Interview with Robert Carnevale
Tell us a bit about the inspiration for Cold War 2395. What gave you the idea?
So many things inspired this story. Soooo many. Movies, novels, video games, comics. To name a few: Halo (game), Star Wars (movie franchise, but not the Disney rubbish), Mad Max (movie, which influenced my novel’s pacing), Warhammer (novels as well as stellar games like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine). Elysium (movie, Matt Damon and the ever-excellent director Neil Blomkamp). Valerian (comic/graphic novel). Vanquish, the best video game ever produced.
The decades of paranoia between the U.S. and Russia were also an obvious inspiration. Both sides are out of their fuckin’ minds, to some extent, and I hope my novel illustrated that. I know on a superficial level the Russians come off as “bad guys” in my story, but think about it. They’re carefully researching the next generation of nuclear warfare so people *don’t* get accidentally hurt. They’re developing machines of war so that they never have to spend a human life on the battlefield. Sub-textually speaking, I wanted it to be a balanced story. Alas, ideas for future stories in this universe seem to be where the bulk of that balance may have to go.
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There’s a lot of talk these days about commercial space flight and space tourism. How far away do you think humanity is as a species from the first space hotel?
I’m a dummy, man. I have zero insider insights on the ETA of space hotels. All I know is I’d like it to happen in my lifetime so I can chill out in one for a bit.
When the time comes to begin colonizing other planets, would you sign up?
I mean, I’m up to travel to other planets, no doubt. As for colonizing, hmm. Depends. Are the rocks barren? Are there species on there? If so, are they peaceful? In the event they’re peaceful, I’d vote we respectfully leave ‘em be. But, uh, I guess if I land and say hello and the creatures start trying to eat me alive, then yeah, I’ll make an outpost and claim dominion over the land while still being able to sleep at night.
You have some pretty cool and unique robot animals featured in Cold War 2395. What was the inspiration for them?
Well, one thing, really. Next-generation warfare is going to require machines built for certain environments. We’re already seeing this with things like Boston Dynamics’ robot dog. These machines aren’t built as gimmicks; they’re built to perform functions a humanoid machine can’t. So when warfare evolves and machines replace the bulk of human soldiers, why wouldn’t a country model said bots after the animals that are genetically constructed for varied environments? It only makes sense that warfare in a savannah-like environment would utilize robotic panthers, for example. People underestimate how well optimized mother nature is; I think copying its general layout and tossing a couple of sci-fi garnishes on top is practical.
Military sci-fi is all about awesome scenes and epic action. Tell us a bit about what you consider to be the coolest scene in Cold War 2395.
I think the “a couple thousand robot panthers attempt to perpendicularly derail a train moving along the inside curve of a zero-gravity, cylindrical space station” scene is probably the coolest bit. And I don’t think I need to explain why that’s cool.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Well, the day job necessitates that I write a couple thousand words every 8 hours or so, so that’s what’s next for me, in a very narrow-minded sense. As for novels, well, figuring out how to get my next big story out there, of course! And this time, I’m packing a trilogy. It’ll reach storefronts eventually—it’s just a matter of when. Hopefully this next set of stories hits people a little more personally and gives them something to ruminate on in their daily lives. I think we all need a pitstop every now and then to check in with ourselves and make sure we’re doing okay. That’s the focus of the next tall tale of mine.