Archive for Writers
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.
Where do YOU write?
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Over at the ever-excellent Book Chick City, Tim Waggoner (author of Nekropolis and Dead Streets) explains, as the guest writer in the latest in a new series, Where Stories Are Made.
Once during a week-long writers’ conference where I was one of the instructors, the faculty gave a reading and afterward did Q&A with the audience. One person asked me when I write, and I truthfully answered that I was working on a scene for my novel right then. Everyone in the audience laughed, but I was serious. I’d only been half paying attention to what my fellow faculty had been saying. The rest of my mind was busy working on story stuff, as usual.
Don’t forget, Dead Streets is out today in the UK, and will hit the streets in Oz as soon as the plane touches down.
Also out today, Ian Whates’ superb fantasy City of Dreams and Nightmare and Maurice Broaddus’ fantastic urban fantasy, King Maker.
Dead Bad Things – The Anatomy of Horror
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This summer we publish Gary McMahon’s dark and disturbing horror novel, Pretty Little Dead Things. We love this book – it’s everything we want in a horror, so we’re really looking forward to reading the follow-up, Dead Bad Things when it’s written.
Gary has decided to keep a journal to document the progress of the book, and it promises to be a fascinating read. The first part is online now at his blog.
SciFi Now Magazine
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This month’s issue of SciFi Now magazine (issue 38) has just hit the shops in the UK.
SciFi Now have an excellent monthly section called Library. As you would expect, it’s devoted to the written word. One regular mini-feature within Library is The Inside Scoop, where authors talk about their writing process. This month it’s the turn of Kaaron Warren. It’s a short piece, but makes for very interesting reading. You can pick up SciFi Now from most good newsagents for the unusual price of £4.40 (I’ve never seen a magazine at £4.40, have you?)
The current issue has lots of other cool stuff, and I’ll be taking my copy with me into the bath, later. And no, I’m not Twitpiccing it! Jeez – what are you like?!
Hugos there?
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Over at Whatever, John Scalzi has invited people to recommend authors and works for the current round of Hugo nominations.
For those of you who are eligible to vote in this year’s Hugos, this is the list of Angry Robot people and titles that are eligible for consideration.
Best Novel
* Slights by Kaaron Warren
* Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson
* Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
* Kell’s Legend by Andy Remic
* Angel of Death by J Robert King
* Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Dan Abnett
* Winter Song by Colin Harvey
* Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon
note: Moxyland isn’t eligible this year as it was originally published in South Africa in 2008, though it will become eligible again next year (following its US release).
and for the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(not a Hugo, but presented with the Hugos):
* Lauren Beukes (for Moxyland)
* Mike Shevdon (for Sixty-One Nails)
and Best Editor (Long Form)
* Marc Gascoigne for:
Slights
Book of Secrets
Nekropolis
Kell’s Legend
Angel of Death
Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero
Winter Song
Sixty-One Nails
and the following artists:
* Joey Hi-Fi for Moxyland
* Stephan Kopinski for Slights
* Vincent Chong for Nekropolis
* Head Design for Angel of Death
* Adrian Smith for Kell’s Legend
* Chris Moore for Winter Song
* Larry Rostant for Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero
* Argh! Nottingham for Sixty-One Nails and Book of Secrets
examples of all these covers (and links to larger versions) can be found in the far right column.
This week’s signing, plus competition reminder
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Remember that this Friday at 6.00pm, there is an opportunity to meet with Angry Robot authors Aliette de Bodard and John Meaney at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London. You can pick up signed copies of their books (Aliette’s Servant of the Underworld and John’s Edge – written under his alter-ego’s name: Thomas Blackthorne).
While there you can pick up a competition entry form to win one of two great prizes – a stone replica of an Aztec calendar (to tie in with Servant of the Underworld) or the opportunity to have a character named after you, and killed in Point – the sequel to Edge, published later this year!
Also, don’t forget this week’s competition, celebrating the release of Guy Adams’ The World House, alongside Kaaron Warren’s Walking the Tree and Thomas Blackthorne’s Edge.
Write a short story about any subject you like. The only rules are:
- 1) It has to be 13 sentences long
- 2) The first word of the first sentence must begin with T, the first word of the second sentence must begin with H, the first word of the third sentence must begin with E, and so on, so that the first letters of the sentences, printed one under the other, spell out “THE WORLD HOUSE”.
The best entries will be sent to Guy Adams for judging, and the winner gets an Angry Robot USB drive plus a choice of any book Angry Robot published in 2009. No geographical restrictions.
Send your entries (in Word or RTF format) to: theworldhouse [AT] angryrobotbooks.com
Competition ends Sunday 14th February.
Good luck, and have fun!
The Father of Steampunk signs with Angry Robot
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Did you read the excellent piece in yesterday’s Guardian about steampunk? It got us very excited! It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the genre, so we’re always looking out for great examples!
Not our cover...
KW Jeter coined the term Steampunk, but unbelievably his classic novels Infernal Devices and Morlock Night have been out of print since the early 1980s. Angry Robot are delighted to announce that we are bringing them back to a new generation of readers in paperback, eBook, audio and steamPod formats.
(nor this)
Infernal Devices tells the story of George – a Victorian watchmaker who has inherited his father’s shop, though not his talent. A tale of time travel, music and sexual intrigue, Infernal Devices is a true classic.
Morlock Night, meanwhile, is a wild sequel to Wells’ The Time Machine – having acquired a device for themselves, the brutish Morlocks return to invade sleepy old England…
So, don your brass goggles, wind your mechanisms and sit back with a couple of true classics from a steam-driven Angry Robot.
Published worldwide by Angry Robot:
UK/Aus: October 2010
US/Canada: December 2010
Want to know more about steampunk?
As well as yesterday’s Guardian article, Angry Robot’s very own Lavie Tidhar wrote a piece for SF Signal last month – What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Steampunk?
Also, the Oxford Museum of the History of Science is still running its excellent steampunk exhibition. It runs until the 21st of this month, so go see it! The video below should serve to whet your appetite:
Mass debates on cover art
Posted by: | Comments(Just don’t read that out loud if you’re in polite company).
There has been a lot of conversations online recently concerning cover art, and the depiction of black characters as part of the overall design. Angry Robot author Maurice Broaddus has written about it on his blog. Not surprising, as his Knights of Breton Court trilogy for Angry Robot features the main cast on the covers, and they’re *gasp* not white! [cue: end of the world music]
Read what he has to say here. Do read the links from his post, too, as they provide excellent background reading. His, is always an interesting blog.
The Bookman continues to attract critical acclaim:
This is a steampunk gem. The settings are marvellously detailed, giving you the feeling that there is a London in which Lizards reign and whales swim up the Thames to sing lullabies to the city dwellers… Bring on a sequel, Tidhar! I’m craving to know what happens after the ending!
Read the rest of the review over at SFF World.
Dan Abnett, meanwhile, continues to dominate Borders’ US blog, Babel Clash and has taken the opportunity to talk about Triumff and his other work for Angry Robot.
It’s energising to find an imprint like Angry Robot that happily wears its awareness of those risks on its sleeve, and is eager to see them being taken. It’s about attitude.
This is the bit where I snap my fingers and say someting street, like “you go, girl”. Honestly – if you were in the office right now, you’d see I can make it work.
Over at the superb Falcata Times, Mike Shevdn’s Sixty-One Nails is given the once-over:
If you’re looking for something in the UF Genre for someone special in your life or if you’re just wanting something that’s pretty unique and mind blowing then you just have to buy this book… The second novel in the series is out next year but take a tip from me. Get this now before the hype hits.
The sequel (The Road to Bedlam) hits the UK this summer.
And finally, UK Steampunk author Adam Christopher listed what he’d like from the Apple iPad, and rather encouragingly he had this to say aout Angry Robot:
If the tablet can deliver an exemplary reading experience, I want to subscribe to publishing houses. For an annual fee, I’ll take everything from Angry Robot Books, thanks very much, delivered to my tablet on release… There’s not a single title from Angry Robot that hasn’t been an excellent read, and I’ll happily take the rest of their output on spec.
It brings a tear to my eye, it truly does…
A two-author signing, and WIN immortality by being killed!
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On Friday 12th February at the superb Forbidden Planet Megastore in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, join John Meaney (aka Thomas Blackthorne) and Aliette de Bodard for a signing session. This is a rare opportunity to meet Aliette, who isn’t in the UK very often. She will be on hand to sign her already-acclaimed debut novel, Servant of the Underworld and John will available to sign his latest book, Edge, written under his new alter-ego, Thomas Blackthorne.
The signing is from 6.00pm until 7.00pm, but you’ll have the opportunity to chat with the authors afterward – we’ll no doubt retire to a local hostelry for this part of the evening.
As well as the opportunity to meet Aliette and John, we have two rather splendid prizes to give away. There is no fee to enter (of course), and no purchase necessary, but you do need to be at the signing to pick up the contest card.
Click to see a bigger version
Answer a simple question to win either:
1) a wonderful 23cm stone replica of an Aztec Calendar, to celebrate Aliette’s book, or
2) get yourself written into the sequel to Edge as a throwaway character, likely to die a violent death! How cool is that? Point is currently being written, and will be published this summer.
Two fantastic prizes from two fantastic authors!
If you can’t make it to the event, you can pre-order signed copies of the books from Forbidden Planet.
See you there!
A few more snippets of loveliness for you, because we care
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Lord Abnett of Englandshire moves into his second week blogging at Babel Clash, and some very fine insights there are, too. A must-read for all would-be authors, whether you want to write original fiction, or tie-in. His most recent blogs are looking at the transition from creating tie-in fiction into being master of his own universe, with the writing of his first original novel, the fabulous Triumff: His Majesty’s Hero:
My own private universe
England, my England
In that second one he even talks about the yet-to-even-be-flipping-announced Triumff sequel, so check it out. And you can continue to penetrate Dan’s mind via the medium of letters combined into word-format over at Babel Clash for the rest of this week.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy blog reviews Aliette de Bodard’s Servant of the Underworld.
With Servant of the Underworld Aliette de Bodard has managed to create a living, breathing world from a long dead civilisation. It is clear that a massive amount of research about the Aztec people has gone into this novel, and it really does show. You could be forgiven for thinking that Aliette had lived among the living breathing Aztec’s rather than studying a people that died out centuries ago… Servant of the Underworld is an intelligent, involving and very rewarding novel which I have no hesitation in recommendation to one and all.
5 *****
Val’s Random Comments blog also talks about Servant of the Underworld:
An interesting and unusual setting, a well rounded main character (did you ever meet a priest of the dead being the good guy in a fantasy novel?) and a brisk pace. This novel has a lot going for it… Servants of the Underworld is one of the better débuts I have read recently. Definitely worth checking out. I am certainly going to keep an eye out for the second book.
Meanwhile, Maurice Broaddus (author of the superb King Maker) has been interviewed over at The Occult Detective and he’s a great interviewee.
Mr. Broaddus is more than the words he writes on a page… Maurice draws you in with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eye that belies the deep reflection that comes from a man who knows that there is more to life than the day to day drudgery. Maurice Broaddus is a man who knows all to well that what truly matters are the affairs of the heart and the weight of the soul.
Colin Harvey’s Winter Song gets the review treatment at The Future Fire.
That the characters, social interactions and cultures are so nicely constructed and observed is no detraction from this novel’s claim to be a hard science fiction adventure, and it is the stronger book for it.
