Matthew Donald is the author of the new young adult novel Teslamancer. It's a sequel to his novel Teslanauts. He lives in Centennial, Colorado.
Q: What inspired you to write Teslamancer, and did you know when you wrote Teslanauts that you'd be writing a sequel?
A: I definitely knew I was writing a sequel when I wrote Teslanauts, and I plan to write three more afterward as well.
What inspired me to write Teslamancer was the idea of expanding the world I set up in the first book and pushing the boundaries beyond what would be expected from a first book.
When writing Teslanauts I was introducing the reader into this hidden volt-tech world, and easing them into the craziness that was concocted by Nikola Tesla and his contemporaries.
By the time of Teslamancer, I trust the audience enough to accept the weirdness and therefore went kind of nuts for this installment. You just saw a glimmer of the volt-tech world in the first book, now look at it in all of its technological and electromagnetic glory.
The first book had airships and mechs and biplanes with lightning zappers; fun stuff, but nothing too outlandish. Teslamancer, on the other hand, has Norse-themed submarines, flying trains, a mech with Rasputin's alive yet severed head on top, an enormous artillery platform with global range, steampunk agents, clockpunk agents, the Baba Yaga, giant mutated reptiles... yeah, I went hard on the insanity for this one.
I wanted to see how much I could push the readers' suspension of disbelief, and I wanted to get to the point where I just barely didn't jump the shark. I think that's a fun way to do a sequel. I could go even wackier in the upcoming third installment, or maybe do something more emotional and personal... you'll just have to see.
Q: Do you think your character Raymond has changed from one book to another?
A: He's definitely accepted his role as a Teslanaut agent more in this book.
One of the things I admittedly struggled with when first writing Teslamancer is giving Raymond an adequate emotional arc. His main goal in the first book was to find his missing father, to the point that it consumed every moment of his time and spurred him to join the Teslanauts in the first place.
Now that his arc there was completed, I had to find a new purpose for his character, while still building off the loose ends I left behind at the end of the first book.
The eureka moment came for me when I realized that if I was struggling to find Raymond's purpose, he would probably also be struggling as well. He found out what happened to his dad, and he now worked for the Teslanauts full-time. So now what?
Feeling a lack of purpose became metatextual, so I incorporated it into the book as he's strung along another adventure. What is he doing all this for? He wants to make the world a better place, but that's such a nebulous concept. Better for whom? Better why? Hopefully the answer I give at the end is satisfying; I certainly think it is, but then again I'm biased.
Q: Can you say more about how you created the world in which the stories are set?
A: I take a mix of real-life history and the rules and concepts I created for this story's universe.
What has given me a sense of freedom is something I figured out early on when writing Teslanauts and coming up with this volt-tech world it takes place in: this isn't hard sci-fi. A lot of the technology used is impossible. A lot of the explanations for the electrical and electromagnetic powers are pseudoscience.
Nikola Tesla was a brilliant man, and a lot of his ideas were theoretically possible and have even been proven as history goes on, but he was also a bit of a madman and came up with concepts that aren't feasible in any way.
Therefore, I made two overarching rules for the science in this world: that it was based on what Nikola Tesla THOUGHT was possible rather than what was actually possible, and that if the characters bought what happened then the audience would as well.
By taking these two rules and combining them with the wide and complicated history of the early 20th century along with my own demented creativity, I was able to create a far vaster world than what might be expected, especially considering I'm treating this as a hidden part of history rather than an alternate timeline.
A lot of it are also homages to early science fiction and pulp tales, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days, The Lost World, and even Frankenstein.
By taking these ideas and keeping it consistent with the rules I've set out for this world, I've made myself an expansive playground, and I look forward to showing you what more I have in mind for later books.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from this new novel?
A: There are several overarching themes that I think many can relate to when reading Teslamancer.
For one, this book has a lot of diversity, with several characters in the LGBTQ+ spectrum (obviously still in the closet due to the time period, alas), many different cultures and races, and an overall sense of globalization and camaraderie.
Everyone from many different cultures are working together to better the world, and even if they might not personally agree on everything, they recognize that we all live on this floating space rock together and should work with each other to make things better for everyone.
Also, in Raymond's case, I want people to see that if you struggle with finding your purpose and feel like you're just ambling along in life, if you give it enough time and explore what your passions are, your purpose will find itself.
He finds companionship in places he wasn't expecting, and learns exactly why he does what he does. You can too. You will. We all will. We gotta, otherwise what's the point?
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I've got several creative projects in the works. Firstly is the third installment in my Teslanaut series, which I won't reveal too many details of yet but I will say there's a bit of a time skip and it's now in the 1930s rather than the ‘20s like the first two books.
The Great Depression has negatively affected the world in many ways, and that includes the volt-tech world, and I will explore that in this book while also providing new fanciful concepts that will keep things interesting and action-packed.
I'm also working on concept art for a potential animated film adaptation of my earlier Megazoic books, which I'm very excited about and can't wait to make more progress on.
Lastly, I'm always working on my podcast Paleo Bites, where I and a rotating series of guest co-hosts talk about and rate a genus of prehistoric animal each week, and it's pretty silly while also being a little informative.
Basically, I'm a creative guy who has a lot of creative projects all at once. It's pretty fun. If only I could make more money off of it someday... subscribe to my Patreon, maybe? C'mon, help a guy out!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Teslamancer is my sixth published book, so if you're interested in it you should check out my others as well, particularly the first book in the series, Teslanauts, my fifth book.
The other four are my Megazoic series, a currently completed sci-fi saga about an advanced civilization of dinosaurs unknown to humanity. It's equally as outrageous and fun and emotional and action-packed as Teslanauts; I have a particular kind of book I like writing, you see.
I also have a podcast called Paleo Bites as previously stated, and I'm working on getting some new podcasts started as well, in particular a brand new version of the writing podcast I did for a few years a while back with my buddy and best friend Matt Seivert.
Check it all out at my website, matthewdonaldcreator.com! You'll like some of it, I'm sure.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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