Robert Forward's first
novel -- Dragon's Egg -- made a splash in 1980, and his diminutive
cheela are one of the most successful alien races created in science fiction.
Now, 20 years later, Del Rey Books has reissued the novel as part of its
"Impact" line of science fiction classics.
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How did you think people
were going to react to Dragon's Egg? Did you think it was still
going to be read 20 years later?
Every writer always hopes.
I was lucky with this first novel.
I think it succeeded because
I had been working on the story for many years. Much later, I found a letter
I had written to Hal
Clement after reading Mission of Gravity, in which I described
creatures that live in the sun where the gravity is high. I don't think
I had the time difference, though.
Cover art to the Czech
edition of Dragon's Egg, which Forward prefers. (Polaris/Marek Fiser)
Looking back, what do
you think of the book? Do you still like the story and the way you told
it?
I still cry at the sad parts
every time I read it.
Does the science still
hold up?
Amazingly enough, yes.
Actually, when I was doing
the background science for Dragon's Egg, I found that Frank Drake
had made the creatures too small. He made them nuclear density, which would
have made them microscopic.
By the time I read the literature,
it was recognized that between the vacuum of space and the neutron star
material a millimeter or so down in the neutron star crust, the actual
surface of a neutron star is "bloated" white dwarf star material, which
is much less dense.
That means the creatures
on the surface would be made of white dwarf star material, so a 200-pound
individual -- which has same number of nuclei and therefore the same complexity
and intelligence as a 200-pound person -- would be the size of a sesame
seed on a McDonald's bun, just barely big enough for a human eyeball to
see.
So the science is still
good, the story's still good. Would you do anything differently today?
I would change the name
of the cheela called North-Wind. There is no "wind" on a neutron star.
How do you think Dragon's
Egg compares with your other books? Is it your favorite?
They are like children.
They are different, but I have no favorites.
What do you think?
Send your comments to the editor.
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