09-25-09: A 2009 Interview with Kirsten Imani Kasai: Ice Singer
Every world has an "in." Whether we meet a hobbit living in a hole in the ground or witness the arrival of a winged loner to the city of New Crobuzon, every writer of fantasy of science fiction has to usher the reader into their world. Kirsten Imani Kasai takes the reader into the world of 'Ice Song' with the shock of the new.
In my conversation with Kasai, I wanted to find out how she created this world, and we talked about her world-building process. But just as important are her character building skills; it’s a tribute to the writer that the two are seamlessly inter-twined in this layered, exotic novel. She'll be appearing this Saturday, September 26 at Borderlands Books. She's well worth your time to see, to meet and to talk to. You can get a preview of what's to come that is slightly less shocking than immersion in a sea of ice by following this link to the MP3 audio file of our conversation.
09-24-09: A 2009 Interview with Erin Lee Gafill
"The writing is really a daily approach." — Erin Lee Gafill
Interviews are as varied as authors; not surprisingly, some are easier than others. And some just seem to flow like a river. Having read Erin Lee Gafill's 'Drinking from a Cold Spring: A Little Book of Hope,' I had some residual worries. The writing was beautiful the scenery is beautiful — would the author live up to the simplicity of her work? She was, after all, primarily a painter. It's one thing to paint or write, quite another to sit in front of a microphone in the back office of Capitola Book Café.
But there is, I'm beginning to believe, something as magical about that damn office as there is about Nepenthe. The sound is great, so long as I remember to unplug the phone. And Erin and I had a delightful conversation about her book. It was almost as if we were picking up from where we had left off not long ago, though we'd never spoken before. Like Erin, my kids are now pretty much launched, and I can look back on those years of fitting things in with some perspective. You can hear our discussion of domestic duties and creative work, of writing in the nooks and crannies between family, friends and keeping back the domestic chaos, by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-23-09: Michael Kurland and Nalo Hopkinson "moderated" by Terry Bisson : SF in SF, Saturday, September 12, 2009
"It's something I try to teach my students, they've all got something they're obsessed with..." — Nalo Hopkinson
You get a couple of writers like Nalo Hopkinson and Michael Kurland up there in front of a few readers on a Saturday night, give everyone a few "shots for tots" as Rina Weisman likes to say, and it's not surprising that you’re going to get a pretty lively discussion.
Kurland is an interesting and pretty volatile speaker, with strong opinions that he's enjoys speaking of in no uncertain terms. Hopkinson is a thoughtful presence with lots of presence, whose smooth undertones shimmer with emotions. This is the sort of literary discussion we need more of, both inside and outside the science fiction genre. I'm rather surprised, now that I think of it, that the sort of mini-panel format hasn’t been more widely adopted by the literary establishment. Having two writers, moderated by a third (though the word "moderate" is not necessarily one that one would associate with the engaging Terry Bisson) is a great way to dig into the reading, to get at some of the writing and publishing and life issues that the best books bring out. You can hear this edition of the SF in SF panel by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
09-22-09: Nalo Hopkinson Interviewed at SF in SF on Saturday, September 12, 2009
"No matter what you believe, this is miraculous; and we forget." — Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson induces wonder, on two levels. Obviously, there's the quality of what she reads. Her reading at SF in SF was a perfect example of that. The words themselves wonder in the old-fashioned science fiction "sense of wonder" way, even if what she writes is not, strictly speaking, science fiction.
But Hopkinson also induces wonder on a personal level as well. She's a powerful presence, and even when she's bewitching you with her powerful words you can't help but be aware that she is superbly and uniquely talented. So it's always fun to talk to her, and it was especially fun to dig into her work in the unheimliche, the uncanny, that she read from a forthcoming novel thus far titled 'Donkey.' Even that harmless word takes on a disturbing undertone when she uses it. You can hear her use it by following this link the MP3 audio file.
09-21-09: A 2009 Interview with S. G. Browne
"Lucio Fulci's Zombi back in 1978, that was actually a double feature with Scanners..." — S. G. Browne
S. G. (Scott) Browne set out to do a bit more than Lucio Fulci ever did. Not to deny Fulci his due; he wanted to scare the crap out of you, and that he did. Browne, on the other hand, uses zombies to explore not what it’s like to confront living dead corpses, but rather to determine just what the boundaries of human are.
And, of course, to tell more than just a few good jokes. Up until recently, Browne was a total local, and he admits in my interview with him, that his protagonist Andy, lives not far from where the author himself lived. Residents of Santa Cruz will get a kick out of Browne's local name-checks, and out of his gentle pokes at our own version of society. In Santa Cruz, zombies get more than rotten tomatoes and old Taco Smell burritos thrown at them; they’re just as likely to find themselves drenched in Jamba Juice as a Starbucks latte. We talk about developing the prose style, the mythology and the perceptions of the living dead, but I turned off the recorder when he told me about the movie, which he said, changes stuff (of necessity) but preserves the essence and voice of the novel. As ever, read the book first. The way things work in Hollowood, there's as good a chance that zombies will overrun the nation as there is that a decent movie will be made from this excellent book. Breathers, yes, we do tend to screw things over. To our credit, most of us don’t eat brains. Not literally, at least.
New to the Agony Column
07-30-10: Commentary : Subterranean Press and Robert R. McCammon Wake at 'The Wolf's Hour' : The Time Before Cheese
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheus : Allegra Goodman, 'The Cookbook Collector,' Noam Shpancer's 'The Good Psychologist' and Elie Wiesel 'The Sonderberg Case'
07-28-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space 2 : En Route, RJ Frith and Peter F. Hamilton
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010: Q & A : "The people you deal with at the publishers ... if they last the end of the week, you're lucky."
07-27-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space : UK Space Opera Demonstrates Excess is Not Enough (Part one, the Arrived)
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010 : "Well, I thought if I do faeries then nobody's going to say that I've got it wrong."
07-26-10: Commentary : Brian and Wendy Froud Seek 'The Heart of Faerie Oracle' : Cards, Books and a New Perspective
07-20-10: Commentary : Adam Elenbaas is Caught by 'Fishers of Men' : The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, July 10, 2010 : Alan Cheuse and Peter S. Beagle : "There are certain phrases I'm leery of using; one's "the creative process" and the other is "inspiration." ” Peter S. Beagle "Habit is the best thing for you if you're trying to write prose." ” Alan Cheuse
07-19-10: Commentary : Phil Cousineau is the 'Wordcatcher' : A Selectionary for Curious Mind
07-09-10: Commentary : Harlan Ellison's 'Deathbird Stories' : Back from the Dead and Ready to Party
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Everything by Kevin Canty, The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Glorious by Bernice McFadden
07-07-10: Commentary : Kitchen Testing 'The New Vegetarian Epicure' and 'Get Cooking' : Lentil Power
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part Two : "'You should really write a cookbook,' and I thought, 'Yeah, that's a good idea...'"
07-06-10: Commentary : Anna Thomas Cooks Up 'Love Soup' : Recipes, Menus and Meals
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part One : Time to Get Cooking Because You Love Soup : "It makes a huge difference really, really, it does, to completely clean up when you're done."
07-05-10: Commentary : Abraham Verghese Will Not Be 'Cutting for Stone' : Stories of Spirit and Words of Comfort
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Abraham Verghese : "Literature has a wonderful ability to restore your imagination for the suffering of others."
07-02-10: Commentary : Sloane Crosley Asks 'How Did Get This Number' : Excellent Essays for the Short of Temper
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Live Interview With Sloane Crosley : We Did Not Mention the Title of Her Essay 'Fuck You, Columbus'
06-30-10: Commentary : Mark Charan Newton Enters 'City of Ruin' : Inspector Jeryd Rides Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Panel Discussion at SF in SF on June 12, 2010, with Seanan McGuire, Deborah Grabien and Terry Bisson : "Coke Black was just a horrible thing unleashed on an unsuspecting world."
06-29-10: Commentary : 'Twelve,' 'Thirteen,' Tongues of Serpents,' and 'The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack' : Historical SF & Horror Makes Rousing Summer Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Seanan McGuire Interviewed at SF in SF, June 12, 2010 : "If I have my unbreakables, I can set my conditionals."
06-28-10: Commentary : Jennifer Egan Gets 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' : Revisiting the Novel Genre
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Jennifer Egan : "The characters and the action led the way... I was led into the future not so much because I was thinking, 'I want to write about the future,' but more because I wanted to re-visit this particular person."
06-23-10: Commentary : Adam Langer Corrals 'The Thieves of Manhattan' : Lies, Balderdash and the Absolute, Unvarnished Truth
06-21-10: Commentary : Linda Greenlaw is 'Seaworthy' : Back to the Grand Banks in Not-So-Grand Style
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Linda Greenlaw : "Well, I call him up and tell him I'm going to the Grand Banks and he pretty much signs himself right up."
06-17-10: Commentary : Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud Lives 'A Life on Paper' : Translating the Ineffable
06-15-10: Commentary : Donald R. Burleson Whispers 'Wait for the Thunder' : Stories for a Stormy Night
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Lucyby Laurence Gonzalez, Spies of the Balkansby Alan Furst, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
06-14-10: Commentary : James P. Othmer Drinks the 'Holy Water' : Backing Into the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Juliet Schor : "...We need to move to much more open, collaborative, sharing knowledge systems."
06-10-10: Commentary : Brett Easton Ellis Peers Inside 'Imperial Bedrooms' : Panic After the Year Zero
06-09-10: Commentary : Dan Dion and Paul Provenza Free the '!Satiristas!' : Bleeding the Comedians
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Paul Provenza and Dan Dion : "I was raised to respect the printed word so much, when I was in school, I couldn't highlight books..."
06-08-10: Commentary : China Miéville Unleashes 'Kraken' : Comedy of Tentacles
06-03-10: Commentary : Justin Cronin Enters 'The Passage' : A girl who saves the world
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer, The Passage by Justin Cronin
06-02-10: Commentary : 'Animythical Tales' by Sarah Totton and 'Metrophilias' by Brendan Connell : Better Seeds
06-01-10: Commentary : The Return of The Agony Column : Logic, License and Habit
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "..these are common human foibles and failings, it's just that they get magnified in a combat, war situation..."
