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08-04-14: A 2014 Interview with Alastair Reynolds, Parts 1, 2 and 3

Click image for audio link.

"...the first book was going to contain about a hundred years of implicit future history..."
—Alastair Reynolds

In order to have a hope in hell of getting this post up before I have to leave the hotel, I'm going to keep it short. I'm a lucky guy. I traveled to Wales and had the chance to k=hke in the hills with Alastair Reynolds, then sit down to talk with him about his three latest books; first up was 'Blue Remembered Earth.'

I'm an outlier in the hardcore world of science fiction. I read a fair share of sold SF genre work, but much outside the genre as well. Circumstances and habit work to keep my reading omnivorous. For my money, Reynolds is easily of the best Sf writers, indeed writers of any genre, out there. He has a fine sensibility for detailed characters and prose, a smart mind for science that offers the sense of wonder without compromising the common sense, and the good sense to write an involving, fast-paced novel. I particularly like that he seems to chafe against popular sensibilities. When all the world wants dystopia, Reynolds offers its polar opposite — compromised. To my mind, he's a superstar writer who deserves banner notice whenever he chooes to write.

I decided to split this interview with Alastair Reynolds into three parts and then to run them pretty much unedited. You can hear the results by following this link to the MP3 file of the first of three parts.

Update: Link to audio for part 2 and part 3.

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