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Rating: Piero Schiavo Campo was born in Palermo in 1951. He graduated in astrophysics in 1976, and after graduation, he won a scholarship from the CNR at the Institute of Radioastronomy in Bologna, where he worked on radio galaxies, quasars, cosmological tests... In 1981, during the years when consumer informatics was booming, he switched to software. Since 2004, he has been an adjunct professor at the University of Milano Bicocca, where he teaches Theory and Techniques of New Media, a first-year course in the bachelor's degree in Communication and Psychology.
He debuted as a writer with the victory of the Urania Mondadori Prize in 2012 and with the publication of the novel 'L'uomo a un grado Kelvin'. In 2015, he wrote the novel 'Odissea nel futuro', published by Delos divided into eight parts. At the same time, he continued to write and publish many short stories. In 2016, he won the Urania Prize again (Piero is one of the few to have won the prize twice) with the novel 'Il sigillo del serpente piumato' (here's the review: https://www.debaser.it/piero-schiavo-campo/il-sigillo-del-serpente-piumato/recensione), a work based on an old idea of his, which is to contaminate SF with fairy tales.
In what is rather more than just an interview, I like to consider it a friendly chat, Piero told us how he approached writing and his most recent literary efforts. But the interview was also an opportunity to talk about more strictly scientific content, which will probably interest even those not particularly passionate about science fiction, and to tackle a historically debated topic like Italian-made science fiction, debunking the usual clichés about the issue in an interesting discussion with the cinematic boom of the genre and focusing attention on what is a reality that must convincingly attract the interest of readers again.
All topics that I invite you to delve into on his blog 'The Twittering Machine': https://schiavocampo.wordpress.com/
Given the richness of the content of this interview and in particular the responses rich with interesting insights, I can only thank Piero once again on behalf of myself and all the site's users for his availability and congratulate him once more for his literary activity.
Happy reading.
1. Hello Piero. First of all, thank you very much for accepting my request and agreeing to answer these questions. My idea is to start, if possible, from the basics. That is, where your interest in writing comes from and how this interest has developed over time to become what I believe can be defined as an important part of your life. I would also like to ask you what your main sources of inspiration are. Are there any literary authors in particular who have influenced you over time and whom you still consider in some way 'enlightening' today?
P. Hello Emiliano, I'm happy to respond. My interest in writing began when I was little. I devoured children's books (those available in my time, of course). At nine, I was an avid reader of Salgari and Verne; around eleven, I started with mysteries; at thirteen, I tackled Tolstoy's War and Peace: it seemed like an epic endeavor to finish it, and I must say it took me a while to get in sync with that novel, but in the end, I found it fantastic. Around the same age, I came across an Urania book. It was titled "The Canals of Mars" by Fanthorpe. Being very passionate about science, I read it, and from that moment, science fiction entered my reader's horizon. I started writing around the age of fifteen; I remember a novel written in a notebook I can’t find anymore, in which the protagonist, to escape the world, took refuge in a castle full of ghosts... I couldn't finish it. From then on, I always wrote, but with no ambition of publishing. I wrote for myself until, around the age of sixty, I decided to try to do something that could also make sense for someone else. This resulted in "L’uomo a un grado kelvin", with which I (unexpectedly) won the Urania Prize. What inspires me? First of all, existence, the real world. Much good science fiction has been written as a metaphor for the world we live in, the hopes, and the fears it generates in us. I find SF to be one of the most difficult literary genres to practice, at least concerning novels. To me, literature is primarily an operation of transfiguration. There's a world I have to tell, and I tell it as my eyes see it: cheerful, restless, gloomy, absurd... The trouble with SF is that the world to tell, in most cases... does not exist! I can't go to Mars (like Fanthorpe did at one time), or move into the future. Essentially, I have to invent a possible world and at the same time transfigure it. The first of these operations is really complicated: the real world is full of details, and the world I invent should have as many. From this point of view, literature itself is a formidable source of inspiration. I'm not only talking about science fiction literature; for example, in writing "Odissea nel futuro", I was inspired by Dumas (The Three Musketeers in the French part, and La Sanfelice in the Neapolitan part), but also "Creation" by Gore Vidal (for the part about Suvanabad). In short, I try to solve the problem by making a “literary fusion”, and I shuffle the cards as much as possible, always hoping to be consistent with myself.
2. Besides your work in the literary field, you deal with astrophysics and teach 'Theory and Techniques of New Media' at the University of Milano Bicocca. How much does this scientific background influence your writing? Do you consider having a scientific background more of an advantage or paradoxically some kind of limitation? In the sense of having to somehow 'bend' to science in the crafting of your works. On your blog, 'The Twittering Machine' (here: https://schiavocampo.wordpress.com/), besides posting short stories, you also write articles and reviews. Part of it is dedicated to what you have defined as 'the road to the multiverse'. It's a particularly interesting topic, and, in any case, I would refer to the dedicated articles on the blog. But would you care to try to explain here briefly, if possible, what are the fundamental principles on which the theory is based?
P. As for the first question, I believe that science is an irreplaceable source of inspiration for those who write SF, even though in many cases the need to construct “interesting” stories prevents being truly scientifically rigorous. The second question is more complex; I can't give you an exhaustive answer here. Very broadly, the issue is the following. Since 1929, when American astronomer Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding, we've known that the world we live in originated in the so-called Big Bang. The model is coherent and explains various things (not only Hubble's law but also the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation and the abundances of different chemical elements in the universe), but until the early '80s, it could not be said to be complete. There were several problems (the main ones being the so-called "flatness problem" and "horizon problem", which I can't go into detail about) that were all conceptually and theoretically solved with Alan Guth's idea of cosmic inflation. Essentially, in its very first moments of life, the universe would have 'inflated' at a staggering speed, much greater than the 'tranquil' expansion we are witnessing today. This model is consistent with the idea that the real universe is immensely larger than what we can observe, perhaps even infinite. Guth's model was then refined by physicist Andrej Linde, according to whom the vast real universe is composed of regions where inflation is still active; when the phenomenon ceases (as it has in our corner), the constants of physics take on specific values, which can be different depending on the region where the phenomenon occurs. This would solve the so-called 'fine-tuning' problem of such constants. In practice, it has been discovered that if the constants of physics were even slightly different from those we measure, life as we know it could not exist! If there were only one universe, this fact would imply the existence of a 'creator'; if instead, there are the 'parallel universes' of Guth, the problem does not arise: some of them will be habitable, others not, but ours is undoubtedly among those habitable since we're here to talk about it. This idea is known as the 'anthropic principle' (a wrong term, in my opinion: the problem is not about our existence as a human species, but rather the existence of any form of life intended as complex entities based on chemistry, particularly carbon chemistry). The issue is much debated; several scientists criticize the anthropic principle as non-empirically verifiable (Linde's parallel universes can never be observed). I hope I have answered you in a (at least vaguely) comprehensible way! To delve deeper into the matter, there are many popular cosmology texts where Linde's multiverse is explained in detail; concerning 'fine-tuning', an excellent book is 'A Cosmic Fortune', written by physicist Paul Davies, available on Amazon.
3. Let's move on to 'Il sigillo del serpente piumato', the novel with which you won the 2016 Urania Prize (the second time you've won this prestigious award, the first time being in 2012 with the novel 'L'uomo a un grado Kelvin') and which I recently reviewed on these pages. In a brief private conversation, you mentioned considering this work a decidedly experimental novel, and that based on the contamination of science fiction with various genres, you wanted to develop it as a true fairy tale. Besides the fact that I have to say this is certainly evident from the novel and particularly from the early developments in the story, I mentioned as examples in science fiction literature some works of a brilliant writer like Jack Vance. Do you think that is a reference that makes sense? How did the idea of writing this story come to you, and according to what content did you want to develop it? I wrote, concerning the novel's ending, that it seemed to me somewhat inconclusive. As if there was a real gap. This can clearly also be a misunderstanding on my part regarding the contents of the work. How would you respond to this consideration?
P. 'Il sigillo del serpente piumato' originates from an old idea, which is the contamination of SF with a fairy tale. This idea led me, several years ago, to write a short story titled 'Parvati', essentially based on the narrative plot of a Russian fairytale (in Afanasyev's collection, the fairy tale is titled 'Ivan Cow Son', hence the name "Johnny Cowson"). A few years later, I thought Parvati deserved a sequel (which is indeed 'Il sigillo del serpente piumato'). Practically, the novel is itself a fairy tale (think of the ending...), and it is based on "thematic material" taken from other fairy tales (particularly, always from Afanasyev). In the course of writing, I realized that the matter did not hold up without integrating the Parvati story into the novel itself which, appropriately rewritten, became the first part of what was published (not by chance titled 'Antefatto'). Sometimes brilliant ideas prove to be riddled with difficulties when attempting to implement them. In particular, in the case of 'Il sigillo del serpente piumato', the transformation of the fairytale into SF required a contrivance that would make the occurrence of seemingly magical events possible. I found this contrivance in an idea first stated by an American philosopher, Nick Bostrom. He is a singular and interesting character, who teaches at an American university and is also a transhumanist, and the idea was certainly valid, but as a premise to the novel, it created a problem: Bostrom's viewpoint is in some way "cosmic", but inserting a "cosmic sentiment" into a fairy tale was not simple. In practice, I limited myself to using Bostrom's idea as a "deus ex machina", without giving it the space it probably deserved, and I focused on the fairy tale aspect. I am not sure if I made the right choice; from the comments I received (including yours), I understand that it seems as if there is something missing in the novel, and it probably is true. I apologize: I finished the novel fifteen days before the Urania deadline, and moreover, I am one of “long-thoughts", I don't like to work in a hurry. I reserve, however, the right to review it. Regarding the reference to Vance, personally, I find good old Jack to have been one of the greatest storytellers in the history of SF, and the comparison is flattering!
4. One of the works you are working on is the series 'Odissea nel futuro', a series of short novels, of which you have published eight volumes so far. Can you tell us something about this series? Besides the content, regarding the choice to propose it in this manner, considering both the division into multiple 'volumes' and the ways to access it for those who want to begin its reading. Are there other works or literary projects, or any related to the world of science fiction that you are working on at this moment?
P. 'Odissea nel futuro' is actually a single novel, although its narrative development allowed it to be divided into eight parts (which was in any case a publisher’s idea). At the moment it is available in a single volume in electronic format, and it should also be released in a limited edition on paper. The basic idea is of a future where the world has ceased to be globalized and where cultures have returned “local”; a world where there are transgenic animals, sometimes almost fabulous, but above all dominated by an apparently invincible power... which I will not talk about to avoid spoilers! I confess that I had a lot of fun writing it (and I hope it is equally entertaining and interesting to read). As for future projects, I am working on a new novel, but I prefer not to talk about it: someone said writing a novel is a bit like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat, and for the moment I am still on the beach, scrutinizing the right moment to leave!
5. Inevitably, I must ask you a question concerning the world of contemporary Italian-made science fiction. A field that I admit I know relatively little about compared to what is, I believe, a varied reality and in which we can consider several very skilled authors, among whom I immediately think of Maico Morellini or Alberto Cola, Dario Tonani... What can you tell us about this literary reality? I refer to both the quality of those who write and to the attention and following of readers. What references would you give to anyone wanting to somehow start and subsequently 'orient' in this 'micro-world'?
P. In my opinion, Italian science fiction is no less valid than that written in other countries. As you say, we have excellent authors (even really skilled young ones, like Linda De Santi who has just won the Urania Short Prize). It's useless to hide the fact that literary science fiction (not only in Italy) is on the decline, at least at this moment. The paradoxical aspect is that this decline corresponds to an authentic triumph of cinematic SF (aside from Star Wars Episode 8, of which I do not yet have data, I would note that among the five films with the highest earnings ever, three are SF (Avatar, Star Wars ep. 7, and Jurassic World), to which you must add Avengers, which nonetheless fits into the SF trend. It is hard to say whether there is a connection between these two facts. In my opinion, yes. It is as if people expect from SF above all the spectacularity of special effects and the grandeur of images typical of cinematic SF, and pay little attention to narrative aspects, character development, the novelty of ideas. If you notice, the most successful films are often disappointing from these points of view... Is it a definitive decline? Will SF of the future be almost exclusively cinematic? Is there a way to reverse the trend? The discourse is too long in this case too. The only thing I would like to note is that, at least for us, SF has become increasingly more a niche frequented almost exclusively by insiders: writers, publishers (the few there are), bloggers, pure enthusiasts... I believe the path for the genre's recovery inevitably passes through an enlargement of the current boundaries: we must convince general readers that SF can still be an interesting genre.
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