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Interview with Josh Conviser
01/08/2006 . Source: Del Rey Team 
The author of Echelon discusses his latest novel, Echelon - think spy-fi -cyberpunk spiced with Bourne Identity-style intrigue. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Echelon became available July 18th2006 in Del Rey trade paperback.
Del Rey: How would you classify Echelon?
Josh Conviser: It's spy-fi -cyberpunk spiced with Bourne Identity-style intrigue.
DR: The near future you postulate in Echelon is quite different from most of what we see in science fiction. Can you describe it?
JC: You're right - a lot of sci-fi deals with a chaotic future where our current troubles have been magnified to the nth degree. Echelon flips that premise. The book opens on a world where chaos, turmoil and political unrest are dead - or so you think.
DR: And that world was created by something actually making news today?
JC: Yes, Echelon is very real. In fact, it has taken center stage in America's war on terror. Echelon is part of the NSA's signals intelligence arsenal - a global eavesdropping network used to spy on foreign targets and, recently, on Americans as well. But, currently, Echelon can't sift through the massive amount of data it captures. It doesn't work very well.
DR: Which leads us to the conceit of your book...
JC: Exactly. In my book, Echelon gains the power to access, and even manipulate the flow of data. In an era where information is power, those who control the data flow - control the world. And, for a time, this power is used to settle the conflicts we see today - to draw us away from the edge.
DR: But this manufactured peace doesn't last.
JC: Well, it's impossible to control humanity forever. My hero, Echelon agent Ryan Laing, stumbles onto a conspiracy within his own organization - a grab for power that threatens to drag the world into chaos.
DR: Tell us about Ryan Laing.
JC: Laing is tough and capable, a spy most comfortable out in the cold. When data manipulation doesn't work, Echelon calls Laing. He's Echelon's enforcer. And Ryan isn't your ordinary human. After an horrific accident, Laing is infused with a revolutionary - and untested - combination of artificial intelligence and nanotech - which I call drones.
This makes Laing the first true cyborg - something he never wanted. The drones give Ryan abilities that even he can't fathom. But there's a price for that power. Wrestling with a foreign intelligence inside his own body pushes Laing to the brink. He must deal with the drones internally, even as he fights the conspiracy within Echelon.
DR: So Echelon's theme revolves around this twin struggle?
JC: Exactly. The idea or, more accurately, the fiction of control plays through the book. Ryan's internal struggle mirrors Echelon's crumbling attempt to control humanity.
But, beyond all that, I wrote Echelon to be a page-turner. This is a fight that slings Laing across the globe and forces him into a partnership with a heroine who is certainly his equal - but may also be his undoing. It's an "edge of your seat" read.
The following material is being reprinted from the Del Rey Internet Newsletter. To subscribe to this free, monthly e-newsletter, visit www.delreybooks.com
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