Samak Press published its first science fiction anthology, Ripples in Space, in September. Over the next few weeks, I’m spotlighting contributing authors to the anthology in exclusive one-on-one interviews.
Next up in this interview series is Mike Morgan. His contribution to Ripples in Space is the haunting tale Fear the Human, which combines prose and poetry to chronicle what unfolds when Five-sided aliens allow two human explorers to join their migration — an action that creates an unforeseen ripple effect for their entire species.
Mike Morgan was born in London, but not in any of the interesting parts. He moved to Japan at the age of 30 and lived there for many years. Nowadays, he’s based in Iowa, and enjoys family life with his wife and two young children.
Recent stories penned by Mike include the novels The Man Who Killed Computers and Insignificant and the sci-fi story collection We Are Not All Right. Visit his author website, Perpetual State of Mild Panic, for his complete stories and illustrations.
Tell us about your story in Ripples in Space. What stands out about this story among the ones you’ve written and published?
Mike: Fear the Human is unusual in that half the story is told from the aliens’ point of view and half is told from the humans’. To give the alien viewpoint a distinct feel, I wrote it as a form of poetry. I haven’t tried that in any story before. You’ll have to tell me if it works!
Where do you draw inspiration for your stories? What goes into bringing them to life?
Mike: I’m constantly inspired by the natural world and the latest science news. A cool factoid isn’t enough to make a story by itself, though, so I bring in the human element. I love writing about flawed people — we’re all flawed, after all, and it’s those flaws that make us interesting — and stories often come from that collision between the plot’s central idea and how people behave. Really, there’s always some kind of conflict underpinning any story. While the headline for a story might be something like, “Dinosaurs roam a post-robot-revolution world!” the actual story is more about how a person struggles to navigate that landscape and protect the people they love.
What draws you to write stories in the science fiction genre?
Mike: I love the speculative aspect of it: what if one little thing in our lives changed? How would the world be then? And sure, it gives me the chance to shoehorn dinosaurs and robots and aliens and stuff in too. I guess, when all is said and done, I’m easily bored, and sci-fi gives me an endlessly exciting toybox to play with. Seeing Star Wars in 1977 when I was 7 may have played a role too.
Which of your characters would you want to spend an entire day with and why?
Mike: I’ve written a series of stories set on a space station orbiting Saturn’s moon, Titan. There are several nice, kind, decent souls living on it who I’d be more than happy to spend a day with, such as the reincarnated Dalai Lama and any number of Buddhist monks. Although, I’d probably steer clear of the station’s marshal, Augusta Thurm, as she’s quite grumpy. Seeing Titan up close and visiting its surface would be a dream come true. Exploring space in person! It’s a “hard sci-fi” setting, so I’d be safe from any killer robots or terrifying alien creatures, which is not something I can say I’d be safe from if I visited the fictional worlds of many of my other 80-plus stories.
What are your main dreams or goals as an author?
Mike: I always try to write something that will entertain. The last thing I ever want to be is boring. If I can work in some ideas along the way, so much the better. That’s the “punk” influence of 1970s 2000AD comics showing through - they did stories about cyborg dinosaurs on a rampage, sure, but there was always a deeper side to things, some sneaky analogy to what was going on in current affairs. As the British stand-up comedian of yesteryear, Ben Elton, would say, “A little bit of politics!”
What’s an unusual fact people might not know about you?
Mike: My cat Gouda likes to ride around on my shoulder like an extremely ginger parrot. My other cat Cheddar regards this as very strange behavior indeed.
Outside of writing stories, what’s a passion or hobby you enjoy pursuing?
Mike: Anyone who knows me is fully aware that I am passionate about collecting comics. My home is filled with them! I was lucky enough to write a couple of times for the UK small-press comic Futurequake, but the publisher sadly passed away a couple of years ago, so it seems my days of writing comics have come to a premature end—since other companies have not been as welcoming. Despite the disappointments of trying to find a way into that industry, I remain passionate about reading comics. My current reading pile includes various issues of 2000AD, Hellblazer, Howard the Duck, Heavy Metal, Excalibur, Marvel UK’s Hulk strips, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I’ve recently also delved into the universe of EC reprints, going through several volumes of Weird Fantasy. As you can tell, I vacuum up comics from the 1950s right through to this very moment, and I enjoy them all!
You make first contact with aliens. What do you do next?
Mike: Once I’d fought off the urge to run around yelling at everyone, “I told you they must exist!” I’d probably ask whether they fancied going for a curry and a pint. We have a really good Indian restaurant near where I live. With luck, the chicken madras would not prove fatal to them, since I don’t want to be the cause of Earth’s first interplanetary war.
Thank you, Mike, for taking some time to answer a few questions and giving readers of this newsletter a chance to get to know you better.
Check back for future installments of this interview series throughout November and December. Go visit Mike’s author website Perpetual State of Mild Panic to discover more of his stories.
Love this!