Author Sam Wilson's new book is a generation-spanning thrill ride set on Mars

24 Sep 2024

The First Murder On Mars is not a whodunnit set on a Mars base, no matter what ChatGPT would have you believe.

In this edition of #TheFlap, The Reading List spent a few minutes chatting with Sam Wilson about AI reviews, African Science Fiction and the impossibility of outrunning history.

Wilson is a writer and director living in Cape Town, South Africa. When he isn’t writing science fiction, he’s the show-runner of the hit animated series Jungle Beat. His debut novel, Zodiac, a crime thriller set in a society divided according to astrological signs, was translated into five languages.

His new novel, The First Murder on Mars, is a generation-spanning thrill ride of a novel, perfect for fans of The Martian and The Expanse.

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The Reading List: #TheFlap is based on the Proust Questionnaire, a famous parlour game invented by the French writer Marcel Proust, who believed the answers would reveal a person’s true nature…

So far we’ve revealed the inner character of South African literary luminaries such as Sihle Khumalo, Yewande Omotoso and Pamela Power, so you’re in august company. Let’s dig in! What are you most excited about people discovering in your book?

Sam Wilson: I’m looking forward to people realising that this book is more expansive than they might have guessed. With a title like “The First Murder on Mars”, most people probably imagine a whodunnit set on a Mars base, and, in fact, that’s what one of the earliest reviews claimed, which is why reviewers shouldn’t rely entirely on ChatGPT! In reality, it’s about the lead-up to the first murder, and its devastating consequences for Mars. If I wanted to describe it with a lot of hyphens, I’d call it a fast-paced multi-generational political-western-epic.

TRL: What question do you think readers are going to ask you the most?

Sam Wilson: So far, the question I’ve been asked the most is: “So when is this going to be a TV series?” My novels have been described as very visual, which is probably a side effect from my day job of writing for television.

TRL: What are some of the key ideas that inform what you’ve written?

Sam Wilson: Back in 2015 my wife was running a regular event called Science Café, where scientists would talk to a general audience about interesting things they were studying. One of the talks was about Mars, and the speaker, Kai Staats, spoke about how when Mars colonisation starts everyone will live together on the same base, so they will know and trust each other, but as more people are born and arrive on Mars, it won’t be possible to know everyone and trust will break down. So at what point will there be the first crime? The first police officer? The first politician? The first murderer? That question stuck with me and became the kernel of this book. On top of that, it’s a story about identity, belonging and the impossibility of outrunning history.

TRL: What was the most difficult scene or chapter to write?

Sam Wilson: Honestly, the whole novel. At the same time that I was writing it, I was also writing and directing an animated TV series and then a movie (while also not wanting to totally neglect my child). I hope my editor and my wife will forgive me some day.

TRL: If you could co-author a book with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose and what would it be about?

Sam Wilson: I used to work with the talented and funny horror writer Sarah Lotz, and we used to talk about co-writing a book called “The Horror Writer’s Club” about a diverse group of misfits who gather once a week to do readings of their hilariously terrible work. That’s still the collaboration that I’d most love to do.

TRL: What’s the best music to write to?

Sam Wilson: My go-to music while writing this book was the Fela Kuti-inspired album Amok by Atoms For Peace. Normally I can’t write while listening to music with lyrics, but I’ve played that album so many times that the words disappear. I also recommend Jon Hopkins’s meditative electronica. I’m currently listening to his new album Ritual on repeat.

TRL: Kill your darlings? Or nurture them?

Sam Wilson: Ruthlessly kill! I put a lot of consideration into making my writing pacy and engaging because I’m competing with the infinite distraction device that every reader has in their pockets. If there’s a line, an idea, a character or a sub-plot that isn’t keeping the story moving forward, it needs to go.

TRL: What habit distracts you most from writing?

Sam Wilson: Not so much a habit as a person. My daughter is seven, and she’s a delight to hang out with. She’s funny, creative and extremely good at working out how to get her own way. It’s hard to say “no” if she wants to play.

TRL: Which writing talent would you most like to have?

Sam Wilson: I have an extreme admiration for writers who can craft beautiful sentences, and I’m lucky enough to know many of them personally. I’m in awe of Diane Awerbuck’s incredibly specific and evocative imagery, and I love the way Lauren Beukes can fill every sentence with personality. If I get the chance then I’d love to learn to write poetry, just to take language for a spin and see what it can really do.

TRL: What books would you recommend within your genre?

Sam Wilson: I didn’t read this before finishing my novel because I didn’t want it to influence me, but Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars / Green Mars / Blue Mars series is the gold standard of Mars colonisation novels. And for African Science Fiction and Fantasy, I can recommend Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi, which just won the Ilube award for best speculative fiction novel.

TRL: What’s the first book you can remember having read to you? Or the first book from your childhood or youth that left a strong impression?

Sam Wilson: I remember how much I loved my parents reading all the Roald Dahl books to me and my sister when we were young, but the books that probably had the biggest influence on me were a tattered copy of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett and a whole shelf of Isaac Asimov books belonging to my best friend’s dad. DM

The First Murder on Mars will be launched at The Book Lounge on Wednesday 9 October.

The First Murder on Mars by Sam Wilson is published by Orion (R415). Visit The Reading List for South African book news, daily – including interviews!

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