The Auden Interviews

New stuff around the net....

2009-08-09T15:55:00.002+01:00

All,

Had some new articles posted here and there around the net.

You can regularly find me at SFSite.com but here's pointers to the latest articles:

Powers: Secret Histories interview - John Berlyne, Tim Powers, Pete Crowther, Dirk Berger.

John Berlyne's Powers: Secret Histories is so much more than just a bibliography of Tim Powers' stories -- it's a unique insight into the writing life of one of the most respected fantasy authors around. The project has been a huge undertaking for Berlyne, taking nearly a decade to complete, and here he is joined by the book's artist Dirk Berger, the publisher Pete Crowther and Tim Powers himself to discuss how the book came into being, the problems with designing it, the artwork, the bodies buried in the garden and spilling beer.

You can catch up with my latest book news columns here, including a very special column about Kevin J Anderson's latest fantasy book and accompanying CD project.

Plus my report on the David Gemmell Legend Award night is here.

All for now - happy reading peeps!

Mike Carey and Kate Griffin Signing at Forbidden Planet

2009-03-05T20:17:00.003Z

Forbidden Planet is pleased to announce a signing by Mike Carey and Kate Griffin. They will be signing Thicker Than Water: A Felix Castor Novel and A Madness of Angels at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday 26th March 6 – 7pm.

Mike Carey is an extremely popular and well-respected author who has written on several top comics titles such as Lucifer as well as the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. Thicker Than Water returns us to the life of Felix Castor, where memories thought left in Liverpool resurface in London. Childhood memories, family traumas, sins old and new come back to torment the city’s favourite freelance Exorcist. Things go from bad to worse until the only question left is – just how much will Fix have to pay..?

Kate Griffin is the name under which Carnegie Medal-nominated author, Catherine Webb, writes fantasy novels for adults. A Madness of Angels is a book about the power of London, Urban Magic, ebbing and flowing with the rhythms of the city, making runes from the alignments of ancient streets and humming with the rhythms of trains and buses. This is the London of Matthew Swift, where rival sorcerers do battle for the soul of the city.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS CHECK WITH THE VENUE BEFORE TRAVELLING

To find out more about signings at Forbidden Planet, go to their signings page at Forbidden Planet Signings

Raymond Feist Tour Dates - UK

2009-03-03T18:53:00.002Z

All,

I get quite a few press releases about signings and events. I don't currently have anywhere else to put them so I'll post them on here in future.

First up, the lovely Raymond Feist is in the UK signing for his new book.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS CHECK WITH THE VENUE BEFORE TRAVELLING.

Monday 9th March
6.30 – 8.00pm: Nottingham Waterstones
TALK AND SIGNING
1-5 Bridlesmith Gate
Nottingham
NG1 2GR

Tuesday 10th March
1.00-2.00pm
Birmingham FP
SIGNING
38 Priory Queensway
Birmingham,
B4 7LA

7.00pm:
Waterstones,
Manchester Deansgate
TALK AND SIGNING
91 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 2BW

Wednesday 11th March
6.30pm:
Waterstones
Edinburgh East End
TALK AND SIGNING
13-14 Princes Street
Edinburgh EH2 2AN

Thursday 12th March
1.00pm–2.00pm:
Forbidden Planet
Bristol
SIGNING
Clifton Heights
Triangle West
Bristol BS8 1EJ

6.30pm:
Forbidden Planet London
SIGNING
179 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
WC2H 8JR

Saturday 14th March
1.00pm:
Easons,
Dublin,
SIGNING,
O’Connell Street

Where to catch my work

2009-03-01T09:00:00.002Z

I admire everyone who posts regularly to their blog - it seems to be something I struggle with constantly and usually fail to do.

2008 was phenomenally busy for me - change of (proper job) employer, reviewing, interviewing, researching articles and starting my first book.

So I've given up any pretence of trying to do regular updates here and instead I shall ask interested parties to check out SFX magazine or visit SFSite.com to catch up with my book news, reviews and interviews. At least there you'll see regular updates.

For my news columns, you can link directly from here: SFSite.com News Spotlight

If anyone wants to catch me in person I'll be attending Eastercon, Fantasycon and San Diego Comicon this year. See you there!

A breathing space

2008-02-02T10:26:00.000Z

Well, Christmas came and went in a mad rush of parties and packing!

We went skiing on December 20th so before we went we had several Christmas Days around family and friends through December. I love getting together and opening presents three or four times over the festive period - it's much better than doing it all on one day!

The skiing - in Canada - was awesome! Snow was deep and soft, weather was blizzardy and the light was flat (which means you can't focus your eyes on the snow you're skiing on, a very strange sensation that leads to falling over very quickly!) But the change of pace was welcome and the celebrations were warm and fun.

Arriving back, things went ballistic. In summary:

Central heating not working
I develop a new respect for people who live in cold conditions with no heating
Brrrr

Hot water then breaks
Smelly repercussions

Mother-in-law and neighbours offer support
They're all so sweet and we're very grateful!

I'm asked to do two lectures on Communication in the Digital Age at a local Uni
Huzzah!

Car needs MOT'ing
Boo

It passed!
Yay!

Work makes unsettling announcement
Boo!

Car needs taxing
Sigh

Problems with the measurements for the new fireplace we're buying
Boo!

Work makes worse announcement
Boo Hiss!

Get builder in to advise on fireplace - he knows what he's talking about
Yay!

Now we're waiting for the fireplace to be delivered and the house renovations will take another step forward. Next will be the carpet and new sofa - as and when funds allow - followed by ripping out the bathroom and replacing it with a new suite.

Wish us luck eh? We'll need it!

Meanwhile, I've been reviewing for SFX magazine and doing my Starburst book news column too. And I've found time to review Clive Barker's Mister B Gone for SFSite.com.

I'll be at Eastercon, Alt-Fiction in Derby and Fantasycon this year. Will do the Clarke Awards too. Come over and say hello!

Happy New Year to everyone!

2007-12-09T12:43:00.000Z

With the long winter nights upon us, there's nothing better than curling up on the sofa and immersing yourself in really good book.

I didn't get too much chance to indulge myself in this practice over October and November. We're having some extensive work done on the interior of the house and if a room doesn't look like a building site, then it's crammed with the stuff removed from the rooms being done up. My study has survived with minimal disruptive but my time has been redistributed to preparing for the work and cleaning up after it. October and November disappeared in the blink of an eye but I have at least sorted out my book collection and reacquainted myself with some awesome titles that I'd forgotten I had.

Meanwhile, I've squeezed a few titles into my lunch hour that are worth mentioning here:

Confessor by Terry Goodkind is a very fitting end to the Sword of Truth series and has moved itself into the top position for having the best opening line:
"For the second time that day, a woman stabbed Richard."

The Solaris Book of New Fantasy edited by George Mann is an ideal read if you're looking to try out new authors without committing to a whole novel. Some excellent quality stories in this one make it very good value.

Ian Irvine's The Curse on the Chosen continues his Song of the Tears series with much derring do and cliff hanger action. He's not a good idea for people who like closure at the end of the stories but the ride is rather good fun.

And finally, Clive Barker's Mister B. Gone was an entertaining and unnerving read that I really enjoyed. No where near as gory or weird as some of his previous titles, it's a light, very well-written story.

Happy holidays everyone. May you get your heart's desire from Santa.

Russian Bite

2007-09-15T18:26:00.000+01:00

With Sergei Lukyanenko's TWILIGHT WATCH just out in trade paperback and the adaptation of the second book in the series, DAY WATCH, about to debut on DVD, it's been a good couple of months for werewolves, vampires and light magicians in chilly Moscow.

I've been really impressed with the intelligent stories in this series. Nothing is what it seems, the mysteries are not predictable and there's a lovely exotic feel to them (due to the Moscow backdrop).

It was my great pleasure to be able to interview both Sergei Lukyanenko and the english translator Andrew Bromfield for the UKSFBookNews.net website a short time ago.

You can read the results here: Lukyanenko & Bromfield on the NIGHT WATCH series

I do enjoy a good short

2007-09-15T18:09:00.000+01:00

I've long been a short fiction fan (it started when I was travelling huge distances to work and back, when I need an SF/F fix but didn't have the time for a novel length epic) and I've been dipping into that arena again.

I've read Zoran Zivkovic's 12 COLLECTIONS & THE TEASHOP published by PS Publishing and marvelled at the author's clear skill with the short form. Delightful piece of work.

I've made a note to look out for his name in future....

Sleuthing Grannies

2007-08-19T15:50:00.000+01:00

I've just finished reading the first two volumes of Paul Magrs new series set in Whitby, following the exploits of Brenda, an old lady who runs a B&B in one of Whitby's side streets. Brenda loves cleaning her house, cooking for her guests and solving supernatural mysteries. Everyone, but everyone who's living in Whitby has a secret past (including Brenda) and discovering some of their skeletons in the cupboard is a great deal of fun.

Well worth a look these:

NEVER THE BRIDE
and
SOMETHING BORROWED
By Paul Magrs
Published by Headline.

I'll post the link to my full reviews soon.

John Clute talks about The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror

2007-08-18T16:12:00.000+01:00

In The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror, John Clute wields his considerable talents to give us an insight into the Horror genre, into what the genre does and why it is important. It's a significant book, small in dimensions but large in voice and captivating in content.

But how does a book that analyses the Horror genre come to be written?

"In the beginning, there was no book like this in view," said Clute. "For a year or so I'd been grappling, in the end unsuccessfully, with a contract I'd signed with Scarecrow Press to do a short Historical Dictionary of Horror, which was intended by Scarecrow to make up a set with the two they commissioned from Brian Stableford, and which have both now been published, one on science fiction and one on fantasy.

"Both of these latter regions of discourse, had, of course, already been traversed and their practical limits defined and the basic descriptive terminologies established, and Brian ploughed right into the task with the Will of Brian, and - though I thought his discourse on the nature of fantasy was pretty airhead - did a thoroughly competent short-dictionary-like job of his remit. I wasn't as lucky, nor am I Brian.

"I found the assortative discourse on horror both boring and inutile, and found that the entries I was beginning to write, quite a few of them in the end, were hugely too long for the dictionary format Scarecrow needed, and full of exploratory neologisms. At the same time, I found myself beginning to draft theme/motif entries in order to make some sense of the exploratory lunges and lurches of those author entries. By the beginning of 2006, however, I saw the handwriting on the wall: the motif entries I was writing were totally inappropriate to the remit I'd been given, and the author entries were, as I said, hugely too long to fit into the wordcount requirements Scarecrow had reasonably laid down, so I cancelled the contract.

"A few months later Brooks Peck asked me if I had anything fairly short and unusual that might conceivably fit into the list he and Jacob McMurray were constructing for the small firm, Payseur and Schmidt, they had begun to operate.

"On impulse I looked at my motif entries from the aborted project, about 11,000 words of material, and bundled them off, with the suggestion that I could add another 8,000 or so words of connecting definitions, which might make a plausible little book. Brooks said yes. So I rewrote those 11,000 words to liberate them from any surviving rigidities of context, and added (in the end) another 15,000 words of new material – the mostly definitional entries of HORROR, AFFECT HORROR, SIGHTING, THICKENING, REVEL, AFTERMATH, DOUBLES, SERPENT'S EGG, etc. And that is The Darkening Garden.

"Another answer as to why I put the book together was to get horror, as a genre or mode (I've been excoriated by, I think, Richard Bleiler, for using both terms in a single sentence, but tant pis, frankly), into my working vocabulary. And pass that vocabulary on, mercilessly, to anyone who reads me."

It takes a deep knowledge of a genre to create the kinds of definitions in The Darkening Garden, but it also takes a special kind of brain. "I don't advocate what I call my thinking process, or the mental process chez moi that comes as close to thinking as I come," said Clute modestly. "It is a very lateral-thinking, metaphor-driven kind of cognition. Some of the terms in The Darkening Garden, like HORROR, obviously pre-exist this process; others, like THICKENING - which came to me as a pretty obvious opposite process to the THINNING which I made a central descriptive/grammatical/definitional term in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) - are close to neologism.

"In fact, HORROR, was probably the most difficult definition. It was written almost at the end of the process, and needed to work as a centre from which other entries could depend, a compact home base from which other entries could be understood. By the way, the only use in the book of any form of its title comes in the final sentence of HORROR. Which means (to me) that the final sentence of that entry is the point from which the whole book unfolds...."

Another important point in the book is the year 1750. "It is 1) an arbitrary date, but 2) a rough date used by quite a few writers to designate a point when it all begins to change," said Clute. "It is a bit earlier than Horace Walpole's Otranto (1764), or the inception of the Sturm und Drang movement in Germany, but Voltaire's Candide (1759) is only a few years away. So, as I said, the precise date is an arbitrary convention, but the times were a changing.

"It is from this point that what Nick Gevers calls "the utter inclemency" of the world begins to show its face in us. I love Gevers's phrase: it says exactly what I meant to talk about in The Darkening Garden in a nutshell."

The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror is out now at all good book stores.

New SFSite.com Review

2007-08-16T19:23:00.000+01:00

Bugger me, it's been ages! Stop me at a convention and ask me what's been happening, I can't mention it here yet. I'll buy you a drink and explain, won't take long but it's been keeping me very busy.

Meanwhile, I have a new review online on SFSite.com, here:

In A Town Called Mundomuerto by Randall Silvis

Nice little yarn it was too.

Stars of the Show – FantasyCon 2006

2006-11-06T10:20:00.000Z

This year's Fantasycon was an absolute blast – a weekend of endless conversation, drink and enjoyment.

As unofficial photographer, it was my job to get as many shots of people as possible and there was no shortage of opportunities.

Of course, the stars of the show were the Guests of Honour and they were most patient when it came to flashes going off in their eyes…

Clive Barker reduced the Banquet audience to awed silence after a singularly inspirational speech.

Neil Gaiman didn't really need his name badge over the weekend – his black t-shirt and leather jacket were iconic enough for most fans.

Raymond Feist gave an insight into why his latest novel, Into a Dark Realm, is so much darker than the previous volumes.

Strongly representing lady fantasy writers, Juliet McKenna brought a feminine touch to proceedings.

And last but never least, Ramsey Campbell (left) entertained everyone (including Neil Gaiman (middle) and Graham Joyce (right)) with tales of Curry Houses in Nottingham.

Of course, there were a number of notable other attendees as well – like Simon Clark, Tim Lebbon, Mark Chadbourn and Stephen Jones – and there will be pictures of them shortly. But next up will be a series of photos of the conventions unsung heroes, the people who make it happen behind the scenes. Watch this space….

American Werewolf in London Interview at SFSite.com

2006-11-03T10:40:00.000Z

I'm just putting some Fantasycon photos together for your enjoyment but while I iron out a few creases in the HTML, SFSite.com have posted my inteview with werewolf extraordinaire, David Naughton, who played the doomed David Kessler in the 1982 movie An American Werewolf in London.

Read the Naughton interview here.

Fantasycon and new interview posted

2006-09-17T11:05:00.000+01:00

I've been deep into my preparation for Fantasycon over the last couple of weeks, where I'll be interviewing Raymond Feist on stage. He's a lovely chap and a talented writer and it's going to be such fun! I've also read and reviewed Raymond's latest novel, Into a Dark Realm for the next issue of SFX magazine (150), but you'll have to get the mag to see what I thought of it!

Meanwhile, SFSite.com have run my interview with Screenwriter and Producer Dennis Bartok. Dennis' new movie is called Trapped Ashes and is a collection of wonderfully twisted horror tales in the tradition of movies like Tales from the Crypt.

You can read the full Trapped Ashes lowdown here..

Next update will be the post-Fantasycon news. See you then!

Tom DeFalco and Sarah Zettel and Other News

2006-08-21T09:30:00.000+01:00

As promised, I'm posting a bit more often now.

Scroll down for interviews with Tom DeFalco and Sarah Zettel.

In the other news department - the next issue of Interzone magazine (206) has my double-headed interview with David Naughton (who played David Kessler, the werewolf in An American Werewolf in London) and Camden Toy (who played a number of villains in Buffy and Angel). They're talking about their experiences in the make-up chair - Naughton in 1981 and Toy (20 years later!)in 2001. My thanks go to both gents for their enthusiasm and for being so damned nice.

I've also got a new interview coming on September 1st on SFSite.com. This one is with writer and scriptwriter Dennis Bartok, who is talking about his new horror movie Trapped Ashes. The movie certainly looks like one-to-see and has its World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12th 2006, as part of the Midnight Madness horror/genre showcase. And Dennis is another nice man too!

There's more stuff in the pipeline of course, so see you soon!

Tom DeFalco Interviews Comic Creators About The X-Men

2006-08-21T09:17:00.000+01:00

With the third X-Men movie reaching cinemas on the May 26 2006, now is the perfect time for an in-depth history of the Marvel X-Men's comics career, from their birth in 1963 to their unparalleled success in the present day.

Comics Creators On X-Men features interviews with every major talent involved in Marvel's X-plosive series, including Stan Lee, the original co-creator, and writers and artists from Roy Thomas and Chris Claremont, through John Byrne and Dave Cockrum, to Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Chris Bachalo.

This 256-page book traces the creation of the X-Men, in a chronological exploration of their most resonant adventures and villains. Along the way, interviewer Tom DeFalco, former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, uncovers the brainwaves, conflicts and legends that shaped X-Men into one of the world's most popular series of comic books.

Surprisingly, the book didn't take long to put together. "Titan and I first began discussing Comics Creators On X-Men in early 2004, along with Comic Creators on Fantastic Four," said DeFalco. I did CC on FF first and began working on CC on X in the early summer of 2005. Actual research, interview, transcription, editing, approval and production time took about ten months."

Having also done CC on Spider-man, DeFalco now has a trusted approach to these books. "First," he said, "I pull out my old comics, hunt down new ones and write up a bunch of questions. I do some research on each of the interviewees - even if I've known them for years. I have to do a lot of research because I don't trust my memory. I'm almost as bad as Stan Lee when it comes to remembering anything. Once that's done, I arrange a convenient time to chat. I prefer talking to my subjects, rather than the question and answer method that's so commonly used in the age of the Internet. This allows me to react to statements and follow tangents.

"The actual interviews can run anywhere from one to five hours in length and are usually filled with digressions, gossip and even the occasional cooking recipe. (Hey, most of us are freelancers who spend a lot of time at home!)

"Then I have the interview transcribed by a couple of lovely and patient young ladies. I usually end up with a rough manuscript that can run anywhere from fifty to a few hundred pages in length which I boil down.

"After that my editor - Simon Furman - takes a pass at the interview and we send them back for approval. Once it's been approved, Simon works his magic and printed book appears on my doorstep a few months later."

The process has its high and low points for DeFalco. "I love talking to the various creators and getting their views on our wonderful craft," he said. "I wish I could have been reading these Comic Creators books when I was first starting out as writer. They would have been very helpful.

"The transcribing stage is harder though. Transcribing a tape recording can be a very tedious process and I really don't have the patience for it. And the editing stage can also be quite painful. A creator will go off on a tangent that I find fascinating, but really has nothing to do with the subject at hand. I'm always torn between including and deleting these gems."

The X-men have been popular for over forty years, so what does DeFalco think is behind its longevity? "I think the series is about traumas that come when you possess a special talent (or passion) and that's a theme that everyone can identify with. I also think the X-books have been blessed with some of the finest creators the comic book industry has even seen."

Tom DeFalco is currently working on the monthly adventures of Spider-Girl and producing another five-issue limited series for Marvel called Last Planet Standing. He's also done a couple of Kolchak stories for Moonstone and contributed to the new Marvel Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, which will go on sale this summer.

Sarah Zettel talks about Camelot's Sword

2006-08-21T09:04:00.000+01:00

Sarah Zettel's latest Arthurian romance, Camelot's Sword, has been released by Harpercollins. Another stand alone tale, this time Zettel is looking at the lives of the people on the fringe of the famous royals, who don't seem to have it any easier than Arthur and Guinevere…

The book opens at Castle Cambryn, where Lynet's father Kenan is Cambryn's Steward - holding Queen Guinevere's lands while she rules with Arthur in Camelot. But the lands are coveted by Morgan Le Fey and she uses her magic to influence Kenan's ambitious son Colan, who murders his father and is promptly outlawed.

Facing local turmoil and possible civil war, Lynet leaves her sister hostage at Cambryn and embarks to fetch Guinevere to resolve the mess. The journey brings revelations about Lynet's ancestry, and introduces her to Squire Gareth. Already dishonoured for past misdemeanours, Gareth must redeem himself by putting aside his womanising ways and help Lynet bring peace to Cambryn.

The roots of Camelot's Sword reach deep into the past. "They go back to the original stories (although I use that term advisedly) in Malory, "said Zettel. "In Gareth's tale in Le Mort d'Arthur, Lynet and her sisters are sorceresses, so, I just adapted that story." Arthur has always enthralled readers hasn't he? "I think it's because it's not one story, but many. It's not just Arthur, it's all the knights and all they did, and those adventures can be changed and updated and turned around into something that has interest and meaning for the audience of any age, and still have the resonance that goes so far back you feel connected to its deep, deep roots."

Sword's characters are as haunting as the tale but as always, it takes hard work to achieve apparent effortlessness. "Gareth was the most difficult character to write," Zettel admitted "I've never written about such an unfinished hero before. He had to do a lot of growing up during the course of the book, and I wanted to be able to portray that as believably as possible. Lynet was easier, I think. She was in many ways just a young woman setting out on her own for the first time, and I've been there in my own life."

Giving her characters a vivid setting didn't take too much research for Zettel. "I had the basic shape of the legends in my head, and did sort of brush-up reading on that end. But I kind of research as I go. I'll read a book or two to get some basic facts and then I'll jump in. When I run into something in the plot or setting I'm not sure on, then I'll do additional research on that point, and go on. Having written about alien worlds I've never been to, the ancient landscape of someplace I've actually walked just didn't seem like it was going to be that difficult."

Will there be other Zettel tales set in Arthur's world? "There might. I've written a novelette set in my version of the Arthurian universe that will appear in the first installment of the new on-line publication Jim Baen's Universe later this year. I'd actually love to do Arthur's mother, Ygraine's, story. Morgan and Guinevere have been done repeatedly, but no one ever writes about Ygraine. But right now, I'm in the middle of the last book in this series, tentatively titled Camelot's Blood, which will be the story of Lynet's sister Laurel, and her marriage to Sir Agravain."

For more information about the author, visit Sarah Zettel's website.

The year so far…..

2006-08-06T10:54:00.000+01:00

I hadn't intended to have the updates this far apart on my blog, but sometimes life just takes over and you find you're not really in the driving seat anymore.

It's time to put some kind of update out now - especially as some really nice folk (John, Neil you know who you are) have been hassling me for updates.

So what's been happening?

January brought an invite form Andy Cox to join the Interzone magazine team as Book Reviews editor. I thought long and hard about taking him up on the offer - once I'd got over the blushing sense of flattery. The problem wasn't because of the job he was offering but my dwindling amount of spare time. But it seemed too good an offer to pass up so I re-arranged my workload and went for it.

It was the right decision. It's a new challenge for me, stretching me in ways I hadn't expected and teaching me things about reviewing and language with every issue. The review team are a great bunch of experts who make my job really easy and the Interzone team are a hoot.

Something had to give though and you'll find a lot less of my reviews going online this year. I'm still reviewing for SFX magazine and of course I get a review in Interzone now and then. But it's not completely over, there's still my news items on The Alien Online website and my interviews and some reviews are still going online at SFSite.com. New additions at SFSite.com include Jon Courtenay Grimwood's excellent 9Tail Fox and an interview with Tom Lloyd, author of The Stormcaller.

There's been lots of other stuff going on too, of course. The finished DVD from the Memorabilia event at the NEC arrived and cameraman Mark from the Dysfunction Group company did a fantastic post-production job on the interview footage he shot, combining it with various shots of the event, to produce a slick end product. I've been going to the Memorabilia event at the NEC for many years now and it just keeps getting better. The next one is August 12th and 13th 2006, so go give it a try.

John Aitken and I have just completed the Fantasycon trivia quiz - 36 questions about SF, Fantasy and Horror that always earns us loads of earache from the competitors at the BFS's Fantasycon event.

I'm also reading, re-reading and researching author Raymond Feist - who will be a guest at this year's Fantasycon in September along with Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker and Juliet McKenna. I'm interviewing Raymond on stage and looking forward to the event with a mixture of nerves and extreme pleasure. If you haven't got your ticket yet, why not.

I've also had the great pleasure to interview actors David Naughton and Camden Toy this year. David played David Kessler, the American tourist turned werewolf in my one of my favourite horror flicks, American Werewolf in London. The movie celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year and the full interview will be appearing on SFSite.com in the upcoming months. Meanwhile, I've combined David's experiences in the make-up chair in 1981 with Camden Toy's experiences in the same make-up chair 20 years later. Camden played four wicked villains in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He's a wonderfully animated speaker and if you get the chance to see him at a convention, do it. The article about their claustrophobic traumas will appear in the next Interzone magazine (issue 206).

There's also a new DVD out from Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn (Kryten). Watch out for an interview with him coming soon to SFSite.com but meanwhile, drop in at his website, it2i2 and check out his take on Artificial Intelligences.

I'll be posting some back interviews onto this site over the next week or so and hopefully a recommendation or two for some really good books.

See you soon.

Sandy

Sandy Auden is currently working as an enthusiastic reviewer for SFX magazine; a tireless news hound for Starburst magazine; a diligent book reviews editor for Interzone magazine and a combination interviewer/reviewer for SFSite.com and TheAlienOnline.net. She spends her spare time lying down with a cold flannel on her forehead.

New interview and review links posted...

2006-01-14T08:44:00.000Z

It's been sooo busy since last October that my head has only just stopped spinning!

Last November saw me joining the Dysfunction Group camera crew (Mark and Paul) at the Memorabilia event at the NEC. Our mission was to create a promotional DVD for the event and I was helping out with the interviewing. It was great fun to do and we got to talk to some great people including George Romero, Gerry Anderson, Ray Harryhausen, Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear) and many others.

Then Christmas was upon us and the celebrations started in early December and didn't finish till early January!

And so a New Year begins. This time I find myself involved with the brand new newsletter from Fantasy writer Mark Chadbourn, and there are some other projects bubbling under the surface too.

And while all this has been happening, SFSite.com have been gradually posting more of my interviews on their website (bless 'em).

New in this update are: Raymond Feist, Tad Williams, Kevin Anderson, Simon Clark, James Barclay, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, and Gwyneth Jones. There's also a new review at SF Site for Hawkes Harbour by S E Hinton.

Check out the links under SFSite on right.

Sandy

Latest Update - links

2005-10-18T18:50:00.000+01:00

I had the pleasure to talk to Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch (Apollo) at the Memorabilia show at the NEC in August.

You can find out more about his latest projects at the Alien Online website but he was also talking about his worldwide professional hobby - lecturing about How To Unlock Your Creative Potential. He's very passionate about this hobby and I wanted to share his words here.

I've also recently added in new links to the Mark Chadbourn Hounds of Avalon review and the interview about the entire Dark Age series below - well worth a read if your looking for some really good fantasy.

Mark Chadbourn interview.
Hounds of Avalon Review.

Enjoy,
Sandy

Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch on developing your creative potential

2005-10-18T18:24:00.000+01:00

"As well as being an actor and author, I also teach and lecture in Communications all over the world - particularly about Releasing the Power of Creative Vision," said Hatch. "I teach at colleges, universities, and business organisations. It's a professional hobby of mine and I've been speaking for the last 30 years.

"I love inspiring people and you always share what you learned the hard way. I don't believe in blowing smoke up people's… I do believe that we have unlimited potential. The problem is that most people don't have enough faith and trust in our own abilities to do anything about it. People are so full of fear that we can't even begin to tap or touch our true abilities.

"Generally speaking the direction where our greatest passion lies also brings up our greatest fears and insecurities which is why most people avoid the very road that will lead them where they want to go.

"You can't do anything until you get gut-level honest with yourself - stop blaming the world, stop blaming everybody and anything else. Look in the mirror and take responsibility for the decisions you have made in life, both consciously and unconsciously, that have led you to where you and realise that you created your own situation through your own choices. Unfortunately most of them were unconscious and most of them you didn't take responsibility for, but once you take responsibility you can choose to create again. New choices that will lead you in a direction that'll bring you greater happiness. As opposed to more pain, trauma and failure.

"The whole process is to stop working against something and start embracing, because that's the same as loving it. If you take a child who is angry, and crying and frustrated - which is like that inner voice of yours that keeps yelling out - the key is to stop pushing it away and to listen and embrace it. And the voice will slowly subside and become calm. The thing we most need is love and attention. When you finally give love to the part of your being that's crying out, that part starts to feel a sense of I'm ok, I'm valued, I'm loved."

"Everybody is gifted in one way or another, the key is finding out what those abilities are and learning how to deal with fear, learning how to build self-worth and then learning how to take small steps towards doing what you really want to do in life rather than wasting a lot of energy doing what you don't want to do.

More details about Richard Hatch's lectures at
RichardHatch.com.

Williamson and Wilson on the Nova Scotia anthology

2005-08-20T08:40:00.000+01:00

New anthology, Nova Scotia, was launched by Mercat Press Ltd last weekend at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Glasgow in 2005, with editors Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson in attendance.

A showcase anthology of stories by both established and up-and-coming writers, Nova Scotia represents a definitive portrait of the Scottish imagination. Among those contributing are Edwin Morgan; Hugo- and Nebula-Award-nominated authors Ken MacLeod and Charles Stross; Ron Butlin; Jane Yolen and Matthew Fitt.

The book attempts to address the nature of Scotland and Scottishness from many imaginative angles, so how did the editors select the stories?

Williamson: Well, as it's a collection of Scottish speculative fiction, we imposed two basic qualifying rules: 1/ the authors had either to be Scottish by birth or residence, and 2/ the stories had to feature some aspect of Scottish life, history or culture. The second of these criteria was, we admit, fairly arbitrary, but as the saying goes, we knew it when we saw it.

Wilson: We also wanted to cover a wide range in terms of genre, style and subject matter, and everything we accepted had to be top-drawer material with fascinating ideas, engaging characters, and tight, muscular writing.

Williamson: Weren't asking for much, were we?

The two editors are longstanding friends and working as a team on the anthology was an easy extension of their relationship.

Williamson: It was a fairly straightforward process, with both of us reading all of the stories and then comparing notes. Fortunately we pretty much agreed on all of the ones we liked, and all of the ones we didn't like. So, it was actually fairly easy to draw up a short list, and then choose the final selection.

Wilson: It was weird - we'd both been prepared to have disagreements, and had even had a "wild card" rule from the start, meaning that, if one of us really loved a story that the other hated, we could include it, but only for one story. In the end, neither of us had to play the Joker. Far more difficult than making the final cut was working out the best order to run the contents... We agreed on that too!

What aspects of Scottishness have they tried to articulate through the collection?

Williamson: I think it's more a case of us looking on to see what aspects the writers chose to highlight. There's everything in there from literary history (Burns, Johnson & Boswell) to contemporary office life, from the presbyterian religous ethic to 17th century witchery, from the engineering idealist to the closure of the traditional industries, and from the remembering of our war heroes to the difference in outlook that we have on current wars compared to, say, the Americans. We've been quite surprised at the breadth of subject.

Wilson: The book is more about Scotland as a state of mind than a nation state. I think people from all over will see reflections of themselves in these stories. "We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns," as we say .

Why do they think that Scottish authors have become such a influential presence in speculative fiction?

Williamson: I'm not sure that's the case, or if they have, that there's any real reason other than geographic accident. I don't think there's anything in the water or the genes or anything like that. Certainly you could point at Alasdair Gray and Iain M Banks and Ken McLeod and try to make a case, but of those who have recently joined them Richard Morgan and Charlie Stross are only Scots by residence, so perhaps any argument you might make would fall down there. Of course, there have been a bunch of writers plugging away in groups in Glasgow and in Edinburgh and Fife that have made it into the limelight recently. So perhaps they are the generation inspired by Banks and Gray, picking up their torches and running with them.

Wilson: I take another view. For a long time, Scots put themselves down privately while showing a rather silly bravado and nationalism in public. Times have changed, and now many are just 'getting on with it'. I think that attitude is attractive to the many people who have come to settle in Scotland. Devolution meant that it was time to deal with our problems ourselves, not moan about the English, and - more importantly - then expect them to bail us out!

Williamson: I hadn't thought about that. There's definitely been more of a cohesive national ideal that has arisen been the post-Thatcher days and the settling in to devolution - a who-we-are, not what-we're-not. That's certainly been an empowering change in other areas of the arts - the music scene for instance. The same may well be true for writing.

And finally, can they suggest which aspects of the collection they think will be of most appeal to the speculative fiction fan?

Williamson: Hopefully the variety of the tales. There's a real spread of different sorts of stories in here: supernatural tales alongside planetary SF, posthumanism cheek by jowl with contemporary horror. Something for everyone.

Wilson: The top-notch writing, the fact that there's quite a lot of humour and the electrifying mix of approaches.

Williamson: There's also the chance for readers to pick up short stories by established authors better known for their novels - how often do you get your hands on a new Ken McLeod story? - and by new authors they're just starting to hear about.

Wilson: Yes. What he said too!

For more information about Nova Scotia, visit the Mercat Press website.

Are Awards important? Fowler and Chadbourn Discuss

2005-08-20T08:32:00.000+01:00

Over on the British Fantasy Society's message boards, the ran a showcase of all the nominees for 2005's British Fantasy Awards.

Not only was it a great place to find some pointers to great fiction but, when Chris Fowler posted a message saying how important the awards were, it gave me pause for thought. When Mark Chadbourn echoed the sentiment on the same message boards, we just had to get in touch with both authors and get our questions answered.

Both Fowler and Chadbourn were nominated for BFS Awards in 2005: Fowler for Best Novel with The Water Room and Best Novella with Breathe; Chadbourn for Best Novel with Queen of Sinister. And both authors were candid and modest in their answers…

Why do you think Awards are important?

CF: I never used to, mainly because it seemed the wrong people got awarded. I would attend awards ceremonies with a growing sense of frustration. I mean, everyone knows the judges are blind, right? But I've gradually modified that view to understand the sense of worth that awards and public encouragement can give a new author. It's validation for inspiration.

MC: It would be wrong to give the wholly cynical view that they're linked to the 'business' of writing. Awards are important because it shows people are reading your stories, and considering them and appreciating them with the same degree of care that any writer puts into any story. They're personally satisfying, and in a notoriously poorly paying industry they're a reward for all the lonely hours of hard labour. If you're also asking about the business side, then they're important too, because it makes other publishers, editors, agents, film people, booksellers, and all the money-making sorts pay attention. There are thousands of books published every year and it's easy to get lost in the mass. A reward can elevate you a little bit so that people have a reason to pay attention.

What would we lose if we didn't have awards?

CF: I regard the nominations as more important in a way, because without them I would certainly not be aware of all of the excellent small and specialist press publications that appear each year. And unlike film awards, a small release stands just as much chance of receiving attention as a big launch. So we would lose awareness.

MC: Nothing substantially. There is a major downside to all awards - from the Oscars down to some local writing group. The general feeling is that an award reflects the best work in the business. That's not always the case. Many people voting have not read widely so it reflects the best of what they have read - which means a lot of better work easily slips by. Then they can be a reward for people who are very professional at getting out there and promoting themselves and selling their works. And in some awards, particularly the Oscars, there's a huge political element where the gongs are handed out to people who 'deserve' them, rather than the work itself. But the awards always add some colour and noise and a reason to write and talk about pieces of work, so that in the main is what would be lost.

Are some awards more important than others?

CF: Obviously the Booker carries more weight than the Bram Stokers, but it's what it means to you personally. My BFS nominations mean more to me than my crime nominations, because this is where my real interests lie, and I feel that my horror/edge/fantasy peers are more demanding and discerning. Therefore it means more to win in their name.

MC: Depends what you mean by 'important'. Personally, all awards are gratifying, wherever they come from. Professionally, certainly some business-types have a hierarchy of awards - the harder the awards organisers have worked at making their particular trophy a prestige event, the numbers of people voting, the 'name recognition' factor, all play a part in where they stand in the supposed pecking order. I honestly don't lose any sleep over that side of the business.

How many awards had you already won by the time you picked up your latest BFS Award?

CF: I'd won just one before [Best Short Story in 1998 for 'Wageslaves'], then I received two together [Best Novel and Best Short Fiction in 2004 for Full Dark House and 'American Waitress' respectively] so I now have three BFS awards. The base fell off the bottom of the last one and nearly killed my cat.

MC: Two, I think. Fear magazine's Best New Author award, and Peeping Tom magazine's Scaremonger of the Year. Both very gratifying. [Chadbourn won a BFS Award in 2003 in the Best Short Fiction category for 'The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke']

What difference did any of the awards make to you in terms of:

Personal ego?

CF: Actually I don't have much confidence, so it's a personal boost and makes me feel that I'm still on the right track, because these awards are decided by people who still find the time and energy to read, and these days that's something like a miracle.

MC: Both came as a complete shock, as I never consider myself to be in the running for any award. They didn't give me a big head - just a slowly dissipating sense of disbelief, and then a ruddy glow of being loved! The BFS Award was great because I've been a member of the society for many years and it felt like recognition from my peers.

The publishing industry?

CF: My publishers were far more pleased than I expected them to be, and have started saying 'award-winning author' - even the really snobby ones!

MC: On the back of the Fear Magazine award, I got myself an agent and a publisher for my debut novel so a huge difference. It's fair to say that that award kick-started my writing career all on its lonesome. The BFS Award for my novella 'The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke' I think secured me a Japanese publishing deal.

General public response?

CF: The general public reads JK Potter and Dan Da Vinci. I'm more interested in answering awkward emails from readers who expect a bit more from their books.

MC: All the awards earned me some extra nods from people who might not have noticed me before.

Any additional sales?

CF: Good question. I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone about that.

MC: Bugger all.

Were there any other unexpected repercussions?

CF: You get quite a few new first time readers, or lapsed readers who rediscover your work, like Catholics attending church again. I tend to skip certain authors' works, so I know how easy it is. For example I've skipped most of Bentley Little's books, but that's because he's rubbish.

MC: Yes, my local newspaper and radio station treating me like I'd just come home with the Nobel Prize after winning my BFS Award, and subsequently people I didn't know coming up to congratulate me in the street!

For more about the authors, visit Chris Fowler's website and Mark Chadbourn's website.

Barb and J C Hendee on Vampires

2005-08-20T08:24:00.000+01:00

Orbit Books are in the middle of releasing a brand new vampire fantasy series from husband and wife writing team, Barb and J. C. Hendee.

Dhampir (a folk-lore name for a vampire hunter) opens the series and introduces a young woman called Magiere, who happens to be a fake. For years, she and partner-in-crime Leesil, have been travelling around villages, conning the poor folk out of their hard-earned cash in return for 'cleansing' their village of the undead. Now she's had enough and wants to settle down to an honest living running a tavern.

En-route to their new home, the pair are attacked by a real vampire and events start spiralling out of control. Where did Magiere's sudden fighting skills and immense strength come from? Why does she heal so quickly? And why did her attacker seem to recognise her?

In the second volume, Thief of Lives, it's guilt that sends Magiere and Leesil off fighting the Noble Dead again. The events of Dhampir left their town in economic crisis after Leesil burned down the largest warehouse on the docks, and the offer of a lump sum from the council of Bela, at the capital city, would alleviate the problems they've caused. All they have to do is use their skills to eradicate the vampires terrorising Bela.

And Magiere's dhampir skills are expanding as her father's undead, vampire blood asserts itself over her mother's human heritage, allowing her to see through the eyes of the vampire they seek.

We caught up with the Hendees and popped a few questions about the new series - however, the conversation included some SPOILERS so skip the sexual tension answers if you don't want to know what happens at the end of Thief of Lives.

How much time do you spend finding the correct motivators for your characters and how important an aspect is it to your writing?

Barb: Oh, this question is both easy and difficult. Character motivation is everything. You cannot have a workable plot without the characters’ actions and decisions driving the story, and all decisions that people make are based on their own psychology and personal experience.

J.C.: You have to know your characters as people instead of just puppets. Without this approach, the motivators you discover are not the character’s but your own.

Barb: But how much time do we spend? I’m not sure how to answer that. It takes us a year to put out each novel, but we know the characters so well that they are almost “alive” to us, and we just know what they would do. Occasionally, J.C. or I will look at a scene the other person has written and say something like, “Oh, Leesil wouldn’t do that. He’d never do that.” Then we make changes, but this situation doesn’t come up too often.

J.C.: Or worse, we’ll write something for a character and hear Leesil, Magiere, or even Chap butt in immediately with some outraged objection—which sometimes means a scene or even a whole plot thread needs a closer look before they are satisfied. Of course we do occasionally argue back with them.

Barb: We just know what Magiere, Leesil, Wynn, Chap, Welstiel—and even Chane—would do in almost any situation.

What's the trick to maintaining the sexual tension between Magiere and Leesil?

Barb: Sexual tension? What sexual tension? Hah! I’m just joking.

J.C.: Hmmm… well, “sexual” tension is really only one dimension among many between any two characters who are looking at each other in more than a friendly way. The sex part is actually the simple part. The rest is far more interesting.

Barb: I think that sexual tension is much more important than the actual act of sex when it comes to what’s on the page, but some writers keep their readers interested by constantly having the characters “almost” break past their emotional barriers to become a real couple . . . but never quite.

J.C.: It’s the old “come here, come here, get away, get away” syndrome. And it only works with readers for so long… then it gets BORING!

Barb: We didn’t wish to do this with Magiere and Leesil.

J.C.: Too many readers (and writers) think romance is all about “getting together.” It’s what we’re programmed to think by the media. And as much as it is interesting and exciting, it isn’t what “relationships” are all about. Real life is about relationships of all types; the same goes if you want the characters to become real.

Barb: It takes Leesil and Magiere two whole books to really “get together,” and then we wanted to have our two main characters continue to be in love and behave like two adventurers who are deeply committed to each other.

J.C.: In all the best ways, and perhaps some of the worst.

Barb: There is no “happily ever after,” as our heroes have discovered.

J.C.: And as in real life, they have to work and fight for what they can get. Unlike real life, they face obstacles and oppositions that grow with their awareness of their own past, present, and future.

Barb: People need to grow together and change together. I think that’s what J.C and I have to offer the readers, and we’ve been told this is rather unusual in a fantasy series.

J.C.: And this is what real “romance” (to turn another way) is really about. Not getting together, but staying together.

The books form a series but you go out of your way to round each volume off as an almost stand alone story. Why go the extra lengths?

J.C.: As the saga moves on, there will be more dependence between the volumes. Dhampir stands on its own, and even Thief of Lives (#2) does well. A reader might struggle through Sister of the Dead (#3) as a first read, but Traitor to the Blood (#4) will lose most readers if they haven’t at least read Sister. As to Rebel Fay (#5, working title), it would be nearly impossible to follow every thread without having read most of the previous books.

Barb: In the American market, writers are often told that even in a series, each book should be able to stand on its own in the sense of plot. Of course, the further any writer gets into a series, the more difficult this becomes.

In your writing partnership, what do you argue about the most and what aspects come the easiest?

Barb: Most aspects come easily because we spend all our time together, and we get along so well. We almost never argue.

J.C.: [cough, cough] She’s always the peacemaker. I have to really work hard to goad her into a decent scrap.

Barb: Dhampir was written in fits and starts over a longer time period. With Thief of Lives, we hit the ground running and had to create, outline, and write an entire novel in a relatively short period of time.

J.C.: About 11 weeks total for the first draft. Hard lessons we will never repeat!

Barb: I view that book as our “learning curve” for process. Since Thief, we’ve written Sister of the Dead and Traitor to the Blood together, and we’ve learned what works best for us.

J.C.: We use extensive narrative outlining, mapping out the entire book by plot thread, character POV, chapter and scene. Sometimes more.

Barb: I do a lot a lot of the first drafting—but not all of it.

J.C.: I come behind and flesh things out, sometimes diverting things in new directions that come up. When I’ve caught up to her, I’ll jump to somewhere else in the outline to do a little drafting and development.

Barb: I follow up behind him and revise, and then he comes behind me . . . and by the time we finish the first draft, we often can’t tell who wrote what. The only problems that come at this stage occurs when I have envisioned something differently than he did, and he makes changes along the way that don’t fit with something else I’ve written down the line.

J.C.: Even with an extensive outline, this can happen. Occasionally, we’ve argued about how to correct something like this, but these moments are brief, and we work it out.

Barb: I write much better than I speak, and I have a terrible time expressing the thoughts in my head verbally. This can be a problem in collaboration.

J.C.: She means she won’t fight with me. [sigh]

Barb: We sometimes have trouble after our editor has read the first draft and made suggestions. For example, with Thief, our editor told us to cut 50,000 words.

J.C.: [expletive deleted.] In our recent book Traitor to the Blood, we had a couple of skulking elves who were minor characters and predominantly in the background. Our editor told us to make their motivation much more clear. I was worried this might throw away too many secrets from book five, Rebel Fay, which will take place up in the Elven Territories.

Barb: We were stumped regarding what to do—which is rare. However . . . I understood our editor’s concern that Traitor would not work without some pretty stark clarification, so I wrote an “info dump” through Chap’s point of view, hoping this would spark some ideas in J.C. I knew he would hate it, but I thought it might it get us moving forward.

J.C.: I hate info dumps!

Barb: We didn’t exactly argue, but it was tense in the home office that day.

J.C.: When we finally got to talking, Barb was able to play sounding board for me. I began seeing what she was up to. I started to pick out finite parts that revealed too much for the saga’s future, and other parts where we had to go further still in showing what was happening behind the scenes in the current book. I started to hatch a scheme, and Barb expanded on it.

Barb: And from there we basically re-wrote one thread of the book that actually let us expand Chap’s history and awareness already in the text.

J.C.: It actually improved the book in ways that neither we nor our editor had envisioned. Or so we like to think.

Barb: This is how we overcome a lot of hurdles. We stick together no matter what.

For more about the Hendees and their vampire infested worlds, visit The Noble Dead website.

Teamwork: Bishop, Crowther, Hutchins et al

2005-06-12T08:48:00.000+01:00

PS Publishing have released a new book from author Michael Bishop called A Reverie for Mister Ray, but this isn't one of Bishop's science fiction stories - it's a collection of essays, profiles of colleagues (including Ray Bradbury and Jack McDevitt), autobiographical articles, reviews and even an unpublished short story.

It's not the first non-fiction collection PS Publishing has released - Ramsey Campbell, Probably came out in 2002 - so we asked PS's top man, Pete Crowther, why he decided to publish this particular one…

"Certain great works simply must be published," he enthused. "Thank goodness, there are publishers out there (and PS is only one of them) that are able to take financial chances with a book, and I'm fortunate that Mike came to me first.

"I approached A Reverie for Mister Ray the same way as I do all potential projects: open-minded. Well, okay, maybe that's not completely true. I love Michael's fiction, plus I've read several pieces of his criticism/non-fiction that I've enjoyed and I knew in advance that the title piece was an article on Ray Bradbury - and, as most folks know, Ray Bradbury, in my book, is the Main Man.

"So, I read that piece and then I read the next one, and then the one after that, and pretty soon I realised that the biggest disservice 'publishing-dom' could perpetrate on the reading public would be to prevent this monumental collection being available to those who will undoubtedly enjoy it.

"Now, let's get one thing straight here: there is no way this book is going to be a huge financial success. It would be nice if it were but it won't be. That's just a bald fact and it's one I knew right from the outset. The same was true about Ramsey Campbell, Probably. The book that was so wonderfully received in every review, and it won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award and the British Fantasy Award. And yet, despite all that, we've still got loads of copies left in both editions. Go figure.
"A Reverie for Mister Ray is well-written (kudos to Mike), it looks nice (take a bow Robert Wexler for the interior layout and design, and Mike's son Jamie for the stunning cover artwork), and (thanks to the nut-numbing patience of Michael Hutchins) it's absolutely marvellously edited. So anyone who has so much as a passing interest in this field, anyone who loves great - not just good - writing, anyone who simply cares: well, they'll just love this book."

As you would expect, Michael Bishop already loves the book, but even he has his favourite articles…

"I still very much like the title piece," said Bishop, "but I'm also partial to others - 'Heretics and Believers,' 'Military Brat,' the parodies - because they attempt altogether different effects. Actually, ask me tomorrow and I'll probably cite three or four completely different favourite pieces."

It takes experience and depth of knowledge to write these kinds of articles - something Bishop seems to have in ample supply. What did he think were the best aspects of gaining all that experience over the years?

"A sense of participating, even at a remove, in an important ongoing enterprise," he said. "Also, occasionally having the chance to meet, talk with, and get to know a number of writers whose work garnered my admiration, influenced my own writing, or set standards that significantly changed the sf and fantasy fields."

And how does his non-fiction writing compare to his experiences of writing fiction?

"First, what I enjoyed about writing non-fiction early on was that it gave me a chance to express my opinions about writing and publishing sf, and the state of the art in our field, just as if my opinions carried authoritative weight. What I'm really saying here, I guess, is that I enjoyed mentally equating myself with my betters, including in particular Damon Knight and James Blish, whose criticism I admired almost as much as I did their fiction. I certainly didn't enjoy the pay, per se, because often there wasn't any.

"Comparing writing essays and book reviews to writing fiction, I can say that I have always taken the former a little less seriously than the latter because I believed that my reputation would rest more firmly on my fiction (and because book reviews are usually pretty ephemeral), and because it often seemed a way to help support the fiction writing (rather than vice versa). I have always tried to write honestly as a reviewer and essayist, though, even if I intend to amuse rather than to uplift or educate."
Did anything surprise him as the book came together?

"Maybe the fact that these disparate essays have a coherence not wholly dependent on my own voice," said Bishop. "Take a look at the index, and notice how many times certain iconic names in sf and fantasy crop up, especially those of Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and Brian W. Aldiss.

"But then," added Bishop, "Michael Hutchins might have a different take on this question."

What else could we do but find out if the book's editor Michael H Hutchins did indeed have a different take on this…

"Well," said Hutchins, "there wasn't so much a surprise as an affirmation of what I'd suspected for a long time: the spirit and soul of Michael Bishop shines through in all of his work, his non-fiction being no exception. Anyone reading this book will come away with a strong sense of who Michael Bishop is - not only of the writer but of the human being as well."

How had Hutchins found the experience of being the editor on this project?

"After the initial decisions about which pieces to include, and arranging them into a cohesive package, I thought most of the work was done," he said.

"Wro-ong! Mike went through each piece, slightly revising most from their original publication. As he revised them, I proofed each piece, suggesting changes concerning any ambiguity in grammar, structure, spelling, and style. Mike, ever the professional and exceedingly tolerant to a fledgling editor, was open to all suggestions.

"Because the book is non-fiction, I had to fact-check most of the pieces. (Not that Mike wasn't scrupulous in his writing of the original pieces.) I also made additions and/or corrections to the bibliographic information. Mike created the book's index (God bless him!) and I proofed it as well. This index turned out to be perhaps the most difficult element in the creation of the book. Just the tediousness of it would have been enough to make a sane man tear his hair out. Happily, the result speaks for itself."

Why did he decide to get involved with the project in the first place?

"The opportunity arose where I could collaborate with my friend, Mike Bishop, on a book that I believed deserved to be published," said Hutchins. "And I wasn't going to let that chance slip away."

A Reverie for Mister Ray also features an introduction from Jeff Vandermeer. For more information, visit the PS Publishing website.

Source: Michael Bishop, Pete Crowther and Michael Hutchins