A Mission to Mars: Are You In?

To Infinity And Beyond!

Who knew that infinity stopped at 135? Two weeks ago this Friday, NASA launched the last mission of the undeniably iconic Space Shuttle program. While I'm sure plenty of older folks associate NASA with Apollo, the program that put man on the moon but for us children of the 80s and 90s, the Space Shuttle was our ticket to the stars.

But now it's gone, and with it, the promise of government-sponsored manned spaceflight, at least for the near future. Sure NASA still has interesting programs - the Juno Project, the Cassini-Huygens Mission, the Mars Science Laboratory, even the ARES Rocket - but all of those efforts are about bringing there to us, not taking us to there. As of a fortnight ago, tomorrow's scientists and science fiction authors were relegated to thinking about sitting at home while robotic instruments boldly go where no man has gone before (and probably won't for the foreseeable future).

Between the end of the shuttle program and the budget cuts threatening to hamstring NASA for years, there's no real way to know when humanity will once again set its sights on the final frontier. But while no one's really sure when we'll get there, everyone seems to agree on a destination: Mars.

Sure, we could go to the moon, AGAIN. But what are we really proving  by reaccomplishing what we were succeeded at over 40 years ago (and with much less sophiscated equipment). Or we could try for Venus, if you like 872°F balls of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. It's slight but there is a difference between sending a man to his death and sending a man on a very dangerous mission. Astronauts are crazy, not stupid.

Mars it is, then. But who will be first in line when NASA finally decides to get going?

To answer that question, I went to seven of the genre's best scientific speculators - writers who either specialize in science fiction (both near and far) or who spend their careers inching toward further technological innovation. The type of men and women who spend most of their waking hours thinking about where humanity goes next. And I asked them:

1a. If you were offered a chance to be the first person on Mars with supplies to set up a one-person self sustaining Marsbase (with the caveat that it was a one way trip and no guarantee that the mission would be successful), would you take it?


1b. If not, what would need to happen to get you on that spaceship? [It can be anything (a billion dollars for your family, a guarantee of safe arrival, a lifetime's worth of supplies, a colony of a thousand fellow travelers, a comet headed toward Earth) except the chance to return to Earth again.]


1c. Assuming we get you one planet down the line, what would be your version of "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"?

Find out who answered, and exactly what they said, after the jump.

Riyria Revelations Redux: An Interview with Michael J. Sullivan

Earlier this month, I got a glance at the Orbit Fall 2011/Winter 2012 catalog and I was quite surprised to see Michael J. Sullivan amongst the featured authors. Not because he's incapable of writing new books (I assume he isn't), more so that Orbit plans on republishing his current series, The Riyria Revelations - a series which has yet to be completed.

Sullivan began publishing The Riyria Revelations with Ridan Publishing back in 2008 with The Crown Conspiracy. It wasn't an overnight success but thanks to an aggressive release schedule, a grass roots marketing campaign, and a bevy of strong reviews, the series eventually did the improbable and joined the exclusive ranks of the small press success stories.

Like the series itself, that success story hasn't wrapped up just yet. With the new Orbit deal, Sullivan has the opportunity to get his novels in front of the thousands of casual readers who don't scour the internet looking for new recommendations on review blogs and message boards. Michael (and his wife/co-conspirator Robin) have done a great job getting the book out there. At the same time, there's no denying the benefits of a major publicity department.

After I heard the good news, I was curious about how everything fell into place and what the new deal meant for the sixth and final book, Percepliquis, which was originally slated for release later this year. So I did what any mediocre blogger would do, I asked him.

Here's what Michael had to say.

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SoY: I understand that Orbit is publishing the series as a trilogy. Is it going to be two Ridan books to each Orbit book or will they be broken down in a more complicated fashion?

MJS: Yes, Orbit’s books break down as follows: Theft of Swords (Volume 1) will contain The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha; Rise of Empire (Volume 2) contains Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm; Heir of Novron (Volume 3) will contain Wintertide and Percepliquis. For those reading in print, they can get the entire series for half the price. If given the choice, I would prefer more readers than money so making the series affordable is very attractive to me.

Orbit is also doing something really great as the three books come out in consecutive months: November 2011, December 2011, and January 2012. They already have pre-order pages up on sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Usually books in a series come out once a year, or sometimes longer, and the fact that they were fast-tracking the series was one of the things that really drew me to their offer. I was originally concerned about the inevitable delay in the final installment (originally due in April 2011). With this release cycle, people only have to wait an extra nine months, which is short in comparison to many delayed fantasy books and much quicker than if the books were being put out as six staggered books.

Cover Art Not Final

SoY: Will there be any updates to the text of The Riyria Revelations which has already been published?

MJS: All the books have already gone through editing, which was a frightening time for me. I had worked so hard to develop the arc of the series that I waited on pins and needles afraid of what Orbit might want different. Orbit assigned their senior editor to the project, Devi Pellai, and I had heard from others in the industry that she is one of the best in the business so I was willing to keep an open mind on any changes she might require.

To my great surprise and relief, there weren’t any major changes. Most of the comments concerned adding additional detail about places, the political system, and clarifying minor characters. That being said, having a whole new series allowed me to make some minor changes. For instance, there will be a new starting chapter for the first book, which will immediately introduce the main characters, Royce and Hadrian. This wasn’t something Orbit required, but Devi wanted to get to them faster. I’ve also had some readers who thought Archibald Ballentyne (a very minor character) was the focus of the book as he was the first person who was originally introduced. The fact that Archie is a disagreeable fellow turned a few people off of the book as they thought it might be about him. One other little tweak I made was to rewrite history with regards to one of my characters. Originally, he was forced to kill someone in self-defense and that never sat well with me regarding his character, so he’s been saved from such a hardship, for which he has expressed his gratitude.

One thing I would like to point out about editing. There have been people who have complained that there are a number of errors in the original books, typos, misplaced commas, and the like. This has led some to think the books were not edited, which was not true. In fact, they each have had multiple editors and proof readers. That being said, the copy editing of Orbit has been superlative. Their attention to detail has been astonishing and I’ve been totally impressed.

SoY: Reviewers have been saying great things about the self published Riyria Revelations for years now and I believe they've been fairly successful as far as independent/small press books go. How does it feel to have your writing (and other people's reviews) validated by a major publisher?

MJS: I’ve always thought the series was good, but then again I wrote it primarily for myself and my family. Because they were tailor made, it is no surprise that I like them. For me, the real validation came when sales started to take off on their own. This told me that people were referring the books to others and that made me think I had written something that had a wider appeal.

With the release of the fifth book, Wintertide, my sales went from 1,000 books a month to more than 10,000. I was impressed, but really didn’t have anything to compare that to until I was at a recent fantasy/scifi convention and talked to some other traditionally published authors. I discovered that I sold more in one month, then many did over their books lives.

Of course almost every author wants validation from a major publisher. There is always a twinge of pain when some naysayer says, “Well if the books were any good, why did he have to self-publish.” It never occurs to these people that I hadn’t submitted them—that I chose self-publishing. They just assume the books were turned down and self-published as a last resort. When we finally did submit, I was floored that we had multiple publishers immediately interested. That was a real kick in the head. Especially since this was before I started selling so well. At the time, my sales record was a respectable 1,000 books a month but nothing like the explosion that occurred later in 2010 and early 2011.

Cover Art Not Final

SoY: Five books in, what made you decide to finish your series with Orbit? How did the entire process happen?

MJS: Well, it wasn’t intentional. I thought any contract would come long after the last book was released. My wife, Robin, spends a lot of time studying various aspects of Amazon, like the fantasy bestsellers lists and the people also bought listings. I appeared on many fantasy lists but so did a lot of other self-published indie authors. But at some point, Amazon added a new feature where they showed buying habits on an author by author basis instead of book by book. If you look on the author’s page, or at the bottom of a books page, you’ll see sixteen authors whose books sell well with the audience of the author you were looking at. Robin noticed that on pages such as Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, V.S. Reddick, Brent Weeks, and about thirty others, mine was the only self-published author listed. There were even a number of places where I was number one or two. This was a real eye opener, which demonstrated that I was selling very well against major authors in the genre. Seeing this made Robin think she could leverage this success.

I had a foreign rights agent, and we asked her if it would make sense to make a try in the US market. She agreed and put together a proposal and sent it to seventeen houses. Usually publishing moves very slowly, and I figured it would take years before we saw any results. I figured that when the last book was out, and hopefully selling well, that we could get generate some interest. I had no idea it would snowball so quickly and seven houses immediately expressed an interest. I really like the choices Orbit has made and how they are growing their brand so we agreed on a six-figure deal with them just a few weeks after the original submission.

SoY: If you don't mind me asking, do you prefer the Ridan covers or the Orbit ones? Did you have any input as to the content?

MJS: The Orbit covers are very professional and much more in line with other books in the genre. They each depict the major characters, Royce and Hadrian. In general, I don’t like seeing the faces of characters on book covers. I prefer the reader to come up with their own idea of what they look like. That being said, I fully understand that Orbit is developing covers from a marketing perspective and they feel showing the characters is a good idea. I will say that if I saw both theirs and mine on a shelf I would be drawn to Orbit’s over my own.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the covers I did are pretty good and I get a lot of compliments on them. But in a lot of respects, the covers reflect what I’m capable of producing. I didn’t choose the scenes and landscapes motif because I thought they would sell best, or to try to put out something different. To be honest, I selected something that I was capable of producing well. I could never have created anything like what Orbit did. So, for the most part, I made the best covers I could with my limited resources.

As for input on the content, in general authors usually don’t get much say in the cover designs and many have a problem with this. I have a background in marketing, so I understand that the cover design is one that is selected to maximize sales. We talked about various ideas, but until I saw them I really didn’t know which way they had decided to go. If the covers had turned out badly, I suspect I would have had a lot to say. Luckily for me that wasn’t necessary.

Most authors don’t have the advantage of producing their books with their covers. Because I already had released them with my vision I really didn’t have a desire to interfere with Orbit’s ideas. In general I have like the covers they’ve done for other books, and I trusted them to do whatever they felt was best. The result was a very positive one and I’m very pleased with what they came up with.

Cover Art Not Final

SoY: Will book collectors ever be able to get the Ridan Press edition of Percepliquis or will their book shelves remain forever incomplete?

MJS: They will be able to complete their sets. We made a deal with Orbit that when their last book is released (the one that has Percepliquis in it) Ridan can also publish a limited edition of Percepliquis for a limited time with my covers and formatting. I think this is an exceedingly generous offer for Orbit to allow them to complete their sets and is just one of the reasons that I’m confident that I picked the right publisher to work with. Oh, and for those who prefer digital, Orbit will be putting out a Percepliquis only ebook version (using my cover), which will be half the price of the two-book set so that people who already paid for Wintertide won’t have to purchase it again.

For those people who are interested in the Percepliquis only version you should send an email to riyria6@gmail.com and we’ll email them a buy link as soon as it is available.

SoY: What's next after The Riyria Revelations?

MJS: I’m about forty-percent done with my next book entitled Antithesis. It is a complete rewrite of a book I originally wrote in 1984. Unlike The Riyria Revelations which is set in a medieval time period, Antithesis takes place in modern day Washington D.C. and explores the duality of good and evil. This is as a stand alone novel and not part of a series.

I also have a completed literary fiction piece entitled A Burden to the Earth that just needs some copy editing. It is nothing like my other works and I’m not sure how I should market it which is one of the reasons that it keeps just sitting there. The Riyria Revelations is a very fast-paced, plot-driven story with lots of twists told in a fairly straight forward writing style. Burden is almost the exact opposite. For this piece I focused on the craft of writing, taking great care to craft each sentence. This work is a character study of a man slipping into madness so the pace is much slower. Everyone who has read it loves it but they also note how different it is from my other writing, so I’m not sure if my current fans will be interested in this book.

As for The Riyria Revelations, this was very carefully designed to end at six-books. To tack on additional adventures to the end has zero interest for me, as I think it ends on the perfect high note and I don’t want to have anything that messes with that. But I did leave myself some threads and plenty of opportunities for spin offs. Some of them I can’t discuss because it could spoil the last book. In addition, there are several prequel s that intrigue me. I’m fleshing out a story that explores the truth behind the mythology about Novron, the original savior of mankind. The idea that he was exactly different than what they have been taught is an interesting notion to me. I’m actually really excited to write this and it feels like a trilogy to tell that full arc, but I’m not sure it makes sense to start until we see how the first series does. There are also possibilities to explore more of Royce and Hadrian’s pasts. Some of this comes out in the last book, but there is a lot more that can be further detailed. My wife is always bugging me to do “Royce and Hadrian, the Earlier Years” so I might give her a present and tell the full story someday.

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Orbit's first collection of Sullivan's stories, Theft of Swords, is due out November 23rd with Rise of Empire (12/14/11) and Heir of Novron (1/31/12) to follow shortly thereafter.

Thanks again to Michael for talking the time out of his increasingly busy schedule to answer my questions.

The Brandon Sanderson Interview: A StompingMad YetiHatter Collaboration - Part 1 of 2

Anyone who has finished The Way of Kings knows that when you get to the end of the book, you want more. More story. More words. More information. More anything. Ideally, you want the next book, but as that isn't set to hit shelves anytime soon, you will have to settle for what you can get.

I assumed that "what I could get" would be a whole lot of nothing until Michael (of Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review) offered me the opportunity to co-interview Sanderson (and to glean a few more tantalizing morsels about The Stormlight Archives in the process.)

Now, I'm not sure if together we would be called a StompingMad YetiHatter or a Mad Yeti Hat Stomper. What I do know is that we ended up with a pretty damn good interview. Sanderson graciously answered all of our questions. Except for the fact that his version of "answered" is like his version of "novel," resulting in a lengthy interview with lots of juicy details. Sanderson talks about his new novel, The Way of Kings, his work completing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, and the future for his new flagship series, The Stormlight Archives. Sanderson also touches on the mystery of Asmodean...

It's a little bit lengthy than I like to post on the main page so you'll have to click through to read the whole thing.

Read Part 1 of the interview after the jump.
Read Part 2 of the interview over on Mad Hatter.

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25 Authors Worth Watching in 2010 and Beyond

Last year, one of my more ambitious projects was the Keeping An Eye On... interview series. Targeting the 21 authors identified by SF Signal as Tomorrow's Big Genre Stars back in 2008, I was able to spotlight 19 authors who were on the front end of promising careers. Some had only published short stories; others had several novels under their belts. All had talent enough to garner attention. That interview series was my favorite thing I did last year and I was sad to see it end. All of the authors were so fun to talk to and despite the sterile nature of my first few interviews, I hope that they enjoyed the conversation as well.

Now it's two years or so after SF Signal's original (and fairly comprehensive) list and there are plenty of new authors who are worth watching. So late last year I set out to create a follow-up list of more authors worth watching. After all, the To-Read bookcase can never be full enough can it? To find nominees I actually did a fair bit of research, trying to be as objective as one blogger can be. I surveyed the first class of up-and-comers for additional nominations and who they thought might have been missing from the original list. I kept track of a number of message board "anticipated titles for 2010" threads, investigating new authors and keeping a tally of how many times each book was mentioned. I obtained input from several genre giants including Lou Anders and Gardner Dozios, among others. And I read lots and lots of short stories, pulling anthologies off the wall that I hadn't flipped through in years.

Finally, I ended up with an excel workbook filled with more lists and tallies than I knew what to do with. Sorting by frequency I was able to establish a list of about 35 strong contenders. After a little bit more careful research, I eliminated a few based on the fact that they could be considered past the "up-and-coming" stage of their careers. In the end, I was able to reduce the list to 25 authors to worth watching.

So without further ado, here are 25 new (or newish) authors worth watching for in 2010 and beyond.

• Alice Sola Kim
• Aliette de Bodard
• Ari Marmell
• Beth Bernobich
• Blake Charlton
• Chris Barzak
• Greg van Eekhout
• Hannu Rajaniemi
• Ian Tregillis
• Jack Skillingstead
• Jason Sanford
• John Langan
• Kaaron Warren
• Ken Scholes
• Lauren Beukes
• Lavie Tidhar
• Leah Bobet
• Mary Robinette Kowal
• Meghan McCarron
• N.K. Jemisin
• Nathan Ballingrud
• Rachel Swirsky
• Sam Sykes
• Theodora Goss
• Tina Connolly

Many of these authors I had never heard of before starting this project. Others I had heard of but never sampled. Much like the original list, some authors are just starting their careers and others could be considered close to graduating into the ranks of the established genre authors. I'd like to think there is a good mix of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror on this list and that while not every author might be right for you, at least a few of these authors could be just what you were looking for. 

So where do we go from here? Over the next week or two, I am going to be doing spotlights on each of these authors, what early work of theirs is worth reading, what work is coming out in 2010 and beyond, and where you can follow their writing careers online. Past that I hope to interview all of these authors similar to what was done with Keeping An Eye On... and cover their 2010 novels where and when I can.

I hope that you take the time to check out a few of the authors on this list and find someone new to read. If you don't want to be that aggressive, just keep coming back here and I'll try to give you all the information you need. You've probably heard of several of the authors on the list, possibly even most of them. But if I can introduce you to a new author that soon becomes one of your favorites, then I will consider this project a success. It's why I'm here.

Author Spotlight: Paul S. Kemp

One of my favorite video game franchises growing up was Star Wars: Dark Forces. From the early games pitting the mercenary Kyle Katarn against the Empire to the later games in which you play apprentice to Katarn (now a Jedi Master), the series has always been a underappreciated piece of the larger tapestry of the Galaxy Far Far Away. Not to mention the massacre of countless Storm Troopers. Bryar Pistol, Lightsaber, Force Lighting, Force Choke. Kill Counts in the quadruple digits. So when I heard that one of Katarn's apprentices, Jaden Korr was getting his own book my first thought was: It's about damn time. And the author giving us a prose window into this microcosm of the Skywalker-dominated shared universe? None other than Paul S. Kemp.

This is also Kemp's first foray into the GFFA, so I thought it would be beneficial to talk to Paul and shed a little light on the author behind the words. He was kind enough to participate, so read on to find out more about Crosscurrent, Kemp's other work, and his writing career in general.

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SoY: So Paul, your first Star Wars novel, Crosscurrent, comes out January 26th, 2010. Can you tell us a little about that?

PK: Sure. Crosscurrent is a standalone novel featuring Jaden Korr and set right about at the end of the LotF series. The story also has a connection to the Fate of the Jedi series (though one need not read the Fate of the Jedi series to follow Crosscurrent's story).

SoY: What else are working on right now? What will Paul Kemp publish in 2010? (Novels, short stories, or whatnot...)

PK: In Star Wars, I'm working on two things: First, a sequel to Crosscurrent, though I'm not sure when the publication date is. Second, something I…er…cannot yet announce. And, of course, Crosscurrent itself will be published in January.

In the Forgotten Realms (the sword and sorcery setting where a lot of my previous work was set), my Erevis Cale Trilogy will be combined into a single volume omnibus edition that will include not only the three novels of the Erevis Cale Trilogy (Twilight Falling, Dawn of Night, and Midnight's Mask), but also two short stories that feature into the Erevis Cale story arc. Oh, and for those not playing at home, Erevis Cale is my signature character in the Forgotten Realms, a priest and assassin in service to the God of Shadows.

In non-tie-in work, I'm shopping a supernatural thriller/horror novel. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report on it sometime in 2010.

SoY: Some more recent Star Wars novels have seen stylistic departures from the standard Star Wars format. We've seen Star Wars Horror (Death Troopers, Star Wars Noir (Coruscant Nights), Star Wars Military Sci-Fi (Republic Commandos). How did you approach writing a Star Wars novel? Did you want to bring in a certain style or accomplish something specific in Crosscurrent?

PK: That's a tough question. First and foremost, I wanted to be true to the feel of Star Wars. "Feel" is a difficult concept to articulate, but Star Wars novels have a unique vibe that mixes high adventure and cinematic action with a fair amount of philosophy. So, I wanted all of that to be there. At the same time, my strength as a writer (or so I tell myself) is in characterization. I wanted to really dig deep into Jaden's character (not to mention the other characters in the novel) and hopefully sear him into the minds of Star Wars fans. I like to think I've done that, but time will tell. And while I did all that, I wanted to stay true to my own writing style, which I'd characterize as fairly dark and gritty.

SoY: Many of today's genre writers were heavily influenced by Star Wars growing up? Would you include yourself in that category? If so, what's it like writing in the Galaxy Far Far Away from a fan perspective? If not, what would you say were your biggest influences in the genre?

PK: Oh, I was certainly influenced by Star Wars growing up. For years, I got Kenner action figures and ships every Christmas and birthday (the Snowspeeder being a favorite). I had the comic books, adored the movies (still do), collected the trading cards (your remember those? They featured stills from the movies with a little caption, and came in red, yellow, green, and blue sets). So, yeah, I guess you could say I was influenced.

As for what it's like: in a word, awesome. I had a blast writing Crosscurrent and contributing even a small part to the Star War phenomenon is more than a little cool.

SoY: It's recently come to light that you've been asked to do another Star Wars book building off of Crosscurrent. Are you still limited in what you can say about the follow-up? Can you provide any hints at all about the new story idea, even if it’s a teaser or two?

PK: Unfortunately, I can't. The NDA-Force is strong with Lucasfilm.

SoY: What's been the highlight of your career so far? In the statement "If I could write a book that ________________ , I would consider my career a success." what would you put in the blank?

PK: It'd be easy to say hitting the Times bestseller list or writing a Star Wars novel, but it's nothing like that.

Instead, it's this: I once received a fan mail from a reader who'd lost his father. He explained to me that my handling of a particular plot point in Midnight's Mask (the third novel in the Erevis Cale Trilogy) really helped him get through it.

SoY: The majority of your published work has been done with the Forgotten Realms shared universe. How has that experience helped you make the transition to Star Wars? In what ways are writing in the universes different?

PK: Well, both settings are highly detailed secondary worlds/universes, so they're similar in that you've got to dive into the lore with both hands and get to know the world/universe pretty well. As for how they're different: well, setting aside the subject matter differences, Star Wars fandom is vastly larger and vastly more…er…zealous than Realms fandom. Make no mistake, I and millions of others love the Realms, but as I said above, Star Wars is a global cultural touchstone.

SoY: Star Wars has some of the most complex continuities of any cross-media franchise out there, not to mention a fan base that can be... let's say "less than kind" to authors who don't give continuity the proper attention. Was the transition from writing Forgotten Realms to writing in the Star Wars universe difficult? What did you do to prepare yourself?

PK: Del Rey sent me thousands of pages of material and I read and read. I also browsed some of the more popular Star Wars message boards, watched and rewatched the movies, and so on.

SoY: Do you have any ambitions to develop your own fictional universe? In an ideal situation, what would you like to be writing?

PK: I do and am in the process of doing so. As I mentioned above, I've already got a supernatural thriller/horror novel making the rounds, and I'm working (as time allows) on an epic fantasy. I'm hopeful both of those will see print eventually.

SoY: On the subject of rabid fanbases, some of the discussion surrounding Crosscurrent is regarding one of the main characters, Jaden Korr. In the Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy game, Korr was a customizable character that could be a male or female from various species. In your book he is locked down as yet another male human Jedi. While I don't believe you made that decision, would you have made the same decision if it was up to you? Should authors writing in these universes keep their characters human and more relatable to the reader or fully embrace the diversity available to them?

PK: I actually did make that decision. In the end, I think authors should write the character through whose eyes and voice they can best tell the story they want to tell. For me, that meant a human male Jedi. That said, many of the supporting characters in Crosscurrent are alien (an Anzat, a Cerean, a Kaleesh).

SoY: Did you play any of the games to prepare? Will we see any of the other Jedi Knight characters in Crosscurrent either in flashbacks/back-story or in live action? Kyle Katarn or Rosh Penin perhaps?

PK: Never played any of the games, but Katarn's teachings to Jaden are the lynchpin around which Jaden's internal journey takes place.

SoY: What is a typical writing day like for you? Do you have any weird writing habits that somehow work for you?

PK: Nothing weird. When the outline is done and I’m into a novel, I try to write 1,500 to 2,000 words in a weekday, and at least touch the manuscript (writing, say, a few hundred words) over the weekend, just to stay in tune with it.

SoY: An Askajian Jedi apprentice, really? That doesn't seem like the most graceful of candidate species. Do the males have any unique features to match the females?

PK: Other than ample adipose tissue, I don't get too much into it. I do get in a Moon Lady reference, though.

SoY: This will be many Star Wars fans first time reading Paul Kemp. Suppose someone loves Crosscurrent and immediately churns through your catalog of books. If they enjoyed what they read, what other authors would you recommend? What's the best thing you've read recently?

PK: I sure hope those who enjoy Crosscurrent will go out and read my Erevis Cale novels. I think those who enjoy my storytelling style will enjoy it in both settings.

Authors that inspire me and inform my writing are folks like Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and GRR Martin. So if you enjoy my writing, you'll certainly enjoy theirs, being, as they are, masters of the craft.
As for what I've read and enjoyed recently, let's call it a tie between Haldeman's The Forever War and Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union.

SoY: Going forward into the future, where can we keep an eye on you and your work?

PK: Well, I'll be hanging around the Star Wars EU for a while, I think, and all of my Erevis Cale novels remain in print. Meanwhile, I've reached verbal agreement with another tie-in publisher of fantasy fiction. That announcement will come sometime in 2010. So, I think my work should be easy to find.

[You can keep an eye on Paul at his livejournal: http://paulskemp.livejournal.com/]

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Crosscurrent comes out January 26th, 2010. Storm Troopers watch out.

Keeping An Eye On... Scott Westerfeld

This week's Keeping An Eye On... author, like me, knows a little something about alphabetical discrimination. A fellow W, Scott Westerfeld is frequently shelved at the end of the aisles. Fortunately for him, his talent also keeps another stack of books front and center on the bestseller table. Unfortunately for him, he got pushed toward the back of the interview queue.

Honestly, I'm not sure how Westerfeld snuck his way onto SF Signal's list of up-and-coming authors. I'm guessing its a lack of awareness because the majority of his work is marketed toward the Young Adult crowd and some of the "SFF elite" still refuse to read "garbage" like Little Brother, The Graveyard Book, or Leviathan. Brainless boycotting aside, you should have heard of Westerfeld by now. There's his Uglies series which frequented the bestseller lists and took home several awards including Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association. Or his Peeps books which also earned the same award. Or his Midnighters books that garnered an Aurealis award. Or there's his Succession books. Or any of his standalone novels.

Or there his brilliant new Steampunk alternate history novel, Leviathan, which recently came in first in a Reader's Choice Poll here at Stomping on Yeti. I just finished the book, and the only problem I had with it is that it's sequel, Behemoth, doesn't come out until next October.

Read on to find out more about Leviathan, Scott's feelings on the YA "stigma", and whatever else we felt like talking about.

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SoY: I’ve been Keeping an Eye On you, but for those who haven’t, can you tell us a little about your recently released book, Leviathan?

SW: It's a half-steampunk, half-alternate history version of World War I. In this world, Charles Darwin discovered DNA, and the Victorian empire was built on the backs of fabricated species--living airships, talking message lizards, and various fighting creatures. The Germanic peoples (aka "Clankers") went a more mechanical route, and use walking machines with a classic steampunk look. The two main characters are the son of the archduke Ferdinand (a Clanker) and a girl passing as a boy to serve on a living airship (a Darwinist, of course). So basically, it's Romeo and Juliet in an alternate Great War.

SoY: How long do you plan to write in the Leviathan world?

SW: Leviathan will be a trilogy plus one. The trilogy covers an around-the-world trip, so we get to see Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Japan, and the US in this alternate reality, and there's also a fair amount of resolution in the war itself. The fourth book is a large-format, all-color geekfest of deck plans, cutaways, and illustrations of the uniforms, creatures, and machines.

SoY: A lot of your work has been primarily marketed as YA fiction but is often included in lists of quality YA fiction even adults should read. In your mind, what distinguishes YA fiction from adult fiction?

SW: "The age of the protagonists" is the usual answer. But I think it's more than that. Being a teenager is mostly about identity, figuring out who you are and what your place in the world is, while at the same time questioning how adults could have left things in such a mess. YA is really close to science fiction in that regard, which is why I always say that the SF section WAS the young adult section until recently.

SoY: What’s it like competing with Harry Potter and Twilight for attention and shelf space? (You seem to have done pretty well for yourself)

SW: Those books have created millions of new readers, most of whom have grown up with the fantasy genre as their primary reading mode. They've saved many, many bookstores from bankruptcy during an economic downturn, and created a culture where certain book releases garner as much media attention as movies. It would be churlish to complain.

SoY: How do you respond to adult readers who dismiss YA novels as something below them?

SW: Crippling insecurity is a terrible affliction, and we should all be as supportive as possible.

SoY: Back to Leviathan for a moment, one of the highlights of the book is Keith Thompson’s beautiful artwork interspersed throughout its pages. They give a visual aspect to the book which really works well with Steampunk. How did his illustrations come to be included in Leviathan?

SW: About 60 pages in, I realized that I was writing a "boy's own adventure," the kind my parents had moldering in their attic when I was growing up. Like most novels of that period (whether for adults or children), those adventures were illustrated. So I went in search of an artist.

I soon found Keith, who is amazing at both weird creatures and fantastical machines. He's created a style I call "Victorian Manga," a very accessible look that's based on Punch Magazine from that decade.

There are about 50 images in each book, more than one per chapter, so it's quite a bit more illustrated than the books in my parents' attic. But Keith Thompson's amazing work was worth stretching historical precedent.

SoY: You’ve written both vampire books (Peeps) and steampunk books (Leviathan); two of the hottest trends in genre publishing today. First, which subgenre will crash first? Second, when do we get your Zombie novel? And Third, what’s the next big trend in genre fiction?

SW: Well, I wrote Peeps a long time ago, too early to get included on the Twilight "readalikes" tables, so I wasn't exactly trend-spotting. And Leviathan has been in the works forever. But I do have a zombie short story coming out next year (in an anthology to be revealed soon). I would say I loved zombies before they were cool, but there was NO SUCH TIME.

But seriously, it's quite interesting to see steampunk gain some visibility over the last couple of years, after two decades of relative obscurity. I would doubt the genre can ever get big enough to "crash," because it's just too complicated for the average person. (It can certainly get big enough for people who hate trendy things to hate, but that's not a real crash, that's just wankers mouthing off.) To really get steampunk, you have to have a sense of history, a love of technology, and a whole set of notions about how human beings fit into industrialism and colonialism. And frankly, most people don't have the time.

Steampunk will only ever really trend at surface levels. It's like after Mad Max was a hit, and for a while every future included leather jackets, motorcycles, and mohawks, and then people mostly got bored of that (mostly). But you would hardly say that "post-apocalyptic settings crashed." Mad Max-ism just entered the canon of sf styles, which is what steampunk is in the process of doing.

I don't think vampires will ever crash, never ever, but why that is would be a whole dissertation.

SoY: Earlier this month, it was announced that your series Midnighters was being optioned for television by NBC. How involved are you in the development? What can you tell us about the series?

SW: What I can tell you is that I have nothing to do with it. The press release says something about the midnighters "fighting crime," which is news to me and to readers of the series. My guess is that people in TV say "fight crime" as a form of Hollywood-specific Tourette's.

SoY: You’ve been optioned for TV shows, won numerous awards, and often grace the New York Times Bestseller Lists. Out of all of your accomplishments, what has been the highlight of your career so far?

SW: The big story that most adults are missing right now is that today's teenagers are way more smart and sophisticated and cool than we were. I mean, seriously, doing things like writing novels en masse? Just to see what it's like to write a novel?

Being lucky enough to hit during that wave (which partly comes out of the YA boom, and partly from the internet itself) has been a total gas. Being an inspiration to this vastly awesome generation, and having the opportunity to guide a trickle of them toward SF (with fantasy being the overwhelming mode), is the best honor I could think of.

In short, my fanmail is the best thing ever.

SoY: Fill in the blank: “If I can write a book that _______________, I will consider my career a complete success.”

SW: I would hate to be a *complete* success. That sounds like being done.

SoY: Hypothetically, you get kicked off the list for selling too many books. Who do you nominate in your place?

SW: Lauren McLaughlin, whose Re-Cycler just came out (a sequel to last year's excellent Cycler).

SoY: What’s the best thing you’ve read this year?

SW: Let me get back to you on this. Bug me if I don't! [Note: I bugged him. He never did]

SoY: [Obligatory pimpage] Is there anywhere online that readers can follow you and your work? [/obligatory pimpage]

SW: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

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Another little known fact about Scott is that he refuses to experience winter, instead traveling between New York City and Australia as the seasons change. While that seems strange, as I sit here freezing in the slushy Chicago weather, I can't blame him in the slightest.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post my review of Leviathan this week or next. The short summary is that you should either ask for this book for Christmas, buy it for a young relative, or do both. His alternate steampunk world is so interesting that I absolutely cannot wait for the follow-up. Maybe I will have to travel to Australia to find out what happens next. And if I happen to stay there until there is sunlight again, that sounds good too.

Keeping An Eye On... Daniel Abraham

After a brief holiday absence, Keeping An Eye On... has returned! This week's author is none other than Daniel Abraham. I held off interviewing Daniel until late in the process because I had previously talked with his alter ego, M.L.N. Hanover a couple of months ago regarding a few Urban Fantasy covers of "typical quality" and I wanted to give him the opportunity to write a little more. It helps that everything he writes is definitely worth talking about. Additionally, that first interview focused on his Hanover books and Urban Fantasy in general, so I wanted to revisit Abraham's own books and gauge his opinion on some more universally applicable subjects.

Abraham has proven to be one of the authors on most enjoyable authors on SF Signal's Watchlist. Granted, that's like picking the most attractive Victoria's Secret model but nonetheless Abraham's Long Price Quartet and Hanover's Black Sun's Daughter Series are some of my recent favorites. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Abraham's short fiction has been nominated for several major awards including the Nebula and World Fantasy. Needless to say, Abraham writes a pretty good story and if you keep reading, you'll find he makes for a pretty good interview as well.

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SoY: If we are keeping an eye on you, what should be looking for in the near future? What have you been working on recently?

DA: In the absolute most literal answer to the question, I've got a contract for three books in an epic fantasy series for Orbit and a couple more of the urban fantasy titles as MLN Hanover. I'm hoping that both of those turn into more contracts in the next few years. They're both projects I'm having a lot of fun with.

On a more abstract level, I'm finding myself interested in the difference between trying to do something really new and trying to do something familiar really well.

SoY: If a reader has never heard of you before reading this, what is the one single piece of work of yours would you like them to read?

DA: I'd point them at "The Cambist and Lord Iron". It's just a short story, so it's not something that asks for a lot of time. I'm fond of it, and it's free online here.

SoY: Can you tell us some more about your Dagger and the Coin series?

DA: Ah! The Dagger and the Coin. That's an interesting project.

When I started writing the Long Price Quartet, my personal mandate apart from the exact plots and characters and all was to figure out how to write a novel. I'd written a bunch of short stories, and i felt like I had a handle on that length. Novels, though? Before A Shadow in Summer, I'd written three trunk novels. Each one was better than the one before, but I didn't have it down yet. So four books later -- or five, if you count Hunter's Run, or seven if you add in the Black Sun's Daughter books to date -- I understand book-length fiction a better. I'm comfortable. I win, right?

When it came time to build the new project, one of the things that was clear to me is that if you know where you're going from the first word, you win. I have this whole rant comparing X Files to Babylon 5 that makes the point. Anyway, I started this by something I called the Symposium. I got a bunch of really great minds together for a Sunday, and we talked about what epic fantasy *is*. What's the relationship of the genre to landscape? How is it about nostalgia for a mythical past and how is it more than that? What are the expectations, and how can you fulfill them without painting by numbers? It was a *long* talk.

Then with that as a focus, I went through all the things I think are the most interesting things that I could fit into an overtly epic fantasy universe. I love the Medici bank, and especially Tim Park's book-length essay on it, Medici Money. I love The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis. I love Whedon's Firefly (not so much Serenity, but that's another rant). I love The Diary of a Man in Despair by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen. I love Dumas and Dickens. I love Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo books. I think Walter Jon Williams' Dread Empire's Fall series is critically under-appreciated. And on and on.

And so I stole everything I liked the best, and now I'm making gumbo.

The books -- I'm under contract for three, but I'm thinking that the first full arc will take about five -- follow five main characters. It's a little weird, since instead of having a farm boy chosen by prophecy, I've got an orphan girl who was raised by my version of the Medici bank, but hey. The point was never to paint by numbers, right?

The first book covers the introductions and setup with a bunch of swashbuckling and dark magic and intrigue and sentiment. The second book is the start of the Great War. The third will take us up to the critical moment, and then change the game again.

They're longer books than the Long Price -- about 160,000 words at the minimum where the Long Price was more in the 120-140 range -- but so far, it reads like a short story. With as much as there is to cover, things move fast. And it's a different tone. The glib way I've been describing it is that I wrote my tragedy first, now I'm writing my adventure, and if someday I'm good enough, I might try my comedy. But not yet.

SoY: You've currently got work planned in both the Epic Fantasy subgenre and the Urban Fantasy subgenre. Are there any current plans to further diversify? In an ideal situation?

DA: Oh yes. I'd love to. I have things on the back burner for a space opera, a mystery series, and a semi-literary horror/popular science book. But I also have 24 hours in the day and a family. I've had a good time playing in the different subgenres, though. It's taught me a lot of things I don't think I'd have learned otherwise.

SoY: What authors would you describe as your primary influences in developing your personal narrative style?

DA: That's a hard call. I don't think I've consciously adopted anyone's voice. When I was just starting off, I was interested in Anne Rice and Stephen King and Margaret Atwood. There's a grouping that would make all of them cringe, but they were all people I admired. People forget this, but back in the day, Anne Rice was really good with evoking a mood and making things that should have been absurd and ridiculous poignant. She lost it later, but a lot of people do. It doesn't make her earlier work bad. King was great at telling a story, and not letting the beauty of the piece get in the way. I still admire the hell out of him for being utterly in the service of the story and not the aggrandizement of the author, moreso since he's become a demigod. And Atwood -- say what you will about her unfortunate snobbishness -- has a feel for the complexity of human emotion and poetry options of language that is very, very compelling, especially in her non-genre work before The Handmaid's Tale.

The biggest single influence, though, is Walter Jon Williams. I've been workshopping with him for over a decade now, and he has taught me more than any other single person, especially about how to identify and overcome my default errors. Walter's a craftsman, and that's sky high praise where I from.

SoY: In the novel Hunter's Run, you collaborated with genre heavy hitters Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin to expand a novella decades in the works. Do you find it easy for you to collaborate on creative projects? Is it harder when working with people that are at different points in their careers?

DA: I appear to be pretty good at collaboration. The biggest single skill I can recommend for that kind of project is give up having it be the way you'd do it alone. The point of collaboration is that it isn't what any of us would have done solo. Once you're willing to lose a point here or there -- to relinquish total ownership of the project -- it can be great fun. That's true whether it's Hunter's Run or the Wildcards books or the Tauromachia story I did with Walter, Sage Walker, and Michaela Roessener.

And George and Gardner were fun to work with. We have deeply different styles -- especially me and Gardner -- but they're serious writers who treated me and the project with utter respect. As far as being at different points in our careers, that would be a real problem if I looked too much up to them or they looked too much down on me. But they were very good about treating me as an equal, and I'm not that bowled over by people higher on the food chain. Didn't help me in high school, but it's a nice talent now.

SoY: Like many authors you started out writing shorter fiction (Leviathan Wept is out next year!) but your output has diminished as you came to focus more on novels. What is your opinion on the short form? Is it merely a stepping stone to bigger things or a valuable form that just isn't financially viable for today's writing market?

DA: Are you sure my output's diminished? I've got three novelettes that are eligible for the Nebula this round, and four more stories under contract one place and another, both as myself and MLN.

I think short form is great. It's sharper and faster than a novel, and it allows for some effects that in a longer story would just get tedious. From a purely mercenary point of view, yes, it's a good stepping stone to larger projects. I'm not sure that novels always make you more money if you account it by the word, but the stability of knowing that, for instance, the Orbit contract I signed will pay me for the next three to four years is a very pleasant thing.

From a really mercenary point of view, though, any fiction writing is stupid. Better to write non-fiction where the money is, or get a real job. And short stories are fun.

SoY: As a follow up, what would it take to resurrect the ailing short fiction market? Would a clear cut internet delivery system (iPod for fiction/Kindle/iTunes) be enough to provide another golden age for short genre fiction?

DA: Well, the glib answer is more people reading them. Part of the problem is that short stories are more directly in competition with television and movies than novels are. It takes about the same kind of time commitment to read a short story as to watch an episode of House or, if it's a longer story, a feature film.

My sense, though, is that the thing that would really help resurrect the short story market is a really skillful, reliable, high-profile editor who can present stories so that readers know what they're signing up for will be what they want. I remember the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents anthologies. The problem, I think, we're facing in an information age is filtering. We need more recognized, acknowledged, high-profile filters. Maybe Oprah.

SoY: As a Clarion graduate, What is your opinion of writing workshops? What's the more important aspect: writing advice or networking opportunities?

DA: Ah, the tastes great/less filling question.

I went to Clarion West in 1998, and it was a very good thing for me. I've been in a live, active writing workshop for almost a decade, and I've gone to the week-long Rio Hondo workshop in Taos probably eight times in the last ten years. Every one of those has both made me a better writer and broadened the number of serious, professional people I know in the field.

That said, I'm a skeptic when it comes to workshops.

There is an industry of writing how-to books and workshops and seminars that preys on the desperation of new writers. I've talked to editors and agents who go to these, and even the folks who do go to them don't think much of 'em.

If you can get a good group of people to work with, if you're already sure enough of your craft that you can consider something that a more successful author says and discard it, if you're open enough to changing that you can consider something a lesser writer says and accept it, then workshops will make you better faster than anything else in the world.

Even from a strictly craft perspective.

And knowing a bunch of people doesn't hurt.

SoY: What are a modern internet-age author's responsibilities when it comes to self-promotion?

DA: Briefly, meet your deadlines and don't be a dick in public. It's not a moral thing, it's just good tactics. If there's more than that, I haven't figured it out.

SoY: Tell us a little about your personal writing style. What are your writing habits like?

I drop the kid off at school at 8:30. I get my coffee and a raisin tart rom Guiseppe's. I go to a desk in my parent's print shop. I leave it again when I go get the kid at 3. In between, I avoid writing as much as I can.

SoY: Who wins in a fight between Daniel Abraham and M.L.N. Hanover? Does he have an evil goatee?

DA: MLN. Daniel's a very sensitive, thoughtful kind of guy. MLN's willing to take the kick to the balls. And of course there's no goatee; anyone using initials instead of a full name is obviously a woman.

SoY: An incident occurs resulting in your removal from the list of up-and-coming genre stars. What is the most likely cause of that incident? (can be as serious or as funny as you would like) Who do you nominate in your place?

DA: Funny you mention it. My wife was hilariously sick last year, to the point we were talking about what the plan was if I had to go back to a full-time day job. If anyone out there ever enjoys anything that I write for the rest of my life, let me make it very, very clear: You owe Dr. Mohammed Othman and Dr. Michael Camilleri. So do I.

As far as giving away my chair, Ian Tregillis is going to kick my ass out of it in a couple years anyway. You haven't heard of him yet because his Milkweed Triptych hasn't been published, but he's hands-down the most talented writer I've ever read who isn't already more famous than me.

SoY: On a possibly related note, What’s the best thing you’ve read this year?

DA: That's actually a trick question. I'm on the jury for the PKD this year, so I'm actually not allowed to talk about the vast majority of the things I've read this year, and my extra-curricular reading has been thinner than I normally like.

I'd mention Tana French's "mystery" In The Woods. I use the quotes because as a mystery, it's not particularly satisfying. Read as supernatural horror, though, it's freaking lovely. And anyone who hasn't read Jo Walton's Small Change books is missing a real treat.

SoY: What's being a judge for the PKD award like? Have you figured out how many metric feet of book you are suppossed to read?

DA: It's a fascinating process. I'm not allowed to into specific, of course, but the assignment is to read every original paperback science fiction book that comes out this year. I was warned going in that the problem was starting to read a book I enjoyed, but not so much that I'd give it an award, and then having to put it aside because there were so many others to get to.

The award committee this year has some really great people on it, and more than half the fun is getting to talk to them about the books. At this point, there are still some books that may show up on the doorstep, and we haven't even nailed down a short list, so I don't have any idea who will actually take the prize. There have been some damn fine books in the mix, though.

SoY: [Obligatory pimpage] Is there anywhere online that readers can follow you and your work? [/obligatory pimpage]

DA: I'm having the websites redesigned, but very shortly you may reach me at http://www.danielabeaham.com/, http://www.mlnhanover.com/, and bram452.livejournal.com. I am always at home.

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If you are still here after that long (and fantastic) interview, thanks for reading. Abraham's Black Sun's Daughter series and Long Price Quartet are two outstanding series so I have high hopes for The Dagger and The Coin.

I just finished Daniel Abraham's latest, Darker Angels. Look for a review later this week. Next Thursday, it's Scott Westerfeld's turn in the spotlight.

Keeping An Eye On... Daryl Gregory

There's been a brief hiatus of Keeping An Eye On... entries as I've already had the pleasure of talking to most of the authors on SF Signal's Watchlist and there are only a few authors still escaping my completist grasp. When I first saw the list I checked out a few of the most repeated names that I hadn't heard of. At the top of the list was an author by the name of Daryl Gregory. A little google research led me to an unassuming book by the title of Pandemonium. A few hundred pages later, I had finished my favorite read of 2008.

So it was no suprise when Pandemonium, Gregory's debut novel was nominated for the World Fantasy Award, The Shirley Jackson Award for best dark fantasy or horror novel, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, The Mythopeic Award for Best Adult Fantasy Novel, and helped Gregoy take home the 2009 Crawford award for "outstanding new fantasy writer."

And that was just his first novel, not counting any of his other shorter work which has been nominated for various awards as well. It might sound like I'm a huge fan of Daryl's but I actually hate him. I read his stuff and I know that I could never write anything of comparable quality so I probably should just give up trying now. He's a veritable SoulCrusher.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to quit reading his stuff. I'm vitriolic not stupid.

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SoY: If we are keeping an eye on you, what should be looking for in the near future? What have you been working on recently? If a reader has never heard of you before reading this, what should they be reading?

DG: Never heard of me? But… but… I was on the list of 21 Genre Writers to Keep an Eye On! I thought that after that everybody in the world would be, you know, eying me.

Excuse me, I’m going to have to take a moment to adjust.

Okay, I’m back. How about this? Read “Second Person, Present Tense,” a short story that first appeared in Asimov’s and was later picked up by some other anthologies. It's not too long. Then if you like that, read everything I publish from here on out -- it’ll make my mother feel better about this career path I’m on.

The next thing to come out is a story called “What We Take When We Take What We Need,” which will be appearing in a special issue of Subterranean that was edited by Jonathan Strahan. Any similarity to the title of the famous Raymond Carver story is entirely intentional.

And [later this month] my next novel will be published—The Devil’s Alphabet, from Del Rey Books. It’s a story about quantum mechanics, addiction, universe-hopping viruses, alternate evolution, and small-town politics. It’s my entry in that overplayed sub-genre, Hard SF Southern Gothic Murder Mystery.

SoY: Do you have anything planned after The Devil’s Alphabet?

DG: Regarding the next book, I'm only talking about it in vague terms. It has a working title of Raising Stony Mayhall, will be coming out from Del Rey at some point, probably late 2010 or early 2011, and is unrelated to the previous two.

SoY: Portions of Pandemonium read like a love letter to the genre. Was this something you set out to do when you were writing it or an unintentional consequence of your childhood reading habits?

DG: After that love letter—the first of many, actually—the genre sent me a restraining order. I’m ignoring it. The genre WILL know my love, no matter how many times it changes its address.

And the answer to your question is: Yes. It was both an intentional act and something I felt compelled to do by my childhood reading. And by “childhood” I mean “childhood and adulthood.” I haven’t stopped reading comics, or Philip K. Dick, or pulp novels for that matter. But when I started writing Pandemonium I realized I had an opportunity to create a mash-up of all those things, while still examining them a little critically. Are these power fantasies and superhero archetypes at all appropriate in a post-911 world? The answer is, Not Really. But I can’t help loving them anyway. It’s a moral failure.

SoY: Every author has that one story they’ve always wanted to tell. Is either Pandemonium or The Devil’s Alphabet that story? Or is that one still to come?

DG: I hope I never discover what that one story is. Because after I write it, then what? I mean, To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic, but you have to wonder what Harper Lee was thinking by publishing that first. That's just terrible career planning.

SoY: One of my favorite things about Pandemonium was how it was undeniably a piece of genre fiction but the narrative style felt very “literary” (albeit in a very hard to describe way) As an author who has dabbled across genre boundaries, do you have any opinions on the “ghettoization” of science fiction/fantasy/horror?

DG: All I can say about the ghetto is that it’s mug’s game for a writer to care about it, at least while he or she is trying to get some writing done. I’m aware of genre as I’m writing—Pandemonium, for example, was consciously designed to be a fantasy that feels like science fiction, and The Devil’s Alphabet is SF written to feel like fantasy—but whether it gets me out of the ghetto or keeps me there is a marketing problem for after the book is finished.

As for whether something is literary… well, I think that just means that the writer is trying to write as best he or she can, word by word, sentence by sentence.

SoY: Pandemonium almost defies classification. What sub-genres are you most interested in? Is there a difference in what subgenres you read and the ones you write?

DG: I’m a fairly picky reader. I have to be, because I’m short on time and I’m not a fast reader anymore. (At some point around age 16 I noticed that stories were made out of words, some of which were better chosen than others, and perhaps I should read all the words -- and that ruined my speed.) But what I do pick up ranges across sub-genres, or steps outside the genre entirely. The only thing I consistently avoid is anything similar to what I’m currently writing.

And when I write, I’m attracted to “+1” stories. Take the real world, add one strange thing, and follow that idea wherever it goes. That strange idea can be plausible—like the neurological oddities I write about in some of my short fiction—or completely implausible, like Jungian archetypes possessing people at random. The neuro SF is considered hard sf, some of the other stuff is fantasy, but for me, the similarities far outweigh the differences. Genre ain’t nothin’ but the spin on the pitch.

SoY: What has been the highlight of your career so far?

DG: My first sale, to F&SF, in 1989. Nothing yet has topped that moment. I was weeping in joy and relief. Publishing one story was all that I ever wanted, or expected. Everything since then—award nominations, getting into best-of anthologies, meeting my idols at conventions, drinking with my idols at conventions—has been wonderful, but it’s all gravy.

SoY: An incident occurs resulting in your removal from the list of up-and-coming genre stars. What is the most likely cause of that incident? (can be as serious or as funny as you would like) Who do you nominate in your place?

DG: Geez, I hope it’s because I become a current star of the genre. I want to stay in this game long enough to become a falling star of the genre, then a has-been known only by collectors, and finally a rediscovered artist who is finally recognized as a creative giant misunderstood in his own time. Then forgotten again.

But if I get removed from the list, it’ll probably be because of the usual cause—there are just too many damn good writers out there, and any poll of some assortment of editors is going to come up with an equally valid, equally varied list. In short, please give my spot to Jack Skillingstead, who should have already been on the list, and has released a short story collection and a novel this year.

SoY: You get to choose a single SF/F author (can be living, dead, or reincarnated spirit of Philip K. Dick) to write one additional book. Who do you choose and why?

DG: Philip K. Dick needs to kick one out from beyond the grave—perhaps an Ubik 2. But this time he has to do at least two drafts.

SoY: Every writer has a favorite word. Mine’s plethora. What’s that unique word that tries to find its way into everything you write?

DG: My favorite word is antisesquipedalianist, because if you use the word, you’re a hypocrite. I’ve never been able to get it into a story, though.

SoY: [Obligatory pimpage] Is there anywhere online that readers can follow you and your work? [/obligatory pimpage]

DG: Hit me up at http://www.darylgregory.com/. Free stories! Free opening chapters! Ginsu steak knives!

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So that's Daryl Gregory. I've had the pleasure of reading The Devil's Alphabet which comes out next week already and surprise, surprise, it's one of my early favorites for Book of 2009. And if you don't trust my word (why are you here?) you can refer to Publisher's Weekly who named The Devil's Alphabet one of it's Best Books of 2009 (one of only 5 genre novels on the list).

I'd go so far as to say that The Devil's Alphabet is the best Hard SF Southern Gothic Murder Mystery Novel in the history of fiction. All kidding aside, this is another great novel by one of the most impressive genre writers I've discovered in the past decade. I cannot recommend Gregory enough to anyone looking for genre fiction that is both intelligent and enjoyable.

I'll have a full review of The Devil's Alphabet up on Monday. You can buy it Tuesday. I recommend that you do.