Happiness in the Time of Technology
- Joie Lesin
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
An Interview with Author TR Simmons
This month TR Simmons joins us to discuss his YA Sci-fi Romance, Crushing (The Wild Rose Press, November 15, 2023).
TR Simmons writes science fiction novels that blur lines between possible worlds and genres. His characters expand our understanding of what it means to be human living in revolutionary times. In this way, a thread of irony runs in tandem with his protagonists. He has lived real-world experiences as an activist, husband, and father. He is also an avid motorcyclist and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
What inspired you to write Crushing?
My children were coming of age when social media barged in on everyone’s life. Many parents were bewildered as they watched youth culture become absorbed by it. As a tool, social media promised more democracy, connection, and freedom. However, it didn’t take long for it to be weaponized by peers who wish to be heard above all others. Now that social media has become completely monetized, it has become an all-encompassing leviathan that can reshape who we are.
What did your world building process look like for creating Crushing’s dystopian near-future world?
Technology has the greatest influence on our cultural thinking. Inventions change our world as much as they change us. Science fiction has always been my favorite genre to read and write, so I’m always trying to understand how present developments might shape our near future. I modeled the city of Port Hamilton after my own city of Hamilton, Ontario which is located at the south-west tip of Lake Ontario. Not only did I need to build a world in the decade of 2060, but also connect it with our present time. In this way, the story becomes more relatable to readers who will likely still be alive in 2060.
What type of research did this story require to create the AI elements such as “Big Social”?
The first book I published in 2021 was non-fiction, called EDEN, which is an acronym for Evolutionary Digital Environment Net. This book took me decades to conceive and write for it was broadly about the next hundred years, but mostly it was focused on a control theory for artificial intelligence. When nuclear weapons were first invented after WW2, governments quickly realized new international institutions were needed so that we didn’t blow ourselves up. Thus, the United Nations became central to our safety. EDEN conceives of something similar.
What surprised you the most while you were writing Crushing?
I didn’t plot Crushing before I wrote it—as if the story was already written, and I only needed to extract it from my mind. All I knew was my protagonist (Atarah) had five days to fall in love or the world was going to end. This is a common sentiment for young adults, but I made the emotional crisis into something literal. The Crush-it dance, which we would call a Valentine's Day dance, provided a finish line to inject a race against time feeling. I also knew there would be a prevalent, all knowing, social media AI.
I had a general idea of the story’s progress. But once I got writing, something completely different would come out. There were times I tried to direct my characters, but this would always lead to a dead end, and I would have to start over. Strangely, many of the nuanced parts of the story became important or fell in line with other aspects of the plot in later chapters. I had to learn to trust where my characters were taking me.
For fun: If Crushing had a soundtrack, what would be the top three songs on the playlist, and how do they capture the essence of your story?
Every manuscript I write has a soundtrack that comes to me while my main characters develop. Their songs help me to bring them to life. Atarah’s song came to me early—"Breathing Underwater" by the Toronto band, Metric.
Atarah’s best friend, Zelina’s song is by a French-Canadian singer who goes by Coeur de pirate. It is called "De honte et do pardon" which translate to "Of Shame and Forgiveness." You don’t have to understand all of the words to have this tune affect you.
Finally, Carl the cat is Atarah’s robot house butler who is directly connected to the Big Social system of control. He is an anti-hero in the story. Carl gets Pink Floyd’s connecting songs from the album The Dark Side of the Moon—"Brain Damage and Eclipse."
Not to leave anyone out, but I have a fourth song and character. Stoker’s song is completely instrumental, "Theme for Great Cities" by Simple Minds.
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your work?
First, I hope my readers will find Crushing to be an escape, and will infect their imaginations to land them in Port Hamilton forty years from now. I think Crushing has many messages. Every reader will see the ones that relate to where they are in the course of their life at the time of reading. I received an interesting Instagram communication from someone not long ago. She commented on Carl the robot cat’s ironic perspective of human happiness on pages 182 and 183. For others, it might be something else.
Can you give us a sneak peek into what you’re working on next, and what readers can expect from your future books?
Presently, I’m working on a YA Sci-fi Fantasy Horror Romance that I’m co-authoring with my wife, Kyoung-Ju. I hope to have it ready for my editor at The Wild Rose Press soon. This story takes place in New England, but it has a very deliberate Korean cultural component to it. Fans of Asian anime should enjoy the mixing of east/west folklores.
About Crushing
Atarah is a high school tomboy and a stellar athlete, but of below average height and beauty. This is a problem when everyone’s physical attributes and popularity are ranked by an AI computer called Big Social. Atarah has five days before the Crush-it dance to find her secret admirer and become popular or she will have little chance of acceptance to a top university and their romantic reality shows. A cryptic message warns Atarah that Big Social’s selfish protocols for human happiness are killing Earth. A plan to subvert the AI will require Atarah to find true love.
Excerpt:
There will be thousands of dances taking place in schools tonight. No matter which hemisphere of the planet, Crush-it dances were designated ‘dark’ events, meaning digital communications were blocked between students. This strategy limited collusion among potential crushers. It also created a primitive state to keep students off balance and force them to adapt. Students sometimes invented elaborate codes and camouflaged them in dance moves. Every school did them, but in a crowded room the potential for signals to cross or be misdirected were frequent.
Until next time,
P.S. — Be the first to know. Follow this link to subscribe to my newsletter.
About the Author
Award-winning author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and poet. She is most recently the author of The Passenger. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including mermaids and ghosts. Joie writes character-driven, emotional, atmospheric tales about heartache and hope.
