August 5, 2004
Science/fiction: UW staffer finds satisfaction in speculative writing
Years are as hours to the rocklike “obsidimen” of Jak Koke’s newest fantasy novel, Liferock. But Koke, a UW research scientist in his day job, is himself a mere mortal, seeking happiness and creative fulfillment in his work, his life and his writing. So far, he seems to be succeeding.
Koke (pronounced kok-ee), who is 39, said as he grew up he was a fan of the usual forms of science fiction and fantasy. He watched Star Wars and Star Trek, played Dungeons and Dragons for a while and enjoyed the virtually required reading of J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. He said he has always been a big fan of the genre called “speculative fiction,” which includes the fantasy and science fiction realms.
He toyed with the notion of becoming a doctor early in his college career at the University of Oregon, he said. That didn’t stick, but the love of biology and scientific re
An upcoming reading Jak Koke will read from and sign copies of his latest novel, Liferock, at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, at the University Bookstore. |
An equal pull, however, came from the university’s strong focus on literature and the humanities. He said, “On a whim in my sophomore year I took a short story-writing class. And basically from then on I loved it so much that I kept taking classes.”
After graduating he got a job as a research scientist for the University of Oregon for a while, but said he was unsatisfied with that as his only outlet. “So I decided to see, can I publish? Can I be a writer? So I started writing.”
Koke’s first writing projects were collaborations with fellow science fiction/fantasy novelist Jonathon Bond. The two wrote a few short stories for the genre market and then a novel that Koke said with a chuckle was “really not publishable.” But after that, they collaborated on a new book set in the already-established, imaginary “Shadowrun” universe — a role-playing game world that spawned both games and novels.
The novel, The Terminus Experiment — this one highly publishable indeed, it turns out — was a high-octane tale of heroic protagonists battling vampirism in a futuristic Seattle. The book got good reviews, especially from gamers in the Shadowrun world, and that gave Koke the confidence to start writing novels on his own.
A popular series in the Shadowrun world called The Dragon Heart Trilogy followed. Stranger Souls dealt with the chaos following the assassination of the president of the “United Canadian American States”; in Clockwork Asylum the futuristic secret agent protagonist of the first book becomes both hunter and hunted; and in Beyond the Pale, as in many a third installment, the battle between good and evil takes on epic proportions.
After that, he tried a more mainstream science-fiction thriller, called Creation’s Daughter, which didn’t get picked up by a publisher. He’s still revising it with the hope of bringing it to print someday.
Koke said more Shadowrun books may yet be possible. But after the trilogy he moved from Shadowrun to another shared gaming universe that produces novels, called Earthdawn, tales of magic and mayhem in an imagined alternate prehistory. Previous Earthdawn books had introduced a race of rock people called “obsidimen” that were never fully explored. In just the way these fancied universes grow, Koke decided to take that race and explore their life and culture, and out of that came Liferock.
Liferock is the story of this culture of rock-people, whose lifetimes last a millenium, and of a younger tribal member’s quest to find a lost elder and protect the race from threatening forces. The theme is rich with Native American imagery mixed with action and intriguing characters. Here, Koke breathes sentience into stone — as unlikely a type of being as Tolkein’s famous Ents, the magestic culture of tree-people.
So he wrote the book, and he’s proud of the finished product. The only hitch is that the company publishing the Earthdawn novels and games in the U.S. went bankrupt. This prompted Koke and his life partner, graphic artist Karawynn Long, to create their own small publishing house, which they called per Aspera Press. They bought the rights to Liferock back and had it printed themselves. It’s currently available from his Web site as well as various bookstores.
Koke said the process of publishing a book is rewarding and interesting, though a bit more challenging than he at first thought. He and Long have taken on another novel to publish this year, a thriller by author Bill DeSmedt called Singularity, about a microscopic black hole that impacts the Earth.
As for his personal life, Koke calls himself a proud father, son, brother, life partner and friend, and seems to cherish the continuity of ongoing relationships throughout life. He has two daughters from a previous relationship, Michaela and Claire, with whom he is quite close. He said he also retains friendly ties with his former wife, the girls’ mother, who works in the same UW lab he does. Koke and Long live with two charismatic cats, the talkative gray Misha and philosophical red tabby, Soleil.
At the UW, Koke works on matters of environmental microbiology for the civil engineering department, but he has recently seen a reduction of his hours due to budget cuts. That creates more time for writing, but brings obvious challenges as well. Outside the UW, he also helps edit science fiction and fantasy novels — it’s called “book-doctoring” — for other writers.
Aaron Brooks, a friend Koke met through Long and who remains close to the couple, said he enjoys hearing Koke talk about his writing and how his stories and novels came about. “I definitely think he has a lot of talent, and he just wants to be able to show that and find a vehicle for that. There have been distractions, and it’s hard to be a full-time writer, but now that he’s been able to spend a little more time toward writing, I think he’s liking that a lot.”
Brooks is optimistic about Koke’s future as a novelist, saying, “I think he has a shot. His writing style is good and I like the characters he chooses.” Brooks noted how authors might strike gold with one novel — such as author Dan Brown’s immensely popular The DaVinci Code — and readers suddenly become interested in their other books, too. He wishes that for his friend.
But in the meantime, Koke seems content with his place in the ups and downs of life, love, writing and publishing. After thinking a minute about his ultimate goal, he finally said, “I want to write socially conscious and environmentally conscious fiction, and reach a large number of people.”
Big breaks can come as slowly to a professional writer as life events might to the long-lived, rock-formed obsidimen of Liferock. But that’s OK — Jak Koke seems to be enjoying the trip.
To find Koke’s books: Liferock is available through the author’s own Web site, www.jakkoke.com, as well as through the Web site for the Earthdawn series, at www.lostearthdawn.com. Information about Koke’s publishing work is at www.perasperapress.com.
