Archive for Other people's business
Lauren, Gav, Kaaron, and Mike
Posted by: | CommentsThe Angry Robot plans for world domination continue apace. Over at Dark Fiction Review, as part of the Angry Robot Special, there’s a special guest blog by Mike Shevdon (author of Sixty-One Nails and The Road to Bedlam) in which Mike talks about the state of the genre, Lauren Beukes’s Zoo City is reviewed, and Kaaron Warren (Slights and Walking the Tree) is interviewed.
First up, Mike Shevdon, on why fantasy makes such great TV:
Because urban fantasy is set in current reality, it becomes possible to adapt it into current time. That’s why True Blood and The Dresden Files (and Buffy) could make TV, and consequently reach a whole new audience. After the show is over that audience naturally wants more, and the sudden explosion of vampire romances and supernatural detectives is the result.
Next up, the Zoo City is as fantastical or as ordinary as you want it to be… it’s exactly the kind of book that should get her on late night US chat shows as it is carried up the New York Times Bestseller list. Yes, it’s that good. Zoo City is major league writing. It is effortless, easy and, quite frankly, astonishing.
And, although Kaaron wrote the award-winning horror Slights, nothing will prepare you for the (frankly disturbing) image that accompanies her interview.
I love that moment of original spark and will often take pages of notes before even thinking about writing the story. It can be just a title, like Cage Life, used to describe the life of Mustafa 1, who was kept imprisoned for 14 years by his brother.
We’re having a pretty good time of it in the dead-tree magazine, too. As well as last week’s superb review of Zoo City in SFX, this week, SciFi Now tells us:
Lauren Beukes stuns with a richly textured venture into a pseudo-fantastical Johannesburg of the future… this is a fine novel that will wrap itself around your imagination like a sloth on your own shoulders.
4**** – Must Read Now
and SFX also covered Gav Thorpe’s epic The Crown of the Blood:
there’s plenty to keep you turning the pages… An intriguing ending promises something different for book two
And finally (for now) at Falcata Times, Mike Shevdon is interviewed.
FT: It is often said that if you can write a short story you can write anything. How true do you think this is and what have you written that either proves or disproves this POV?
MS: My first work of fiction was over 150,000 words and I really struggle to write anything under 5,000 words. I don’t know whether an accomplished short story writes can write everything, but I suspect not – the two forms are quite different. It’s a bit like saying a good pastry chef can cook anything, which is fine until you have to eat their mushroom and banana risotto.
Buy unique art inspired by Zoo City and help refugee kids in South Africa
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Zoo City Bares - click for full-size
With 36 hours to go on the Zoo City Bares charity auction (16 inch tall one-of-a-kind handpainted art toys inspired by Lauren Beukes’ novel, Zoo City – go to www.bidorbuy.co.za and search for “Zoo City Bares” to bid now) we got Lauren to write a blog on how it came about:
I’ve got into a very bad habit as a writer in the last couple of years: doing cool side projects that are wa-aa-aay out of my jurisdiction as professional typist extraordinaire.
Both Moxyland and Zoo City have their own official soundtracks put together by me and HoneyB at African Dope (www.africandope.co.za), but both books also have their own distinctive toys used to raise money for amazing causes. Read More→
The Big Magic Shelf
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In our latest guest-blog, genre writer Adam Christopher asks about those shelving units in the bookstore, marked “Science Fiction and Fantasy”. Do we really need them?
I’ll be honest: there’s something bugging me. It’s something that a lot of people seem to like to talk about, to wring hands over, to frown at. A million foreheads creased with worry and chins stroked thoughtfully.
Genre. Categorisation. Classification. Shelving. Who’s going to buy that? Where on Earth would you shelve this? And so on, and so forth. Books that don’t fall neatly into one genre or another are, we are told, a Big Problem. Unshelvable, unsellable.
They’re wrong. It’s a lot of blood pressure raised over precisely nothing. Read More→
Barnes & Noble Nook – Down to $149
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Barnes and Noble have just introduced a new model into their eReader range – the Nook WiFi is the same as their previously-available model, but with the 3G components stripped out. And at a price of US$149 (about £101) that’s a pretty attractive price point! Their 3G model has been reduced to £199, so it will be interesting to see how (if at all) Amazon responds with their Kindle pricing.
So – the start of a whole new chapter for eReader sales and purchasers, or the beginning of the end for dedicated eReading devices?
Cross Genre: Rise to Power
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest in our ad-hoc series of guest posts comes from Harry Markov, purveyor of fine fruits, and owner of the excellent book blog, Temple Library Reviews. So, take it away, Harry…
Cross Genre: Rise to Power
Hey, it was either this title or “Cross Genre: Literature’s own flamboyant transvestite.” Politically incorrect humor aside, genre has been trending in my thoughts as of late. When Lee asked me to write a post for the Angry Robot Books website, it seemed natural to talk about cross genre. It seemed like a Cinderella fit on an intellectual level [minus the fairytale wedding].
So, back to genre. Read More→
So you want to start a book blog…
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest in our series of guest blogs is from Amanda Rutter. Amanda writes about books for FantasyLiterature.com, and her own blog at FloorToCeilingBooks.com.
So You Want To Start A Book Blog…..?
When I agreed to write a blog post for Angry Robot, Lee Harris suggested possibly writing about starting a book blog. Which I am going to do – but all prefaced by you realising that I TOTALLY fell into the whole affair and feel as though I am still groping my way to decent and regular content!
First of all: why start a book blog? Read More→
Nostalgia
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Click to enlarge (not recommended)
I was talking to some friends last night about fashion disasters, and I recalled my haircut from the late 1980s. In my defence I was a struggling actor back then, and my publicity shots were supposed to be a bit mean and moody. Please feel free to chortle.
How about an altogether sweeter bit of nostalgia? Science fiction writer Philip Palmer has a regular feature on his blog SFF Song of the Week. Wish I’d thought of that! Anyway, a few months ago he asked me to contribute, so I picked a song from my childhood. Head on over to his site to see (and hear) my choice.
That’s it for today’s nostagia fix; check back regularly – we’re going to be shouting about the future very soon!
Some Monday Linkages
Posted by: | CommentsGood morning! How was your weekend?
To kickstart your week we have a couple of Angry Robot linkages:
Over at Pointless Philosophical Asides we learn that:
Although Moxyland is full of racy cutting-edge culture, it’s message is ultimately that of grumpy old men everywhere. The short-view of youth sees only the waves crashing in, while from the long view of decades one begins to see that these have nothing against the power of the tides. Instead of being a frightening possibility of the future, it becomes a description of the eternal way of the world.
It’s a great piece, but be warned: there are major spoilers.
Meanwhile, over at the Apex Blog, you can read Part 5 of Jesus and the Eightfold Path by Lavie Tidhar, and help some stranded volcano victims in the process…
Interviews, News, Reviews and Pews
Posted by: | CommentsOk, I lied about the pews.
In this month’s SciFi Now magazine, there are features on and by three different Angry Robot authors – Guy Adams talks about how he writes, Maurice Broaddus explains his particular methods of research, and Dan Abnett is quizzed about his forthcoming book, Embedded. Well worth picking up, and in UK newsagents now.
Over at Temple Library Reviews Lauren Beukes is interviewed and Moxyland gets the review treatment:
I have to say that the future Lauren Beukes envisions excited me, the world bedazzled me and the cyberpunk vibes buzzed my brain like a sour cherry. Beukes’ style is electric and evocative, which instantly puts her on my watch list of authors.
Servant of the Underworld appears to be a hit over at Examiner.com:
The book starts out a slow, steady pace and builds momentum from there. It’s not some huge action scene that hooks you. It’s the atmosphere. The blood spilled to gain favor from the gods. The cultural details Bodard infuses in each moment.
Guy Adams’ insane romp, The World House is covered at Luke Reviews:
the exploration of the house by the characters is the highlight of the book, with each group finding more bizarre rooms, each with an imaginative set-up
And Loudmouthman has this to say about Tim Waggoner’s Dead Streets (his follow-up to the brilliant Nekropolis):
Like all good pulp fiction your not in this to be invested in the characters your in it because the whole world feels, bloody gritty.
And to avoid disappointment, here’s a picture of a pew:
A fabulous interview with Maurice Broaddus
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On the Amazon.com blog, Omnivoracious, writer, editor and all-round good egg Jeff Vandermeer interviews Maurice Broaddus, talking about faith, and the ways in which it informs his writing.
It’s a fascinating interview, and well worth 10 minutes of your time.
Amazon.com: Are there forms of fantastical or horror fiction that lend themselves more readily than others to religious issues?
Maurice Broaddus: I think horror naturally lends itself to religious issues. The first question I get asked is how I can be a Christian and write horror. The total depravity of man (if you want a Calvinistic loaded phrase), the nature of good and evil, the mystery of the afterlife, unseen spiritual forces (like angels or demons), or the meditation on mortality/our fear of death. So it was not hard to get thoughtful works of horror from the likes of Brian Keene or Kelli Dunlap.
Fantasy works just as well. It’s the world of Tolkien, Lewis, L’Engle, and MacDonald. Though, it seemingly is the form that more readily lends itself to allegory, which, when not done well, is little more than thinly veiled propaganda. That being said, we used a lot of contemporary and urban fantasy in the anthology, from Mary Robinette Kowal and Ekaterina Sedia to Jay Lake and Jennifer Pelland.
One might think that science fiction would seem to be the one least likely to lend itself to religious themes, with the (false) opposition between science and religion. Yet Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow was an amazing book. And Gary Braunbeck goes dark science fiction in his tale for the anthology.
Maurice’s King Maker is out now in the UK, and his Dark Faith anthology (co-edited with Jerry Gordon) is available from Apex Publications in May.
