser, so the plot to background balance is less conscious decision
on my part than it is reading through at the editing stage and
tweaking anything that makes me wince. While I do have formal editing
training and experience (lucky me, it saves me a mint), it’s been
more focussed on copy and proof than developmental. If something
sounds clunky when I re-read, or if it doesn’t provably move the
plot along or add anything else vital to the book, I alter it or axe
it.
Q.
Do you base your characters on real people? On yourself?
Characters from other stories? Stereotypes?
Quite honestly, I think that
every writer bases characters to some extent on personas they’ve
met or read about; I read once that all the faces you see in dreams
are faces you’ve seen, sometime in your life, even though you don’t
actively remember them, and I strongly suspect that outside
influences in my characters do occur, and to much the same extent.
Q.
Out of the four Cortii novels, I’m interested if you have a
particular favourite action sequence or scene?
We’d be here a while. Getting
to sit on the shoulder of a career mercenary is one of the main perks
of writing, for me. Some of the space chases come to mind – there’s
one in particular, in the draft of book 7, that gave me happy spasms
of glee writing it. Some of the dialogue, as well, if I’m being
honest, is a lot of fun to write. Cortiians aren’t particularly
nice people, and they’re quite happy to stab opponents in the back,
literally or metaphorically.
Q.
When writing a series such as this, do you have to re-read your
novels before starting on the next one?
Yes and no. I’m lucky, I’ve
been telling myself stories in the Cortiian universe since I was
about five, so most of the world is internalised to the point where I
don’t have to spend time agonising about culture and history and
writing myself post-it notes. I find the start of a new book is the
tricky bit, at least in my head, and that’s when I tend to find
myself re-reading previous books to reassure myself that character A
hasn’t completely shifted between books. So far, it’s been
paranoia.
On the other hand, I do also re-read my books for fun, immodest as that sounds – there are times when only my own writing tells quite the story I’m in the mood to read.
Q.
Have you ever been tempted to go back and change something in a
previous novel?
I’ve been known on occasion to
go back and cut a section in a published book. Through the Hostage is
the principal culprit for this: it was the first book I published,
and I made the classic newbie mistake of leaving stuff in because I
liked it. A couple of years and three books later, I went back with a
machete and took out some of the unnecessary bits. Other than that,
I’m currently working on a box set of the first four books plus
Unaltered,
and I’m updating the formatting for consistency across the whole
series. I hope that’s going to be the last time, because formatting
seems to require a lot of beer.
Q.
Okay, a bit more about you. I see from your blog that you’ve moved
around a lot, living in England, Canada, travelling around southern
Europe and the Caribbean as a kid. Did this open your eyes to the
world? A good experience?
I love seeing new places. I can’t
afford to do it as much as I’d like, but one of the gifts from my
nomadic childhood is adaptability to new places and ways of living,
and seeing how other people live fascinates me. And then those
experiences probably get fed into my books in some form or other. The
downside was going into a UK boarding school in my teens after years
on a yacht in the Caribbean and elsewhere and having basically
nothing in common with my year-mates. That left me with an inbuilt
wariness meeting new people, especially around the ‘so where do you
come from?’ questions.
Q.
You once tried to join the navy. How far did you get? Did this
experience influence the military aspect of your writing?
I took my Boards for officer
training, but was in the majority that fail the first time through.
The Captain in charge of my Boards was nothing but supportive to my
trying again after university, even to personally writing to me to
encourage me to do so, but in university I met my partner, and it
didn’t seem fair to start a career where I’d be gone nine months
in twelve, so I withdrew my application. I wouldn’t say I ever got
far enough with the Navy for it to influence my writing. I do still
regret my decision to pull out of that opportunity, although it was
for what seemed like good reasons at the time.
Q.
Do you think you will always exclusively be a sci-fi writer or do
you have your mind on other genres for future projects?
I brought out an urban fantasy
novel partly based on my time in the Caribbean at the end of 2018 (Death is for the Living),
and I’ve got another couple of urban fantasy ideas in various
stages of draft, but honestly sci-fi is probably always going to be
my preferred genre. There’s just something about travel to strange
new worlds and figuring out that universe that makes me happy.
Q.
And how about the Cortii? Is this the last we’ve heard from them?
Oh, definitely not. I’ve got
everything up to part of book 8 in drafts, and frankly even that one
doesn’t feel like a series wrap, so I suspect there’s going to be
more. Lots more. Plus, one of my secondary characters from Fighting Shadows just
demanded a novella of his own, Unaltered,
so there’s a strong possibility if he gets pushy enough that
there’ll be a novel on his storyline as well at some point.
So definitely not then! Thanks
for the interview, J. C.
You can check out more
interviews with authors on J C’s own blog here.
You can find his amazon page here
and connect with him on goodreads here.
