Line #21 Creator/PeterWatts


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peter_watts_5.png]]
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3	->''"Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts."''
4	-->-- '''James Nicoll'''
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6	Peter Watts (born January 25, 1958) is a "reformed" Canadian marine biologist turned UsefulNotes/HugoAward winning[[note]]For best Novelette 2010, [[http://rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_TheIsland.pdf The Island]][[/note]] SpeculativeFiction author, best known for his ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'' and his Hugo-nominated novel ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}''.
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8	Watts' first novel ''Starfish'' (beginning the ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'') focuses on a group of people who've been surgically augmented to survive the crushing depth of the ocean floor, in order to work on a power station located on a geo-thermal vent. The catch is that most normal people have trouble adjusting to the stresses of working and living in such an environment, so people who are ''naturally adapted'' to living in stressful environments are recruited instead. In this case, [[DysfunctionJunction victims of abuse]], including pedophiles, borderline masochists and clinical sociopaths. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]]. The series juggles [[AntiHero dark]] character study, a distinctly [[CrapsackWorld un-rosey view]] of future society, kick-ass action, and cutting edge technology. The series earned Watts much critical praise.
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10	His next novel, ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' (unrelated to ''Rifters''), focuses on a RagtagBunchOfMisfits sent to investigate a strange [[StarfishAliens alien artifact]] that's been detected on the edge of the solar system. The novel is mainly a FirstContact story that mixes elements of [[CosmicHorrorStory cosmic]] and [[PsychologicalHorror psychological]] horror in order to examine (and deconstruct) the ideas of sentience and consciousness. ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' became something of a hit for Watts, garnering a [[UsefulNotes/HugoAward Hugo]] nomination for best novel. The companion novel ''Literature/{{Echopraxia}}'' was published in August 2014 and is set in the inner Solar System.
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12	Most recently, he [[http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1838 consulted on the tech and plot]] of the videogame ''[[VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Crysis 2]]'', as well as writing the novelization[[note]]he didn't write the actual game story; that was done by fellow sci-fi author Creator/RichardKMorgan[[/note]].
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14	Watts likes to [[ShownTheirWork show his work]], utilising extensive notes and references to support his work and theories. Because of this, unsurprisingly his work tends to end up as hard science fiction. It also usually lies at the cynical end of the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism spectrum]] too, although not often without the slimmest, most stoic, hope available, if you squint.
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16	[[CuteKitten He also likes cats]].
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18	!Tropes involving Peter Watts
19	* AllThereInTheManual: Watts' website has a ton of supplementary information concerning his novels.
20	* BlindJump: In short story "Ambassador", protagonist constantly used this technique to escape relentlessly pursuing alien ship.
21	* CrapsackWorld: It might ''seem'' that way, what with all the broken characters and civilization-ending catastrophes, but the man himself doesn't see it that way at all:
22	--> ''I'm fond of pointing out that my portrayal of human nature is actually naively optimistic; you won't find any religious wing-nuts whose invisible sky-fairy tells them to massacre the infidels or bomb abortion clinics, for one thing. You won't find any corrupt politicians who start unnecessary wars to line the pockets of their buddies in the oil industry. You won't find climate-change deniers or creationists. My characters sometimes do awful things, but generally those actions are forced on them; they're killing a thousand to save a million, trying to do the least harm. My fictional characters, generally speaking, are far too noble and decent for the real world.''
23	* ExecutiveMeddling: During the production of ''βehemoth'', the third book in the ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'', Watts's publisher Tor decided to split the book into two parts (subtitled ''β-Max'' and ''Seppuku''). This was a decision Watts was extremely unhappy with, leading to their relationship being soured. It would further deteriorate during the publishing of ''Blindsight'', due to artistic differences over the cover design, as well as an extremely limited print run. ''So'' limited, in fact, that once it began to become popular, '''nobody could find it'''! Faced with the prospect of having his novel buried, Watts decided that it would be better to make [[DoingItForTheArt no money]] and at least have the novel read, so he released it free on his [[http://rifters.com/ website]]. This move proved extremely popular, and led to Watts releasing his other novels and many of his short stories for free [[http://rifters.com/real/shorts.htm online]].
24	* GoneHorriblyRight: He has a short story called "Malak", about an autonomous drone plane that's sent into warzones to fight enemies. It's given special programming on how to discern between combatants and non-combatants so it can make combat decisions without input from its masters. Unfortunately, the protocols on what determines who is a "combatant" can be applied to the masters ''themselves''. Whoops.
25	* GreyAndGreyMorality: Most of his works have shades (hah) of this, mostly due to their CrapsackWorld settings.
26	* MadeOfIron: Watts contracted [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrotizing_fasciitis Necrotizing Fasciitis]]. That's a '''flesh eating bacteria'''. What did he do? He [[http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=1831 blogged about it]]. The whole series of posts can be found here, under the title "[[http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?category_name=flesh-eating-fest-11 Flesh Eating Fest '11]]". At one point, a nurse treating him said that he must have an extremely high pain tolerance.
27	* [[OverreactingAirportSecurity Overreacting Border Security]]: Watts had a now-infamous encounter on the U.S./Canadian border, during which he was [[PoliceBrutality maced and wrestled to the ground]] by a power-tripping border patrolman. The reason? Not reacting fast enough to a verbal command from the patrolman.
28	* PerspectiveFlip: His Hugo-nominated short story "The Things" is the events of the CultClassic sci-fi movie ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]'' from the alien's point-of-view.
29	* RealityWarper: Titular protagonist of "The Second Coming of Jasmine Fitzgerald".
30	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Very far towards the cynical end.
31	* StarfishAliens: When Watts writes aliens, they are ''bizarre.'' The aliens in "The Island" are [[TitleDrop islands]] on a titanic organic membrane that encircles a whole star, and the aliens in ''Blindsight'' are utterly inscrutable, almost Lovecraftian beings that inhabit a cool brown dwarf.
32	* ViewersAreGeniuses: [[http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=5438 Admits]] that he does not like to talk down to the readers.
33	* {{Tuckerization}}: Watts often rewards people who have been particularly helpful to his work by naming one of his characters after them, who then invariably die a horrible death.

Context Creator / PeterWatts