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12-09-14: A 2014 Interview with Tad Williams

Click image for audio link.
"...Heaven and Hell couldn't be an open, on-going dramatic conflict; it would be more like the Cold War."
—Tad Williams

After Tad Williams and I sat down at the dining room table in my house to talk about his latest novel, 'Sleeping Late on Judgment Day,' I was once again struck by his amazing ability to get to the heart of any question, and his willingness to rip apart his own assumptions. Williams is an eloquent spokesman for what he calls 'hard fantasy.'

This might seem like a contradiction-in-terms. Fantasy is all about imagining a world which is not ours. Urban fantasy, currently overflowing at the seams, simply puts characters, critters and powers from a fantasy novel on mean streets, real or imagined. What Williams shoots for, he says, is a sort of hybrid of fantasy written with the same rigorous rule-following extrapolations that define hard science fiction.

When you listen to this conversation, you'll quickly see why the Bobby Dollar books are so much fun. It's because Williams himself is having fun, writing them on a very serious goof. That said, the big money these days is in the sort of thick-as-a-brick fantasies that are bringing new fans to the genre by virtue of their big and small screen adaptations. Williams cut his teeth writing foundational works in this genre when many of the current crop of readers (and more than a few writers) were wondering about school dances. and happily for his readers, he has something to say on that front.

Happily, I began, and now just about end this year with a Tad Williams interview. Some fun, huh?

You can hear Tad Williams by following this link to the MP3 audio file.




12-09-14 UPDATE: Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 186: Tad Williams, 'Sleeping Late on Judgment Day'

Click image for audio link.
Here's the one-hundred eighty-sixth episode of my series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. these days I actually sort of perform them with the writers as a "lightning round" (thanks David Rich!) after the longer interview.

I try to keep these lighning round interviews under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.

My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.

The one-hundred eighty-sixth episode is a look at Tad Williams and 'Sleeping Late on Judgment Day.'.

Here's a link to the MP3 audio file of Time to Read, Episode 186: Tad Williams, 'Sleeping Late on Judgment Day.'.



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