Client: -NikaRave-

Interviewer: Nyxprimroseaspen

Congratulations on winning the Sapphire Stories Award for CANAISIS ∞ The Last Living Ship trilogy (Chronicles of Canaisis 1) under Science fiction! How does it feel to see so many readers connecting with and enjoying your story?

Well, to be honest, I've never considered myself a Writer. In fact, I've insisted I'm not. I'm just a long-time Sci-fi Reader who wanted to tell a story. Seeing others enjoying Canaisis just makes our day for both Lady Annika and I. It makes all the years and all the effort worthwhile.

It's amazing how stories often begin with a desire to share something close to the heart rather than a label or title like 'writer.' Your journey from a sci-fi reader to sharing Canaisis is so inspiring. Could you share a bit about the initial spark or idea for The Last Living Ship and what motivated you to finally bring it to life?

To answer your question I have to first fill in a little background.

In 2015 I was just another Wattpad reader when I came across Lady Annika's (KeMorgon65 ) story 'Shadow of the Past Trilogy, The Displaced'. While reading it, there was a scene of a boy and girl. It didn't feel right to me so I commented as much. That was the start of an ongoing conversation, and later, friendship.

To continue, every so often I'd come up with what I call "moments" and then I'd send them to her. "Moments" are just that, a momentary scene that captures the angst, or essence of what could be a story. For me, I was just throwing story plots at her ideas. She, however, kept insisting I could write, I be a writer. I bluntly denied that ever being a possibility.

One good example of a moment is chapter one 'The Telling of a Legend'. That one spark is what turned into Canaisis. But, I had no plans of writing anything. I was just a Reader. No, that moment was a gift to Lady Annika, a story idea for her to write. She was very firm in insisting that she had her own book to finish. I insisted it would make a good tie in with her story. We ended up debating the "why, how, and when" for over a year, I think, as she continued her own story. As time went by, now that we had a good idea of what Canaisis would be, I would come up with new moments within Canaisis. Samples of how the story would look and feel. A good two dozen moments later it became apparent Lady Annika wasn't going to drop or spare time for her own project. So, as I wrote another moment, the story just kept continuing. Lady Annika jumped right in with the editing, proofreading, encouragement, and critique. Without her Canaisis wouldn't exist. I sometimes jokingly say that she is the ground crew and wings of this airplane. I'm just the pilot who doesn't know where he is going.

Meanwhile, three books later...

That's such an incredible journey, Raven! It's inspiring to hear how Canaisis grew out of shared creativity and collaboration with Lady Annika. It's clear that both of your strengths brought this story to life in such a unique way. Could you share a bit more about your creative process? How do you and Lady Annika work together to shape the story—do you divide tasks, brainstorm together, or have specific roles in the writing process? And what has been the most rewarding part of this collaboration for you?

We each have our roles. There is an old expression that goes 'Cant see the forest for the trees.' What we have learned is that Lady Annika is very good at seeing the trees while I stay focused on the forest as a whole. I know where I'm at, and I can see the horizon but as the story unfolds Lady Annika keeps me from running into a tree. She keeps the story free of conflicts, inconsistencies, or errors as I try to tell the story in a way that brings it justice. I guess you could say I'm the dreamer.

Much of the time, I don't even know how the story will go. It writes itself, much to both our surprise. The Nilex Gift, for example, came out of nowhere. I was writing a sentence, and from one word to the next, I have a whole new aspect of the story that changes the dynamics of everything.

Then comes the brainstormings/debates/arguments with Lady Annika as we work out just exactly how this fits into the story.

As for the most rewarding part of collaboration with Lady Annika is having gained a very good friend who happens to live in a different country from me.

The second most rewarding part is that Lady Annika is also my number one Reader. I don't let her see the writing until I've reached a stopping point in the story. Keeping her in suspense is a great pleasure to me. She then rewards me by ripping it apart and rearranging it until we can both agree it has the proper flow and tempo.

In Depth of Sacrifice 'authors word' I jokingly mention Lady Annika obviously had a plan to lure me into an evil trap. Take an innocent Reader who made a comment of her story, lure him into writing, then become his editor.

LOL! I promise not to tell Lady Annika—your secret's safe with me.

You mentioned the Nilex Gift as an unexpected twist. Were there any other moments like that where the story surprised you or led to a fun debate with Lady Annika

Question: Have you read Canaisis?

I ask so I know how much explanation is needed. Debating and discussion is part of our process. You see, we have had debates that lasted over six weeks. Concerning one particular point of the story was the transit tubes within Canaisis. I didn't want elevator shafts or star trek turbo shafts. Canaisis has exceptional skill at manipulating magnetic fields so I thought "why couldn't she use magnetism to move people and objects through shafts?" Her original design did use an elevator design but when Captain Gareth became the sole crew member there was no need for such when Canaisis control the movement. The transit shaft have zero gravity in them so magnetic forces could easily move an object. I envisioned Gareth wearing clothes with woven metal threads in the cloth. Then he would step into the zero gravity of the shaft and Canaisis could move him to any level of the ship using magnetism. He wouldn't have to wait for a transit plate or elevator car to go somewhere. Well, Lady Annika had a hard time seeing the feasibility of it. I have made a point of trying to bring science back into the Sci-fi. Everything in Canaisis is based on the reality of physics and theoretical science. The story's foundation is on the future cutting edge of science. Knowing this, Lady Annika felt the transit tubes were too fanciful, and that the Reader would notice or object. We debated for over six weeks, making me prove the feasibility of the concept. I won that part of the debate but never convinced her of the Readers acceptance of it. Eventually, the transit tubes was left in the story. I'm happy to report that not one Reader has ever commented on or complained about them. And this brings us to a point of debate that we often have. How much detail needs to be explained to the Reader? Lady Annika is very thoughtful and thorough. I tend to believe the Reader needs room to use their own imagination. They are basically watching a movie in their mind....

...and no two Readers will see the story the same way. If I describe a sunset do I need to inform the Reader of the number of clouds and birds in the sky? Well, sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. I tend to depend on the Readers imagination and Lady Annika tends towards details. We have a synergy that balances out quite nicely.

As for the transit tubes, I explain the mechanics of it in the story (I had to) but she keeps me from delving into the physical operation to the point the Reader falls asleep.

Thank you for such a detailed and fascinating explanation! I'll admit, I haven't read Canaisis yet, but this interview has definitely piqued my interest—it's clear how much effort and thought has gone into creating such a vivid and scientifically grounded world. The concept of the transit tubes is so innovative, and knowing about the six-week debate makes it even more impressive that it made it into the story.

With so much attention to scientific detail in Canaisis, how do you decide when to let imagination take over versus sticking closely to established science? Are there moments where you find yourself compromising between creativity and realism?

Oh yes, definitely. Lady Annika and I debate these points often. Look, my big issue with many sci-fi stories is what I call "easy outs". Imagine a group running into a ship while being chased. They have no way out and no way of escaping. Then one of the members says "Look, a hyperdrive button!"

Well, what is a hyperdrive? How does it work? What are its rules and limitations, its principles of physics for its existence?

In our story, we needed Faster Than Light travel so yes, we broke Einstein's famous E = MC² rule that nothing can exceed the speed of light. However, we kept the effects of traveling at 99.99% of the speed of light when above FTL. To give you an idea of what this is like, imagine driving down a highway with all the traffic that comes with such a trip. By the time you achieve 99.99% of the speed of light time within your car has slowed down drastically. One minute of travel within your car, but for the world outside your car 49 days have passed.

Now, don't crash!

This was the reason Canaisis was created. A ship was needed that could stay alert for years or decades and have the reflexes to deal with impending collisions from a universe coming at you way too fast to comprehend.

For the Captain, Gareth Levant, this rule of our imaginary physics created an intriguing aspect to his character. When years of ship time equals hundreds of years for earth he can be viewed by the Reader as a traveler of the river of time, and not just running around to different planets. What becomes of a man who has left his friends, family, country, culture, everything he ever knew lost forever in the depths of the past? What becomes of a man for whom every goodbye means he will never see them alive again? Better yet, what kind of man knowingly chooses such a path?

So you see? We had to break some rules of real world science, for the sake of telling this story. But, we also created rules for those we broke, and then used them to weave into the story

That's such a refreshing approach to sci-fi—grounding the story in rules and consequences instead of taking 'easy outs.' It really makes the world and characters feel more authentic and immersive. I'm particularly intrigued by Gareth Levant's journey and the emotional weight of his sacrifices. How do you balance the hard science with the human element of storytelling? Do you find it challenging to keep the emotional core intact while navigating such intricate scientific details?

The human element is all that any story is about. A Reader is seeking something when they pick up a story. Like picking a movie, one can deduce the nature of what they desire by their choice. Is it action and violence, comedy, horror, or romance? They seek what I call Angst. Now, Angst by itself, whatever the emotion, is nothing more than conflict. Star Trek or Star Wars, Alien or Predator, all movies in the sci-fi category but they are totally different in the Angst they give to the Reader.

The Angst of the story is the primary foundation, and should be the primary consideration, of any story. From that foundation it's a matter of creating the human interactions and world building that achieves the goal of creating that Angst.

I seek to create a world, and events within, that imbues the Reader with that an emotion. In Canaisis, right up front in chapter one, I tell the Reader that this is a love story. A Captain of ship often loves his ship but what if that ship can return that love? We, Lady Annika and I, had to ask ourselves what would that look like? What kind of man would that be? What quality of uniqueness would an Artificial Intelligence have, to experience love? What Angst would have to exist?

For us the answer was for Captain Levant to experience the loss of his wife. The pain of that loss is the reason he chose to set sail into Long Years between the stars. This creates the scenario similar to the old stories of the Flying Dutchman. Canaisis sails forever, never touching land. But, Canaisis is an AI and she grows, learns from her Captain and her brief experiences with her passengers. Eventually she becomes aware of her Captain's motive to leave humanity behind and sail the Long Years. Who could watch her Captain's self destructive behavior and not try to save him? The question is, how do you save your Captain's broken heart when you're not even human?

So, as you can see, the human element is set. The Angst determined. The fact that the universe the story plays out upon has more 'science' in Sci-fi than 'fiction' is just our preference. Probably from all the years of reading in my youth. Larry Niven had a big influence on me as a youth. I've read all 63 of his books, plus co-authored. He focused on big concepts in science that might be possible in the future, rather than human interactions and emotions.

On the other hand, I've read most of Marion Zimmer Bradley's and Mercedes Lackey books and they tended towards the human element. I guess reading for thirty years is how Canaisis is coming out so well received. I'm just writing what I would like to read.

The way you've combined the emotional depth of human connections with the vastness of sci-fi concepts is truly compelling. With such a rich foundation in both human emotion and science, what's the key takeaway you hope readers get from Canaisis?

Key takeaway? That is a very tough question to answer. Canaisis is such a large story, it tackles so many topics. What is A.I.? What is love? Can a machine know love as humans do? Can humans know love as Artificial Intelligence does? Can either even recognize that the other has the ability to love? Can the gulf between human and machine be crossed?

Well, I do promise this to be a love story. But, what kind of love? That can only be answered by reading the story.

Thank you for sharing such thought-provoking insights! Lastly, can you tell us a bit about what's next for you? Are there any upcoming works or projects we should look forward to?

The current work of Canaisis will take over a year, or more, to complete as there are at least two more volumes coming. After that, well, there is a short titled Depth of Sacrifice. It's an action sci-fi and I have had many Readers express their desire to see a continuation into a full book. Another book titled Sword and Sanctuary is just the "original" moment that captures the concept of the story. It's in the fantasy/magic genre, and I think that would be fun to write. We will choose one of those two for our next project. We'd love to hear from our Readers their input on what to choose.

We are not quick at writing, but I think the quality makes up for the wait. In the meantime, Canaisis continues.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights—it's been a truly fascinating and enriching conversation! I deeply appreciate your patience, especially as this ended up being a bit longer than I intended. Your passion for storytelling and the depth you bring to your work are truly inspiring. I look forward to seeing how Canaisis evolves and to any future projects you choose to pursue. Wishing you all the best!