ix-Time Hugo winner Ben Bova began his career in fiction in the 1940s and has shown no signs of slowing ever since. With a doctorate in education from California Coast University, a bachelor's degree in journalism from Temple University and a master's in communications from the University of New York at Albany, Bova has had a writing career spanning more than 90 fiction and nonfiction books.
With books like Moonwar, Immortality, The Star Conquerors, The Story of Light and Assured Survival, Ben Bova has provided glimpses into the future, predicting e-books, water on the moon, virtual reality and more.
He was also the editor of such publications as Analog and Omni, and has served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
A popular lecturer, he has taught SF at Harvard University and New York City's Hayden Planetarium.
His columns have appeared in USA Today.
Bova's official Web site can be found at: benbova.com.
Which came first for you, an interest in science fiction or one in science?
Bova: I became interested in astronomy first, after a class trip to the Fels Planetarium when I was about 10 years old. That led to an interest in astronautics (going to the moon was considered a fantasy in 1942) and then to science fiction.
How do you feel about human cloning? Is it a case of "just because you can doesn't mean you should?"
Bova: I think reproductive cloning could be important to people who cannot have children any other way, which is a very tiny percentage of the human race. Therapeutic cloning, however, could become a major medical benefit for almost everyone.
With some of the research into cloning involving the use of human fetal tissue, is cloning ethical?
Bova: Yes. The fetal tissue used in such research would never develop into a viable human being.
Jerry Pournelle told me that it's difficult to write SF these days, because it's harder to tell what the future is going to look like than it was when he started writing. Do you agree, and if so, how do you overcome it?
Bova: I disagree. In the first place, we have much more detailed information about scientific research to use as material. For example, we've learned more about the bodies of the solar system since space exploration began than ever before. In the past 10 years our concepts of the possibilities of extraterrestrial life have enlarged tremendously, thanks to the discovery of
extremophile organisms on Earth. Politically and socially, we have a much more chaotic situation than we did during the decades of the Cold War, but a student of history can see parallels with earlier eras that could be helpful in creating future scenarios. Besides, if it's harder to tell what the future will be like, that gives the science-fiction writer more scope for his imagination, not less.
Has contemporary SF films and TV had an adverse effect on SF prose and how it is viewed?
Bova: I think "sci-fi" films and TV shows convince most of the public that science fiction is for kids, at best. It keeps them from looking into serious science fiction published in books and magazines. It's been this way for generations. You can count the number of serious science-fiction films on your fingers.
What do you consider to be serious SF films?
Bova: The 1950 British comedy The Man in the White Suit was a true science-fiction film, in that it dealt with the impact of a new scientific discovery upon the lives of the people and the society in which they lived. Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was motion-picture making at its best, in my opinion. The Day the Earth Stood Still. Hawks' The Thing. The more recent Space Cowboys. And Galaxy Quest was a hoot.
The Story of Light is written so that a casual reader of science fact isn't lost or talked down to. How did you go about achieving that?
Bova: Practice it for a few decades. And use writers such as Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp as your models.
What was the biggest challenge in writing The Story of Light?
Bova: The enormity of the subject matter. I had to choose which areas I would emphasize very carefully. Organization was another major challenge. Once I hit on the idea of beginning—and ending—the book with "Let there be light," the organizational problems were solved.
How did you pick the areas you did emphasize?
Bova: Mainly by personal preference and experience.
Are e-books the new mid-list?
Bova: According to my publisher, e-books don't make money. The mid-list does make money, often far more than a publisher's top-list books.
What led to your writing Return to Mars?
Bova: The story of Jamie Waterman was obviously not finished at the end of the novel Mars. It's still not finished; some day I'll write a third novel about him.
What was the inspiration behind the creation of Leviathan in Jupiter?
Bova: Big planet, big ocean, big critters. The idea of a large-sized creature being composed of a colony of semi-independent parts was my stab at creating a truly alien biology.
Will there be, for instance, a Mercury?
Bova: Although I don't intend to write a novel for each planet of the solar system, I am at this moment working on Mercury. Saito Yamagata is a major character in it.
What can you tell us about it?
Bova: Nothing. I don't talk about works in progress.
What inspired Rock Rats?
Bova: I envisioned the Asteroid Wars story as a trilogy of novels: The Precipice, The Rock Rats and (coming next year from Tor) The Silent War.
What led to the development of Dan Randolph?
Bova: That's a stumper. Most of the character development happens in my subconscious mind. I go around for years thinking about this character or another one. Then a story situation arises in which the character fits. When I needed a hard-driving space entrepreneur, Dan Randolph was there, ready and waiting. Incidentally, he will be the protagonist of a near-contemporary novel titled Powersat, which deals with Dan's start in the space industry business.
Is a character defined by his or her actions, or the consequences of those actions?
Bova: Both. Actually, a character's actions are driven by the conflicts within the character's soul. The consequences of those actions define the environment in which the character operates.
What is the basis you use for creating believable political situations in a futuristic setting?
Bova: Like Patrick Henry, I have but one lamp that guides my feet, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future except by the past. History shows how humans have reacted in the past. They tend to react the same way, no matter what the era. The technology changes, but not the human spirit.
As humanity gets closer to living forever, do you think we will also gain the insight to answer the religious hurdles immortality will present?
Bova: Of course we will. Religious concepts change, slowly. Once religious believers thought it blasphemous to erect lightning rods or inoculate people against smallpox. The big thing is to avoid allowing religious fanatics to gain political power. Throughout history, when churches get their hands on political power, human freedom shrivels.
Will immortality have an effect on how people view the question as to whether to have children and when?
Bova: I should think so. If (or when) the death rate drops close to zero, we will have to lower the birth rate or suffer tremendous population growth, with all its attendant ills.
Will this be more of a social or political issue?
Bova: Yes. Different societies will deal with this problem in different ways. Authoritarian societies will write laws and enforce them. More democratic societies will probably depend on market forces and social mores.
Have private companies been a positive or a negative presence in our space program?
Bova: Private companies have been largely a neutral presence in the U.S. space program, and in the space programs of other nations. Government funding tends to drive out risk capital.
How did the end of the Cold War affect the space program?
Bova: It removed one of the political forces supporting space development. The much-publicized space race of the 1960s was a reflection of the deadlier race in the 1950s to develop ICBMs. The USSR's lofting of the first Sputnik proved to skeptics that the Russians had missiles that could drop hydrogen bombs on any city in the world. The USA rushed to catch up in the 1950s, and the "missile gap" became a major political issue during the presidential campaign of 1960. Kennedy's decision to go to the moon was a political ploy, aimed at one-upping the Russians. Once it worked, there was no further political reason to push space development.
It's a minor miracle that we have been able to carry out scientific explorations such as the Voyager and Viking programs. As long as space development depends on government money, the decisions will be made for political reasons, not scientific or economic reasons.
Do you think the international space station can function as well as intended?
Bova: Yes. And even better.
But once again, the determining factor is the political decisions made by the governments supporting the ISS.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
Bova: I think that the resources of energy and raw materials in the solar system are so abundant that each human being on Earth could become a multimillionaire if those resources were utilized properly and shared fairly. The Grand Tour novels are my attempt to show some of the possibilities of humankind's expansion through the solar system, and the reasons why this expansion is important to the human race's survival and prosperity.
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