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Into the Storms: A Hell Divers Prequel by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

After reading Project Hail Mary a few years ago and loving it, I decided to make a concerted effort to read more science fiction. I got a ton of recommendations from the Books & Biceps crew (thank you!) and I’ve been plowing through them one-by-one and recommending many of them here.

I also leave room for serendipitous reads - books I stumble upon on social media or from a podcast or read about in a magazine or maybe I’ll see an incredible book cover and title in a store and decide I have to read it.

That’s exactly what happened in this case, except instead of one book, I took on a whole series. The book that grabbed my attention also happened to be the first book in the Hell Divers Series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith titled, you guessed it: Hell Divers.

Here’s the quick synopsis:

They dive so humanity survives …

More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers—men and women who risk their lives by skydiving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.

Awesome idea, right? It’s such an entertaining, action-packed and thoughtful read, with a fully-realized, apocalyptic future Earth that is well thought out down to the tiniest details.

That book came out in 2016 and I’ve cruised through several of the books in the series, but the one I’ve had my eye on just came out Tuesday and it’s a prequel to that first book called Into the Storms.

And you want to know something cool? Blackstone Publishing put out this entire series and they’re also publishing my novel, Bear Brawl, next fall.

With that in mind, I’m pumped to bring you an exclusive Behind-the-Book Q&A with my Blackstone teammate and NY Times bestselling author, Nick Sansbury. Read the interview and BUY THE BOOK ASAP (or the whole series).

ONE

FINKEL: Despite what the saying says, I always judge a book by its cover and you, my friend, have some of the best book covers in the business. In fact, I picked up Hell Divers, the first book in this series, a while back because the cover stopped me cold in the bookstore. It looked like an action movie poster. Combine that with the awesome title and I was all the way in.

The Rhino cover is strong as well, but I love what you did for this book, Into the Storms. We’ve got explosions, lightning, a speedboat. It all works. Can you tell us a little about how you view covers? Do you have an image in mind when you’re writing? Do you have a scene from your book that as you’re writing, you think, damn, this would make a great cover? How’s it work for you?

SMITH: Covers definitely help sell a book, and I’ve always believed they should tell a story. Earlier in my career, I was told not to use an actual scene for a cover, but in this case, it is a moment directly from the end of Into the Storms. One of the most compelling and frightening scenes, when a nuke goes off in San Diego. I wasn’t sure what I wanted the cover to look like until I finished writing that final chapter. I knew right away it would make the perfect cover.

TWO

In the beginning of the book, when you describe the scorched battlefield and the sentries: seven-foot tall Androids with forearms having mounted Miniguns, glowing veins under armor plating, a triad of legs and cold blue eyes… It felt like you were paying homage to the opening scenes of Terminator 2, one of my favorite movies. Did you get inspiration for your descriptions of the sentries and Tritons and other machines from anywhere? Movies? Other books? Must have been fun to imagine and create these robots.

You nailed it! Terminator was an inspiration for these killer machines. I told readers a few years back that I always wanted to write a story about the rise of machines and AI taking over. I ended up writing a series called E-Day that details how that happened, but it focused solely on AI and machines. In Hell Divers, while AI is the catalyst for the apocalypse, the main series focuses more on other threats—mutated monsters, storms, radiation, violent humans, and the lack of resources. I think that’s why I’ve enjoyed and continue to enjoy writing Hell Divers. It is a sprawling apocalyptic world and the type of story I love to read.

THREE

Let’s talk about boxing. Specifically, electric boxing and the man vs. machine match you have between Santiago “The Bull” Rodriguez and Triple-Dee, the three-armed red robot. Readers will love the high voltage uppercut and face off for sure… This is a critical, awesome scene. What’s the hardest part of writing a fight like this for you? Do you just let it play out in your head or do you know how it’ll go and write to the finish?

Combat usually plays out in my head and makes it to the digital page without much planning. I don’t really outline my fight scenes before writing them, like I do a lot of other chapters. The hardest part is always making these scenes unique and keeping the reader engaged. They need to see/feel/understand precisely how the fight or combat is unfolding. Describing pain, smells, and even the character's thoughts during these scenes helps portray visceral combat. I loved writing this specific scene because it was unique for me and unlike any other I’ve written in the past.

FOUR

There is a very prescient conversation in the middle of the book regarding AI and cloning humans and ethics and it feels like it could be a conversation between some of the big AI leaders and scientists in real life today. Tyron’s discussion with Orion about the clones and embracing the radiation-caused changes, in particular, was fascinating. How much research did you do for these? Did you read philosophers? Were there any scientists or papers that changed how you thought going into writing this book?

I’ve read a lot about AI and the concerns regarding how fast it’s advancing and the potential outcomes once we reach superintelligence. I also spent time reading about the singularity, which is addressed in your next question. It seems like every week, I’m engaging in conversations with other authors, scientists, and doctors who are seeing advancements in their fields with AI. The potential for life-saving medicines and cures for diseases is exciting, as are the time-saving roles that AI is providing. However, we're also witnessing negative impacts on creative fields, with human creators facing displacement from AI that can perform ten times faster. Corporations like Amazon are embracing this with audiobooks narrated by AI for example. I’m also seeing it happening in other creative fields like digital art. While I think AI is great to use as a tool, and I do use it for specific tasks, I think it’s frightening how it could replace so many jobs in my field. And this is just writing/audiobooks/art. Virtually every field faces job cannibalization from AI in the next few years.

There’s no doubt that humanity’s entered a very exciting time where AI can do some excellent things for civilization, if monitored and safely administered. It could create a better quality of life for billions and save countless lives. However, it could also be our downfall, as I’ve written in Into the Storms. Let’s hope our leaders and the tech billionaires put the brakes on the race to superintelligence until we can safely live in harmony with a truly superintelligent AI.

FIVE

I don’t want to spoil anything for readers, but I want to ask you about the “ghost in the machine” transformation one of the characters goes through towards the end. 

I’ve been thinking about the entire conversation/decision by that character and Orion and what it would mean since I read it. Feels like we’re almost there with our own technology and the ramifications are staggering.

I was fascinated by how that played out both from a technical perspective and you describing the sensations, transformations, experience, etc… You obviously got into your character’s head space for this, but what do you think it would be like to have that ability today? To exist as an entity inside the internet and online world? What’s the first thing you’d do?

I would never want to experience this. Part of what makes us human is our ability to experience physical sensations. Once we lose that, and become machines, we are no longer really human, and lose all the amazing things that make us who we are. Immortality through the singularity may be compelling to some people, but I don’t think it’s for me. Then again, you never know until you’re on your deathbed and face that decision. Perhaps I’d change my mind if a doctor said they could transfer my consciousness to a machine and I could continue ‘living’. It’s a tricky, complicated question that we might face sooner than scientists realized.

In terms of meathead moments, this belongs in the Hall of Fame.

A dude, mere moments before getting married, knocked out 4 reps of 315 in his wedding suit, then proceeded to walk down the aisle. Now, when you watch this video, you have to truly appreciate the planning involved: namely, setting the bench up outside, racking the plates, having his groomsmen ready to take his coat, then slide it back on and head to the altar to get married. Who doesn’t want to say “I do” with a nice chest pump? I love this video so much and yes, I am very, very jealous.

Wish I thought of this. Watch:

This is dope. I found out I got a medal for finishing second (40+ dude category) in my 1.2 mile ocean race last weekend and they sent it to me.

That was my last ocean race of the summer and I was pumped I finished it under 30 minutes. The medal is a nice bonus. I have a big Invitational Masters meet coming up in a few months and then a very cool Swim Across America event in Daytona. Fun finish to the racing year. Gotta dial in my 50 and 100 butterfly times and see if I can repeat as a Top 10 finisher in the US in my age group like last year.

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I write a column every Tuesday called The Manologue. This week I tackled a topic near and dear to all of our hearts, the life lessons you learn working construction: Let me tell you about what I learned from Big Jim on my first jobsite in high school that I carry with me to this day:

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I love reading books and occasionally re-reading books, but what I’m terrible at, and don’t like doing, is taking notes while reading a book. I know plenty of authors and readers who do it, but it’s not my thing. I find that it messes with my flow and interrupts my thoughts and, the worst part, it feels like homework. And we all hate homework.

However, I like to reference ideas and stories from books that I’ve read in my own writing and thus, my dilemma: how to take notes without, you know, taking notes.

The answer: Shortform.

I use it to refresh my memory on books I’ve already bought and read all the time - like my own note taking service haha. It’s especially useful for a monster book like Ferriss’s 4-Hour-Body.

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