Sonny Wareham

From the Author - Sonny Wareham

I am proud of Death of a Spaceman. It was a work of love.

I am a screenwriter, having written an episode of Stargate SG1 (with Daniel Stashower, a talented writer with whom I have collaborated on a number of projects). I also served as the President of the Chicago Screenwriters Network - a network of more than 500 screenwriters in the Midwest. I have helped to guide and train innumerable local screenwriters in their writing endeavors.

Death of a Spaceman is a work entirely of my own (Dan can't be blamed for any of it), and I threw every ounce of imagination I had into the story. Nothing unusual there, I guess. Every author does that.

At times you might find the book "cinematic" but I couldn't help that. I did my best to make the book as dramatic and interesting as possible. I studied film for many years, and as I have mentioned, I have written science fiction screenplays. I have also proposed stories to Star Trek (all of its iterations) with some success. I have seen as many scifi movies and read as many space fantasy books as I could absorb. Any similarities with these media vehicles and Death of a Spaceman are purely coincidental (but influences are bound to be present).

My father was a science teacher. My mother taught English and Literature. My life was peppered with interesting facts, scientific anomalies, and fascinating stories. I have tried to roll as much of it as I could into Death of a Spaceman. I have tried to find a new take on the standards. For instance, in Star Wars, Star Trek, and countless sci-fi space travel stories, the heroes pop into their spaceships, speed to warp 9 or hyperspace (or whatever), fight a space battle, hop back into their ships, and return to their world which hadn't changed a bit since they left. Einstein would have an issue with this scenario. According to his theory of relativity, the world and people left behind would have aged many, many "years" while the heroes were off battling space aliens. In Death of a Spaceman I tried to imagine how society would adjust and restructure itself given that space adventurers could travel faster than the speed of light. Families would be disrupted as members aged at different rates, space pilots could vanish into a different era by running off at light speed, and it would be nearly impossible to hold the whole thing together unless a superior entity could calculate the time differentials and somehow keep the factions together. At least that is the solution I came up with. I also created strictures to control the inevitable power of cloning and bio-enhancements. Again, I merely presented my prevision of the subject. I try to treat these subjects loosely as a fact of life in the future and not get bogged down into the details. Stories need to be about interesting but relatable characters. I did my best to create them; each with their own powers, characteristics, and secrets. You can decide if I succeeded.

I will not spoil any more of the world here except to say that my own battle with Multiple Sclerosis has colored some of the action, but don't worry, I refuse to let it get maudlin or get in the way. I'll let the reader interpret events and circumstances if they wish. The most important thing for me was to create a good, quick, enjoyable read. I hope I have succeeded. Please be sure to review the book after reading it to let me know.

I hope you enjoy Death of a Spaceman. It has been a great adventure to write it.

I'll see you in space.

Sonny Wareham