Breakaway: Up a Few Notches

Rob H. Bedford posts his review of Joel Shepherd's second Cassandra Kresnov novel, Breakaway,on SFFWorld today. "Joel Shepherd’s electric heroine, Cassandra 'Sandy' Kresnov, continues her thrill-ride of a life in the author’s second novel, Breakaway. Shepherd picks up her story shortly after the events of Crossover,and the story doesn’t miss a beat. If anything the beat gets turned up a few notches."

Norther Ireland's Funkiest Literary Maven

Author Ian McDonald is interviewed in the Culture Northern Ireland podcast. He talks about how Star Wars is rubbish, how a book is a personalized virtual reality experience that doesn't need batteries, his new novel Brasyl,writing about cultures not your own, and many more things besides.

The Con That Assigns Homework

Readercon, "the con that assigns homework," has selected Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky as one of four books they are urging all attendees to read pre-convention. The other three books are Ironside by Holly Black, Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand and Blindsight by Peter Watts. These books will be the focus of discussion in a series of 30-minute author talks called "How I Wrote[Novel Title]."

Readercon began today, running July 5-8, at the Burlington Marriott in Burlington, Massachusetts. Wish I were there!

Justina Robson: Femme Fatale Kung Fu Master

Noted author and blogger John Scalzi interviews Justina Robson on his AOL Ficlets blog, as well as giving a nice plug for her novel, Keeping It Real, on his Whatever blog. Here's a taste of the interview, in which Robson describes herself to John's readers, but I encourage you to check out the whole thing:

"I’m one of those lifetime scribblers who started out filling legal pads with Star Wars fiction and stories about ponies and ended up writing for a living. That was my plan since I was at school in about 1983 and I stuck with it. Now I’m a lot older and I’m still sticking with it. I live in English suburbia, with two children and my partner. That wasn’t in my plans when I was younger. I always thought I’d go off to California and be wildly unconventional. Maybe later. I still haven’t quite given up all my other dreams either, which included being some kind of scientist, astronaut, mystical sage, femme fatale, kung fu master or doctor but I don’t see how I’ll fit all that in."

Also see Musapaloosa, Robson's LiveJournal.

Wishing on a Rising Star

Alexis Glynn Latner's debut novel, Hurricane Moon, is now listing as being in stock on Amazon, and should be in stores in a few weeks. We've also recently uploaded the first three chapters online, where you can read them there or download as a PDF.

Meanwhile, I see that the website of Rice University, where alum Alexis serves as Fondren Library Circulation Assistant, has uploaded an article on her exciting debut. As she tells journalist Jessica Stark, "My highest aspiration is that one of my stories inspires someone to think about the universe differently. That kind of thinking can bring hope; hope that can help someone get through a bad night."

MythMaking Down Under

Sean Williams, author of The Hanging Mountainsand some 20 other novels (!), is podcast on episode 33 of StageCast, talking about everything from space opera and fantasy epics, to creating myths for Australia, to writing for children vs. adults. The podcast is available from both iTunes and as a direct download from the site.

Brasyl is a Landmark

"Where other writers spend their whole lives creating fantastic imaginary worlds that have their own languages, calendars and social strata," says Ryun Patterson of Bookgasm, "McDonald has dived headfirst into a culture that’s every bit as fantastic and also awesomely real."

Speaking of the Quill-nominated Brasyl, Patterson says that Ian McDonald writes,"as if he were raised on the beaches of Rio. Food, language, attitudes – everything comes off as authentic," then goes on to proclaim the importance within this lush setting of the story itself. "While science-fiction classics of the past have explored what it means to be alien or what it means to be intelligent, Brasyl is a landmark in that [it] unravels what it means to be quantum, and what might necessarily follow if quantum theory holds true. In addition, there are sweet car chases, acres of suspense, huge tracts of conspiracy, knives that cut through anything, epic battles, fight scenes worthy of Yuen Woo-Ping, and plenty of hot sex. Really, what are you waiting for?"

Good question.

Clear Your Calendar: Salon.com Recommends Brasyl

Andrew Leonard has just put forward Ian McDonald's Brasylin Salon.com's List of Summer Reading Recommendations. Andrew says, "If you liked River of Gods,which performed a similar mash-up of SF tropes with full cultural immersion in India, you will delight in Brasyl. And if you're a science fiction fan who has never read any Ian McDonald, well, then, clear your calendar." He goes on to talk about the way that "an age of globalization" has inspired science fiction writers to investigate new-to-them territories in the here and now, concluding, "A similar wave swept through SF in the 1980s, when Japan's emergent cultural and economic power suddenly became reflected in scores of science fiction novels. But McDonald has more fun than most of the Japanophiles did. I always wanted to visit the future. But after Brasyl, I want to book a ticket to São Paulo also."

A Quality of Real Genius: Vandermeer and McDonald

"Most stories start with an image--I'm a visual writer, I need to see [it] in memory or imagination before I can translate it into words," says Ian McDonald, in an interview with author, anthologist, and blogger Jeff Vandermeer, posted on the new Amazon Bookstore's Blog. "For Brasyl,the image was people picking over a giant trash heap of e-waste--twin peaks of grey beige a glittering cap of discarded I-pods. Then the what-iffery began: we're pretty aware of the toxic fall-out of conventional garbage, but what kind of existential pollution might you get from quantum computers?"

McDonald goes on to talk about the genesis of all three of Brasyl's intertwined narratives, the amount of research that goes into one of his epic works, and a little about his next work, The Dervish House. Of McDonald himself, Jeff Vandermeer says, "Saying Ian McDonald might be the world’s best SF writer seems a little inaccurate to me although many readers think this is true. The fact is, McDonald deserves to be going up against most of the world’s top fiction writers, period. He has proven over a distinguished and varied career that he is a formidable stylist, yes, but in everything he writes, he also demonstrates flexibility, vision, and mastery of good old fashioned storytelling."

Meanwhile, Jeff's own work is well-worth checking out, as is his newly-revamped website, Ecstatic Days.

Houston, Can You Read Me?

Pyr authors Chris Roberson and Alexis Glynn Latner will both be in attendance this coming weekend at ApolloCon 2007, held in Houston, Texas June 22-24th.

Both of Chris' books, Here, There & Everywhere and Paragaea: A Planetary Romance, will be on hand in the dealers room through the wonderful Edge Books. Also on hand via Edge will be Bright of the Sky, Fast Forward 1, and Brasyl.

Sadly, Alexis's debut novel, Hurricane Moon, won't be back from the printers in time for ApolloCon, but later this summer, you'll have three more chances to catch Alexis and the book together at Conestoga in Tulsa, Oklahoma (July 20-22), the North American Science Fiction Convention in St. Louis (August 2-5), and ArmadilloCon in Austin (August 10-11).

But stop Alexis and say hello at ApolloCon anyway. Authors need love same as anyone.