08-21-09: Jeremy Lassen Visits Worldcon : Nights and Days of Night Shade
Having spoken with Lou Anders about Worldcon, I thought I'd call up another one of my regular conversationalists and see what Jeremy Lassen had to say. Night Shade Books is back; they've got a honkin' vampire anthology out, 'By Blood We Live' and more to come.
Jeremy Lassen is a lucky guy. Back in the before time, he managed to snag a collection of short stories by Paolo Bacigalupi and publish 'Pump Six.' Then, as the publishing world crashed down around us, in a summer that will be remembered in infamy, Lassen managed to hang on to Bacigalupi and land the opportunity to publish his first novel, 'The Windup Girl.' And have Juliet Ulman edit the book. Here's a publisher who has a pretty damn good grip on the future. And here's my conversation with him about the events of Worldcon, and the future both of NightShade, Worldcon and the publishing in general.
Lou Anders
08-20-09: Lou Anders, Conventions, and the Lost World
"..they come, and they stay in the bar and nobody knows who they are..." —Lou Anders
Having read Lou Anders' blog entry about the most recent Worldcon, I had to give him a call and talk about what's to become of Worldcon. Will it end up being so small that it won't be worthwhile for large publishers to attend? Could such a thing happen — or has it happened already?
Is this the beginning of the end, even though there is a definite lack of giant grasshoppers climbing up the skyscrapers? Could Worldcon devolve into a group of sixteen veteran science fiction writers sharing drinks at the Jet Strip Bar not five minutes from LAX? Perhaps I exaggerate; maybe there are giant grasshoppers and they've just camouflaged themselves as window-washing scaffolds in order to more easily scarf falling stockbrokers. But it needn't come to such a pass. This is the science fiction genre, according to the Oracle John Clute, built on the premise that, "We can fix it!" Even if it is our own deflicted convention.
Lou Anders attended Comicon and Worldcon back-to-back, and was struck by the throngs of sleek young things strolling through Comicon, in depressingly large numbers, especially when compared to the landscape at Worldcon. But then, Worldcon did do some stuff really right, to it, the much reported conversation between Paul Krugman and Charlie Stross — with Krugman being the interrogator! This is indeed a perfect vision of the future of a science fiction genre fully integrated and engaged with mainstream literary and technical culture. You can hear Lou and I talk down the topic by following this
link to the MP3 audio file.
Alan Cheuse
08-19-09: A 2009 Live Interview With Alan Cheuse
"This reinforced their vision of the world as filled with many spirits" —Alan Cheuse
On July 26, 2009, I had the delight of having Alan Cheuse in to the studio at KUSP for a live broadcast version of The Agony Column. Since Mr. Cheuse and I speak regularly — and since we'd been holding off on speaking about his work, 'A Trance After Breakfast,' this was the sort of interview where preparation and the interview itself are equally easy.
Having spent so much time recently speaking with Cheuse about the work of other writers, it was strangely unusual to talk with him about his own writing. I've read a lot of his fiction, which I found to be immersive and entertaining as well as emotionally powerful. And of course, we’ve talked about books. But I frankly had little idea of how all that would translate to travel writing. Not surprisingly, Cheuse has an utterly unique approach, sometimes elegiac and sometimes reportorial and more often than not, both at once. What Cheuse does incredibly well is to write about complex emotions and situations, to draw the power of those situations into his language and to translate all that for the reader in a manner that is enjoyably easy to read. It's a bit like great cooking; complex flavors that seem simple and elegant.
To this, and our conversation, Cheuse brings a mordant sense of humor and humility. He's a guy who reads and appreciates great science fiction as much as he does high literature. He's having the time of his life, reading, writing, writing about reading and peaking about both. Care to travel in time? You can do so as easily as following this link to the MP3 audio file of our interview.
Max Byrd
08-18-09: A 2009 Interview With Max Byrd
"...coming to Paris from provincial, colonial Virginia absolutely changed Jefferson..." —Max Byrd
There are two Max Byrds in one fine writer. You might well know Max Byrd as an author of hard-boiled mysteries, of the sort we at The Agony Column love to read. From 'California Thriller' to 'Fuse Tim' he cut a swathe the crime fiction landscape. Until his publisher made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
The Squaw Valley Community of Writers Conference may be over, but the works of those who have attended and later became staff are there for the taking — for example, Max Byrd, who established himself as an author of excellent hard-boiled crime fiction, only to make his big score with an historical novel about that least-likely subject, 'Jefferson.' Jefferson was not the action-hero type who easily lends himself to a novel, but Byrd, like any great historical novelist, found the story in the history, and brought his character, along with man other historical figures, brilliantly to life.
'Jefferson' was one of the first books to usher in a recent wave of big-deal, bestselling historical novels. Having heard Byrd speak about maps in fiction, I made a point of finding this writer and talking to him about his work as a mystery writer and as a historical writer. Now, as wonderful as the Squaw Valley facilities are, they did, this year at least, lack one amenity I would have liked; a small quiet office or an actual recording studio where I could perform the interviews. So I had to improvise. When I talked to Byrd, I found this little mailroom that as I tested it, seemed perfect. It was quiet, small, not so many hard walls and I was half-way to thinking I'd found the perfect place. I found the estimable author and took him over to what I thought to be my new interview room home.
Within seconds a couple of potential problems with the room became what I thought might be actual problems. That is, there were doors slamming left and right and the plumbing from the nearby facilities was embarrassingly audible. Now I tried and I think pretty much succeeded in sitting there and conducting the interview as if nothing was wrong while inside my head I was shouting "What the hell! Do you really have to slam that door? Couldn't you just wait? You're killing my great sound!" It was a strange experience to apparently keep my calm on the outside while freaking out about the sound. For, as it happens, no reason. All I can say is we love directional microphones. You hear the words and nought else in my interview with Max Byrd, which you can find by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
03-22-10: Commentary : Steven Erikson Breathes 'Dust of Dreams' : Penultimate Malazan?
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Stephen S. Hall : "..receptivity to new or contradictory knowledge is really important..."
03-19-10: Commentary : Adam Nevill Inherits 'Apartment 16' : Home is Where the Hell Is
03-18-10: Commentary : Stephen Kessler Follows 'The Mental Traveler' : Bad Trips and Good Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Alta Ifland and Stephen Kessler : "I had to do it; it was a way of both coming to terms with the experience, of documenting the experience, of commemorating it..."
03-17-10: Commentary : Ted Chiang Charts 'The Lifecycle of Software Objects' : Joshua Blue, Digital Chimps and Lives in Flux
03-15-10: Commentary : Elif Shafak Reveals 'The Forty Rules of Love' : Intimacy and Centuries
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Elif Shafak : "I know that culture that exists in my country, that is carried on by women, generations of women."
03-12-10: Commentary : Karl Marlantes Scales the 'Matterhorn' : World-Building in the Past
03-09-10: Commentary : Paul McHugh Meets 'Deadlines' : Murdering the California Coast
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Paul McHugh : "..the strengths of good writing go all the way, across all the genres..."
03-08-10: Commentary : Joe Hill Grows 'Horns' : Devil and Detail
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Joe Hill : "Eventually, the wicked and the unworthy will get their just desserts on the business end of the Devil's pitchfork."
03-05-10: Commentary : Henry Porter Calls 'The Bell Ringers' : It Takes The Village
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Four Books With Alan Cheuse : Thrillers! : Henry Porter, The Bell Ringers; Keith Thomson, Once a Spy; Jo Nesbo, The Devil's Star; Hennig Mankel, The Man From Beijing
03-04-10: Commentary : Jo NesbØ Earns 'The Devil's Star' : Rewind
03-01-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Invests With 'Union Atlantic' : Abstract Power Abstracts Absolutely
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview With Adam Haslett : "With her, and with each character, how does the rhythm create a kind of musical argument?"
02-26-10: Commentary : Dan Simmons Heads for the 'Black Hills' : Unstuck in Life
02-23-10: Commentary : Adam Haslett Knows 'You Are No Stranger Here' : Stories from Strangers' Shoes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Jedediah Berry Interviewed at SF in SF, February 13, 2010 : "...being at Small Beer has actually introduced whole worlds to me ..."
02-22-10: Commentary : Graeme Gibson's 'The Bedside Book of Birds' and 'The Bedside Book of Beasts' : A Feast for Your Mind, Your Eyes and Your Mind's Eye
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Graeme Gibson : "Our common humanity, our common culture, will help make the connections."
