06-23-10:Deborah Grabien Interviewed at SF in SF on June 12, 2010
"I don't need the validation."
— Deborah Grabien
Deborah Grabien regards the publishing landscape with the cool aplomb of a veteran. On one hand, she's right in the thick of things with 'Dark's Tale,' a YA about feral cats in Golden Gate Park. You can't get much more in the pocket than that! (Well, perhaps if she included unicorns. But Grabien isn't the sort of writer to include spurious unicorns.) But while she's not left New York, she's smart enough to be making contingency plans.
Those contingency plans include Plus One Press, her own publishing concern under which she's publishing 'London Calling,' her latest J. P. Kinkaid novel.
When I talked to Grabien at SF in SF, I asked her about Plus One, trying to get to the mechanics of how and why she's started her own company – and what they're publishing, which is in fact, quite a bit of interesting material.
The folks at Zocalo did a bang-up perfect job with both the audio and the video tape of this event. In point of fact, they even used the exact same model of Marantz recorder for the audio that I use on all my recordings. It was actually kind of eerie to see it sitting there.
I spent quite a bit of time before and after the interview speaking with Zafón and his wife, who is a translator. Language runs in the family. Zafón is a voluble guy, and he's a lot of fun to talk to. He got some great questions from the audience, and I managed to touch a bit on his latest work to be translated into English, 'The Prince of Mist.' You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
06-21-10:A 2010 Interview with Linda Greenlaw
"Well, I call him up and tell him I'm going to the Grand Banks and he pretty much signs himself right up."
— Linda Greenlaw
Yes, Linda Greenlaw wrote a book, and, as I note in today's commentary, even though readers might not think it is their cuppa, (if, for example you read mostly space opera or urban fantasy) I suspect that it is a book that will have a very wide appeal. I have a friend who invested in a full-on, small-scale lighting setup so that he can light any room professionally and get a good video, and I frankly wish I'd had him with me during my conversation with Greenlaw. It's not just that she's animated, because she is, but also that she is expressive and entertaining.
I suppose what it boils down to is that Linda Greenlaw is comfortable being Linda Greenlaw. She spins a good yarn, she tells a good tale, but since she's right with herself, even if she's certainly not satisfied with where she is, she's got a compelling voice. I talked to her about writing as well as fishing; she finds writing much, much more challenging, and I can see why. This book is scrubbed clean, stem to stern. The interview isn't; I pretty much let nature take its course. You can hear exactly what course we took by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
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11-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Gianni Mola : "The only way you can learn, I told them, is to watch me cook it."
11-11-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "...the way I "think" about things, with quotes around think, is I tend to write them down..."
10-31-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Colson Whitehead : "In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
10-17-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Russell Banks : "They are in a sense, permanently marked and thrown into this darkness..."
