07-03-09: One Book With Alan Cheuse : Writing the Textbook
There's money to be made writing textbooks. But it's not easy money by any means. This week on Three Books With Alan Cheuse, we're talking about one, that is, 'Literature: Craft & Voice, Volume 1: Fiction,' and about the process of writing a textbook.
You can afford to cut back to one book with Alan Cheuse when that book is a 700-page version of, as he describes it, "an issue of Harper's Magazine." Ever want to know how you go about getting into this lucrative business? I think dedication of the sort that one very rarely finds outside of religious orders is called for. Cheuse confided in me that he spent five and half years working on the three books he and I will be talking about, one at a time — and that was a very short timeline! You can hear us chat about the planning and events that went into that timeline by following the link to this MP3 audio file.
07-02-09: SF in SF Panel from June 20, 2009 — Pat Murphy, Lisa Goldstein, and Michaela Roessner Hosted by Rick Kleffel : Transformative Literature
I was fortunate enough to be asked to host the most recent meeting at SF in SF, and found myself sitting at the head of the class with Pat Murphy, Lisa Goldstein and Michaela Roessner, talking about their writing, all of which, it seemed to me, attempted to "transform" the world we know into something more interesting.
After all, all of the stories start out in what looks pretty much like our world and in our times. And yet, though subtle and unsubtle introductions of elements of the fantastic, this vision of our world is transformed — into something considerably more interesting to read. We had a great time talking about how each of them managed this, and got some keen looks into the crafting of the individual pieces, which offer a wide variety of approaches. You can write the folks at SF in SF if you like what you hear in the discussion from the link to the MP3 audio file.
07-01-09: Agony Column Podcast New Report : Michaela Roessner Interviewed at SF in SF on June 20, 2009
"...the hassidic carp, and the Kenyan tuna with the Koran on its scales are actually documented, whether they're real or not, they're news stories ... you can look them up online..." — Michaela Roessner
Michaela Roessner's story, "The Fishes Speak," was for me a perfect summary of what I love about SF in SF. Here's a story that's slated for PS Publishing's wonderful 'PostScripts' anthology, but that to my mind could just as easily have found publication in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, or any other mainstream literary magazine. The boundaries of genre have fallen aside.
From the get-go, "The Fishes Speak" is an unusual story, and I really wanted to talk to Roessner about her choice of the second person. Moreover, as you hear the story, you can tell that she did a boatload of research, and when I asked her about this she gave me an answer I've heard from many a writer; "I'm a research junkie." You can hear our conversation by following the link to this MP3 audio file.
Rick kleffel and Pat Murphy
06-30-09: Agony Column Podcast New Report : Pat Murphy Interviewed at SF in SF on June 20, 2009
"It is not just what is on the page that determines whether it is a science fiction story or not" — Pat Murphy
Before I pressed "record," Pat Murphy wondered what we were going to talk about. After all, I'd interviewed her quite recently — a year ago! Well, a lot can happen in a year, especially when Klutz books keeps you busy and your newest novel proves to be a success.
One of my favorite aspects of SF in SF is the joy of my on-the-spot interviews. It’s not just the writer who is on the spot; it's me as well, since I try to key my questions off the readings. Murphy's story was a poignant tale of taking care of one's aging parents with a lovely sense-of-wonder spin. She works in the lowest keys, keeping readers grounded while she mines the fantastic right out from under their feet. You can hear us discuss her story and her techniques by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
China Miéville
06-29-09: A 2009 Interview with China Miéville
"I don’t think crime is a realist
genre at all" — China Miéville
I believe that I said in one of the article I wrote about 'The City & The City' that for this book, you're best advised to go in cold. That said, there's been so much talk about the book, I suspect that many readers already have a pretty good grasp of what the deal is, and probably won’t be upset by haring China talk about what he intended in detail. I really like talking to China, who is sort of a contrarian in all matters literary. Yes, we talked about his latest book, but we also talked about his many projects in the mix as well. There are a lot of them, and readers will want to hear the man himself explain them in his oh-so-mellifluous voice. Here's the link to the MP3 audio file for you to do so.
New to the Agony Column
02-06-12: Commentary : Eric Weiner Posts 'Man Seeks God' : Religious Pilgrimmage and Mordant Wit
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner : "...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."
02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master
01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision
01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."
12-29-11: Commentary : My Life in the Bush of Books : Island of Vice by Richard Zacks, Iago by David Snodin, The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith and The Dipatcher by Ryan David Jahn
12-15-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."
11-28-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."
11-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."
11-21-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."
11-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."
11-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."
10-31-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
10-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."
