BIaze Ward - Fast-Paced, Adventurous Science Fiction

Blaze Ward writes science fiction in the Alexandria Station universe (Jessica Keller, The Science Officer, The Story Road, etc.) as well as several other science fiction universes, such as Star Dragon, the Dominion, and more. He occasionally writes odd bits of high fantasy with swords and orcs. In addition, he is the Editor and Publisher of Boundary Shock Quarterly Magazine. As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about his book, The Science Officer.

Please give us a short introduction to what The Science Officer is about.

Javier is an explorer until his ship get captured by space pirates, wherein he fast-talks his way onto the crew as an officer, goofball, and eventually part a very dysfunctional family. While hiding the computer sentience that was his old ship. This is the beginning of a long, complex set of stories as the characters develop and keep having adventures.

What inspired you to write about a long-range scout and an artificial intelligence?

I wanted to do SCIENCE! A guy who isn’t a secret agent, military special forces, or space navy, like seems to be so much of the genre. He’s a nerdy botanist at heart. And a used-camel salesman. Too much of the genre tends to be military, and usually centered on some writer’s time in the US Army or US Navy. (They like to correct me when I talk about how navies will operate in the year 7510CE, when Javier is born. I have a spreadsheet of dates.)

Suvi (the AI) is a person. A composer and a goofball who keeps herself entertained. How do we treat life forms we can create, when we get that far? Are they human? Are they tools? The pirates would make her a slave, if they could, but Javier sees her as more of his daughter than anything. That matters later, when he steals a ship he can pour her back into. (Book 6. The Last Flagship.)

Tell us more about Javier. What makes him tick?

PTSD from his time in the Concord Navy drove him to buy an old ship, refurb it, and sail on quiet survey contracts. Just him, four chickens, and his AI friend Suvi. Until Zakhar and the pirates show up.

Javier is slowly healing. Slowly learning to people again, but he’s fundamentally broken when the series starts. At the end of the day though, he has a strong sense of right and wrong from his navy days, and inspires this new crew of misfits to be better people.

He infects everyone with his optimism and conscience, whether they like it or not.

Why did you decide to write space pirates into the story?

The law will not keep up with space travel, when we can travel the stars. Folks will go out there and elude the authorities. And Human crime will travel with them. But for all the glory people suppose, piracy just means that they don’t really have a home, and every day have to find a way (legal or not) to make money. To keep the ship in fresh cream and socks.

At the same time, good and evil are often a matter of perspective. The law might not be “right” too. Pirates are on the wrong side of “somebody’s” law, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad people. For me, it is a fun way to explore the ethics of space adventure.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I publish and edit Boundary Shock Quarterly (www.boundaryshockquarterly.com) magazine and Blaze Ward Presents (www.blazewardpresents.com). In a previous life, I was a database nerd, but I’ve been able to support myself as a full-time writer for more than three years now.