10-23-09: An Interview with Claire Light at SF in SF / Litquake on October 10, 2009
"The way that writers of color use science fiction is very different..." — Claire Light
Claire Light is a smart, no-nonsense woman who knows her stuff — and can process it into wonderful science fiction. When I spoke to her at SF in SF on / Litquake on October 10, 2009, what I wanted to know about was the "Carl Brandon Society." Turns out that they'd just taken a major step.
Yes, I'd done my research — I had a few clues about Carl Brandon, and listeners who heard the panel discussion should as well. But hearing the story told by a writer and member of the board is a very different experience from reading about it on the web. Moreover, she tells me stuff you can't really easily find out. Here's the prescription to cure a lack of knowledge about Carl Brandon. First, follow this link to the MP3 audio file of my interview with Claire Light, then once you;ve got the substantive background, give their website, carlbrandon.org, a visit.
10-22-09: Marta Acosta Interviewed at SF in SF / Litquake on October 10, 2009 :
"I think you can connect more with people when you make them laugh..." — Marta Acosta
When you met Marta Acosta, you're probably going to rapidly find yourself thinking, you know, I think I'd enjoy just about anything this author would write. Acosta speaks with such conviction about humor and writing that one cannot help but be buoyed by her enthusiasm.
Really: had you showed me a "Casa Dracula" novel in the bookstore, I probably would have said, "No thanks." This is a perfect example of why you want to attend gigs like SF in SF, because when you meet an author, you get a very different picture of a work that might not be particularly well-packaged — or that, if it were — you might not think would be your cuppa. So follow this enthusiastic recommendation to this enthusiastic conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
10-21-09: Jewell Gomez at SF in SF / Litquake on October 10, 2009 :
"So first, I decided, OK, I'll get rid of the Christian mythology ...." — Jewell Gomez
I had an absolute blast talking with Jewell Gomez at SF in SF on October 10, 2009; she's the perfect example of why I enjoy these outings so much. And I suspect that this interview is going lead a lot of readers to pick up her book, 'The Golda Stories.'
Gomez clearly experiences so much joy in her writing, and so much fun as you will hear in this interview that it is certain her fiction will be equally enjoyable — and you already have a reading to convince you of this. Writing is, after all, all about voice. This is a voice you'll definitely want to hear, and voice to which I shall refer you to not just once in this paragraph but twice, to make sure that you follow this link to the MP3 audio file.
10-20-09: Saturday, October 10, 2009 SF in SF / Litquake Panel : Jewell Gomez, Marta Acosta, and Claire Light Moderated by Terry Bisson
Looking for a science fiction convention that meets once monthly and offers just one reading, one panel, comfortable seating and a bar? I can't imagine anything more ideal, really, none of the usual running about from one back-killing chair to another. But that's SF in SF, even when it’s also part of Litquake.
The panel on Saturday, October 10, 2009, was no exception, except that there were three authors rather than the usual two. Jewell Gomez, Marta Acosta, and Claire Light moderated by Terry Bisson proved to be as entertaining as you might expect, offering a variety of opinions and experiences with regards to the topic of "Color Me SF: The Science Fiction Worlds of Octavia Butler and Carl Brandon." We got the lowdown on Carl Brandon, the challenges faced by people of color writing speculative fiction — SF, horror and fantasy — and lots of fascinating anecdotes about Octavia Butler. Here's your link to the P3 audio file.
10-19-09: A 2009 Interview with Max Brooks
"Every day is a fight, you've got to get up and you've got to feel optimistic." — Max Brooks
I spoke to Max Brooks at NPR West in Los Angeles, after a mad drive down from San Francisco the night before. Having been told so much about the book by so many people, I had really tempered my expectations. Generally, when someone tells me about a horror novel, it's because said novel is particularly grisly. I liked 'The Books of Blood' a lot — but I don’t want every book to be a book of blood. Also, as far as monsters go, zombies are my least favorite. So heading into my Max Brooks reading binge, I wasn't expecting a lot beyond gore, violence and a fairly fast-paced work.
I was shocked to discover that there was not much gore in Brooks' work, and that the horror did not devolve from the fear of the zombies so much as Brooks' outstanding portrayal of the effects of a world-wide plague. And talking to him, I discovered a writer who was fiercely practical, a writer who was interested in people, not monsters. Moreover, Brooks is a superb speaker. You can hear just how superb by following this link to the MP3 audio file of our conversation.
New to the Agony Column
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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..."
