For those who aren’t aware, the SFBC asks most of the authors whose books we use in the club if they’d like to write a short note to our members, and many of them do so. To start off this time, here’s Elizabeth Moon writing about the fourth “Vatta’s War” novel, Command Decision:

In 2005, while working on Command Decision, I was in Oslo, Norway for an SF convention. It was my first trip to Norway, and I was far too excited to plan any research aimed at this particular book. Besides, the book had stuck: I had designed the perfect "locked room" and couldn't get my characters out of it.

One night I turned on the TV. The only English language program happened to be about a situation similar to the one my characters faced. With the British Special Air Services explaining in detail how they'd handle it. Aha! I needed a different kind of "locked room."

After the convention, I took an overnight trip to Bergen, a tour called "Norway in a Nutshell" which involved trains, a boat ride down a fjord, a bus ride back up to the train line, overnight in Bergen, then the train back to Oslo. Beautiful trip, lots of fun. On the way back--between the stations where the outbound tour left the main line and returned to it--I saw the perfect location for the other "locked room." Aha!

I love it when that happens.