MICHAEL C. BLAND is a founding member and the secretary of BookPod, an invitation-only, online group of professional writers. He pens the monthly BookPod newsletter where he celebrates the success of their members, which include award-winning writers, filmmakers, journalists, and bestselling authors. One of Michael’s short stories, "Elizabeth," won Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest 2015 Popular Fiction Awards contest. Three short stories he edited have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, while another was adapted into an award-winning film.
Bland's debut novel, The Price of Safety, takes on the dark side of surveillance and the dangers of data mining. By 2047, no crime in the U.S. goes unsolved. No wrongdoing goes unseen. All because of the security systems that Dray Quintero helped build. Yet when Dray learns his 19-year-old daughter Raven committed a heinous act, he covers it up to save her life.
This pits him against the police he's respected since he was a child and places him in the crosshairs of Kieran, a ruthless federal agent searching for justice. Forced to turn to a domestic terrorist group to protect his family, Dray soon realizes the sheer level of control of his adversaries. Hunted and betrayed, with time running out, will Dray choose his family or the near-perfect society he helped create?
Michael C. Bland stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about researching and writing the book:
I was familiar with both Los Angeles and San Francisco, having visited both locations. As I wrote The Price of Safety, I drew on those memories as well as Google Earth and Google street view. Of course, the bigger challenge was writing a story set in the future—with both the story and the setting heavily influenced by the technology of that time. The story is about how technology can be used against us if we’re not careful. To make sure the novel wasn’t too tech- heavy, I balanced the technology with Dray and his family’s relationship as the core of the novel.
Even though the technology in the novel doesn’t exist yet, I did a tremendous amount of research to make it as plausible as possible. I researched the latest advancements in science, computing, robotics, and other areas to determine the current state of communication, robotic, and other technologies including Google glass, nanotechnology, tube development, etc. I then tried to determine how much further those technologies will develop over the next thirty years, while making them relatable. As a gauge, I looked back to where we as a society thirty years ago. In 1990, the discman was big, cell phones existed but were clunky bricks, and the internet was in its infancy. Life now is drastically different in terms of technology compared to back then—and advancements are accelerating every year.
I also read articles that predicted the future. These are rarely accurate (I’m so sad we don’t have flying cars!), but they inspired me in terms of what my world of 2047 will look like. I examined the latest research on fusion as that plays a part in my novel. Another area is dark matter. Scientists still do not know for sure what dark matter is, but I studied scientific articles and journals, then crafted my own theory (based on theories of those way smarter than me) of what it is and how it reacts. I used this in my novel as one of Dray’s achievements and incorporated it into his fusion reactor and other inventions.
Lastly, a friend of mine is an engineer. He was generous enough to work though the mechanics of some things that occur in The Price of Safety (at least as much as could be, given the advanced nature of some of the devices I created), as well as helping me make sure an engineer’s thought process and approach to things were accurate.
In writing The Price of Safety, I was inspired by Minority Report and 1984, hoping to bring that kind of feel and threat to the near future—but with a difference. I focused my novel on family, placing them at the heart of the story and driving Dray’s every action.
The structure of The Price of Safety was a challenge due to the laws and logic of the world I created. In fact, the surveillance and technology I wanted to focus on were a major hindrance. I couldn’t pretend a character couldn’t get a hold of another because they’d left the house, as an example. They all have cell phones and other ways of communicating, so I had to find other ways of creating and sustaining tension that made sense. When I was outlining the story, I discovered flaws in my logic over and over, each of which would have caused the story to collapse. I had to go back and rework the story repeatedly to make sure every development made sense, not only from a logic sense but then a narrative sense—and make sure the characters’ actions remain believable. Over the course of a year, I generated sixteen outlines, each one of which fixed a flaw I discovered. Only after I had everything worked out, I began to write the rough draft.
An additional challenge was writing in first person. This was my first time writing in this manner, yet to me it best fit the story. Certain events in the story have the greatest impact via the first- person POV. It also brought intimacy and connection to the main character. To me, that connection and closeness magnified and contrasted the technology that becomes both a gift and hindrance to Dray’s family’s survival.
You can learn more about Michael C. Bland and The Price of Safety via the author's website, and you can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Price of Safety, the first installment of a planned trilogy, is currently available via many booksellers.
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