He is a married, full-time cancer physician that specializes in medical oncology. I was born in Newcastle, UK, and moved to Brisbane, Australia in 2004. His professional writing credits include over 200 publications including peer-reviewed research papers, journals, book chapters, conference contributions, and electronic outputs in the field of cancer research.
Every book has a story about its creation, what was your inspiration for ‘Trinity’s Legacy’?
I started writing this book in 2016, while convalescing from a serious cycling accident in France. What started out as something to pass the time became a labor of love and a hugely important part of my life. I had always been a science fiction fan, and had consumed hundreds of classic books and movies over the years.
While everyone thinks that they have a book in them, few actually put pen to paper to see if it’s true! Trinity’s Legacy was a constellation of my favorite themes … alien invasion, dystopia, future technology – all bound up in a kind of love story and road trip/chase. I was trying to craft cinematic scenes for every chapter, hoping that it would be read and visualized like a movie. It went through a few iterations until I decided the story was best told through the eyes of a female protagonist, watching the story develop around her and her reactions to everything.
You are an oncologist and science fiction writer, which are two very different paths, how do you walk them both with so much success and more so what would you say is one of the keys to your success?
I’ve been a full-time private oncologist in Australia now for 15 years, having previously been an academic cancer researcher in the UK. Private practice allows me to regulate my day to day work, as I have no-one telling me how to plan my day. I am quite efficient and orderly, and this allows me to compartmentalize my writing sessions.
Compartmentalizing has always been vital to being a good cancer specialist … empathy for patients is crucial, but then you need to let go and move on, be able to put the bad stuff out of your mind in preparation for the next problem. My research background gave me the ability to dip into other fields such as physics and cosmology and astronomy, and pull out what is needed to make the sci-fi sound and feel realistic.
I certainly don’t profess to be an expert in any of these fields, but the ability to understand what I need to make the story work is important.
Writing a series is very different than writing a standalone book, talk to us about the process that you went through when drafting up this series?
The arc of the ‘Trinity Trilogy’ or what later became the ‘Vu-Hak War’ was always laid out from day one in my head. However, if the first book had not been well-received, then that would have been it. Once I knew I could complete the trilogy, I storyboarded books 2 and 3 so that the arc, characterization paths, events, and situations that were needed would be easier to write.
Adding the time travel element was always going to be tricky – there are many ways time travel logic falls down – and so I needed to be sure all the story beats fell into place and there were no [well few!] plot holes. It helps knowing how the story ends to make sure all the threads come together, and I couldn’t have done this by writing ‘by the seat of my pants as some authors are able to do.
Downtime is necessary for many writers and artists to get their creative mojo going. What do you do when it’s time for you to relax and unwind?
My downtime is when I am able to write! My day job is hectic and stressful but rewarding and enjoyable, but the release I get from writing is how I relax. I also cycle regularly with a group of great friends, and every year or two we travel to Europe to ride the iconic climbs of the Alps or Pyrenees.
Riding keeps me fit [when I stay upright!] and healthy. I write mostly at weekends, or sometimes in the evenings. So far I’ve not experienced ‘writer’s block’ and hope I never do! I also am lucky to have a beach house, and the sound of the ocean drops is the perfect backdrop for writing.
Your books are so fascinating so I have to ask – do you have any new books or projects brewing that you can tell us about?
I’m about to start my next book, a standalone sci-fi novel set in the near future. I am drawing inspiration from ‘Rendezvous with Rama’, and ‘The Man who Fell to Earth’ to name a couple of influences on the style and content, but this will also be a commentary on the approaching ‘singularity’ of artificial intelligence achieving sentience, and humanity’s reaction to it. And the place of humanity in the universe. So big themes there!
P.A. Vasey’s books are available on Amazon by clicking here.
To learn more about P.A. Vasey, check out his official website.
