We chat with co-authors Rob Hart and Alex Segura about Dark Space, which is a sweeping sci-fi spy thriller that blends the epic scope and character-driven spark of Star Trek with the intrigue of John le Carré’s Smiley novels.
Hi, Rob and Alex! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourselves?
Rob: I get paid money to make stuff up and put it in a Word document. It’s a very good life. I also like to cook. Seriously though, I’m a USA Today bestseller, and my last book was called Assassins Anonymous. I also write The Warehouse and The Paradox Hotel.
Alex: Sure! I’m a writer of comics and novels – most notably Secret Identity, which won the LA Times Book Prize (the sequel, Alter Ego, hits in December). I work all the time because I love my job – coming up with stories featuring my own characters or characters I love, like the Spider-Verse, Star Wars, the Question, and more.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Rob: In the seventh grade, I had a teacher—Mrs. Noll—who would have us write compositions every week. She was the first person who ever told me I might have a knack for this.
Alex: I was an early reader – I grew up on comics, and the more I got pulled into the lore, the more I found myself writing my own stories that fit into the greater universe. I wish I had all my elementary-school era fan fiction, but it’s perhaps best lost to the sands of time.
Your co-authored novel Dark Space is out October 8th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Rob: John le Carré Star Trek.
Alex: What Rob said.
What can readers expect?
Rob: Lots of pulpy space-faring adventure with some espionage and political elements thrown in.
Alex: Dark Space is a story about messed up people trying to overcome their failures to do some good – at perhaps the darkest time for the planet and its government. We tried our best to weave the wonder and power of early Trek through the prism of a dark, gritty, and grounded spy thriller. I think we made it work. We wrote the book we wanted to read.
Where did the inspiration for Dark Space come from?
Rob: My inspiration was Alex sending me a text message saying: “Do you want to jam on a sci-fi novel?” His initial pitch for it was exactly what I said: John le Carré writes Star Trek. How could I not want to do that?
Alex: I wrote a Star Trek novel, by hand, when I was in middle school – the story doesn’t matter, but the tone does. It was darker, grittier, a little more serialized than TNG, before DS9 was a thing. The idea stuck in my head for years, and I’ve always wanted to explore that kind of take – a story that blends the widescreen wonder of space opera but also brings readers into the gray areas of government and espionage. Then I texted Rob.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Rob: There’s a lot of stuff I really liked doing that I can’t talk about because it would be a spoiler, but really, the entire book was a blast from start to finish.
Alex: I love both of our leads, Carriles and Timony. I think they’re both complicated and relatable in different ways. It was challenging to explore their dynamic because, for the bulk of the book, they’re apart. I also just enjoyed jamming with Rob – we’re both workhorses and the end result was something I don’t think either of us could’ve done alone.
Can you tell us a bit about how the collaboration process worked? Any disagreements?
Rob: We started with the best of intentions and now will not appear in the same room together. We speak through an intermediary. No, that’s not true. We put together a huge document, outlining the story and characters, then just took turned in Google Docs writing words. If there were any disagreements, they were so minor I can’t remember them. We were both coming from a place of: the story wins in the end.
Alex: What Rob said.
What’s next for you both?
Rob: The sequel to my last novel, Assassins Anonymous, comes out next summer. It’s called The Medusa Protocol. I also co-wrote a novel with Jeff Rake, creator and showrunner of TV’s Manifest. It’s called Detour, and it’s coming out in Spring 2026.
Alex: Alter Ego, the standalone sequel to Secret Identity hits in December. I also have Bruno: Nightmares and Sueños arriving in December – a middle grade prequel to the beloved Disney film! On top of that, I have a lot of comics hitting: The Legendary Lynx (a graphic novel that “republishes” the lost comic book stories from Secret Identity), Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku, Spider-Society, The Question: All Along the Watchtower, Green Hornet/Miss Fury, Dick Tracy, and probably a dozen things I am forgetting. A lot!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Rob: Alex’s book Alter Ego is great. I’ve already read it, and I’m excited for it to land. Jordan Harper’s The Last King of California is going to be a knockout. I keep bugging S.A. Cosby to send me an early copy of his next, King of Ashes. And Serial Killer Support Group by Saratoga Schaefer—that sounds like a ton of fun.
Alex: I loved Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea, and very much enjoyed Alma Katsu’s series of spy thrillers that kick off with The Vanishing Man. Marc Guggenheim’s In Any Lifetime is also a gem.
