Ken
Macleod Suggests....
|
Ken Macleod's latest is
a veritable fountain of
Fortean fiction. And, he tells
me, perhaps just the
beginning....
|
Upon publishing my review of
the extremely Fortean 'Engine
City', [stop
reading now if you don't want spoilers for this
novel], I dropped a line to the author,
Ken
Macleod, who was kind
enough to write me back and answer some pressing
questions. First and foremost, I wanted to know
if there were differences between the US and UK
editions, to which he replied, "The only
differences between the US and UK editions are
minor edits (they were copy-edited
differently)." So -- phew. Read the right
edition (UK), I'm OK on that count. [Once
again, stop reading now if you don't want
spoilers for this novel -- you were
warned!]
He was also surprised that I
found the book something of a downer -- and when
I pointed out that he did, after all execute his
main characters, he replied "Yeah, but c'mon,
their memories survive in the little Multiplier,
and they do give stirring and surprising
speeches while facing the music." Once again --
OK, more fun every day.
But wait --there's
more:
"No, you're right, it is a
bit dark. I may write a sequel to the series in
which some people from subsequent generations go
adventuring off along the paths opened by the
dissident god's map of the galaxy."
Now this is news -- very
tentative and he says "..mention it's not going
to be soon." But still -- I'm on edge already.
And if I get to wait through an entirely
different set of novels -- well, at least
they're Ken Macleod novels, and that's something
to look forward to.
And that's not all --
because, wait --there's more!
Ken also offered some
"Reading recommendations:
Mike Harrison's
_Light_,
Richard Morgan's _Altered
Carbon_, and any of
the recent books by Paul
McAuley....