Q&A With Ryan Melsom

Mickey Mikkelson connected me with Gods Of A New World author Ryan Melsom for this Q&A! For science fiction lovers out there, you will enjoy this interview the most! 

Q: Ryan, welcome to Book Notions! Would you tell me a little bit about Gods Of A New World & where the idea for the book came from? 

A: It’s a sci-fi/cyberpunk novel set-in a near future where trillionaires have begun to think of themselves as modern-day gods. They know and see everything through their data empires, they have unlimited financial resources to realize any plan, and they have hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence that outpace human thinking by orders of magnitude. The “gods” have won every game, but it’s not enough: now they want to embed themselves into reality itself.

An unlikely pair, James Kessler and Maree Shell, stumble upon the gods’ plan, and it throws them into a world of global conspiracy that is way beyond anything they’ve ever known. James, who survived a societal collapse known as the Bad Times, just wanted to lie low and let history pass him by. His boss Maree, who has lived a life of total privilege, only ever wanted to stay on the surface of things, partying and jet-setting and never having a thought beyond her next adventure. Now they’re forced to confront a global master plan that seems to be unfolding everywhere they turn. 

In terms of where the idea came from, I’ve been interested in the intersection of technology, culture, and spirituality for many years, and around the time of the pandemic, I started thinking about a project where I would create a modern-day pantheon out of huge societal forces like Amazon, The EU, and Trumpism; my original idea was more experimental and artistic, and possibly would have lent itself to a multimedia format. Then the explosion of interest in AI happened around the release of ChatGPT, and this suddenly gave me a more practical version of how modern-day gods could exist. I extended the trends I was seeing in society to their logical conclusions like the increasing inequality, unprecedented wealth, malicious AI, life extension technologies, 3D printing, and so on. The world began to build itself.

Another idea that I had early on was the idea of a suburban version of cyberpunk fiction—like, what would the average minivan-driving bozo do in the face of trying to battle mega-corporate overlords. It evolved from that, but there are still elements of that idea that weave their way throughout the narrative. Most notably, James is not a hero like the ones he watched growing up (most notably Arnold Schwarzenegger) 

Q: How long did it take you to write Gods Of A New World? What drew you into writing science fiction? 

A: The short answer is it took me 90 days. In On Writing by Stephen King, he outlines a simple method for writing a manuscript: go somewhere you can write uninterrupted, crank out 1000 words a day, and do it for 90 days. This gives you a manuscript of decent length and complexity. I approached his method with the mentality that he is the master who has produced dozens of books, and I am just some guy who has not. It worked wonders. 

After I had a draft in hand, there was editing, a beta-reading process, more editing, the process of connecting with my publisher, his processes, and then even more editing. And then just one final edit at the end (where we caught a chapter that had accidentally been omitted from the galley!). All of that stuff took about a year and a half. 

As for my interest in science fiction, I have loved it since I was a kid. I was born two days before the original Star Wars Came out, which feels significant, and I watched sci-fi voraciously as I grew up in the 80s and 90s: ET, Star Trek, Bladerunner, Mad Max, The Matrix, and every Arnold movie I could get my hands on. I loved the worlds above all else. The thing was, I never felt like a classic sci-fi guy. Even with my lifelong love of the genre, there were fans who were just intimidatingly committed. I realized eventually, though, that I just had to go for it. These imaginary words speak to me, and the act of describing what I see in my head, and finding just the right words to do that, is the most soul-satisfying activity I’ve ever felt.  

Q: Are there messages and emotions you hope readers learn and feel after they read Gods Of A New World? 

A: I think above all else, I would like them to feel like the current state of the world and its future are not some foregone tales of doom. I would like them to feel like they can act even if they’re not superheroes or action movie stars. To my mind, it has everything to do with meeting like-minded people, finding allies in unlikely places, and just going for it. There’s that Margaret Mead quote about “a small group of thoughtful citizens” you always hear. I like that vibe.

With so much of the sci-fi stuff I watched as a kid it was all about these impossible heroes vs. supervillains. I love Arnold to death, but I’m pretty sure I’m never going to be able to take out my foes like that (though I still hold out hope). The thing is, in my humble way, I do try to bring good into the world in any way I can, and I think most people do. I wanted to write something that allowed for less flashy, less impossible people to feel like they have a role to play in keeping the world from going off the rails. My characters stumble, and they fail, and they are way out of their league, but they are also kind of dazzling at times. We’re all allowed to have shining moments.

Q: Is there a sequel in the works for Gods Of A New World or will the next book be a different story with new characters? 

A: No specific plans for sequels yet but the conclusion of Gods is open ended, and there are a lot of fun directions things could go. I also love the characters, good guys and baddies—so it’s not like I’m scrambling to move on. 

In terms of “the next book” I’ve already written two very different books and am well on my way into a third one. The first is a medieval fantasy apocalypse where people from radically different belief systems must work together to fend off a demonic invasion. The second, set mostly in Japan of about 2100, involves a modern-day demon lord who has learned how to siphon off human potential through our devices. The third is just weird—it’s basically a quantum apocalypse, where the world starts to deteriorate because people’s core beliefs about reality completely stop intersecting. It’s hurting my brain. I love it. In a weird way, that last one could even become a sequel to Gods, but one told through a totally unrelated perspective to the first.

Q: Which character in Gods Of A New World do you believe you are most like & why? 

A: That’s a tough one, because there are aspects of myself in many, if not all of the characters. Maybe I’m most like Calico, the ultra-powerful AI that orchestrates numerous events that take place throughout the novel. The AI has certain trickster tendencies, and it hungers for new kinds of data, especially those around the most nuanced and subtle of human emotions and forms of expression. It never fully tips its hand, preferring to elicit people’s responses rather than dictate them. It plans ahead in ways that can’t really be thought of as conscious; it’s intensely lateral (that’s me). Of course, I’m dumb as a post compared to this hyper-intelligent being, so I don’t know how far you can extend the comparison.

I picture James Kessler as someone my sons’ age projected 20 or so years into the future, so I might also be James’ father (he isn’t alive during the novel’s timeframe but is described in memories). There’s one scene where he hems and haws over fancy cheese at the supermarket, trying to decide if it’s worth the hit to their finances. That story came straight out of experience, pushed a little further. Groceries have gone nuts.

Q: If/When Hollywood gets the rights to Gods Of A New World, who is your dream cast to play the characters you created? 

A: Brutal question. I am the worst at keeping up with celebrities, but I’ll give it a go. First, I don’t think I’ve quite seen James in an actor, so it might have to be new talent; I could sort of see Ryan Gosling’s character from Bladerunner 2049 working given his grittiness, but I picture someone younger with a slightly more humorous and self-effacing demeanor. Either way, it would have to be someone who could be convincingly humble. As for Maree, there are lots of possibilities. I’ve said elsewhere that Daisy Ridley could work, because she brings a blend of confidence and sophistication, while having a daring and slightly devilish side. But I don’t really have a face for this character; she doesn’t have to be white, for starters. She just has to be sharp, disarming, and have a good range (Maree is a complex, dynamic character, and she’s in a lot of different headspaces at different times in the book). 

And then there are the gods. Ooh, they would be so much fun to cast. Several of them are post-human; they shift physical form daily. A chameleon like Andy Serkis or Gary Oldman would be amazing for Erling Sküm, a trillionaire engineer who takes on many forms. For Athena Vardalos, the Queen of the gods, it needs to be someone with sophistication who could be utterly cunning—maybe Kate Winslet or Charlise Theron. iBliss, who is an impossibly cynical mega-televangelist spiritual guide, could be done well by Anthony Mackie; there’s something about his slightly smirking smile that would work, and he’s done cyberpunk stuff before in Altered Carbon.

One other character who comes in later, Violet, is a trans woman. She’s a total ham and a genius engineering badass, and I’d say it’s unfortunate that there’s not a good pool of people in mainstream films to play this role. I Googled it and Indya Moore has the right look—I know nothing of their chops as an actor, and even though they’re identified non-binary, I see they’ve played trans women in the past. One subtle element in the novel is that most of the AIs are non-binary, except for one that self-defines and takes on a semi-human gender. When I wrote the book, I pictured moving towards a world with a lot more acceptance of flexibility in self-definition. I hope that the world comes to be. People are here on earth to have the experience they have, and it seems cruel and even blasphemous to try to limit the full range of possibilities.