11-02-11:SF in SF Panel Discussion with Lisa Goldstein, Nick Mamatas and Terry Bisson on June 11, 2011
"People got tired of all that realism."
—Lisa Goldstein
...And given the current state of reality, who wouldn't get tired of all that realism? Lisa Goldstein should know, having written 'The Uncertain Places,' a pitch perfect look at the import of unreality in our lives. Sit her down with Terry Bisson and Nick Mamatas, there's going to be some smart talk about why we read and what to read. Which is why we listen!
It's important to step back and think about the link between listening and reading. In a sense they're different sides of the same coin. The immediacy of listening has a power to get right to your heart, like music. Reading gets to you and stays there, forever, because your mind has to do the language conversion work.
The value of discussions like this, with standouts like Bisson, Goldstein and Mamatas, is that you get to hear the insight of writers. It's sort of a best-of-both worlds; entertaining to listen to, immediate, and yet it informs your reading with that immediacy. You can immediately followt his link to the MP3 audio file.
11-01-11 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 16: Michael Reynier, Five Degrees of Latitude
Here's the sixteenth episode of my new series of podcasts, which I'm calling Time to Read. The podcasts/radio broadcasts will be of books worth your valuable reading time. I'll try to keep the reports under four minutes, for a radio-friendly format. If you want to run them on your show or podcast, let me know.
My hope is that in under four minutes I can offer readers a concise review and an opportunity to hear the author read from or speak about the work. I'm hoping to offer a new one every week.
Ray Russell and Michael Reynier have informed me that this book is now available from The Death StardotStar as an E-book ($4.99!), and in hardcover. For five bucks, this is an outstanding buy, and at $45, the listed price, this is an outstanding deal. Run, don't walk to pick this up.
"In the Apocalypse, somebody's gonna have to do the grunt work..."
—Colson Whitehead
I've been looking forward to 'Zone One' as long as I've been reading Colson Whitehead's work. From the moment I read 'The Intuitionist,' I knew the man had a science fiction novel in him. I actually told him so, and requested it.
He remembered that request when we got together to talk at KQED. In his previous novel, 'Sag Harbor,' we met the fictional version of Whitehead. This time around, the real version told me all about his childhood spent indoors, reading Fangoria and playing D&D. With 'Zone One,' we finally get to meet the grownup version who writes SF and it is definitely worth the wait.
Whitehead and I talked about his childhood, and he had some great parents; they took him to see Dawn of the Dead when it was an X-Rated gorefest that was making reviewers lament the coming end of civilization. And if you happen to be from Marvel or DC and reading this, or better still listening to the linked MP3 audio file, then make sure you catch the part where he says that he'd like to write Spiderman or X-Men. One can only wonder what sort of world would have to exist in order for that to happen. If it involves an Apocalypse, bring it on.
New to the Agony Column
02-15-12: Commentary : Michael Saler Lives in the 'As If' : Fantastic Fiction Matters
02-14-12: Commentary : Archive Reviews: Jeffrey E. Barlough Awakens 'Dark Sleeper' and 'The House in the High Wood' :Bold, Unique, Horrific, Enchanting
02-08-12: Commentary : Thrity Umrigar Reveals 'The World We Found' : Slow-Burning Loss of Control
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Thrity Umrigar : "...I walked away from that meeting in 2008 with an old friend of mine and literally saw at least the outline of the book in front of my eyes..."
02-06-12: Commentary : Eric Weiner Posts 'Man Seeks God' : Religious Pilgrimmage and Mordant Wit
Agony Column Podcast News Report: A 2012 Interview with Eric Weiner : "...by the end, given all the amazing people I met out there, I've changed my views about that."
02-01-12: Commentary : Stan Lee Splashes 'Stan Lee's How to Write Comics' and 'Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics' : Lessons in the Form, From the Master
01-23-12: Commentary : Sara Paretsky Nails 'Breakdown' : The Machine Stops
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Interview with Sara Paretsky : "Everything in a courtroom is a story; it's not justice, it's combating narratives."
01-18-12: Commentary : Téa Obreht Conjures 'The Tiger's Wife' : The Grammar of Vision
01-13-12: Commentary : Hard Case Subterranean Block : Not from Bob's Basement Tapes
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2012 Phone Interview with Lisa Randall : "...there seems to be some evidence, especially from one of the experiments."
01-10-12: Commentary : Archive Review: Terry D'Auray Catches Lawrence Block and 'The Burglar on the Prowl' : "A show well worth the price of a ticket."
12-15-11:Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live with Lisa Goldstein and Ayize Jama-Everett, and music by Fenyang Smith, December 10, 2011 : "... let's look at what happens if people have abilities that other people don't have ..."
11-28-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Scott Wallace : "Within months of first contact, these groups experience a huge die-off."
11-22-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier, Part Two : "It's not me telling you, there's this storyteller voice."
11-21-11: Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2011 Interview with Charles Frazier : "If we're going in the wrong direction, we could turn around and go back."
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..."
