Edgar Scott is an economist-turned computer scientist. For over 20 years, Edgar served as a Senior Database Administrator and Development Operations Team Manager in
financial, crypto-currency, and medical industries, as well as with start-ups. He shares his new novel, 418: I Am a Teapot.
FMM: You are an economist-turned computer scientist. For over 20 years. Tell us about your background and how it led you to write your dystopian novel, 418: I Am a Teapot.
Economics is a discipline that tries to explain how the world by trying to define rules that explain the behavior of countries, companies, and individuals. Computers and networks are systems that operate along specific rules and standards. The two disciplines actually have a lot of overlap. I’ve spent a lot of my life, thinking why does or what would happen if…
In my working life, as a dev-ops manager/engineer, database specialist, I was always on guard for things that would cause me, meaning the data and networks I defended, problems. I got very good at pre-diagnosing and trying to head off catastrophe; I would often joke that it’s better to lose sleep during the day so we may sleep at night.
“418: I am a Teapot” is an extension of the potential problems I can see with the bringing about of an immersive internet. The immersive internet is great fun, you might never want to come offline, but then, how do you pay your bills? This is the premise from which the story begins; I build outward from there.
FMM: How do people’s limited beliefs often keep them prisoners in a life they don’t want to live?
There is an old saying that if you believe you can or believe you can’t either way you are right.
Often, we are given a set of beliefs, usually from school, our peers, community groups, or family about what we are to expect out of our lives. These expectations, which are projections by well-meaning people, can become translated into beliefs that nothing more can or should be achieved. When I hear things like, “I’m just a [ fill in occupation/personal definition here ], what would I know?” I’m hearing someone accepting their limiting beliefs. As a computer nerd I used to hear from friends who hadn’t gone to college that they couldn’t possibly be highly paid and knowledgeable in their specific field of interest. This is not true, but because they believed it, it wasn’t going to happen, which implies they were voluntarily forgoing a higher income and more enjoyable work.
The sad part is because these beliefs are proposed to us with the best of intention, and we do not have greater understanding, we live lives lacking fulfillment simply because we have never been exposed to the notion that something different is possible.
What is the significance of 418 in your novel?
Technically, and literally, 418 is an error.
We are all familiar with “404 page not found,” indicates that the browser has asked for a web page that does not exist. All http responses that begin with the number four indicate “client-side” errors; this web visitor is trying to do something that can’t be done. 418 is another four hundred series error, but in this case, means that you have asked a teapot to brew coffee. By naming my character after the error I’m clearly indicating that the events of 418’s story are an error that was not intended. He should not have happened; he is a flag to indicate that something may have gone wrong. Of course, anyone who has programmed will know that errors and exceptions are very expectable. Catching exceptions, analyzing, correcting them can help us build a better program. Our lives are full of things that don’t go the way we’d design them, but we adjust and make a better design of what we are doing.
In many ways, we are all 418’s.
FMM: How did you develop the lead character?
First, I imagined what the immersive internet would be like, how would it be implemented and if I was that character, what would my life be like. Then, I answered many of these questions: How would I get there? What would I do? Where would I live? How would I make a living? How would I have a family? What would my life prospects be like? I wrote these things down, read my answers back to myself so that I would understand. All this writing was simply preparation, none of it is directly in the story, it was all saved to disk, but otherwise lays on the proverbial cutting room floor. This is how I developed the basic starting point of poor 418 in this story.
To write the story, I tried to use the guiding principle of what would a reasonable person, with that level of understanding, do next. As a result, the characters, both 418 and Brain, his manager, are very relatable; they are simply doing what is what they believe to be their most reasonable next action.
FMM: Who will enjoy this literary science fiction the most?
To enjoy this piece of literature it would be best if one could read this in a manner where they enjoy the situations and images presented as entertaining propositions. Wow, so, what does that mean? I’ve written the novel so that you can read it as a straight through adventure with little subtext. If you enjoy the subtexts there are many to indulge in. At first the situations presented mean little, give them time to develop depth.
If you are tired of candy floss fiction where you feel you must suspend your disbelief too much, then this is for you. Many people find the events of this story very real and that I may not have been writing about the future too far flung from our own reality as we do many of these things. However, if you enjoy implication, being able to be lost in the imagery secure in the knowledge that you can always return to the safety of our own world, this is also for you.
Finally, if you want a simple story, it’s there too, many people can enjoy this tale; there is no requirement for introspection. This story has hope, it is a story of re-humanization and eventual freedom. This novel is for anyone who is stuck in this increasingly technological world in feels like they are getting lost.
FMM: Do you see a movie in the future?
I would love to see this on the silver screen someday. I can imagine the kind of fun that a filmmaker would have with many of the images that I have presented; I get chills imagining the education room at the medical clinic and the awesome visual feast that could be some of the “on-line” full immersion scenes. Imagine how much fun it would be to sky-dive and decide not to pull the chute, instead of crushing pain and splintering bone, you’re fine, your online, the ground meets you, but nothing bad happens. This is the immersive internet; the graphics should be horrifically spectacular! As of this time no-one has approached me, but that doesn’t mean that they magician who can bring this to life for everyone’s enjoyment isn’t reading the paragraph above this one.
FMM: Where can we find 418: I Am a Teapot.
418: I am a Teapot is in most online stores. Bookstores should have it in their online stores, apple, google and amazon certainly do have the novel both as e-book and physical book. You will not likely find it browsing in your local bookstore because I brought this book to the market without a traditional publishing house, but they can order it for you.
FMM: What’s next for you?
I am writing a delicious murder mystery. More fun imagery, a story line that will make you cheer for the bad guys or is that the good guys?
FMM: Please provide your social media handles.
Instagram: @edgarscottwrites
Facebook: EdgarScottWrites
Web: edgarscottwrites.com
Twitter: @Escott_Writes
