{"id":9350,"date":"2025-06-17T00:03:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T05:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=9350"},"modified":"2025-06-15T14:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T19:54:08","slug":"beggars-sky-and-will-mccarthys-projected-sky-tetralogy-how-our-best-novel-finalists-and-authors-are-receiving-broader-cultural-attention-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/beggars-sky-and-will-mccarthys-projected-sky-tetralogy-how-our-best-novel-finalists-and-authors-are-receiving-broader-cultural-attention-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Beggar\u2019s Sky and Will McCarthy\u2019s projected Sky tetralogy: How our Best Novel finalists and authors are receiving broader cultural attention (Part Three)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Wil McCarthy has been receiving broad attention for the tetralogy launched with R<\/em>ich Man\u2019s Sky<\/i>, the 2022 Prometheus Best Novel winner.<\/p>\n

Beggar\u2019s Sky<\/a>,<\/i> one of five 2025 Best Novel finalists, is the third novel in his exciting science fiction\/mystery series and the direct sequel to Poor Man\u2019s Sky.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/i>
\nWith Prometheus Awards voting in its final weeks before the July 4 deadline, it\u2019s worth highlighting how each of the authors of this year\u2019s Best Novel finalists have been receiving broader cultural attention in interviews, podcasts and rave reviews.<\/p>\n

In Part three of our ongoing series, we highlight and provide links to four interviews that McCarthy has done about his complex series, which projects the twists and turns in the industrial development and colonization of our solar system primarily through the private efforts of four billionaires.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting and timely of McCarthy\u2019s interviews was the one he did with Paul Semel after the publication of Beggar\u2019s Sky.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

FIRST CONTACT, \u00a0THE ALIEN \u201cBEINGS\u201d AND THE NEXT SEQUEL<\/b>
\n<\/b>
\nSemel, who has his own website at paulsemel.com<\/a>, has been writing about books, video games, music \u201cand other fun stuff\u201d for more than twenty years. According to his bio, he\u2019s also a regular contributor to Common Sense Media, Walmart GameCenter, and other magazines and websites.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A big fan of McCarthy, Semel has interviewed him several times over the years, including after the publication of each of his novels in his current series. His latest McCarthy interview<\/a> focuses on what inspired and influenced Beggar\u2019s Sky,<\/i> described a a \u201chard sci-fi space opera\/political spy thriller.”<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Semel begins the interview: \u201cWith Beggar\u2019s Sky, <\/i>writer Wil McCarthy is once again exploring the completely fictional, and downright outlandish idea, of what might happen if the super rich took over the space race. Like that would ever happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, McCarthy describes his sequel and its focus.<\/p>\n

“Not too much of a spoiler to say this is an alien contact novel, but one in which the contact is managed entirely by a single high-net-worth individual. That\u2019s a lot of power for one person to wield, and it has a very distorting effect on the people and industries operating in cislunar space. Where previously there had been intrigues and what we could call \u2018unfriendly competition,\u2019 things are now threatening to break out into outright warfare. That\u2019s where we are when the story opens.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy confirms that the current Sky trilogy will expand into a tetralogy – though not right away, and not with the most obvious title for the fourth and final novel in the series. (The titles refer to a phrase within a popular children\u2019s counting rhyme: \u201crich man, poor man, beggar man, thief.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Will McCarthy (Photo courtesy of Baen Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Referring to his earlier interview with McCarthy after the publication of Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/a>,<\/i> Semel asked: \u201cYou said it was the first in an ongoing series, and that there were two more books planned: Poor Man\u2019s Sky<\/i> and Beggar\u2019s Sky.<\/i> But you then added, \u2018\u2026and there might be more after that.\u2019 But you just said Beggar\u2019s <\/i>is the third book in a trilogy. So, I have to ask: Are there going to be more Sky stories? And why doesn\u2019t that plan including calling the fourth book Thief\u2019s Sky?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s answer is newsworthy, especially to LFS members and other fans eager to read the next novel in his award-winning series.
\n
\n\u201c<\/i>Well, OK, first of all, Thief\u2019s Sky<\/i> is a terrible name for a book, and second, I haven\u2019t started outlining a fourth book for the series yet,\u201d McCarthy told Semel.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do have some ideas about the direction things are heading. So yes, there will be at least one more book. Right now I\u2019m working on something else, though, which I\u2019d like to keep a bit secret, except to say it\u2019s a comedy, quite different than the Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/i> series.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy discussed how Beggar\u2019s Sky,<\/i> like its predecessor, mixes elements of hard science fiction, space opera and political spy thrillers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the above, yes, plus first contact with an alien species. The Beings are really alien, though, so some parts of the book may seem a bit psychedelic or supersciencey as well. There were elements of that in Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/i>, too, but only really in the background. Here it\u2019s often front and center,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, McCarthy reveals in much more detail his vision of the mysterious aliens finally encountered directly in Beggar\u2019s Sky<\/i>, which is substantially centered on an alien first-contact story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Beings communicate in something close to pure math \u2014 specifically, set theory \u2014 and they are powered by quantum gravity, so the biggest influence here comes from talking with mathematicians and physicists about what that would really be like. The contact is told through a dozen different points of view, so really the new influences were real people and real theories, more than literature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although The Beings are briefly evoked and hinted at in the first and second novels in the Sky series, by the end of Beggar\u2019s Sky,<\/em> it seems likely and logical to expect the fourth novel to center them far more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Beings make an appearance of sorts in Rich Man\u2019s Sky, <\/i><\/a>as the drug-induced hallucinations of a possibly crazy trillionaire, and later on of people coming out of cryogenic suspension. But I knew before I started the trilogy that The Beings were real, and that contact with them was inevitable,\u201d McCarthy tells Semel.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding The Beings in particular, I\u2019ve always been fascinated with this idea that people on a drug called DMT consistently report the same hallucination of being contacted by otherworldly entities, sometimes referred to as \u201cmachine elves.\u201d So right from the beginning, my thought has been, wow, what if that were true? It\u2019s a fascinating idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

As always – including in his three-part Prometheus Blog interview after winning the Prometheus Award – McCarthy remains cagey and district about whether any of his fictional characters are inspired to any extent by the mega-billionaires often in the news today, such as Bill Gates or Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

Semel asks: \u201cAnd how about the real billionaire space race? Have any of those guys done anything in recent years that prompted you to add something, or remove something, from Beggar\u2019s Sky?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s terse response: \u201cAhem. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Next question!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
SF author Will McCarthy in command of some sort of starship (Photo: Baen Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE AMAZING STORIES INTERVIEW WITH MCCARTHY
\n<\/b>
\nAmazing Stories magazine and website also did an interesting interview<\/a> with McCarthy, conducted by Griffin Barber. Right off the bat, Barber introduces McCarthy with a bio that prominently mentions his Prometheus award.<\/p>\n

\u201cAerospace engineer\/startup founder Wil McCarthy, formerly of WIRED and the SyFy channel, has won the Prometheus award once and the AnLab award twice.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and Discover Magazine rated his world of \u201cP2\/Sorrow\u201d one of the 10 best fictional planets of all time.\u00a0\u00a0He has appeared in Analog and Asimov\u2019s, and his bestselling novels include New York Times Notable Bloom, <\/i>Amazon.com \u201cBest of Y2K\u201d The Collapsium <\/i>and most recently, Beggar\u2019s Sky. <\/i>He has also written for TV and video games, and published copious nonfiction.\u00a0McCarthy holds 31 issued U.S. patents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview, titled \u201cUnexpected Questions with Wil McCarthy,\u201d does ask quite a few unexpected questions.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s just two, to whet your appetite to read the full interview:<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cIf you could alter any one single natural law, what would it be and how would you change it?\u201d<\/p>\n

A: \u201cNot a law per se, but I would dearly love to swap the positions of Mars and Venus in the Solar System.\u00a0 This would not immediately make either planet habitable, but it would make the terraforming job about a hundred times easier.\u00a0 If I actually did have the power to change natural laws, I would probably shoot myself and save the universe, because even very tiny changes would obliterate everything we know and hold dear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Left to right: The planets Mars, Earth and Venus (File photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: Which trope of science fiction (phasers, transporters, time machines, much more) would you like to see put into our own reality? And how would you use it in a mundane way?\u201d<\/p>\n

A: Time machines would eff everything up, and phasers are not much different than the ways we kill each other already.\u00a0 Teleportation, though!\u00a0 That could radically change society, and mostly for the better, especially if there were safety protocols preventing hazardous objects or materials from being teleported.\u00a0 Most mundane use?\u00a0 Teleporting restaurant food directly to the table beside my couch, so I never have to get up at all.<\/p>\n

THE BAEN FREE RADIO HOUR INTERVIEW – AND A RELATED MCCARTHY STORY
\n<\/b>
\nBaen Books also posted an interview with McCarthy on its Free Radio Hour.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Novelist Wil McCarthy (Photo courtesy of Baen Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The interview, conducted by Griffin Barber and available on YouTube, focuses on McCarthy\u2019s first two novels in the series, and followed publication of Poor Man\u2019s Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Of special note: In introducing the interview, an associate Baen editor invites listeners to visit the Baen Books website<\/a> to read \u201cXmas at ESL1,\u201d a McCarthy short story set within the same fictional future of the Sky series and set on the ESL1 solar-shade space station owned by Igbal Renz, one of the four trillionaires dubbed the Four Horsemen who in different ways are propelling humanity\u2019s expansion into the solar system and beyond.<\/p>\n

To reinforce the realism and plausibility of his Sky series, especially the locked-room (actually locked airlock) moon-based murder mystery at the center of Poor Man\u2019s Sky,<\/i> McCarthy did a lot of research about treaties in space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best parallel we have right now is maritime law, regarding ships at sea. But it\u2019s complicated,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem we have right now is that the treaties we have in space constrain only governments. Decades ago, it was unthinkable that any non-governmental entity would ever reach its fingers into space, but we\u2019re rethinking that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that as people start to build something in space, there\u2019s really no legal infrastructure about who owns it, who\u2019s in charge\u2026 This is a real problem when someone gets murdered. Who has jurisdiction? Where are the police? And how does that constrain the investigation?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wil McCarthy surrounded by books (Photo: Baen Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MCCARTHY\u2019S AUTHOR Q&A AT THE BOULDER BOOKSTORE
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

McCarthy, who lived in Boulder for five years and attended the University of Colorado, was happy to \u201creturn\u201d to Colorado to do a video answering a set of reader\u2019s questions provided by his favorite Boulder bookstore. As a bonus, he ends the session with a reading from his fiction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
An example of how the Prometheus Awards plaque and gold coin looks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of special interest here, at least to the Prometheus Blog, is something you\u2019ll immediately notice right off the bat, if you watch the video<\/a>: On the wall behind McCarthy, presumably in his home office, and to the right of his bookshelves, is one plaque with a shiny coin in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s McCarthy\u2019s Prometheus Awards plaque and gold coin for winning the Best Novel category in 2022 for Rich Man\u2019s Sky. <\/i>(Nice to see our award in a prominent place in McCarthy\u2019s home.)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery writer I know has their own idiosyncratic way of doing things\u2026 I like to stretch my wings and try different things,\u201d McCarthy said in answer to one question.<\/p>\n

While many sf\/fantasy writers write multi-volume series where one novel ends in a cliffhanger and the next novel immediately picks up from where the last one ends, McCarthy prefers a different approach – one he believes is best for him and better for his readers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer that each book have its own story, its own beginning, middle and end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

(In fact, one strength of his Sky series is that each of the three novels he\u2019s written so far in that series can be enjoyed and appreciated on its own, without reference to the previous books.)<\/p>\n

McCarthy mentioned Poor Man\u2019s Sky <\/i>as an example, pointing out that it works as a stand-alone murder mystery thriller set on the moon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
SF writer Wil McCarthy in the 1990s (Photo courtesy of author)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even so, each of McCarthy\u2019s Sky novels does incorporate some teasers and hints that leave open some possibilities to develop in a sequel.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people tell me I leave loose ends at the end of each book, which is true,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not consciously trying to tell a story in multiple books per se\u2026. But real life is complicated, real life can be confusing for the people involved in it, and real life leaves a lot of loose ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

For further reading:<\/b> Check out the previous Prometheus blog posts in this series about interviews and podcasts with the 2025 Best Novel finalists. Part One<\/a> focuses on Lionel Shriver (and her novel Mania<\/a>), <\/em>and Part Two<\/a>, on Danny King (and his novel Cancelled)<\/em><\/a>.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

Coming up:<\/b> Highlights of interviews and podcasts with the authors of this year’s other Best Novel finalists, including C. J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher (Alliance Unbound<\/a>)<\/em> and Michael Flynn (In the Belly of the Whale<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: <\/b>The Prometheus Blog strives to report widely on all Prometheus-recognized fiction and authors, especially if and when their work is referenced in the popular culture in newspapers, magazines, columns and debates.
\nIf you know about such references, please bring them to our attention right away, so we can highlight them in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS AND THE LFS<\/b><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us!<\/b> To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a> the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.<\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/b>For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced \u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/a> an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/i>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Grossberg Wil McCarthy has been receiving broad attention for the tetralogy launched with Rich Man\u2019s Sky, the 2022 Prometheus Best Novel winner. Beggar\u2019s Sky, one of five 2025 Best Novel finalists, is the third novel in his exciting science fiction\/mystery series and the direct sequel to Poor Man\u2019s Sky. With Prometheus Awards voting … Continue reading Beggar\u2019s Sky and Will McCarthy\u2019s projected Sky tetralogy: How our Best Novel finalists and authors are receiving broader cultural attention (Part Three)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1585,36,39],"tags":[1540,1517,1539,1487,1484],"class_list":["post-9350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-in-the-news","category-interviews","category-podcasts","tag-beggars-sky","tag-best-novel-finalist","tag-poor-mans-sky","tag-rich-mans-sky","tag-wil-mccarthy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-2qO","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9350"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9364,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9350\/revisions\/9364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}