Where did some of the ideas for the Triton Run come from?

When I’d finally told family, then friends, that I’d been writing a book, and finished it, everyone unsurprisingly asked what it was about, but a few asked where had the idea come from.

I’ve reflected on that a lot as I’ve tried to work out where the sequel would go and as part of preparing to promote the Triton Run. While it’s true, simply saying that the ideas popped into my head isn’t very interesting! So I’ve had a deeper dive into the book, to see where the main planks of it came from.

The starting point of the story was an article I read on the BBC about elite pilots who deliver small planes across the world. It sounded like such a dangerous, but thrilling job and the idea came to me that in the future perhaps such roles might exist regarding space craft. That is what was probably the first idea I had. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34484972 It is such a different job that I might want to revisit it at some point. 

The idea of being different became important to me. Let’s face it, nobody writing  in this area can claim to be truly unique with their inspiration and those who are lauded for treading new ground often use ideas that have been done before, but in a new way, or mix them with different characters. There are lots of plots from books in the 60s and earlier that can effectively be recycled because science has moved on so much since and our understanding of space is much greater. If anyone dares write about a desert planet then the obvious inspirations are going to be Tattooine or Arrakis.

Once the story got off Earth I wanted it go somewhere, not new, but where the ground was perhaps more fertile and untouched. So Neptune. I’ve not read much that has any real focus on Neptune and that’s what led me there. Triton is its largest moon, so the idea for the Triton Run was born. 

That started me off doing a lot of research about Neptune, Triton and its close neighbourhood. I wouldn’t call my writing hard sci fi, where everything has to be accurate, but I did want it to be set against a realistic backdrop. Strangely the one thing I got wrong, as had everybody talking about Neptune, was the colour. We had already started to look at example covers when it was discovered that Neptune is not the blue that everyone thinks it is. The way early images of it were processed led to the accepted images of it being inaccurate. I was relieved that we didn’t have the planet on the cover in the wrong colour, not that I think many would notice. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67892275

As the plot developed in my mind I kept pushing myself to try to do things that had not been done before, or if they had then I hadn’t read about it! Terrorism in space as a concept came to me also quite early on. Terrorism is always in the news, sadly and I am sure that once there is a large enough number of humans living off planet conflict is probably inevitable. It could be over resources or, without giving away spoilers really, in the case of the Triton Run relating to the loss of citizenship. The loss of citizenship also being something that was in the news a lot a few years ago. There has even been talk or what is effectively terrorisim, but definitely sabotage on the International Space Station which has led to part of it being sealed off. 

Russia and the USA have been accusing each other over the damage, with some theories linking the sabotage to the breakdown of a romantic relationship.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russia-us-relations-space-b1968074.html

Space elevators have been seen in books (Arthur C Clarke did it in 1979 I think) and movies before, albeit not that often, but once I had read something about the idea I decided I needed one in my book. I try to think quite cinematically in that built into the story I want things that are cool and which will interest people. This is also so when Hollywood comes knocking (I wish!) there are some ready-made action set pieces. 

In theory, Space Elevators are structures that could provide an efficient way to get people and things off the Earth’s surface and into orbit with the expense of launching a rocket and fighting gravity. The problem is that as yet we’re aren’t there in terms of a material to form the tether that would be strong enough to allow vehicles to move up or down it. Again, I did my research including watching this documentary https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4085130/ which helped. A lot of what I learned obviously doesn’t go into the story but it definitely helps define the boundaries in which I would write about it. 

Some of the story takes place on a pair of binary asteroids, Antiope A and B. They are very much real and spent ages looking online for the right asteroid, in the right location to use. 

So ideas and inspiration are everywhere, the other one in the Triton Run being the idea of seeking redemption and the consequences of war crimes. I will perhaps cover those another day, right now there’d be too many spoilers.

The one thing that didn’t require research is the First Contact strand to the story. It was my first Science Fiction novel, of course its going to have that in. As of 2025 that of course came straight from my imagination.