12-08-11:Cecelia Holland Reading and Interview at SF in SF on November 12, 2011
Click image for audio link.
"Fiction is agonizing sometimes." —Cecelia Holland
Cecelia Holland is a true straight shooter. Don't look for any sugar-coating in her fiction or in her interview. She follows the truth with a relentless eye and the results are stories that ring powerfully true for the reader.
After her duet with Kim Stanley Robinson, Holland delivered her own sucker-punch in the form of a reading from a story that is in the process of becoming a novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Holland has an unerring eye for conveying both the physicality of her medieval scenes and the psychology as well. It's a very tough trick to pull off, But Holland manages to do so by relentlessly revisiung her work, pulling out every last word.
She and I talked afterwards about her new story, and about her writing process. Not surprisingly, this talented author of great historical fiction is also writing historical non-fiction. And as much as I'm a fan of real books, the utility of being able to get Holland's non-fiction long-form articles in ebooks makes sense. She talked to me about two of those works in progress as well as her latest historical fiction.
Generally, I prefer to podcast readings and interviews separately, but in this case it makes sense to podcast the two as separate files, but on the same day, since the interview refers quite heavily to the reading, and is, shockingly, actually longer than the reading.
Click either image for audio link. (Photo credit: Chehalis Hegner)
""Most of the images were in the digital archive." —Vicki Goldberg
The numbers are pretty astounding, when you hear Vicki Goldberg talk about the images she looked through to put together 'The White House: The President's Home in Photographs and History.' It is a very different mindset, I would guess to edit so many images. But Goldberg managed to do so and came through with for a very clear vision.
But she seemed surprised by my take that the book was "political." To me it seems that such a book, about a house that symbolizes America, must by definition be political; what it lacks is any partisan or divisive political message. Instead, the political message is so unfamiliar as to not seem political: Here is the place where we are by definition united. If owning a house is the American Drean, then it must be remembered here is the one house we all own.
This is the sort of book that, strangely enough, it is very easy to talk about. One might think that a book of photography would tend to be immune to conversation, but the exact opposite proved to be the case. Both of us had images that excited us, and those led the conversation down unexpected paths. You can hear our conversation by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
12-06-11 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read, Episode 21: Scott Wallace, 'The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes'
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Here's the twenty-first 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.
"Go to Sears, get a hammer and knock the guy on the head."
—Sue Grafton
Sue Grafton is still having fun, which goes a long way to explain why her readers are still having fun. She's close to the edge now, with only four more letters in the alphabet, and a well-deserved PARTY, or nap awaiting her when the clock hits zero. Sitting down with her was just as much fun as one might anticipate were one to have the opportunity to sit down with Kinsey Millhone. And perhaps, not so different.
Grafton told me about all the potential titles for her latest novel, for Venom, and even for Victim, but not surprisingly, she's not much interested in victims. Grafton herself has the same dark energy as Vengeance. It's that energy which fuels her writing. The edge in Sue Grafton makes sure her writing has a edge.
Even though we talked quite a bit about her latest novel, you'll not find out much about the plot beyond what you'll find on the dust jacket. Grafton puts a lot of surprises in here, showing us layer after layer in the novel and layer after layer of her writing process in the interview. She does something really unique, which seems like a very useful tool for writers. Even though her character is stuck in the pre-Internet world, the author has been using post-Internet writing technology even before there was an Internet.
You can meet Sue Grafton, Kinsey Millhone and writers darker than both by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
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