Author, Sam Wilson released The First Murder on Mars in September last year. We caught up with him to chat about his newest book and his hopes to finish another one before humans colonise Mars.
To start, could you tell us a little about you? Where do you live? What are your interests, your hobbies, etc?
I was born in England, and my family moved to Zimbabwe when I was a child. I visited Cape Town after university and fell in love with the city. I currently live near Muizenberg with my family. Writing is what I do for fun, so I’m very lucky that it’s both my day job and my hobby.
Tell us the story behind this story. Where did you get the idea for this book? Why did you write it?
My wife Kerry used to help organise a monthly event called Science Cafe, where scientists would give talks about interesting subjects.
A lecturer called Kai Staats gave a talk about Mars, and he ended it by saying “when we first arrive, things will be simple. Everyone will know each other, and everyone will be on the same team. But new people will be born, and people will arrive from Earth. So when will things stop being simple? When will there be the first murder? When will there be the first war?” I thought it was a fascinating question, so I decided to write a novel.
What is your day job? Are you a scientist?
Quite the opposite. I write and direct animated TV shows and movies for children. I’m currently the show runner of the animated series Jungle Beat. But my wife is a scientist, and I’m deeply interested in science.
How long did it take you to write this book?
Way too long. I expected to do it in eight months, but then my daughter was born, then I wrote a TV show, then there was a global pandemic, then I made a movie. So in all I took about four years, not including publishing time.
How were you able to do your research for this book considering that Mars colonisation is just a pipe-dream at the moment?
We know a lot about Mars from rovers and satellites. We know that the ground is toxic, the air is unbreathable, and there’s radiation pouring down from the sky.
Scientists have been trying to work out solutions to those problems for years, so I had plenty of research to draw from.
The First Murder on Mars is very grim. Is that your style of story-telling or did you just feel that it was necessary for this story?
There’s an idea that a Mars could be a new utopia, but truthfully, it would be a terrible place to live. We aren’t building any huge cities in Antarctica, and Antarctica is paradise compared to Mars. So I wanted to show what happens when a utopian dream meets a harsh reality.
I also wanted it to be like a western, with gun-slingers, train robberies, and a chase across the wild frontier, and that comes with a certain grittiness.
It’s not all bad, though. Society has collapsed and dark things are happening, but hope hasn’t been extinguished quite yet.
What has been the reception to this book so far?
The reviews have been good and it’s being sold worldwide, so I’m happy. Truthfully, I won’t know how well the book is doing for another few months.
I think it’ll find its tribe, though.
Do you have any other books planned?
I’m writing a children’s chapter-book for fun, and after that, I have a big science fiction idea that’s too interesting to ignore. Knowing my schedule, I could be writing it for a while.
I just hope I finish it before we get to Mars.
To listen to the publishers podcast with Sam, visit https://iono.fm/e/1496185
