INTERVIEW: Our Second Interview With Tessa Dick

Yesterday we reviewed “The Owl in Daylight,“ the new novel by Tessa Dick. With us today, we’ve got the author herself to discuss the book with us. Tessa, thank you very much for agreeing to come back and visit us again! Some of our newer readers might not have realized this, but you’re actually the first person to be interviewed *twice* by Republibot.

Tessa Dick:
Thank you. It's a pleasure and an honor to come back for another round of questions.

Republibot 3.0:
Before we begin, I have to say I really enjoyed the book. I’ve liked everything I’ve read by you, of course, but this one was a real treat. It’s got a very different feel and tone from “Origins” and your short stories, and yet it never actually seems to be imitating your late husband’s style. You sort of found your own place there that didn’t ‘sound’ like him, but it was substantially different from your own ’sound’ as well. Was that hard to do? To get in a place where you can write, you know, *differently* than you normally do?

Tessa Dick:
I can't honestly say that it was very difficult, but I had to do a lot of preparation for writing the Owl. I had to imagine myself as Phil living through the experiences which inspired the Owl, and then I had to imagine the story that he wanted to tell.

Republibot 3.0:
In researching for my review and this interview, I found a couple interesting things: Firstly, that you more-or-less deliberately avoided using most of the plot outline Phil sent to his publisher in 1982. Am I correct in understanding that you went with your own original story that homaged the ‘spirit’ of his ideas for the book,” rather than take a more nuts-and-bolts attempt to reconstruct it? How did you arrive at that decision?

Tessa Dick:
The few ideas which have been circulating on the Internet simply would not work. Phil's letter to his agent and editor (Russ Galen and David Hartwell) was obviously quite rough and subject to major changes. Aside from positing an unnamed scientist who creates a computer system, Phil proposed to follow the story of Dante's Inferno. While that tale does offer some thrills, it lacks suspense. Besides, it would take a team of at least six experts to build a computer system, and if they did, it would not be to manage an amusement park.

Republibot 3.0:
Even so, There’s a whole lot of Dante’s Inferno and Purgatorio worked in to the story, but none of the Paradiso. How come?

Tessa Dick:
Tony and Art both fail to achieve Paradise because we are all unworthy. We live in a fallen world, and we caused it to fall. However, we might achieve Paradise in part two, The Owl in Twilight. (Yes, I am planning a sequel.)

Republibot 3.0:
Reeeeealy….? Can you tell us a little bit about it? No spoilers, of course, but can you whet our appetites?

Tessa Dick:
Tony must continue his journey in part two, and Art must find the right audience for his revelation.

Republibot 3.0:
Thanks! So, I was also a little surprised to learn that you’d never read “What if Our World is Their Heaven” by Gwen Lee and Doris Elaine Sauter, which outlined his ideas for the novel. Was that a conscious decision on your