02-09-10: A 2009 Interview with David Drake, Part 2 / Complete
"I didn't have a governor ... that is ... anything, endgame, was me killing somebody." David Drake
As I mentioned yesterday, the interview with David Drake ran particularly long. The second half, which I'm podcasting today, contains my favorite anecdote, which came, actually, at the very end of the interview. Whatever your feelings about David Drake, his writing, or military SF may be, prepare to have them demolished. I can't imagine anyone who hears this writer speak not wanting to read what he writes.
Fortunately, you can find a Drake's complete 'Hammer's Slammers' series out from Night Shade Books. The Night Shade editions include all the stories, and all the novels, with new interstitial material. I suspect that these may prove to be rather valuable artifacts in the long run. But no matter what, they have the sort of "put 'em on the shelf together" appeal that will make them must-buys for many of my readers.
02-08-10: A 2009 Interview with David Drake, Part 1
"I'm still screwed up, but not nearly as badly as I was." David Drake
I first encountered David Drake's Lovecraftian fiction in 'New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos', edited by Ramsey Campbell where I read "Than Curse the Darkness." I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed the jokes, but didn't have much sense of the author until I heard him speak at the World Fantasy Convention on a panel with Jeff VanderMeer.
Drake is best known for the series of military SF novels he write about 'Hammer's Slammers,' which he described in our interview at being pretty much like his Vietnam experience, "with rayguns." Drake is a great speaker, full of passion, intensity, and humor shot through with the sort of virulent anger that can only be channeled into white-hot writing.
This conversation quickly took a turn into the intense, so I trust that readers will tolerate the strong imagery and the equally strong opinions. This chat went quite a bit beyond frank.
But since this is so long, I've split the conversations into two segments; the first 37:21, the second 41:48. Today, I'm offering readers Part One of my David Drake interview — just follow this link to the MP3 audio file. I'll podcast part 2 tomorrow. I guess it makes me just a little bit sad to let this one out. I almost feel like this interview has been my friend for these months while it incubated and waited to bubble to the top. I trust my listeners will understand why when they hear it.
New to the Agony Column
02-09-10: Commentary : Douglas Clegg Returns to 'Neverland' : Is 1980's Horror Returning from the Grave?
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with David Drake, Part 2 / Complete : "I didn't have governor ... that is ... anything, endgame, was me killing somebody.""
02-08-10: Commentary : David Louis Edelman Completes Jump 225 : 'Geosynchron'
02-05-10: Commentary : DC Pierson is 'The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To' : The Insomnia Vibe
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse: Too Much Money, Dominick Dunne; The Privileges, Jonathan Dee; Adam Haslett, Union Atlantic; The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak; Wild Child, T. C. Boyle
02-04-10: Commentary : David Grann and 'The Devil and Sherlock Holmes' : An Obsession with Obsession
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Josh Sundquist : "It was a really amazing testament to the power of small-town America and to the power of organized religion at its best."
02-03-10: Commentary : James Rollins Unleashes 'The Altar of Eden' : Monsters at the Zoo
02-01-10: Commentary : 'He Walked Among Us' : Cassandra, John Titor and Norman Spinrad
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Charlie Huston : "The prospect of things becoming deeply unhinged seemed very, very immediate"
01-29-10: Commentary : Henghis Hapthorn Meets 'Hespira' : Matthew Hughes Devolves the Universe
01-27-10: Commentary : Glen Cook Walks the 'Shadowline' : Every Old (Science Fiction) Thing is New (Space Opera) Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : An Interview with Jeff Carlson at SF in SF on January 16, 2010 : "The bad guys never consider themselves the bad guys..."
01-19-10: Commentary : Gene Wolfe Moves into 'The Sorcerer's House' : Magical Surrealism
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheuse : Don Delillo: 'Point Omega,' Robert Stone: 'Fun With Problems,' Douglas Preston: 'Impact'
01-18-10: Commentary : George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Bring On 'Warriors' : An Anthology Waiting to Happen
