About

R. John Walker

R. John Walker writes science fiction about families and power. The Bramble King, the first book of The Brothers trilogy, is his debut. He is an analyst for an insurance company and lives in Virginia with his wife of more than twenty-five years.

I was nine when Star Wars hit theaters, and I must have watched it a hundred times. What stuck with me, even then, was George Lucas talking about a story in nine parts and starting in the middle. Then Blade Runner came along in 1982, and I was hooked for good.

I've read hundreds of books of all kinds. Narnia was the first world that swallowed me whole, and I never stopped: Dune, Red Rising, then The Expanse, The Martian and Project Hail Mary. I dream of being able to create like that.

Somewhere on the way into my sixties, writing stopped being a hobby and became a passion. Most evenings you'll find me in my office, lost in a story, finally patient enough to see one all the way through. The Brothers is that story.

How this book was made

The Brothers began in my head. Its people, its worlds and its hard choices are mine. But I didn't make it alone, and I'm proud of that. I wrote it with Claude, an AI, as my partner at the desk.

We worked the way a writer works with a great editor who never sleeps. I brought the story and the people. Claude drafted scenes, pushed back, caught what I missed, and asked the questions I didn't want to answer. Much of the prose began as Claude's draft. I rewrote it, cut it, argued with it, and decided every line that stayed.

I think this is one of the most exciting new ways to make science fiction, and science fiction should be the genre that tries it first.

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You can reach John at john@rjohnwalker.com.