10-16-09: Marta Acosta Reads at SF in SF vs Litquake : 'Shadow Girl of Birch Grove'
I couldn't help but like Marta Acosta from the moment she first spoke at SF in SF on Saturday October, 10, 2009. "I just like getting the paycheck," she told us about writing. "OK, I know it's gauche..."
Oh, but it isn’t gauche, not at all, not when you’re as charming as Acosta, who wrote one Casa Dracula novel and then found herself sucked into becoming a deadly serial writer. Now she's branching off in all sorts of interesting directions, from an upcoming social satire and romantic comedy ('Nancy's Theory of Style') to another Casa Dracula novel to the new work she read from on Saturday ... 'Shadow Girl of Birch Grove.' I really liked Acosta's style and the romantic comedy, of all things intrigues me a great deal. She mentioned a new Simon & Schuster imprint, Gallery Books, and the venue for the rom-com. You can hear just why I'd be intrigued if you follows this link to the MP3 file.
10-15-09: : Jewell Gomez Reads at SF in SF vs Litquake : Octavia Butler and 'The Gina Stories'
The thing about these SF in SF events is that you just met writers you really like. And I really liked all the writers I met at SF in SF / Litquake last Saturday. Take for example, Jewell Gomez, who is so smart and so interesting and such a great reader, not only of her own writing — but that of Octavia Butler as well.
I can hardly wait to podcast the interview I did with Jewell Gomez; I ran it on the show I did last night. But in the interim, you can hear why I was so keen to interview her at the show; that is, her reading, which I really enjoyed. Gomez just has that sort of star presence, an ego-less confidence that she radiates and that comes through in her reading. At the SF in SF / Litquake event last Saturday, she was clearly both having lots of fun, and working from a writerly passion as well. You can hear her read both Octavia Butler and her own work by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
10-14-09: Claire Light Reads at SF in SF vs Litquake : Carl Brandon and "Pigs in Space"
Readers will recall that last year's Litquake edition of SF in SF — Steampunk — was a wild success. That being true, it was certain they'd fire it up again this year, and I'd say the program was just as entertaining. This year the theme was "Color Me SF: The Science Fiction Worlds of Octavia Butler and Carl Brandon" and the guests were Jewelle Gomez, Claire Light and Marta Acosta, moderated as ever by Terry Bisson.
Readers will recall that last year's Litquake edition of SF in SF — Steampunk — was a wild success. That being true, it was certain they'd fire it up again this year, and I'd say the program was just as entertaining. This year the theme was "Color Me SF: The Science Fiction Worlds of Octavia Butler and Carl Brandon" and the guests were Jewelle Gomez, Claire Light and Marta Acosta, moderated as ever by Terry Bisson.Claire Light is on the board of the Carl Brandon Society, an official non-profit with a mission to (and I quote from their website: "...increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction." Laudable to be sure, and they give out scholarships to Clarion, offer prizes — but I'll let Claire tell you all about it, and let her read from her story, "Pigs in Space," when you follow this link to the MP3 audio file.
10-13-09: Three Books With Alan Cheuse:
William Styron
'The Suicide Run: Five Tales of the Marine Corps'
Brian Kiteley, 'The River Gods'
Margaret Atwood, 'The Year of the Flood'
The esteemed Alan Cheuse returns to The Agony Column this week, with a look at three very different and very interesting books; William Styron ' The Suicide Run: Five Tales of the Marine Corps,' Brian Kiteley, 'The River Gods,' and Margaret Atwood, 'The Year of the Flood.' And in our conversation about these books, we have some entertaining banter in store for listeners.
Alan and I generally tend to agree in our estimation of books, but that's not always the case and it isn’t this time. I'll let listeners discover where we disagree, but the range here is pretty entertaining in itself. William Styron's 'The Suicide Run: Five Tales of the Marine Corps', (Random House ; October 6, 2009 ; $24) offers five essays/character sketches/short stories (you pick your favorite description), all centering on his service during World War II and the Korean War, since he was "lucky" enough to be drafted twice.
Brian Kiteley's novel 'The River Gods' (FC2 ; August 9, 2009 ; $16.95) comes from FC2 (Fiction Collective Two) () is an experimental work that describes life in Northampton, Massachusetts from the eleventh century to the 1990's. If ou enjoy mosaic novels, this one's well worth your time.
Ad finally, we discuss Margaret Atwood's sequel to 'Oryx & Crake, 'The Year of the Flood'. Nor surprisingly, she provides a great platform from which to discuss her work and the world within which it lives. You can hear our conversation about these books by following the link to this MP3 audio file.
10-12-09: A 2009 Interview with Margaret Atwood : Space Squids and Talking Cabbages
I was seriously conflicted as I signed up to interview Margaret Atwood. She came highly recommended; Alan Cheuse told me he'd liked 'Oryx and Crake,' and he's a literary critic with a good knowledge of science fiction. On the other hand, in the latest Ansible David Langford offers this quote from Ursula Leguin: "... Margaret Atwood did not say she did not write science fiction because she did not write about talking squids, but said that she did not write science fiction because she did not write about talking cabbages." Where was the truth? Who was Margaret Atwood and why did she write what I, at least, thought was "science fiction"? If I interviewed her, I'd have to ask some hard questions.
First I had to read the for the interview; 'Oryx and Crake' then, 'The Year of the Flood.' I thought there was a very good chance I might be bored to tears, but happily, that proved not to be the case. I'll update with my reviews later this week, but suffice it to say at the moment that I enjoyed them both. Atwood has a vivid imagination and is an amazing writer when it comes to revealing her plot and using science fiction's tropes to drive that plot. So, I liked the books — but that might not translate to a writer who dismissed the science fiction genre as being books about "talking cabbages." (She comes close to having verbal vegetables in 'The Year of the Flood'!)
And here again, at KQED, I was destined for a happy surprise. Atwood proved to be immensely charming and, what's more something of a scholar of science fiction. She wrote a paper on turn-of-the-last-century SF, and was tossing about 'The Purple Cloud' and even more obscure titles as we talked. I did ask her directly about science fiction, speculative fiction, space squids and talking cabbages. The bottom line is that Atwood is something of a science fiction fan and actually, kind of an SF geek, in that she knows all sorts of things about the genre that most folks can't spout off at the tip of a hat. The dry sense of humor you'll find in her books (you need the right sensibility to do so) is ever more apparent when she speaks. I had an absolute blast talking to her; and I think when you give the interview a listen, it should once and for all crush the idea that she's a literary elitist who sees herself above the genre. It's actually rather the opposite, because she clearly respects the knowledge of science required to write what is generally termed as "hard science fiction." To have your head turned round with regard to the delightful Margaret Atwood, just follow this link to the MP3 audio file of our conversation.
New to the Agony Column
03-18-10: Commentary : Stephen Kessler Follows 'The Mental Traveler' : Bad Trips and Good Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Alta Ifland and Stephen Kessler : "I had to do it; it was a way of both coming to terms with the experience, of documenting the experience, of commemorating it..."
03-17-10: Commentary : Ted Chiang Charts 'The Lifecycle of Software Objects' : Joshua Blue, Digital Chimps and Lives in Flux
03-15-10: Commentary : Elif Shafak Reveals 'The Forty Rules of Love' : Intimacy and Centuries
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Elif Shafak : "I know that culture that exists in my country, that is carried on by women, generations of women."
03-12-10: Commentary : Karl Marlantes Scales the 'Matterhorn' : World-Building in the Past
03-09-10: Commentary : Paul McHugh Meets 'Deadlines' : Murdering the California Coast
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Paul McHugh : "..the strengths of good writing go all the way, across all the genres..."
03-08-10: Commentary : Joe Hill Grows 'Horns' : Devil and Detail
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Joe Hill : "Eventually, the wicked and the unworthy will get their just desserts on the business end of the Devil's pitchfork."
03-05-10: Commentary : Henry Porter Calls 'The Bell Ringers' : It Takes The Village
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Four Books With Alan Cheuse : Thrillers! : Henry Porter, The Bell Ringers; Keith Thomson, Once a Spy; Jo Nesbo, The Devil's Star; Hennig Mankel, The Man From Beijing
03-04-10: Commentary : Jo NesbØ Earns 'The Devil's Star' : Rewind
03-01-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Invests With 'Union Atlantic' : Abstract Power Abstracts Absolutely
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview With Adam Haslett : "With her, and with each character, how does the rhythm create a kind of musical argument?"
02-26-10: Commentary : Dan Simmons Heads for the 'Black Hills' : Unstuck in Life
02-23-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Knows 'You Are No Stranger Here' : Stories from Strangers' Shoes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jedediah Berry Interviewed at SF in SF, February 13, 2010 : "...being at Small Beer has actually introduced whole worlds to me ..."
02-22-10: Commentary : Graeme Gibson's 'The Bedside Book of Birds' and 'The Bedside Book of Beasts' : A Feast for Your Mind, Your Eyes and Your Mind's Eye
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Graeme Gibson : "Our common humanity, our common culture, will help make the connections."
02-19-10: Commentary : Ralph Waldo Ellison 'Three Days Before the Shooting ...' : One Book, Many Stories
Agony Column Podcast News Report : John Callahan and Adam Bradley and 'Three Days before the Shooting' : "I've moved through the phases of my own life, and I find those phases mirrored in the characters of this novel." — John Callahan "...capable of brilliance, eloquence and power; that's how I understand the second novel, as we see it in Three Days Before the Shooting, and that's certainly how I understand, and I think how Ellison understood, America." — Adam Bradley
02-18-10: Commentary : George Mann Scares Up 'The Ghosts of Manhattan' : Hard Core Pulp Action
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly With Thomas Frank : From Tea to Shining Tea : "When I think about what I'm saying, it's so depressing..."
02-17-10: Commentary : Thomas More, Clarence Miller and 'Utopia' : Politics, Satire, Fantasy
02-15-10: Commentary : 'Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded' by John Scalzi : A Decade of Whatever
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni : "I have to work through the novel and then it comes to me, how it's going to end."
02-12-10: Commentary : Stephanie Merritt Becomes S. J. Parris : 'Heresy'
02-11-10: Commentary : Max Watman 'Chasing the White Dog' : Home-Made Hooch and Rebellion
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview With Sam Farr : : "The money came from Washington, but the uses for that money came from the local community."
02-10-10: Commentary : Anne Lamott Spots 'Imperfect Birds' : The Ties That Unbind
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Speaking Frankly: Thomas Frank on Re-Populism and Re-Launching The Baffler : "I have never seen 'populist backlash in a headline before."
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'
And here again, at KQED, I was destined for a happy surprise. Atwood proved to be immensely charming and, what's more something of a scholar of science fiction. She wrote a paper on turn-of-the-last-century SF, and was tossing about 'The Purple Cloud' and even more obscure titles as we talked. I did ask her directly about science fiction, speculative fiction, space squids and talking cabbages. The bottom line is that Atwood is something of a science fiction fan and actually, kind of an SF geek, in that she knows all sorts of things about the genre that most folks can't spout off at the tip of a hat. The dry sense of humor you'll find in her books (you need the right sensibility to do so) is ever more apparent when she speaks. I had an absolute blast talking to her; and I think when you give the interview a listen, it should once and for all crush the idea that she's a literary elitist who sees herself above the genre. It's actually rather the opposite, because she clearly respects the knowledge of science required to write what is generally termed as "hard science fiction." To have your head turned round with regard to the delightful Margaret Atwood, just follow this l
