A Conversation With Alexei Panshin
An interview with D. Douglas Fratz
On the evolution of science fiction:
"SF may have been called 'science fiction' in the 50s and 60s, but by then science-beyond-science
was no longer being invoked in stories as the name of the transcendent wonders and marvels which distinguish
SF from mundane fiction. At least, that's what Hugo Gernsback -- the inventor of the name 'science
fiction' -- declared in 1963.
I think the changeover point came in the middle 40s. By 1947, Robert A. Heinlein was suggesting 'speculative
fiction' as an alternate name for SF. And by 1954, Forrest J Ackerman was calling SF 'sci-fi,' the popular name
it's currently best known by."
A Conversation With Paul Park
An interview with Greg L. Johnson
On starting out by writing novels:
"I think a lot of SF writers grow up reading SF stories. And then
when they themselves start to write, it's natural for them to work in that
form -- copying what they like, and trying to outdo it. But I never read short stories until later. They tend to be very much about
ideas, and I never used to like ideas much -- never could see the point of them, never could see how they helped you figure anything
out."
Payseur & Schmidt: The Definitive Interview
An interview with Jeff VanderMeer
On its early history:
"Payseur & Schmidt has always been a family institution. Of course, in 1912, when Martina Faye Payseur and Hilde
Frauke Schmidt began their venture together, there were no formal job titles, just lots of work to be done. Martina
and Hilde shared editing duties until 1920, when the increased workload (as well as the birth of Hilde's daughter
Maude) necessitated the need for a full-time editor. From here, as far as I can piece together, the
Payseur & Schmidt editorial helm was manned (or womanned) successively by no less than 37 different editors,
most of whom are lost in our records. Some editors of note: Salius Pempe (1934-1935) the Austrian wunderkind,
began his short tenure when he was merely 12 years old, but with puberty, his stellar editing skills vastly
diminished, and he was sent back to his homeland. Rachel Thorpe (1946-1962) was born blind and armless, and
required all manuscripts (in triplicate) to be presented unabridged in Braille. Despite this difficulty, she
maintained the longest editorship at P&S."
A Conversation With John Picacio
Part 2 of an interview with Rick Klaw
On his favourite cover artist:
"I appreciate illustrators who do work where I can see the process of how they think through a problem, and I always get that sense
when I look at Dave McKean's work. It may not always hit the mark every time in terms of execution, but in terms of concept and his level
of thinking and how he's seeing the medium or the manuscript or the cd or whatever project he's working on, you can tell that he's
thought through the piece in a meaningful way. I've always appreciated that about him. He's approaching the design process at a very,
very high level consistently, and he's pushed that level of excellence for a long time now."
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A Conversation With John Picacio
Part 1 of an interview with Rick Klaw
On how he begins an assignment:
"Let's put aside all the business end of it, and talk about process. The first thing is the most obvious: you read the book. You know the
book backwards and forwards, you understand it on your own terms, which you're being paid to do. The client (publisher) is not just
paying you for what you do with your hands, they're paying you for how you see the world, and that's the most important thing that you
can give to the publisher, to the author, to the book, and to your audience."
A Conversation With Ricardo Pinto
An interview with Victoria Strauss
On his process of writing:
"Each of my three books has been written using a progressively revised technique. Currently, I have spent more than a year
working on an outline -- I have not written a single word of the final book. This outline consists of a central document which
I call "tapestry" into which I weave the "threads" for each character and theme. As for revisions, if the previous two books
are anything to go by, I can do as many as six complete run-throughs... This is not neurotic perfectionism. My readers will,
eventually, become aware of just how complex, how finely crafted the books have had to be..."
A Conversation With Tim Powers
An interview with Kim Fawcett
On how he writes:
"It's all in the outline and the calendar. I try to make my outlines
infinitely detailed. I even have bits of dialogue in the outline,
ready for use. For one thing it's a cure for writer's block. What
am I supposed to write today? Well, there it is, look all the descriptions
are there, you've even got some of the bits of dialogue already
laid out. Just, you know, put that into a thousand words."
Terry Pratchett
Part 2 of an interview with Steven H Silver
On the dramatization of Mort:
"Curiously enough, we have no English movie interest whatsoever. All the
interest is coming from Germany and the USA. I think that's because the
English film industry is made up of a bunch of wankers. When the Brits are
allowed to make movies by themselves, it either has to be very gritty stuff
about jobless steelworkers or airy fairy stuff with Hugh Grant in it. The
idea of doing a fantasy would not occur to them... The British movie
industry as a whole seems quite puzzled about this sort of thing. 'What, you
mean there's no part for Scottish drugtakers in it?' 'Couldn't Mort
be a steelworker and take all his clothes off?' 'There's no part for Hugh
Grant? Well, good Heavens, can you make movies like that?'"
Terry Pratchett
Part 1 of an interview with Steven H Silver
On building an audience:
"Then and now, it is only possible to start off and begin to build up a readership and build up a readership and
build up a readership and then you get noticed. It is much harder to do that in the book industry in the US. Because
unless you are an instant bestseller, the books are not going to stay on the shelves long enough to build up a
readership except in a small number of specialty shops."
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