Copyright cherokeephoenix
PORTLAND, Ore. – A robotics expert turned best-selling author adds Native voices he says were “once relegated to the past” into his futuristic tales. Daniel H. Wilson, a Cherokee Nation citizen and New York Times bestselling author from Portland, Oregon, has penned a string of successful techno-thrillers since 2011. “I write science fiction about the future,” Wilson said, “and people think of Natives and think of the past. So, I like to write about Native people in the future. I’ve mixed these things together. I love science fiction, and I am what I am.” Originally from Tulsa, the 47-year-old holds a Ph.D. in robotics. Wilson’s first sci-fi hit was his debut novel, “Robopocalypse,” which takes place in various locations including the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. “It was a robot uprising and everybody went up to Gray Horse because it was rural and it was safe,” Wilson said. “In the novel, the Osage start letting other people in because it’s humans against robots. So, it ends up being this book about Indians fighting robots, and winning, too. What’s funny is everybody liked that novel at that time because I knew all about robots. I think now, whatever it’s been, like 14 years, people are more interested in it because of the Native perspective of the characters.” In all of his forward-looking work, Wilson strives to develop Indigenous characters “as regular people,” he said. “I can remember a guy asking me about writing a screenplay that was adapting some of my work and he was like, ‘Well, what would the Native people do?’ I’m like they would run from the robots dude, just like everybody,” Wilson said. “So, there’s this kind of like, I don’t know, you can call it ‘red washing’ where they’re like oh, we’re going to take it and put beadwork on it. Those stereotypes are so hard to break out of. Thank goodness Native people are starting to tell their own stories.” Wilson’s pages are also filled with what he calls detailed world-building. “I am allergic to magical realism in books. When stuff just happens randomly, I get upset,” he joked. “Normally, I’ll dive in and do world-building, and if I’m projecting into the future, it’s all super accurate. That’s just a side effect of my brain. My goal is always to choose science fiction that’s going to amplify my themes. You’ve got to know what you’re trying to say. You know, why are you writing the book? If you don’t know that, it’s just too hard to write. It feels arbitrary.” The out-of-control AI novel “Robopocalypse,” which according to the author “jumps all over the world” and across “swaths of time,” has long been planned as a feature film, even once associated with Steven Spielberg “way back in the day,” Wilson said. In 2018, it was revealed that directorial efforts had shifted from Spielberg to Michael Bay, known for directing “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and films in the “Transformers” series. “It’s still in development,” Wilson said. “I still talk to them. It’s interesting to see how the screenplays have evolved. Everything starts coming true, right.” When “Robopocalypse” was first published in 2011, American adventure novelist Clive Cussler called it “a brilliantly conceived thriller that could well become horrific reality.” Asked if any of his futuristic visions have come true, Wilson confidently declares, “All of it.” “I had terrible stuff in ‘Robopocalypse,’” he said. “Autonomous cars killing people. People getting phone calls from people who sounded like they knew them telling them to go do stuff. All of it’s come true pretty much.” Wilson was born and raised in Tulsa where his father and grandfather ran a body shop but now resides in Oregon with his wife and three children. He recalls that in his own youth, he possessed a vivid imagination. “And now that I have kids, I realize how frustrating it is,” he added. “My oldest will just sit and be staring at a wall, and I’m like what is this kid doing. Then I remember, oh right, some people have a really vivid interior world. They’re doing something. Something’s happening in there. I’m built that way.” Described as “a story of Native first contact,” Wilson’s latest novel, “Hole in the Sky,” has been picked up by Netflix. Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo of “Reservation Dogs” fame is slated to direct. Wilson also contributes to comic books and has written non-fiction titles like “How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth.” For more information, visit his webpage at danielhwilson.com.
