interview

May 13, 2015

A trifecta of recent interviews with the extraordinary Daryl Gregory

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized allen willians, daryl gregory, dynamic forces, elizabeth story, harrison squared, horror, interview, novella, sfrevu, the daily times, we are all completely fine

Three recent interviews with Daryl Gregory, author of the Nebula, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus award nominee WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE.

At SFREVU:

SFRevu: Your novella, We Are All Completely Fine, came out in August 2014 from Tachyon, but Harrison Squared, its prequel, or first of its prequels, just came out in late March 2015 from Tor. Now, that doesn’t seem like quite enough time to have written We Are All Completely Fine, then decide to write a novel to set it up, so how did that happen, anyway?

Daryl Gregory: It happened in the most complicated way possible. I wrote the first draft of Harrison Squared as a middle-grade adventure novel, intending to write something light and fun with as much banter as possible. My idea of light and fun, however, was out of step with middle grade editors. Several of them said that what I’d written was way too scary for little kids. (I don’t think this is true. I loved gruesome stuff when I was ten. But hey, that’s the market.)

I was ready to set aside the book as an experiment, but it did start me thinking about what kind of PTSD a grown-up Harrison would have to cope with. And what about all those sole survivors of horror novels and movies? Surely they needed a lot of therapy. Jacob Weisman of Tachyon had been after me to write a novella for him, so I pitched him the idea of a therapy group made up of final girls and last men standing. He thought it was a hilarious idea. I kept trying to explain that it wasn’t funny. We still argue about whether the novella is a comedy. I think we’ve compromised on ‘ultra-dark comedy’.

While I was writing the novella, Tor offered to buy Harrison Squared, but they were interested in YA, not middle grade, and asked if I’d be willing to change it. I said, if you’re willing to pay me, I’m interested. But this actually solved the scariness problem for me. An older protagonist, and therefore older readers, would be able to handle the creepy stuff, and allow me to spend more time with the monsters, which is always my favorite part of horror stories.

So, as soon as I finished We Are All Completely Fine, I rewrote Harrison Squared from scratch, using that first draft as a kind of detailed outline that was missing some of the story. But because I now had written the adult Harrison, that changed how I wrote him as a kid. There’s still a big gap between the boy he was and the man he becomes–but now I know what that arc is.

DYNAMIC FORCES:

DF: I know you have been asked this a thousand times, but take us through and compare your particular processes for doing a novel vs. a comic series.

Daryl Gregory: Comics are short, and they’re all about structure–hitting the right beats, exactly at the right turn of the page, and ending with a snap or a cliffhanger on the last page. My job is to get the story, structure, and dialogue to work. But most of the heavy lifting for the emotion in the book, and its effectiveness, is in the hands of the artist. My job is to put the minimum number of words on the page and let the art shine. I often write comics in outline mode, mapping out each page, before I write any dialogue.

With a novel, all the heavy lifting is on me. That’s both wonderful and daunting. I do outline my novels, but the form is so flexible. Every book I’ve written has a different structure, a different length, and a different tone. And I’m constantly rewriting. You’re building a house (or a castle, if it’s that kind of novel) out of sentences, and get them wrong and the whole thing comes crashing down.

THE DAILY TIMES (Maryville, TN):

As for his subject matter, the author chuckled and said, “I don’t think I had any choice. I started reading, and it seemed like it was the weird stuff and the fun stuff that kept drawing me back.”

For information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

Cover for HARRISON SQUARED by Allen Williams.

May 5, 2015

On a Reddit AMA, Peter V. Brett discusses tattoos, demons, THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD, and loads more

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, brayan's gold, demon cycle, demons, fantasy, interview, mark lawrence, peter v brett, reddit, tattoos, the great bazaar, the great bazaar & brayan's gold

On April 30, Peter V. Brett participated in a Reddit AMA. Things began with award-wing fantasy author Mark Lawrence.

[–]MarkLawrence/r/Fantasy Best of 2013 & 2014 Winner (+AMA Author)

OK, a serious question, no 1000 ducks, no horses, none of that.

Demons … they rise out of the core and solidify … but their bodies seem to fit the area they appear in, rock demons in rocky places, wood demons in forests, sand demons in deserts etc. So my original vision of it was that they somehow construct themselves bodies using the local materials. But I’m not so sure of that now as it doesn’t really match the descriptions (from memory). But if that’s not the case then why would they have bodies that ‘fit’. Also – I’ve never been clear if they eat people or just kill them. Do they eat animals too – I’m thinking not or there would be precious few animals left? And if they did … what would all the sand demons be eating to keep fed?

So I guess that’s my question – in the core are all the demons basically the same thing and then they rise and build appropriate bodies, or are they sand and wood and fire demons the whole time and they just aim to appear somewhere that ‘fits’?

If it’s the former, then I presume if you had a sewage farm or a sweet factory you could get shit demons and candy demons rising?

PS – still really enjoying Skull Throne!

[–]PvbrettAMA Author[S]

Yes and no. Demons are the same in the Core as on the surface. Some of their forms are influenced when the mind demon consort imprints on them at birth, but after that it’s more a matter of natural evolution; slow changes over the course of many years. Demons are immortal unless killed, so the same demon can change gradually over the course of its lifetime. No two are exactly alike.

Most drones are not smart enough to shapeshift, they dematerialize, ride a current to the surface, and put themselves back together more or less the same way from their original matter. But that said, they are influenced by both the terrain they pass through and their local brethren, and over time it affects their form.

Demons often do eat what they kill, but the act of killing itself, particularly their ancient enemies (humans), is pleasurable to them. They have hunted most of the mid-sized animals (and humans) to near-extinction. The only animals that remain are those that have adapted to fleeing/hiding, or those that have fed on demon meat or otherwise evolved big and badass enough to fight back, like nightwolves and Angierian mustang.

Demons also kill and eat below the surface. Sometimes each other, and sometimes subterranean creatures.

<snip>

[–]MisakAttack

HELLO PETER V BRETT,

I HOPE THE CORE IS GOING WELL. I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THE SKULL THRONE. NO JOKE, SON. LOOKING FORWARD TO WHATEVER YOU PLAN ON RELEASING NEXT.

DO YOU PLAN ON RELEASING A BIG BOOK FULL OF DEMON’S CYCLE NOVELLAS? WILL IT HAVE A SEXY COVER THAT MATCHES THE OTHER DEMON’S CYCLE COVERS? I LIKE IT WHEN BOOKS IN A SERIES ALL MATCH COVERS. PEOPLE SAY YOU SHOULDN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER, BUT THOSE PEOPLE ARE DUMB.

WATCHING GAME OF THRONES? SHIT’S CRAZY, RIGHT?
GOOD DAY AND HAVE A PLEASANT TOMORROW.

(sorry for yelling, I had a lot of coffee and I want attention)

[–]PvbrettAMA Author[S]

THANKS SO MUCH. YES, TACHYON PRESS IS RELEASING THE GREAT BAZAAR AND BRAYAN’S GOLD AS A COMBINED MASS MARKET NEXT MONTH! YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE AWESOME COVER AND DETAILS HERE:https://tachyonpublications.com/product/great-bazaar-brayans-gold/

I AM WAITING TO BANK A BUNCH OF EPS OF GOT BEFORE STARTING THIS SEASON.

THANKS FOR hack! cough! Cough! Sorry. All this shouting is murder on my throat. Thanks.

[–]Rytn

Do you actually say “honest word” in everyday conversations? That’d be awesome, honest word.

How do you feel about the criticism you get about Renna? Has this affected her character design/development at all or are you keeping Renna true to yourself/herself/itself?

If you could give one piece of advice to writers what would it be?

[–]PvbrettAMA Author[S]

I do say honest word sometimes. Usually only to people who get the reference, but it works surprisingly well regardless.

I was initially surprised at the extreme reactions to Renna. There are message board threads created just to hate on her, yet there is no character cosplayed as often, or with as much passion. There is a large group of readers convinced she is the real Deliverer.

I think some of the issue is that we are seeing on the page a lot of the magic-addiction and the emotional roller-coaster that Arlen went through off page. We lose track of Arlen when he starts warding himself and eating demon meat, and when we see him again years later, he is fundamentally changed. It’s why he understands so well what she’s going through, and believes in her. She’s the one that brought him back to himself, and he’ll be corespawned if he can’t do the same for her.

And that’s the other part of the issue. A lot of folks ‘shipped Arlen and Leesha in book 1, and then Renna came in and popped that bubble.

Regardless, Renna remains on the same arc she has always been. I would be a pretty sad excuse for an author if I let readers dictate what I write. And that right there is the best advice I can give you. Know when to take criticism, and when to ignore it. It’s a fool’s game trying to please everyone.

<snip>

[–]sharklops

Hi Peter love the books! I’m the guy who sent you the spear image with the transparent background for your website.

Just wondering if, with the important role tattooing plays in your books, what if any tattoos do you have yourself?

[–]PvbrettAMA Author[S]

Thank you! I only have one tattoo myself. It is a Japanese katana with a heart-shaped tsuba that I drew. The sword is called Heart’s Guard, and was carried by the hero of the first fantasy series I wrote. Those books were never published and never will be, but I learned a lot writing them. The tattoo, on my forearm where I see it every day, it a reminder to never quit aspiring to do better in writing.

Been meaning to get a ward circle tattoo, but I have been lazy…

Read the rest of the AMA at Reddit.

For more info about THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD, visit theTachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

May 4, 2015

Nobody is happier about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA than Kinsella

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized baseball, calgary, calgary herald, canada, collection, elizabeth story, first nations, interview, kamloops, kamloops this week, magic realism, short stories, signing, the essential w. p. kinsella, Thomas Canty, w. p. kinsella

Before his signings for THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA at Audrey’s Books in Edmonton AB on May 1 and Chapters in Kamloops, BC on May 5, the legendary W. P. Kinsella was interviewed by a pair of local newspapers.

CALGARY HERALD:

“I’m always puzzled at writers who go back and say ‘Gee, I want to rewrite that – I don’t like that; I don’t like the way it turned out,’” says Kinsella, in an interview from his home in Yale, B. C. “I’m always my own biggest fan. I enjoy re-reading my work and I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed when i read some of these stories, which what people are supposed to do when they read them.”

<snip>

The 80-year-old writer may not have found reviewing his large collection of short stories particularly arduous, but it’s still a formidable volume of work to streamline into one best-of collection. The often blunt author acknowledges the American publisher did a “really wonderful job” in choosing the 31 stories.

Read the rest of this Kinsella interview at EDMONTON JOURNAL.

KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK:

W.P. Kinsella has a new book being published.

And nobody is happier about it than W.P. Kinsella.

“I always enjoy my work. I’m my own biggest fan,” Kinsella told KTW, speaking from his home in the historic Fraser Canyon town of Yale.

<snip>

When he reflects on all of his writing, and he was written more than he ever thought he would, Kinsella said it’s as much luck as anything else that kept him writing about America’s pastime for so long.

“You write a story and you hope that it will be successful. If it is successful, it’s like a prospector finding a vein of gold — you dig at it until it’s all gone,” Kinsella said.

“If SHOELESS JOE hadn’t been successful, I wouldn’t have written any more baseball.”

Read the rest of this Kinsella interview at KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK.

Catch W. P. Kinsella at

Monday May 4th 7PM
Owl’s Nest Books
815A 49 Ave. SW
Calgary, AB

Tuesday May 5 7PM
Chapters
Hillside Dr. Unit 4
Kamloops, BC

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

April 9, 2015

W. P. Kinsella talks with The Bookmonger about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized baseball, collection, first nations, interview, john j. miller, podcast, shoeless joe, short stories, the bookmonger, the essential w. p. kinsella, Thomas Canty, w. p. kinsella

In an interview with The Bookmonger John J. Miller, the legendary W. P. Kinsella discusses THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, the origins of the classic novel SHOELESS JOE, his love of short stories, and other intriguing topics.

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

March 31, 2015

In WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, the hero is the group itself

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized allen williams, books bones & buffy, daryl gregory, elizabeth story, giveaway, harrison squared, horror, interview, novella, tammy sparks, we are all completely fine, young adult

At BOOKS, BONES & BUFFY, Tammy Sparks interviews Daryl Gregory about the Nebula nominated WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE and its recently released prequel HARRISON SQUARED.

BB&B: Harrison Squared is a prequel to We Are All Completely Fine, describing Harrison’s teenage years and his misadventures in Dunnsmouth. Have you considered writing prequels for any of the any characters in We Are All Completely Fine?

DG: This is the first time prequels and sequels have been on the menu for me. Before these two books, none of my novels shared a universe. Hardly any of them even share a genre. I’ve written near-future hard SF, a literary zombie novel that talks more about how brains work than how they taste, a Southern Gothic murder mystery about Tennessee mutants… really, it’s no way to run a career. Thank goodness for the readers who are willing to follow me from book to book.

I never seriously considered sequels for those other novels, because when I finished I felt like I’d told the story I wanted to tell. The world of the story was bound up with the characters who lived there. When the characters’ stories were complete, that world closed down for me. (And often, the main characters were so changed by the end that they were unfit to tell the same kind of story again.)

But with these two books, the characters’ stories aren’t finished. I’ve got plenty more ideas. For example (here comes the plug) the free interactive story online,Harrison Squared Dies Early (http://darylgregory.com/harrison-squared/game), where you take on the role of Harrison on a monster hunt through Dunnsmouth Secondary. Think of those old choose-your-own-adventure books, but running in your browser. It has art by David Hinnergardt, and text and puzzles by me.

So what was your question? Oh, right! I haven’t mapped out prequels for the other characters in We Are All Completely Fine, but I have thought of sequels for them. Let’s see if I get around to writing them!

<snip>

I know we’re here to celebrate the release of Harrison Squared, but I have a burning question about We Are All Completely Fine. The point of view you used was a bit unusual. My guess is “first person omniscient,” but even then I feel like you gave that a twist. What made you decide to use this POV?

I’m happy to answer burning questions—and this one has heated up more than a few people. In We Are All Completely Fine, each chapter begins in first person plural: “We did this,” “We thought that.” Then the chapter focuses on the point of view of one member of the group.

So what’s this all about? In my mind, the protagonist of the book is not Harrison, or any one member of the group—the hero is the group itself. The story is about how a handful of individuals, including the therapist, become something larger and stronger than themselves. And as you may have picked up on, that “we” is not quite omniscient—it knows only what the group knows. One chapter even leads off with a question about that pronoun: who’s in this we, and who’s out? Is the group that started the book the same group at the end?

And near the end, the point of view starts shifting among multiple group members in one chapter, to show how the group is cohering, even though some members are no longer with the group. (It would be spoilers to tell your readers which ones, and how they leave.)

Read the rest of the interview at BOOKS, BONES & BUFFY.

BOOKS, BONES & BUFFY is also giving away three copies of HARRISON SQUARED. Visit the site for full details.

For information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

Cover for HARRISON SQUARED by Allen Williams.

March 30, 2015

THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA exists as both anthology and time capsule

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized baseball, canada, collection, field of dreams, first nations, hobbema, interview, national post, richard warnica, shoeless joe, short stories, the essential w. p. kinsella, w. p. kinsella

For NATIONAL POST, Richard Warnica talks with W. P. Kinsella about his new collection THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA.

The 79-year-old author is just happy to have a new book out. His once prolific career — he averaged more than a book a year between 1977 and 1998 — has slowed in recent decades. He still writes, usually at a big oak table in his living room. And he has “at least four or five” books sitting with his agent. But he rarely publishes anymore; he believes the big players aren’t interested in his kind of work. “The midlist author,” he says, “is dead.”

If so, The Essential W.P. Kinsella (Tachyon, 432 pp, $22) exists as both anthology and time capsule. The 31 stories within were produced over more than 35 years and they reflect the sort of career Kinsella doesn’t think could exist today. He’s best known for his 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, which was adapted into the mega-hit movie Field of Dreams. But he spent most of his career cranking out moderately successful novels and short story collections.

<snip>

More than half the stories in the new book touch on baseball in one way or another, even though Kinsella himself doesn’t watch the game much anymore. He hasn’t in years. “I’m still mad about the baseball strike,” he says, referencing 1994’s season, when major league players walked off the field for 232 days, sinking that year’s World Series in the process. “I said I would never go to a game as long as any of the players who struck were still playing,” he says.

<snip>

The stories in the new collection, selected by editor Jacob Weisman, come from all phases of his career. Baseball and nostalgia feature heavily, as one might expect. There’s “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa,” the short story he later expanded into Shoeless Joe and “K-Mart,” a moodier piece from 1985 that uses baseball as a device to talk about adolescence, regret and even death.

<snip>

There are also several stories in the collection from his popular — and controversial — Hobbema series. Set on a fictionalized version of the Alberta reserve, the Hobbema stories, which are mostly comedic, have been criticized for appropriating First Nations voices. They have even been called racist. Read today they are, at the very least, jarring. Kinsella, for his part, describes the attempts to brand them insensitive-or-worse “idiotic.”

“They are funny and they are true,” he says. “They portray the native people in a great light and they show their sense of humour. That is how oppressed people survive.”

Some of the better, more surprising stories in the collection are the newer ones. Works like the never-before-published “Do Not Abandon Me” and “Out of the Picture” deal frankly with aging, sex and the passage of time.

“The Last Surviving Member of the Japanese Victory Society,” originally published in 2013, is a sweet piece about late-life love and loss. It is the also the last story Kinsella read to his wife, Barbara, before she died in 2012. “I always read everything aloud [to her],” he says. “She is the best editor I ever worked with.”

Read the rest of the interview at NATIONAL POST.

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

March 25, 2015

Kinsella discusses baseball, First Nations, Iowa, and THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized audio, baseball, charity nebbe, collection, elizabeth story, first nations, interview, iowa public radio, magic realism, radio, short stories, talk of iowa, the essential w. p. kinsella, Thomas Canty, w. p. kinsella

On the TALK OF IOWA radio program, host Charity Nebbe talks with Kinsella about his writing and his new book, THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA.

“I just want people to enjoy the work,” Kinsella said of his new book. “I’d like them to say, ‘wow that story really moved me, or that really made me laugh, or it left me with a little tear in my eye.’ That’s all that I’ve ever wanted from my writing. I want people to enjoy it.”

Listen to the entire conversation at TALK OF IOWA.

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

March 2, 2015

Info about THE EMPEROR’S SOUL movie revealed

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alexander nanitchkov, brandon sanderson, elizabeth story, fantasy, interview, movie, novella, taipei international book exhibition, teleread, the emperor's soul

While attending Taipei International Book Exhibition, Brandon Sanderson mentioned the potential THE EMPEROR’S SOUL movie.

Sanderson told his Taipei fans that DMG Entertainment has acquired the movie rights for “The Emperor’s Soul” and that he is now working with a Hollywood screenwriter to expand the story to make the setting more diverse.

Read the rest of the interview which also discusses the Taiwanese fascination with THE EMPEROR’S SOUL at TeleRead.

For more on THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 26, 2015

Kate Elliott discusses storytelling, her new collection, and of course cake

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, cake, collection, crossroads, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, reddit, short stories, spiritwalker, the very best of kate elliott

Recently, Kate Elliott answered fan questions in a Reddit AMA.

[–]TFrohockAMA Author

Hi, Kate! I’ve really enjoyed your Spiritwalker trilogy.

Can you tell us some of the favorite themes you like to write about in your stories and maybe just a little about why those themes resonate with you?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you, Teresa.

Spiritwalker is a good example of four of my favorite themes, ones that crop up in many of my series.

1) Active, physical protagonist. Can be a fighter but doesn’t have to be, just someone who is comfortable in their body and strong and likes to move. This resonates with me because, um, it describes me. I hasten to add my characters are not “versions” of me, but I do enjoy writing that physical type.

2) Revolution. I’m just so interested in how societies work and how they fall apart and how they change, sometimes in violent ways and sometimes in quiet, subtle ways. I’m not sure why this theme resonates for me but I suspect that the whole American Revolution thing is a big deal in the USA so perhaps it’s partly an echo of that.

3) Family. I identify strongly with the idea that we are who we are in relationship to the people around us. I do not resonate so much with the “loner cut off from all relationship” type of character or the “orphan protagonist” in part because I find so fascinating the ways in which people can both feel close to and find annoying family members (whether blood or found family) and I think I examine that dichotomy a lot in Spiritwalker. We all constantly walk that balance.

4) A love story. I just enjoy writing these.

<snip>

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I do talk a lot about gender in fantasy and about having women characters in books because I grew up reading and loving sff and wishing I saw more female characters in the stories.

Once I started writing I decided to write what I wanted which was: more female characters in books both as main characters and as secondary characters. That’s the main thing. I just wanted what was, to me, a more interesting and varied cast.

Spiritwalker is told in first person and has a single point of view character who is female, but I am pretty sure (although I haven’t counted it up) that all my multiple third person point of view series (which is all the others) have a 50/50 split between male/female points of view. So I guess my question would be: If it is a 50/50 split, does that mean I am highlighting women if, in much epic fantasy, it’s more like a 75/25 or 80/20 split? I don’t say that in a snarky way. I’m thinking of academic studies that have suggested that in some circumstances if women make up 30% of a room or talk 30% of the time it is perceived as 50% or more (even though it isn’t). In which case 50% might seem overwhelming to some readers. 😉

<snip>

[–]Bergmaniac

Hi Kate! I bought your short stories collection last week. So far I have only read the Spiritwalker trilogy of your series (though I certainly plan to read more). So my question is – do the short stories in the collection which are set in the worlds of your other series contain major spoilers for them? In other words – is it better if I read these short stories now or after I have read the respective series of novels?

Also, speaking of short stories, which SFF authors do you consider to be the best at writing them?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. The Crossroads universe story definitely does spoil the Crossroads Trilogy, so read Crossroads first if you care about spoilers. Of the two Jaran universe stories, My Voice Is In My Sword is safe to read (no crossover at all), and Sunseeker is tricky; it include characters who are important in the Jaran novels but the focus is on a minor character. If you hate ANY spoilers, then no. If only MAJOR spoilers, then I’m torn but possibly yes. Of the two Crown of Stars stories, Riding the Shore contains an embedded spoiler in a passing reference but otherwise is unconnected because it takes place hundreds of years later. The other Crown of Stars story (A Simple Act of Kindness) is actually now alternate history because I completely changed a crucial aspect of the plot after I wrote the story, so you can safely read it (I think) because it tells a story that actually never happens in the series.

<snip>

[–]Ennas_

Hi Kate! Just popping in to let you know that I liked your Spiritwalker trilogy a lot! Your other books are still lost somewhere on Mt TBR. And I would like to have that chocolate cake recipe you mentioned. You can never have too many of those!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 400F

Melt over low heat, stirring well: 2 sticks butter, 6 heaping Tablespoons cocoa, 1 c water

Mix: 1 ½ c sugar, 2 c flour, ½ teas baking powder, ½ teas salt, 1 teas soda, ½ c buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 teas vanilla.

Beat thoroughly.

Combine cooked melted cocoa with flour mixture. Pour into greased, floured pan (9×14) or 2 9” round pans. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

[–]Ennas_

(I cant post a pic, but…I made the cake and it tastes great!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/sannehoo/cake.jpeg

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

That is so fantastic!!!!

Yes, I love this cake. Not too sweet and really strongly chocolate.

[–]Ennas_

I thought if you surprise me with a real recipe, I can surprise you (and myself) with a real cake. 😀 It’s huge, though! I had to make some cupcakes because my cake tin was too small. But my boardgamefriends didn’t mind!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

This is a perfect cake for board game/RPG parties.

[–]twinsuns

I love that you actually gave a recipe! Noms.

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I’m very serious about cake.

[–]Ennas_

Thanks! Cake is serious business! 😉

Read the rest of Kate Elliott’s AMA at Reddit.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 25, 2015

Writing a narrative that entertains is Kate Elliot’s chief goal

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, Paul Weimer, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

Over at SF Signal, Paul Weimer interviews Kate Elliott about THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT

Paul Weimer: Readers at SF Signal are familiar with you and your novels. So why a collection of shorter works, for which you aren’t so well known?

KE: Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications approached me to ask if I had ever considered publishing a collection of my short fiction. I was brought in as part of the Tachyon “THE VERY BEST” series, which also includes volumes from Charles de Lint, Tad Williams, and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine.

As it happens the stories in the collection are indeed “the very best” of my short fiction because they constitute ALL of the short fiction I have ever written with the exception of two stories too tied to the Spiritwalker Trilogy to work without prior familiarity with that series (one available for free on my web page and one — with fabulous Julie Dillon illustrations — available for purchase) and two (never published) short stories I wrote as a teenager. Over the course of my life I have written twice as many novels as short pieces.

<snip>

PW: I didn’t expect the non fiction essays to be included along with the stories. How did you come to choose these to be included? How do you see the dialogue play out between the essays and the themes of your own stories?

KE: I don’t write in a vacuum. While my chief goal when writing is to create a narrative that entertains the reader and keeps them reading (if I can’t keep my readers reading then it really doesn’t matter what other theoretically fabulous things I do, does it?), I do churn a lot of themes and questions through my stories as a way to examine, take apart, and consider from multiple sides issues and thoughts I have about the world, life, people, history, culture, and so on. Writing science fiction and fantasy is my way of trying to understand how humanity works and how I feel about that.

Writing a more substantive essay takes a lot of time so I don’t do it often, and generally I write such essays about subjects that I’ve wrestled with for a long time, often through my fiction. I asked for these essays to be included in the collection, and wrote an introductory essay as well, because the concerns reflected in the non-fiction resonate throughout my fiction.

Read the rest of Weimer’s conversation with Kate Elliott at SF Signal.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

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