More interviewing fun, this time courtesy of friend and fellow writer Chris Lynch, with whom I had the great experience of co-writing the story “This is My Blood,” published in Dreaming Again. 1. What are three of your creative keystones — books or experiences from your childhood that had a big impact on you as … More Further Interviewification
After a long conversation about ROF, Hassan forwarded me this recent article in the Telegraph, which has a surprisingly optimistic view of how the recession (downturn? crisis?) will affect the publishing industry. Here’s an excerpt: While Breedt acknowledges that the recession is sure to dent sales, he has one area of hope. “The most spectacular … More On a More Optimistic Note
It’s pretty much run rampant around the net for the past day or two that Realms of Fantasy is abruptly and unexpectedly closing. Yet another victim of our tanking economy. ROF published some great stuff, from high fantasy to magic realism, with a lovely design and gorgeous illustrations. It will be missed! On a personal note, I’d … More Personal Note About Realms of Fantasy Closing
By this point, many of you have probably already soon this meme running around the Internet. Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here are the Rules: 1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me!” 2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. 3. You will post … More Peter Ball Interviews Me
Among the many useful things that Google has brought into the world is AuthorsATGoogle. Google brings authors to their HQ to read their recent books and have a bit of Q&A and informal discussion with their employees. (Um, I know. Does your employer bring well-known authors to your workplace for informal chats with you, just … More Yet Another Cool Thing from Google
Was just chatting with Hassan and at one point he said “the President” in reference to George W. Bush, then quickly corrected himself, “I mean, the former President.” And then we both laughed and took a moment to enjoy the fact that the meaning of the words “the President” had completely changed in the past … More President Obama
Finished Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan last night at like 4 am. It was completely unlike any other book I’ve ever read, and that’s something I almost never say. It’s a gay-themed young adult novel about Paul, a high school sophomore who meets Noah, the new boy in town, and instantly falls for him. The … More The Fantasy of Boy Meets Boy
I have a new article up at Fantasy Magazine, cataloging some of the events in speculative fiction that were said to take place in 2009 – from Star Trek time travel and The Master’s conquest of Earth in Dr. Who to David Brin’s post-apocalyptic The Postman and the more recent monster movie Cloverfield. Whoever did the graphics and … More 2009 as we imagined it
Carrie Vaughn has a very cool series of posts up about the Urban Fantasy sub-genre, why it’s so popular these days, and how a genre that grew out of feminism is, at times, oddly anti-feminist. (This last one is my own words, not sure if Carrie would exactly agree with that characterization, but that was how … More Carrie Vaughn on Urban Fantasy
When I was doing my round-up of books I enjoyed in 2008, I noticed I read much fewer books than usual this year – only around 20 books, which is probably half what I usually read in a year. Part of this is because lately, I’ve been not-reading on my daily commute on the New … More Must Read on Subway and Other Resolutions
Bread & Magic 