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Hugo Interview |
View an interview with Kim Stanley Robinson after he won the 1997 Hugo for Novel (for Blue Mars), Science Fiction's highest award for writers. |
Interview
This interview was conducted minutes after the closing ceremony of the 1997 Hugo Awards, the high-point of the 55th World Science Fiction Convention held in San Antonio, Texas. The interview was graciously given by Mr. Robinson at the spur of the moment on 31 Aug 1997, back stage at the Hugos in the sumptuous Marriott Rivercenter grand ballroom.
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This interview is provided in Real Video 5.0 format. Please download a RealVideo viewer (Win95/PowerMac) before viewing. |
The interview is three minutes and six seconds long.
Transcript of Interview
Interviewer:
Steven R. Staton [SS]
Cameraman: Dirk Hardy
[SS] They're not Oscars, they're Hugos, and you should have won one for Red Mars, but obviously had more competition that year.
[KSR] Yes.
[SS] Blue Mars just took it tonite. Fantastic novel. Do you think that your work is going to contribute towards promoting the Mars exploration that NASA has been working on the the last few years?
[KSR] Well I hope that it will in the long run, you know, just by giving people an idea of what a fantastic place Mars is. In the short run, I think it's more the practical thinkers like Robert Zubrin who are figuring out ways to get there within a budget who are most important. But you need that vision of the long distance goals that you might have in mind, and so I hope it contributes.
[SS] As we all know, many people who grow up with the profound and powerful stories with, as in your case, fantastic characterization, leave a lasting impression on those people, and often they are technical people.
[KSR] Yes.
[SS] Many of the astronauts mention such influences...
[KSR] Yes.
[SS] I was wondering if there was going to be legacy of your novels in the next generation that will be exploring Mars. Do you hope for that?
[KSR] Oh, I definitely hope for that! I think it's possible. A lot of the great scientists of the XXth century have talked about how science-fiction was their inspiration when they were young. It seems like it's the young minds that are elastic enough to still have big dreams and ideas like this, and they're often the most passionate readers, and I can remember that feeling myself and if it sticks with you into adulthood, all the better. You know, the books are now out there, and so I hope they have that effect.
[SS] How much of the previous voluminous work on Mars did you take any cues from? I realize that yours is probably the most technically correct description of what life on Mars would be, as opposed say to Robert Heinlein or certainly Ray Bradbury. Did you find anything in their work that was ...
[KSR] I read all the Mars fiction that I could find. I mean, I read a lot of it, all the way up to the work that was contemporary to mine, which I skipped on so that I wouldn't feel like I was treading on anybody's toes. All that work has beautiful stuff in it, even if their ideas of Mars were based on earlier science that might not have been quite right. It increased the interest to find out more about Mars. And so, H.G. Wells, Burroughs, and Bradbury, and Phil Dick, and D.G. Compton and Fredrick Pohl -- these -- Arthur C. Clarke, they've all written Mars novels that were inspirational and accurate in their time. They were true science-fiction, and there'll be things in my books that will be proven wrong and superceded but it's really the spirit that counts.
[SS] True. Are you looking forward to the Martian city named after you?
[KSR] <laughs> I would love it, although, even more than a city, it'd be nice to have some physical feature, you know, a crater or cliff ...
[SS] Except for the "Face on Mars" ...
[KSR] Not the face on Mars, please, no. That's Elvis!
[SS] Ok. Well thank you for your time.
[KSR] Yeah.
[SS] We really want to congradulate you profoundly for this incredible work and this masterpiece conclusion to the Mars Trilogy, Blue Mars.
[KSR] I appreciate that. Thanks very much.
Interview ends with Steven Staton holding (briefly) the Hugo Award for Blue Mars.
© 1998 Deltos Fleet Computing