07-28-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update: Time to Read Episode 56: Deborah Harkness, 'Shadow of Night'
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Here's the fifty-sixth 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.
The fifty-sixth episode is a look at Deborah Harkness, 'Shadow of Night.'
Robert J. Sawyer is a master of proof and consequences. He can prove that something exists by sheer dint of his imagination and the prose power he brings to back it up. Then, he demonstrates the consequences, in terms of how the products of his imagination, carefully researched, impact the human characters he creates. The first impact is a toe-tapping plot that keeps you engaged as a reader pretty much until you finish the book.
His latest book is 'Triggers,' a near future SF thriller. I'll let him set it up as he does so well in his reading at SF in SF last month. But I will comment that he ventures into the sort of territory that could very well land him on the bestseller list, again. He's also one hell of a reader of his own work. I can imagine him in a Robert E. Howard moment, talking his way through the work in much the same manner as he reads it. This man is filled with the sort of enthusiasm with which he infects his readers.
Interviews with Rachel Swirsky and Robert J. Sawyer
SF in SF is quite often like a little mastercalss in writing and this was clearly the case on June 16 when Rachel Swirsky took over the short story duties while Robert J. Sawyer talked about how he creates novels like 'Flashforward' and 'Triggers.' This is even more evident when I sat down to talk with them.
Rachel and I got straight to the point with how she crafted the entertaining voice in her story, "Death and the All-Night Donut Shop." But that's not typical of everything she does so we went much father afield.
Sawyer and I talked about his ability to craft novels that take a single Big Idea and spin it a million different directions. You can hear how he is able to keep up his incredibly prolific rate of writing by the level of energy in his voice. For a guy who has a TV series to his credit, and a number of bestselling, acclaimed novels, he's one of the most easygoing writers I've talked to.
07-23-12 UPDATE:Podcast Update:Time to Read Episode 55: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, 'The Prisoner of Heaven'
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Here's the fifty-fifth 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. This is last week's edition, late, as I was traveling in LA capturing some great new interviews. Expect another, on time, later this week.
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.
"...we create myths, we create religion, we create beliefs..."
— Carlos Ruiz Zafón
It is always a pleasure to sit down and speak with Carlos Ruiz Zafón about his latest work, yet this time was a true celebration. His latest novel, 'The Prisoner of Heaven' is so much fun to read, so packed with humor and joy that it is hard not to smile when you look back on reading it. On its own it is utterly outstanding; and yet, in the context of 'The Shadow of the Wind' and 'The Angel's Game,' it is much, much more.
All that more is a lot to chat about, but Carlos and I had a great hour to do so at KQED. It's easy to tell how excited Zafón is about this book, and it's easy to see why. 'The Shadow of the Wind' is a glorious novel of love and discovery. 'The Angel's Game' is a harrowing descent into madness, a gothic horror story that explores the darkest places of the human soul, beautifully rendered.
'The Prisoner of Heaven' is a curious novel that manages offer joy, horror, revelation and anticipation. As a writer, Zafón is just getting to see the best parts of his literary cathedral take shape. The joy is not yet over, and neither is the horror. But Zafón knows how to render his horror in a manner from which his readers may derive joy in their reading experience. Readers, take heart; here is an author who is thinking of you. These are books that are designed to be re-read, a world that can be endlessly explored.
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Mary Robinette Kowal Reads "Evil Robot Monkey" at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...not that there's anything remotely Regency about evil robot monkeys..."
05-06-13: Commentary : Glennon Doyle Melton Suggests 'Carry On, Warrior' : Fighting for Life in the Too Much Information Age
05-04-13: Commentary : Reasons Not to Leave the House, Reality Check : The Truth Hurts Edition: 'Down the Up Escalator' by Barbara Garson, 'The Wolf and the Watchman' by Scott C. Johnson,'The Book of Woe' by Gary Greenberg, 'Confessions of a Sociopath' by M. E. Thomas
05-01-13: Commentary : Mario Guslandi Reviews An Emporium of Automata by DP Watt : "...from the bizarre to the grotesque, from the baroque to the uncanny..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Rick Klaw Reads at SF in SF on April 20, 2013 : "...those are the kind of people that don't get work anymore..."
04-29-13: Commentary : Ben Katchor Catalogues 'Hand Drying in America' : Subversive Cities of the Heart
04-27-13: Commentary : Mark Morris Introduces 'Toady' : A New World of Horror
Agony Column Podcast News Report : : Thomas Frank from The Easy Chair and Harper's Magazine: TV's DC Fantasies : "... basically, everyone is corrupt ..."
04-22-13: Commentary : Danielle Trussoni Maps 'Angelopolis' : The Afterlife of Angels
04-17-13: Commentary : How Not to Leave the House : Reach for the Recycling
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Matt Richtel, Sophie Littlefield and Terry Bisson at SF in SF on February 9, 2013 : "You cannot do this all day long." Sophie Littlefield
04-16-13: Commentary : Stephen Kessler 'Scratch Pegasus' : Lens of Language
04-08-13: Commentary : Ruth Ozeki Clocks 'A Tale for the Time Being' : Reading is the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2013 Interview with Ruth Ozeki : "...through the act of writing, she would somehow conjure the reader into being..."
