I was on Fox 6’s “Good Day, Alabama” at 7:45 am this morning, along with fellow Alabamian and new SF author William H. Drinkard, in support of OmegaCon. We talked with host Rick Journey about Bill’s book, OmegaCon, and Pyr. The clip is already online here.
Here’s a whole handful of things worth passing on.
Michael Moorcock is interviewed on ActuSF. He talks about the genesis of the Sir Seaton Begg character from The Metatemporal Detective,
Kay Kenyon’s A World Too Near,
Meanwhile, Kay’s previous novel, Bright of the Sky, was chosen as a staff selection for the Book Group Buzz: A Booklist Blog which makes recommendations (and offers sample discussion questions) for book club. They say, “Kenyon has done a masterful job of world building. Her setting is worth reading about. Her characters are believable. Her plot is intriguing. The tone is somber and mean, and there is little that happens in this first book that is redemptive. Conflict is constant and some of the violence is hard to look at. Did I understand all the science? No. Was that important to me? No. This novel is so accomplished that a reader little interested in the mechanics of the world can still enjoy the universe Kenyon has created.
Would I read the next book in the series? You bet!”
Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review takes a look at the first of Joel Shepherd’s Cassandra Kresnov novels, Crossover,
Finally, Of Science Fiction takes a look at Justina Robson’s Selling Out.
No shame in admitting that, now, surely!
A Load of Catching Up to Do Read More »
A wealth of Joe Abercrombie over on SFCrowsnest. First, they reprint his blog entry on the influence of George RR Martin on his work (The Blade Itself,
As a kid I was very into the Lord of the Rings, and read it every year for a while. Wizard of Earthsea also had a strong effect on me. So did Michael Moorcock (particularly Corum and all the crazy names). I watched Conan the Barbarian many times more than is healthy for a teenage boy (there’s boobs in it, and I’m not just talking about Schwarzenegger’s). I started playing an awful lot of roleplaying games around this time, and with supplements from that, early fantasy-styled computer games such as Dungeon Master, Bloodwych, and Legend, cracking through a load of Dragonlance, and David Eddings first two series (or are they the same series with different covers?) I probably glutted myself on the cheesier end of the fantasy spectrum. Nothing wrong with cheese, you understand, as long as you get some fibre in your diet at the same time.
Abercrombie on Abercrombie Read More »
SFSignal runs an interview with Mike Resnick, of which my favorite bit is:
Science fiction is often accused of being The Great Predictor. Which predictions did Golden Age science fiction get right? Which ones were way off the mark?
MR: In terms of essentially trivial things, it predicted plastics, night baseball, waldoes, and half a hundred other things early fans used to point to with pride. I think it missed most of our major breakthroughs: the fall of the Soviet Empire, the cure for polio, the huge influx of Hispanics into the USA, the fact that cancer is less of a killer these days and more of a chronic disease, the near-extinction of the passenger trains that made it possible for us to populate the continent, the emergence of HIV, even the proliferation of computers. The most important off-the-mark was the fact that almost no one predicted that once we got into space, reached the Moon, landed on Mars, the public would be totally uninterested and apathetic.
Midnight Baseball and the Waldo Read More »
Author, editor, commentator Jeff Vandermeer interviews Michael Moorcock for Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog today, talking about the origins of the Seaton Begg character in his recently released The Metatemporal Detective.
Amazon.com: Which of the following best describes your metatemporal detective, Seaton Begg (and why): “time-drunk slave to his insatiable appetites”, “linear successor to the hardboiled eccentrics of Dashiell Hammett,” “debonair ladies man who hardly has time out of the sack to solve crimes.”
Michael Moorcock: All of them.
Time-Drinking Never Tasted So Good Read More »
Joel Shepherd is the subject of two interviews. First, John Joseph Adams interviews Joel for Sci Fi Wire, about the recent release of Killswitch. Speaking of lead character Cassandra Kresnov, Joel told Sci Fi Wire, “She’s not entirely sure of where she fits in anything and has no moral certainties save the value of human life and her own desire to do something useful. I think a lot of that comes straight from me.”
Then Jessica Strider interviews Joel for the World’s Biggest Bookstore’s Sci-Fi Fan Letter. Also speaking about Cassandra here (no surprise), Joel tells Jessica, “She’s possibly the least biased and most open minded person you’d be likely to meet on most matters — a natural pragmatist who is simultaneously intrigued by non-pragmatic things precisely because they’re unnecessary. She looks at everything as though it were new and fascinating, which as a writer forces me to do so too.”
And remember, first chapters of Killswitch are available online.
Interview: Joel Shepherd x 2 Read More »
Joe Abercrombie is interviewed by John Joseph Adams on SciFi Wire today. Discussing his hit fantasy The Blade Itself,
Fantasy Book Critic has just posted a great interview with Joel Shepherd. They talk with Joel about his Cassandra Kresnov trilogy, including the just released third and final (for now?) volume, Killswitch.
“The only actress I’ve seen who might be able to play Cassandra is Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman). There may be others, but not that I’ve seen — she’s not a character or physical type you see a lot of in Hollywood. There’s more options for Vanessa Rice because the whole idea for her is someone who looks sweet and delicate but in personality is neither. Natalie Portman jumps out as a possibility…maybe she’d enjoy the chance to be cast against type. Ari Ruben IS Adam Goldberg, the character was actually partly inspired by him, in looks and mannerisms.”
Katee Sackhoff = Cassandra Kresnov? Read More »
Lots going on round the blogosphere to catch up on.
First, Sean Williams is interviewed by author Tobias S. Buckell in the latest edition of Clarkesworld Magazine. They discuss his Books of the Cataclysm, which begin with The Crooked Letter,
“I spent a very long time working on the religious background to the Books of the Cataclysm. Really, it started when my father chose to become a priest during my early high school years. I witnessed the study he undertook from the sidelines, and became fascinated with the idea of faded myths—stories (such as Noah’s Ark) that one culture appropriates from another and adopts as their own. Once it occurred to me that all religion can be viewed as a bunch of great stories that people take entirely too seriously, it was just a short hop sideways to the atheist I remain today—one who denies the existence of both deities and the afterlife but is endlessly fascinated with other people’s fascination with the same.”
Then SciFiChick comes in with not one, but three, Pyr reviews.
Keeping It Real, Justina Robson: “Deftly fusing science fiction and fantasy, it’s hard to categorize this novel. The magic is vividly portrayed, and the idea of such different and accessible dimensions makes for a truly unique setting. The character of Lila, would make a more interesting Bionic Woman, than the current tv show version. No cardboard cutout characters here.”
The Prodigal Troll, Charles Coleman Finlay: “This is a humorous and moving tale in the vein of such classics as The Jungle Book and Tarzan. With characterization as the strength of this novel, Finlay has created a fantastic world for this tragic circumstance. Seeing the human world from Maggot’s troll mindset, invokes times of humor as well as drama in a realistic way. Well, as realistic as a world where trolls and magic are the norm. I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. “
Paragaea, Chris Roberson: “Paragaea is a wonderful story with the feel of a fantasy, but the heart of a science fiction novel. Though it isn’t necessary to read Set the Seas on Fire, I found it helpful to already have a background on the character of Hero. I found myself loving Paragaea , the story and world, even more. With more swash-buckling action and stronger characters, Roberson is a truly gifted storyteller.”
Then Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Book Reviews chimes in with two Pyr reviews:
Bright of the Sky, Kay Kenyon: “I found the world that Kenyon created to be rather fascinating, not so much because of the strong Asian influence, but in the way that she designed her various aliens. No species are useless; they all seem to have a purpose that makes sense. I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of these different species–their bodies, minds, uses, hobbies, etc… All in all, the novel is good. It would be suited for someone that looks for a different flavor of adventure story–a sort of more subtle adventure that doesn’t attempt to be too grand until the end, fulfilling what I would call a sense of wonder over a sense of pure action. It’ll be interesting to see where the story goes in the next book.”
The Crown Rose, Fiona Avery: “I enjoyed The Crown Rose a great deal. It was engaging, well-written, and quite obviously well-researched. I will say though that anyone with a strong (for lack of a better word) fundamentalist Christian view might find the ending of the book a trifle upsetting. I believe that the key to appreciating this book is an acknowledgment that, though much of the story is based in fact, it is in essence a work of fiction, and should be read as such. If you can manage that, this is definitely a book for you.”
The Big Pyr News Roundup Read More »
Author, editor and blogger Jeff Vandermeer offers a round-robin interview of four new faces in fantasy on the Amazon Editor’s Blog, Omnivoracious. In Heroic Fantasy Part I, he talks with our own Joe Abercrombie, author of The Blade Itself,
Joe says: “I try to write fantasy…with all the grit, and cruelty, and humour of real life, where good and evil are a matter of where you stand, just like in the real world.”
Update 10/26/07: Jeff informs me that Heroic Fantasy Part II is now online. Here is Joe Abercrombie on his literary influences: “Off the top of my head and trying not to get too pretentious–Charles Dickens (for weird and wonderful characters and dialogue), Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (for how people really behave under pressure), James Ellroy (for shocks and surprises in both plot and character), Philip Larkin (for fearlessness, brevity, and withering cynicism). Okay, so that was pretty pretentious, but hey, I’d stick J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, and George RR Martin in there with ’em. That’s quite a dinner party, thinking about it. Then a lot of writers of history as well–let’s pick out Shelby Foote for his Narrative History of the Civil War. But I’m a film editor by trade, and so I tend to find a lot of inspiration in film and television as well–everything from Manga, to Westerns, to Film Noir, to Cop Shows.”
Ecstatic About Fantasy Read More »