Joshua Dalzelle on Building Gates of Babylon

You’ve spent more than a decade in Omega Force, Black Fleet, Terran Scout Fleet. House of Blades is not that. What made you decide to build something from scratch now, instead of writing another book in a series that already sells?

I’ve always wanted to explore the different branches of science fiction. Having two series as successful as Omega Force and Black Fleet made it difficult to block out the time for a new project as the demand for both was high. Once Black Fleet was concluded, it freed up both the time and mental bandwidth to try something new.

Was there a version of this idea that you sat on for years, or did Gates of Babylon arrive relatively fast?

This has definitely been a slow build. I began outlining the rough story probably six or seven years ago and added detail as inspiration struck over the years. I sat on it for both lack of time to write it and the desire to really let an idea simmer so that once I sat down to write it, the world and its characters would already be familiar to me.

The Gates are the load-bearing element of the whole setting, and they predate everyone using them. How much of the Builder history do you actually have written down somewhere, versus what you’re deliberately leaving unsolved?

Out of necessity, I have the complete history of the Builders written down in the series notes. As the series progresses, the reader will only know as much as the characters do, which isn’t much. The Gates are something immutable that have always existed, and this modern society has no idea who put them there or even fully understands how they work.

How far ahead is Gates of Babylon planned? Do you know the ending of the series, or just the ending of book one?

The series is currently outlined as a trilogy. House of Blades will be followed by Empire of Ash, then concluding with Chase the Dawn. The story arc will conclude at three books, but there is opportunity for more within this universe if readers decide they want to spend more time there.

Adran was trained from childhood to show nothing. That’s a hard protagonist, because the reader needs access to a man who has been drilled not to give it. How did you solve that?

It was definitely a challenge. Jason Burke (Omega Force) is driven by his emotions and Jackson Wolfe (Black Fleet) is stoic, but still able to express how he feels to those around him. Adran is conditioned to suppress strong emotion as a practical matter in how he fights. In order to let the reader see behind the mask, there has to be someone Adran trusts enough to let in. He finds that person fairly early and, as his trust in her grows, you’ll see him through her eyes.

Somebody who has read every Omega Force book picks this up on October 20. What’s the thing you’d want them to know before chapter one?

This isn’t the interstellar frat party that Omega Force is, but I think you’ll care about these characters just as much as you get to know them. A lot of things that work in the Omega Force series also work in Gates of Babylon like high-stakes missions and kinetic action.

You’ve built your career independently and hit USA Today doing it. What does the job look like day to day now versus when you published Omega Rising?

Writing Omega Rising was fun because there were no expectations or deadlines. I wrote the book in order to see what this new indie publishing thing was all about after not having much luck with the traditional publishers in the years prior. Because of full time work and other obligations the book took nearly a full year to write. Now, with writing being my only job, that same book would be drafted within a month, two at the most. It’s the advantage of being able to commit all your time and energy into writing rather than scavenging a few hours here and there.

What does a writing day look like? Set hours, word count targets, or do you work until the thing is done?

No set hours, but consistency is key. I will do two or three thirty minute “sprints” in which there are no distractions. It’s just putting the words on the page. That will typically net between two and three thousand words a day. Between those I will go back and make sure what I wrote is usable, maybe a mild edit, and then all of the other dozens of tasks that come with being an independent writer. If I come up short on a day I don’t beat myself up because there will be days when I go way over three thousand. What I’ve found is trying to force something that isn’t there won’t result in anything worth keeping.

Paul Heitsch has been your narrator since 2014. What’s the working relationship actually like at this point, after that many books?

I found Paul through the audition process on ACX. They had agreed to produce Omega Rising so I was able to choose from top tier narrators. Out of the dozen or so that sent in samples, Paul’s stood out as the clear choice. In the years since there’s a high degree of trust. I don’t even give it a second thought that once the manuscript is handed over, the audio performance that comes out will be exceptional.

Aerospace and aviation, ten years in the Air Force, then graduate school at Embry-Riddle in space studies. Was writing always sitting underneath all of that, or did it show up late?

It was there from an early age. The goal was always to be a fiction writer, but I also wanted to be realistic. The odds are long when it comes to making a living exclusively from writing so I pursued education and experience in one of my other loves: aviation.

For someone who picks up House of Blades first and then wants everything else, where should they go next?

If you want to dive into a series that’s already complete that you can binge? Black Fleet. It’s a pure military science fiction story if that’s what you’re into. Want a bit of irreverent humor and follow along a ragtag group of mercenaries that (sometimes) become unlikely heroes? Definitely the Omega Force series.

You’ve got projects moving on the screen side. Without getting you in trouble with anyone, what can you tell us about those?

All I can say is that hopefully sooner than later we’ll see some of these characters on the big (or small) screen.