Science fiction writer Joshua A. Johnston continues his Chronicles of Sarco series with Into the Void (Enclave Publishing). As humanity and its allies are rebuilding, Navy officer Jared Carter tracks the planet-ship Malum back across the Great Void to determine what threat its makers still pose. But dangers loom in the unknown regions ahead—and even aboard his own ship. In this interview, Joshua tells FamilyFiction about the universe he created, the challenges of writing science fiction from a biblical worldview, and what he hopes readers find in the series…
Would you tell us about the world you created for the Chronicles of Sarco series?
The Chronicles of Sarco novels are set in a future of space travel, alien races, galactic politics, and all the uncertainties and dangers that come with those things. If you’ve watched or read the likes of Star Wars, Star Trek, or other galactic space adventures, you’ll be in familiar territory.
In my novels, humans have emerged from a Dark Age where most of Earth’s history–as in, the time we’re living in now–has been lost. But when humanity stumbles upon alien wreckage that crashed onto Earth, they’re able to use the technology to develop interstellar travel, where they find out they’re not alone. Eventually, humans join a number of alien races to carve out the Confederacy, a loose alliance of spacefaring races dedicated to promoting interstellar trade and goodwill.
Jared Carter has been through a lot in Edge of Oblivion, having fought to protect his world from an alien attack. Without giving away too much, can you tell us about some of the challenges he faces in Into the Void?
In Edge of Oblivion, Jared and his crew were given a long-shot assignment that they hoped might help them find a way to stop Malum, a moon-sized attacker from outside the Confederacy. In Into the Void, Jared is given a new assignment: to track Malum’s path back into the unknown regions and learn what he can about the planet-ship’s makers.
The challenges Jared faces are much different than in Edge of Oblivion. In the first book, Jared crisscrossed the Confederacy in a small interceptor with a crew he knew well.
In the second book, Jared has to lead a large Navy cruiser with a large crew, including many officers Jared does not know. So not only does Jared have to contend with the challenges of exploring a completely unexplored part of space, but he has to do it with a ship and crew largely unfamiliar to him. That means that he’ll have to cope with everything that comes with strange new worlds far away from home, but also with problems that arise under his command, including something more malevolent than he could ever imagine.
When did you start writing SF and why do you love it?
I grew up around science fiction. As a kid, I was exposed to a lot of sci-fi on TV and in film: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Doctor Who, and, of course, Star Wars.
When I got a little older, my mom started taking me to the public library, and I discovered the infinite world of science fiction literature. I became a big fan of Robert Heinlein, including his novels Starship Troopers and Tunnel in the Sky. I also ate up Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.
I read other genres, too, but SF has always been a personal favorite in the way it inspired a sense of wonder at the future possibilities of humanity. The notion that we might one day get up into that big sky of ours, or that we might set foot on other planets, has always captivated me.
As for my own writing—well, I’d written some science fiction as a hobby when I was a kid, but my first attempt at SF in adulthood happened quite by accident.
Not long after graduating from college, I had a mishap with a new computer that, for a time, took away one of my very few sources of entertainment. In search of something to do, I dragged out an ancient computer and started sketching out a science fiction novel on a word processor.
From that time came a draft of a novel trilogy that sat fallow for several years. When I revisited them later, I realized they were largely terrible. But I also saw seeds of promise in them. I went back to the drawing board, rewriting them, and the Sarco trilogy was the result.
How does your faith come through in these stories? Is it a challenge to incorporate a biblical worldview into science fiction?
There are some different schools of thought on how to incorporate faith into speculative fiction. Some authors are very explicit, bringing, say, Christianity into play in a very concrete way. Other authors are more subtle about faith, such as those who use it in a more salient or allegorical way.
Now, I personally don’t necessarily think there’s a “right” way to do it. There’s an old SF novel from decades ago, Escape from the Twisted Planet, written by Christianity Today CEO Harold Myra, that is a good example of a more explicit approach. You could also point to Ted Dekker or many of Frank Peretti’s novels.
On the other hand, I think you can be successful being more salient or allegorical. C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia is probably the best example of this approach. Lewis never mentions Jesus in his book, but there’s never any question who Aslan is.
I spent a long time weighing which approach was best for me. I ultimately felt like the Lewis approach was closer to what I wanted my novels to be. That means that you won’t see Jesus’s name used in the book, but you also won’t have to look far to see how my faith imprints into the plotline.
What do you hope readers will take away from the Chronicles of Sarco series?
I hope readers have as much fun reading the books as I did writing them. I hope that Christian readers enjoy following the faith elements in the series, but I also hope those who don’t share my faith still find points of contact the way they do with other novels written by other Christians.
I also hope that readers can feel like the novels take them somewhere truly epic. That they come away feeling the same sense of wonder that I felt the first time I watched the U.S.S. Enterprise embark on its first five-year mission.
Visit Joshua A. Johnston’s author page here: https://www.familyfiction.com/authors/joshua-a-johnston
Into the Void
Chronicles of Sarco #2
Joshua A. Johnston
Enclave Publishing