MIRA GRANT, Author of "PARASITE" - Interview

Mira Grant, author of the NEWSFLESH trilogy (one of the few zombie books I’ve enjoyed) has a new book out today: PARASITE. She’s graciously agreed to answer a few questions….

ANTHONY: Let’s start with the basics: What is PARASITE about?

MIRA: Parasites.  No, that isn’t fair, even if it’s accurate!  It’s about genetic engineering, and the uneasy marriage of science and profitability, that place where smart people do stupid things in the name of making a buck.  It’s about finding yourself.  And it’s about that sharply indrawn breath before the end of the world.

ANTHONY: I had the chance to read the first chapters, which were included in the ebook edition of LIGHTSPEED magazine’s October issue. And I have to say:  even in that short space, you managed to make me shiver. I anticipate a lot more seat-squirming before the book is done. Should readers expect a lot of bodily fluids to fly, since we’re dealing with intestinal parasites?

MIRA: Not as many as you might think!  Parasite is an intentionally ‘dry’ book in the body fluids sense, because there’s so much horror inherent in the concept that dumping buckets of blood on top just seemed, well…silly.  Like, why would you bother, when everything has already been ruined forever by the sheer existence of intestinal parasites?  I brought a big box of nope to page one, and spend a lot of time unpacking it.

ANTHONY: One of the things I love about your writing is the strong, but often emotionally damaged, female protagonists. Can you tell us a bit about Sally Mitchell?

MIRA: Sally Mitchell–who prefers to be called “Sal,” thank you, Sally was another country–was in a very bad accident several years before the start of the book, and she’s still dealing with the after effects, which are mostly psychological at this point.  She’s dyslexic, she has a severe fear of cars, and she has no memory of her life before the crash.  She’s a very kind person.  She wants to be good.  She’s just not always completely certain that she understands what that means.

ANTHONY: This takes place only a decade in the future, correct?  I know you love to research, so I’m curious as to what current medical breakthroughs you see leading to this potential future?

MIRA: I think that the breakthrough described in this book, harnessing controlled parasites to deal with certain allergies and auto-immune disorders, is coming.  I think we’re a little bit more, well, balanced about it than the people in this book.  I also think that we’re sort of holding our breath right now, because we need to get the politics out of science and really look at the human body–male and female–without ideological blinders getting in the way.

ANTHONY: If memory serves, this is the first Mira Grant book to debut in hardcover. How does that feel?

MIRA: Terrifying.

ANTHONY: PARASITE is the first of a duology called “Parasitology.” Any hints as to when we can expect the second book and what it will be called?

MIRA: Nope!  I don’t mean to be stubborn, but I can’t really say much about the second book without giving spoilers for the first, and we’re still debating the title a little bit.  I’m hoping it’ll be sorted soon.

ANTHONY: You know I have to ask at least one question related to your Newsflesh universe. As we discussed on #sffwrtcht on Twitter a few weeks back, Mahir Gowda has become a fan favorite. What is is about him (as opposed to, say, Georgia and Shaun Mason) that people seem to gravitate to?

MIRA: Mahir is the Horatio of the piece.  He’s the guy who exists to see things unfold, and he’s not untouched by them, he’s not some omniscient narrator: he’s a part of the story he observes.  He just doesn’t get to have a glorious death or an unequivocally happy ending.  He’s us.  He’s still searching for his answers, and he always will be.  I love him so much.

ANTHONY: Okay, two questions. The novella “How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea” was released in July, featuring Mahir exploring how the Uprising affected Australia. Can we expect more world travels in novella form in the near future? Perhaps next summer?

MIRA: There are currently no further Newsflesh novellas under contract with Orbit.

ANTHONY: The internet cannot see the Sad Face I’m making, but I’ll hold out hope that there’s an unspoken “yet” at the end of that answer.  Now, we’ve chatted so many times now that my usual “favorite book” closing question is probably a bit played out. So here’s a variation: What one text on virology/parasitology would you recommend to someone who becomes interested in the topic because of reading PARASITE?

MIRA: Carl Zimmer’s Parasite Rex is probably the ‘pop science’ work on parasites.  It’s factual but accessible, and will provide an amazing jumping-off point if you want to learn more about the factual world of our intestinal buddies.

Want to know more about the SymboGen company and their work? Go to Symbogen’s website.

You can follow Mira Grant, aka Seanan McGuire, on Twitter @seananmcguire. You can check out both her Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire websites. And of course you can buy PARASITE on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble as well as purchasing it from all respectable (and probably some not-so-respectable) brick-and-mortar bookstores.

ZACH CALLISON - Interview

Through my interviews with Sam Lant, Brandon Tyler Russell and Austin MacDonald and my friendships with their parents, I’ve become connected to a small group of young actors who have interesting projects (film, radio, television and charity work) to share. My latest interview from this “Burbank gang” is with Zach Callison. Zach has a great number of voice-credits under his belt that may be familiar to any of my friends with small children who watch Disney Channel. Zach’s also heavily involved in charity work. Since Zach’s celebrating his 16th birthday today, it seemed like the right time to post our interview.

ANTHONY: What was your first professional acting job?

ZACH: I began working in St. Louis when I was eight years old.  I booked a local grocery store commercial.  Following that I booked a small role in an independent film entitled ‘Kingshighway’. It was then that I knew I wanted to work in film and television and began working on my parents to help me pursue my dream.

ANTHONY: What is your favorite type of performing?

ZACH: While I love voice over work and have done quite a bit of it, my first love is on camera film and television. I am so excited that I just recently booked and worked on camera role.  It is my first love.

ANTHONY: How did you book the role of Prince James and did you work with the director on creating the character?

ZACH: Booking any voice over role requires recording an audition and sending it in. The studio will usually do a call back session and put you through the paces by giving direction to see if you can follow it and still deliver what they need. Prince James’s voice is my natural voice only with a little more energy.  James is a positive character with a lot of spunk.  It is usually the actor who creates the voice for the audition and gets the job if the director and studio likes what they hear.

ANTHONY: Has anything in your approach to the character changed as you moved from the movie script to an on-going series?

ZACH: Not really.  Doing a voice over role requires consistency so that the character is recognizable throughout.

Zach Callison as Prince James in Sofia the First

ANTHONY: Do you think “Sofia The First” is not only entertaining but also educating younger children? If so, what lessons is the show imparting?

ZACH: ‘Sofia’ is an amazing show in so many ways.  It is teaching lessons through stories.  It is a departure from the recite and repeat formulas of so many shows targeting young children.  The lessons imparted are morally based like kindness, sharing and belief in oneself.  I hear from parents all the time how much they like watching the show with their children and the lessons they learning.

ANTHONY: Who do you play in the upcoming DreamWorks feature film “Mr. Peabody and Sherman”? What was it like to record it?

ZACH: I play King Tut in the film.  I love the voice I created for this film.  It was so much fun to record and Rob Minkoff who directed the film was amazing to work with.  My mom is so excited about this film as she remembers the original cartoon and the episode with King Tut.

ANTHONY: It was one of my favorite cartoons, too. Can’t wait to see the movie. You’re not always acting. What do you like to do in your spare time?

ZACH: I am a big gamer.  Right now I am obsessed with League of Legends.  I play online with my friends and I am looking to begin league tournaments soon.  I can’t get enough of it!

ANTHONY: What charities/causes are most important to you?

ZACH: I am a Youth Ambassador for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.  I promote the organization and educate others about the importance of protecting our oceans and ocean life.  Sea Shepherd campaigns in the Southern Ocean have been filmed and documented by the Discovery Channel for the show ‘Whale Wars’.  They are a direct action organization making a real difference!

Other causes that I support are helping the homeless via ‘Little Red Wagon’, ‘LA Mission and Habitat for Humanity, as well as children’s charities like ‘Ronald McDonald House’ and the Children’s Hospitals of LA and Orange County.

ANTHONY: I’ve interviewed Zach Bonner recently about how he started the Little Red Wagon Foundation. How did you get involved?

ZACH: Zach Bonner and I met when I went out to support him when he was finishing his walk across the country.  I made the last 3 mile journey with him to the Santa Monica Pier.  We have become friends and I have been supporting him and his organization in any way I can.  I recently arranged the space and rounded up some of my friends to help him stuff backpacks with school supplies for homeless and under privileged kids.  We are also looking for more projects in the future to work together and bring funds and awareness to homeless youth.

Steven Universe

ANTHONY: What other acting or charity projects do you have coming up?

ZACH: I am so excited about my new show on Cartoon Network titled ‘Steven Universe’.   I play the role of Steven.  The show is hilarious and I laugh in the studio every time I record.  The show is airing later this fall.  Rebecca Sugar is the creator of the show and she holds the title of the first female show runner.  She is incredibly talented and our cast is fantastic.

I am also working on a new project that I can’t say much about at this time. It is being produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milner and it is hysterical.  I will share more when I can, but I am thrilled to be working on camera again with an amazing cast and crew.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book?

I haven’t had a lot of time for recreational reading lately but one of my favorite series of books is the ‘Hunger Games’.   I loved the action and the character development of the books and the theme of the story is semi-original.  Only second to a Japanese film titled “Battle Royale” released in 2000.

ANTHONY: Thanks for chatting, Zach!

ZACH: Thanks Anthony for the opportunity!

5 ODD QUESTIONS FOR JEREMY C. SHIPP - Interview

It’s been a while since I’ve interviewed my friend Jeremy C. Shipp (he of such bizarro fiction as Vacation, Sheeps And Wolves, the Stoker Award nominated Cursed,  Attic Toys(editor) and Always Remember To Tip Your Ninja, among others). His shorter tales have appeared in over 60 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Withersin, and Shroud Magazine. Jeremy enjoys living in Southern California in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse called Rose Cottage. He lives there with a couple of pygmy tigers and a legion of yard gnomes. The gnomes like him. The clowns living in his attic–not so much.

He’s doing a blog tour throughout October, with each interviewer asking him FIVE ODD QUESTIONS. Here are mine:

ANTHONY: What’s the best recipe for Smurf you’ve found?

JEREMY: Smurf brain tacos. First you break open the skull with a nutcracker shaped like Gargamel, and you remove the brain. Put the brain into cold water with a tablespoon of vinegar. Leave the brain submerged in the water and then gently remove the membrane. You can check out the rest of the recipe in my cookbook HOW TO EAT SMURFS AND OTHER TINY CREATURES.

ANTHONY: Attic Clown or Bozo the Clown: Who would win in a fight?

JEREMY: The Attic Clown has a lot of respect for Bozo, so I doubt any argument they had would actually resort to fisticuffs. But if they had to fight each other in a Battle Royale-type situation, the Attic Clown would definitely win. The Attic Clown is a demon equipped with a whole arsenal of silly weaponry, such as exploding balloon animals and rubber chicken nunchakus and flaming pies.

ANTHONY: Complete the sentence: “Green is the color of ___________.”

JEREMY: Green is the color of projectile pea soup vomit. Green is the color of Vulcan blood. Green is the color of retromutagen ooze. Green is the color of Piccolo’s skin. Green is the color of Good Luck Bear’s fur.

ANTHONY: What really lurks in the subsurface strata under Denver ?

JEREMY: Underneath the substrata exists Bizarro Denver, a place devoid of sun, snow, and breweries. It’s an awful place.

ANTHONY: Why are Garden Gnomes so misunderstood?

JEREMY:

MYTH: Gnomes eat children.

TRUTH: Gnomes are vegan. Some Gnomes simply cook children for ogres, to exchange for shoe horns.

MYTH: Gnomes use urine to clean their windows.

TRUTH: That’s disgusting. Gnomes actually use chupacabra vomit as a cleaning agent.

MYTH: Gnomes can’t read.

TRUTH: Gnomes can read, though only after slaying and eating a fresh bookworm.

MYTHS: Gnome hats are silly.

TRUTH: That’s a matter of opinion, buster!

MYTH: Gnomes will murder you if you shave off their beards.

TRUTH: Actually, that one is true.

Clearly, Jeremy’s brain is a land of oddities and mundanities mixed in all sorts of delightfully clever ways. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, his website … and most importantly, you can find his latest collection, Monstrosities, available at Amazon for the Kindle.

A DOLL'S HOUSE FILM - Kickstarter

I’ve been following photographer Kyle Cassidy for a few years now, from Livejournal to other social media. His wife, Jennifer Summerfield, is a wonderful NY/Philly area actress who also goes by the nom-du-0nline Trillian Stars.   Jennifer was recently in a really unique production of Henrik Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, and Kyle decided the production needed to be filmed. A Kickstarter was put in place to get the filmed production out there in front of the public. Here, Kyle and I talk about how the production came about, how the play was filmed, and what you can do to take part in this really wonderful project.

ANTHONY: You’re in the midst of a successful Kickstarter campaign to create a filmed version of the recent production of A DOLL’S HOUSE performed in the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Philadelphia. First, can you tell us a little bit about the Mansion itself?

KYLE: It was built and occupied at almost exactly the time Ibsen’s play is set by a local businessman very similar in economic situation as Torvald and Nora [the protagonists in A Doll’s House] and it’s been preserved as a museum, so all the furniture and things like that are period. Though because it’s an actual building that people have lived in and not a set there are some things that aren’t period — it has, for example, electricity, and this is one of the conceits of having both the play and the video done there — we just accept that the Helmer’s had electricity. There’s also a burglar alarm that’s visible in some of the shots, we camouflaged it, but you can still see it in a couple shots if you know what to look for. So there are a few things, but the wallpaper and the carpets and the drapes and things like that are accurate and were collected by experts over a period of years so it’s the most accurate set you could really hope for. You’re just surrounded by the time period.

The mansion’s open for business and they do tours and a few years ago they started doing limited run plays in the space, which is how A Doll’s House happened to be done there.

ANTHONY: What is it about the Mansion that made it such a great space to mount a production of A DOLL’S HOUSE, and what makes this particular production so unique?

KYLE: The director of the play, Josh Hitchen’s is a very well known actor and director in Philadelphia; he’s famous for doing extremely intimate one-persons shows in small venues that force the audience into the play — he loves claustrophobic environments that delete the stage and put nothing between the audience and the action, so he’d been eyeing the Maxwell mansion ever since he’d first seen it. In many cases it would be difficult to get really great actors to commit to doing a full-length play that was going to run for only five performances because you’re taking a big pay cut — there are only so many audience members you can fit in that space, so you might think an actor would rather do some big play that runs for two months but Josh had an enormous number of connections from actors he’d directed or acted with before and, he had the fact that it was this great play but he also had the mansion to dangle in front of people like a great carrot. So he was able to assemble an incredible cast of very experienced actors that a lot of other people wouldn’t have been able to, partly because of the play but partly also because of where it’s being performed — in a place like this, there is no backstage — every place you go keeps you in character. It turned into one of those things where the director was able to lure a dream team into a dream theater to perform a dream play — it was a perfect storm.

ANTHONY: What influenced the decision to film the production after the show’s run ended?

KYLE: During the rehearsal process I kept saying to people “you’re taping this right? you’re hiring a film crew and you’re doing a three camera shoot of one of the performances right?” And people were like “that’s a great idea, but we’re really busy making a play.” And I think, the day before the play opened I thought “well, it’s not going to happen if I don’t do it.” So I contacted a video crew, I contacted the mansion and got an OK from them, the mansion was great, they gave me two dates that I could have the run of the place after it was closed to the public, and once I had the green light from them I contacted the actors and the director to see if they’d be able to run the play again and there was this deflating response where I found out that two of the actors were already in other plays and there was no day everybody was able to be there.

Initially I was just thinking that it could be shot with three cameras during a regular run and everybody would be out of there in two hours. But with not having certain actors who were in scenes together the entire way in which we had to go about shooting it changed. We were forced to shoot out of sequence and this turned out to be a very great thing; we couldn’t just cover the room with three cameras anymore because not all the actors would be in the rooms together, I thought, well, now there’s no need to just stick in the one room they did the play in. This opened up everything else, and it meant we could put the cameras wherever we wanted, we could do multiple takes, we could shoot the whole thing more like a movie and less like a play. This made it a lot more expensive, a lot more time consuming and a lot more difficult to do, but it also made the final product a lot better. So we shot on two different days with different members of the cast each time. Each day was somewhere between five and ten hours — I can’t remember exactly — but cameraman Brian Siano figured out the breakdown of what scenes to do in what order to keep the actors there the shortest period of time and we went from that master list. Josh Hitchens, the director, had blocked the play, meaning figured out where everybody moved and stood, with the audience in the room in mind and when we got there, we threw a lot of that out the window. And we had to work really, really quickly. We’d figure out what scene was next, bring in all those actors, they’d do a really fast run-through of the scene as it had been staged and while watching this, Brian and I would figure out camera placements or even what room in the house to do it in, and we’d set up the cameras and do another super-fast run though and re-block the scene and the actors would sort of wing it and we’d move along to the next scene.

If someone comes over to your house and sits down in the living room with you and talks for 15 minutes, they sit in the same spot. Nobody gets up unless they’re going to get something, but you can’t do that in theater because the audience will get bored, so there’s a lot of movement put into blocking. People sit on a chair for five lines, they get up, they look out the window, they turn around, they sit down somewhere else, that kind of thing, and boring the audience is, in cinema, something you can avoid also by moving the cameras, so we did a lot of that — we could have the actors stay in one spot longer and cut back and forth between different camera angles.

ANTHONY: Some of my tech-minded friends will be upset if I don’t ask: what equipment was used to film the production, and what equipment are you using to edit the film into its final form? And why that equipment?

KYLE: We were using Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras mostly because of the size and the availability of fast, wide lenses. I think we used a 14, a 20, and a 45mm. There were a couple of shots we did with a Nikon d800 and an 85 1.8. The camera kits pack really small. Which was an advantage. We had two tripods only one of which had a video head on it, meaning that it could do smooth camera movements, so one camera was usually fixed and the other followed the action. Not having a lot of gear made things less complicated by not having to worry if we were using the right thing. We had two cameras and four lenses, so all problems had to be solved with two cameras and four lenses.

The audio was recorded on a separate device so that we weren’t using the on-camera microphones which would be catastrophic when switching back and forth between microphones in different parts of the room.

I’m not exactly sure what Brian’s editing it with, Final Cut or Premiere probably. One thing that the Kickstarter gave me the leisure to do was to hire an editor and not worry about a lot of that — it lets you just find someone who’s good at doing whatever bit of your thing and let them do it and you go on and worry about other stuff.

ANTHONY: The original goal of the Kickstarter was a modest $1,400. With 13 days to go, you’ve doubled that. What sorts of stretch goals have you added, both in terms of benefits to the project and added production value to the backers?

KYLE: I see all these ridiculously ambitious Kickstarters all the time. You know, someone’s like “I need $25,000 to go to Paris and write a poem at the top of the Eiffel tower” or what have you and they end up not getting funded and it always leaves me thinking how on Earth did you need $25,000 to go to Paris? Are you staying at Versailles? and it turns into an episode of “name that tune” in my head where I’m like “I could do that project for X dollars” — So, what I was looking for initially was pretty much just the amount of money I’d need to pay everyone for what they’d done and have nothing left over and a DVD without a slip case. That’s what I can do this for and not go broke. And really, to me, the only important thing out of the gate was that the play not get lost forever. So after that when we sold more copies I was able to give the cast a bonus and we were able to add a high-definition blu-ray version of the play and the options just get better from there. One thing about physical products like this is that they get cheaper to do the more you get — so right now if we can get to the point where I can print 1,000 copies of the DVD everything gets MUCH cheaper to do, so I can add all sorts of other stuff, I can add more graphics to the package, I can hire a sound designer to do music, I can add more special features, I can go back to the Maxwell mansion and shoot more stuff — the play takes place at Christmas so I’ve been hoping that it will snow and we can rush back and get some footage of the mansion in the snow. We could also re-shoot some scenes outside which would add more depth to the whole thing — the mansion is really beautiful and I think being able to bring the audience outside would be superfantastic. So it’s basically one of those “the more people buy it, the cheaper it gets to make and the more I can do” — so a 4 page booklet becomes an 8 page booklet becomes a 12 page booklet, and so on.

The cast from A Doll's House

ANTHONY: I’m hoping the final 12 days of the campaign will bring in enough money to add that music in and some of those other extras. Last but not least, what is it about Ibsen in general, and A DOLL’S HOUSE in particular, that makes this work so classic and so long-lasting?

KYLE: The play is about a woman who undergoes a dramatic change in her perception of the world — she realizes not only that what she’d thought of as a perfect life — and one that from the outside all of her friends thought was perfect — isn’t perfect, but she realizes that the entire basis of society is wrong. She realizes that she’s a person and she’d been living her life as a possession. It was controversial when it came out because so much of the way society in Europe and America functioned was on the idea that women were property and that they had a role and a duty to play and people thought it was just crazy talk that a woman would do things without her husband’s permission. When it was performed Ibsen was forced to write an alternate ending where after giving her great monologue at the end Nora quickly recants — which is as silly as a Bowdlerized version of Romeo and Juliet where they all get up at the end and say “ah, the poison wore off!” and they skip away and Montague and Capulet throw a big bar-b-q for everyone in Verona. A Doll’s House only works if the play challenges, and is allowed to successfully challenge, things that are wrong with the way things are. So I think that gave it a good start; apart from being a very well written play. Another thing that’s kept it alive for so long and held it dearly in people’s hearts is that it’s one of a very few great roles for a woman to play. Theater is littered with plays about men, anybody can list a bunch of iconic roles that can make a male actors career — Hamlet, Stanley Kowalski, Cyrano, Lear, Willy Loman; there are all these great dramatic parts, but so much of theater is about men and the women’s roles in the plays are supporting. Lady Macbeth is a great role as far as Shakespeare’s parts for women, but the play’s called Macbeth, not Lady Macbeth. I think it’s very common for a lot of theaters to do not just one, but many consecutive seasons without a single play that’s about a female character. Plus Nora’s a really complicated individual who goes through a range of emotions that give an actor an opportunity to really show off what they can do.

ANTHONY: Thanks, Kyle!

You can still contribute to the A DOLL’S HOUSE Kickstarter. There are 12 days left. Don’t miss out on this.

Oh, and if you live in the Philly area, you can also catch Jennifer as another iconic female of the theater — Lady Macbeth — in The Hedgerow Theater’s MACBETH, which runs from now through November 17th. If you go, and get to meet Kyle and Jennifer, tell them Anthony sent you!

HARRY CONNOLLY - Interview

Harry Connolly is the author of the TWENTY PALACES urban fantasy series featuring Ray Lilley. He’s also about to conclude a very successful Kickstarter campaign to self-publish a new epic fantasy series, so I grabbed the chance to chat with him about that and help boost his signal as the campaign clock winds down.

ANTHONY: You’re currently in the closing days of a Kickstarter for a new epic fantasy trilogy called The Great Way, and the project has an interesting origin. Can you share that genesis with us?

 HARRY: This whole trilogy started as a homeschool project with my son. When he was nine, almost ten, I dug out a book I’d bought years before, written by a LAUSD elementary school teacher, that promised to teach kids to write a fantasy novel. It was also full of lessons on grammar, punctuation, word usage, narrative structure, and so on. Lots of work sheets. I wrote about it here: http://www.harryjconnolly.com/blog/index.php/a-special-project/

And my son being who he is, I had to do the exercises along with him.

He finished his “novel” (actually a comic fantasy about 10K words long) the next summer. For me, the book I was writing ballooned into three books and took me much much longer.

ANTHONY: You said that your project “ballooned into a 350,000 word trilogy.”  Can you give us your take on the tropes of epic/high fantasy and why it lends itself to books of such size? Is it even possible to write a “short epic fantasy?”

 HARRY: I do think it’s possible to write short epic fantasy. People used to do it all the time, and some still do it now. However, I think modern epic fantasy fans prefer very long stories. At least, those are the books that dominate the bestseller lists.

ANTHONY: The Kickstarter for The Great Way has been super-successful. Initial goal of $10,000, and as of when I’m typing these questions, you’re at $36,000.  What are some of the stretch goals you’ve added in to enhance the project as that pledge amount has climbed?

 HARRY: So far we’ve unlocked two stretch goals: Thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of my backers, all three books in the trilogy will be getting covers by Chris McGrath. That’s a pretty big deal for self-published novels.

The other goal we’ve unlocked is for extra ebooks: one is a pacifist urban fantasy called A KEY, AN EGG, AN UNFORTUNATE REMARK (working title: The Auntie Mame Files). Basically, it’s an urban fantasy with a protagonist who is in her mid-sixties. I think the world needs more books like that. Folks can read more about that book here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1179145430/the-great-way-an-epic-fantasy-trilogy-by-harry-con/posts/628459

Also, unlocked is the ebook for TWENTY PALACES, which is the self-published ebook that kicks off the books (published by Del Rey) that earned me so many fantastic readers. Folks who are new to my work might be interested in that. And there’s some other work, too.

The next stretch goal in sight is an rpg supplement that would allow gamers to play in the KEY/EGG setting with FATE Core rules. I have already promised a FATE Core supplement for The Great Way, for folks who pledge at that level.

ANTHONY: What are some of the rewards backers can still sign up for, in the closing hours of the Kickstarter?

 HARRY: Well, at $12 they’ll get KEY/EGG, TWENTY PALACES and the first book in the trilogy, THE WAY INTO CHAOS. At $25 they’ll get the two extra novels plus the entire trilogy. That’s three or five books, which is a pretty decent deal if you like ebooks. Gamers who play FATE can add $5 to get the supplement.

There are also trade paperback editions of The Great Way (which will have the McGrath covers) and a hardcover omnibus edition. The omnibus edition is for Kickstarter backers only. Once those rewards are sent out I won’t be making any more of them.

There are also other rewards like a fiction critique. And cookies.

ANTHONY: In the 1,000 backers Stretch Goal, you mention that your upcoming short story collection will include a new Twenty Palaces short story. So I have to ask, as a fan: after this successful Kickstarter, have you considered doing one to continue the ended-too-soon Twenty Palaces series?

 HARRY: Sorry, but no, I don’t.

I know people hate to hear that because they love those Twenty Palaces novels. I myself am amazed at how devoted the books’ fans are.

But the truth is that Kickstarter, for all its benefits, is just a way to *start* working toward success. Yeah, my KS campaign has been astonishingly successful–certainly more successful than I ever expected–and right now the number of backers I have is climbing toward 800.

However, my real goal is to grow my readership to a thousand times that number, or more if I can. If I wrote another Twenty Palaces novel now, while my readership was still too small to sustain a series, I would never find the kind of success I’m aiming for.

I have ambitions, let’s say. I talk about it in depth here: http://www.harryjconnolly.com/blog/index.php/let-me-tell-you-about-my-ambitions-and-why-they-dont-include-kickstarter-right-now/ but the gist is that I tried Twenty Palaces novels out in the market and they came up “devoted fanbase that is too small to sustain a career.” Writing another now would be treading water.

Besides, I’m hoping that my new books will please those readers just as much, if not more, and they won’t mind missing Ray and Annalise too much.

ANTHONY: I’d forgotten about that essay, but I’m glad asking you the question might direct people to it who missed it when you first posted it. Speaking of posting: you published your son’s project on your website. Any plans to bring it out as an ebook or limited print run, as part of the stretch goals for your Kickstarter?

 HARRY: There is! Above, where I was talking about backers receiving “other stuff” in that unlocked stretch goal, one of the things I was talking about is the comic fantasy my son wrote. It’s, you know, a novella written by a kid, but it’s very funny (deliberately funny, I mean) and I’ve already convinced fine artist and children’s book illustrator Kathleen Kuchera to make a cover for it. http://www.pinterest.com/kathleenkuch/my-art/

I’m a big fan and I think readers will be delighted by how bright and beautiful her work is.

ANTHONY: Once the Kickstarter is over, how can people who didn’t back the project purchase The Great Way?

 HARRY: The current plan is to offer it as ebooks in All The Usual Places, plus POD editions. In fact, I plan to make the POD editions returnable and high discount so bookstores can stock it, if they want. I know there are a few Twenty Palaces fans out there who are booksellers.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

 HARRY: Hah! My normal answer to this question is that I don’t have favorites and don’t believe in them, but I won’t do that here. Instead I’ll just recommend RED HARVEST by Dashiell Hammett. It’s a mystery and a crime novel and yeah, it’s nearly a 100 years old now, but the story is compelling as hell. Hammett may have invented a new plot when he wrote that book.

And while it doesn’t have the sf bling or fantasy magic, it does have one character, a flawed but Competent Man, who risks his life to stand up to corruption. The protagonist is tarnished but heroic, and my first novel sale came about because I was trying to translate the frisson of that book into contemporary fantasy.

You can follow Harry on Twitter @byharryconnolly, check out his website, livejournal, Facebook … and most importantly, you can journey over to The Great Way Kickstarter and help Harry reach some of those stretch goals … and get some solid fiction in return!

THE ROLE CALL - Interview

The Role Call is another band I first came across on Twitter, and got to build a connection with. They’ve been featured here before, in a guest post they wrote about the Kickstarter they did for their most recent EP. We finally connected for an interview. Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, The Role Call consists of Joey Russ on drums, Kristoff Druva on bass, Joe Jorde on guitar, Max Young on guitar, and Steve Zerwas, who answered these questions, on vocals. I really enjoy their sound, especially this most recent EP.

ANTHONY: Hello, The Role Call! The last time you visited, it was in a guest post to promote the Kickstarter for your second EP. So let’s start there: how much did the Kickstarter raise, and how quickly were you able to start on the new EP?

THE ROLE CALL: Hey! The Kickstarter raised a little over $2,500 for us which was amazing and helped us put together such an amazing EP. We were actually able to start recording it a couple months later!

ANTHONY: What differences are there between the first EP and the new one?

TRC: The first EP was more of a safe bet, it had some diversity in it but overall it had the same sound and was more of an older feel to it. The new EP hits all sorts of bases with each song being completely different than the one before it. “Like I Do” is filled with songs that almost everyone can enjoy.

ANTHONY: Let’s talk about your songwriting process for a moment. How do you approach songwriting, either individually or a group?

TRC: It’s kind of a combination of both, we will write on our own and then come to practice and lay down the idea’s we’ve come up with and see what we can come up with working on that idea as a team. This was the writing process from our last EP and we might do something new this year when we go to write new music. We are a growing band both in fans but also in how we work together so the way we do things is definitely subject to change as we learn more about how each other works.

ANTHONY: Who brings what to the table, both in songwriting and in production?

TRC: We all bring a little bit of everything to the table. Each person is equally capable of writing instrumentals or saying “this would sound cool here” both in production and recording. I’m (Steven) also perfectly fine with suggestions as to the direction of a song lyrically or suggestions of lines that they like as well. A band is more than just one person so the music should be writing by more than one person, ya know?

ANTHONY: You’ve had some membership changes since the first EP, correct? Tell us about the new line-up.

TRC: Yes we have! Zach our old guitarist had left (on very good terms) to pursue other things and we fully support that. Since his departure we picked up Joe Jorde on leads and have been playing with him since. He’s a pretty unique guitarist, he actually never uses a pick and I thought that was really interesting!

ANTHONY: I wonder how many of the musicians I’ve interviewed can say that. The first single and video off of the new EP is “She’s All I Think About.” Where and when was the video filmed?

TRC: It was filmed partly in a studio in a suburb of Minneapolis and then the performance part was a filmed in a studio at the University of Minnesota. It was all filmed in a couple days. One in March and the other in April!

ANTHONY: The new EP also features “Indestructible” (perhaps my favorite track, tied with “Like I Do”), which features guest vocals from the incomparable Sam Miller of Paradise Fears. How did that collaboration come about?

TRC: We have known Paradise Fears for a long time and as we were writing the song in Nashville we decided it would be amazing to have some guest vocals on it. We started talking about who and then Sam Miller came up and we stopped thinking of anyone else because we knew he would be perfect. We sent it over to Sam and he was happy to do it!

ANTHONY: Is there a tour in the near future? Another video?  What’s coming up for The Role Call?

TRC: We are definitely planning on going out on tour very soon because it’s been a little while since the last one. We are planning on coming out with all sorts of videos, so be sure to look out for those in the future! Other than that, we are planning on writing a new EP and probably touring on that within the next year.

ANTHONY: I’m looking forward to all of that, and you guys are always welcome back here to chat and promote. Now for my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has never read it to convince them that they should

TRC: My favorite book (Steven) is The Perks of Being a Wallflower, it’s definitely a must read. The characters are all amazing and it’s a very interesting book. I don’t read very often but that book captivated me.

You can find The Role Call on Facebook and their own website, and follow each member of the band individually on Twitter: @JoeyTRC, @KristoffTRC, @JordeTRC, @MaxTRC, and @SteveTRC or follow the band account @TheRoleCallMN.
Of course, you can also find them on their Youtube channel, where you’ll find this video, among others:

CROSSED GENES by BART LEIB - Interview

I had a chance to once again chat with Bart Leib, co-publisher at CROSSED GENRES. This time, we talk specifically about how the company’s e-magazine is preparing to move into Year Two with a subscription drive, and we end with a very cool EXCLUSIVE announcement.

ANTHONY: Just about a year ago, you successfully ran a Kickstarter to relaunch CROSSED GENRES magazine. How has the first year gone?

BART: We’ve released the first ten issues so far, and the response has been tremendous. Version 2.0 of the zine has been very like the original run, in that we’ve strived to showcase typically underrepresented groups, and readers have really appreciated it.

And that was made easy because of the very large and diverse pool of submissions we’ve been getting! We’ve been excited every month to see lots of great submissions – I don’t think we’ve gotten through a single month without having to agonize over which stories to accept. And every month the submission pool has had great representation of PoC, women, and QUILTBAG MC’s.

ANTHONY: Every issue of CG features a different theme that plays with what “science fiction” and “fantasy” can encompass. What have been some of your favorite themes from the past year?

BART: We’re especially fond of the themes which are more open to interpretation, because authors know we love it when they push the boundaries of the theme’s definition. “Discovery” (issue 4) was particularly intriguing, as was “She” (issue 6). The upcoming issues, 11 (coming in November) and 12 (December) are the Favors and Young Adult issues respectively, and we’re very pleased with the results of these ones.

ANTHONY: Every issue of CG includes a New Author Spotlight. Why do you feel it’s vital to not just publish new authors but also give the readers an insight into their process and background?

BART: During the magazine’s first three-year run, we attracted a lot of new/undiscovered authors. This was partially because we’ve always been open to stories and topics which many publications shy away from. New authors are often more willing to take chances with their writing. The result is stories which push boundaries and challenge perceptions, which take uncomfortable topics and put them front and center.

When we decided to push for the funds to bring back the magazine paying SFWA-level pro rates, there was some justifiable fear that established authors would push out new authors from CG’s pages. So we established the New Author Spotlight: We guarantee that at least one story per month will be from an author who’s never had a pro-rate sale. We included the author interview so authors would have a chance to showcase why their story, and writing in general, is important to them – and how fiction can catalyze and alter public discourse.

ANTHONY: How do you decide on the theme for each issue, and what themes are you excited for in the near future?

BART: Our process for picking themes is myriad and opaque – even for us!

A few times in the past we sat down and brainstormed a ton of theme ideas. As of now – not counting the themes we used in the zine’s first run or the first year of the new zine – we have enough remaining on the list to cover nearly eight more years of issues. When it comes time to make decisions, we look over the list and pick some themes we think will balance nicely with each other.

We usually post them in 6-month blocks. As of right now, all the themes for 2014 have been posted on the submissions page  so authors can look ahead and think about which themes they want to write for.

We’re really looking forward to reading submissions to the current theme, Unresolved Sexual Tension.  The Food issue (#17, Submissions in January) and the Flash Fiction Free-For-All (#18, submissions in February) will probably be very fun too!

ANTHONY: In order to see a second year of CG, the current subscription drive needs to be successful. What are the various subscription options?

BART: We’re currently offering a one-year (12 issues) subscription. The ebook subscription includes monthly issues, as well as the collected biannual anthologies, which collect 6 issues together and include original cover art.

There’s also a print subscription, which includes everything in the ebook subscription PLUS print copies of two biannual anthologies. (Unfortunately this is only for US residents since shipping outside the US is prohibitively expensive.)

We haven’t offered a lifetime subscription except as Kickstarter rewards, but if people want that they should let us know! 

ANTHONY: If people don’t want to subscribe, but would like to help the magazine continue, what can they do?

BART: Buying books is always good! We have two novels, a single-author collection and four anthologies currently available, in addition to the first biannual anthology from the magazine (Find Titles Here).

ANTHONY: And the cover of that first biannual collection graces the very beginning of this interview! How else can they help?

BART: Donations are also welcome, and can be made via the website (a button on the magazine subscription page).

Beyond that – help spread the word about the magazine! We need a lot of subscriptions in order for CG Magazine to become self-sustaining, so the more people who hear about it the better!

ANTHONY: Any other news about Crossed Genres you’d like to share?

BART: We’re very happy to say that our next anthology, after a delay, is finally almost ready! Oomph: A Little Super Goes a Long Way will be released in late October. As a taste of what Oomph will be like, here’s a look at the cover and Table of Contents:

“Hat Trick” – Beth Cato

“Power Line Dreams” – A.J. Fitzwater

“Exact Change” – Christine Morgan and Lucas Williams

“Short Circuit” – Kirstie Olley

“Random Play All and the League of Awesome” – Shane Halbach

“The Writing is On the Wall” – Brian Milton

“The Breeze” – Mary Alexandra Agner

“Fortissimo Possibile” – Dawn Vogel

“Knuckles” – Ken MacGregor

“A Twist of Fate” – Holly Schofield

“Trailblazer” – Anthony R. Cardno

“Mildly Indestructible” – Jay Wilburn

“Blanket Statement” – Aspen Bassett

“Great White” – Brent Knowles

“Speak Softly” – Day Al-Mohamed

ANTHONY: Oh, hey, I see a familiar name in there! I’m excited for this one. And folks, you’ll be able to order it from CG’s website and it’ll help them keep the magazine running!

LAWRENCE BLOCK RETURNS - Interview

I’m always happy to welcome previous interview subjects back to ramble on with me, but it’s always an honor when someone really well known agrees to be interviewed or re-interviewed. Today I get to welcome back the great Lawrence Block. You know him at the author of the Bernie Rhodenbarr and Matthew Scudder mysteries, among many others. He’s got a new short story collection out, so we chatted via email about it.

ANTHONY: Hard Case Crime just released the hardcover edition of CATCH AND RELEASE through special arrangement with Subterranean Press.  How closely did HCC publisher Charles Ardai work with you to choose the contents of the book?

LAWRENCE: Not at all, actually. I proposed the book to Bill Schafer, and made up a list of contents. Charles was good enough to offer his support and co-sponsorship for the book.

ANTHONY: The advertising copy for CATCH AND RELEASE says the contents are all short works that have not appeared in previous collections. When did the oldest story in the book last see print?

LAWRENCE: Well, remarkably enough, “Part of the Job” was published in Dapper in 1967—but I didn’t learn about it for over 40 years! The whole story of its publication and re-discovery is included with the story itself.

With that curious exception, these are all recent stories, all written in the present century. Thus they weren’t included in my omnibus collection, Enough Rope.

ANTHONY: What is the newest piece in the book?

LAWRENCE: Probably “See the Woman,” written a couple of years ago for the L.A. Noire anthology.

ANTHONY: CATCH AND RELEASE includes stories featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr and Matthew Scudder, correct?

LAWRENCE: Bernie’s here in “A Burglar’s-Eye View of Greed,” a newspaper op-ed piece I did for New York Newsday in 2002. Mark Lavendier published it as a deluxe limited-edition broadside, but it’s never appeared anywhere else. Matthew Scudder’s here twice, with “Mick Ballou Looks at the Blank Screen” and “One Last Night at Grogan’s.” These are the last two stories in the Scudder collection, The Night and the Music.

ANTHONY: The volume also includes a play script. Was the script ever produced? (And if so, can you tell us a bit about the production?)

LAWRENCE: It’s the adaptation of a short story, and I believe it was performed a couple of times in Australia. And there have been a couple of Stateside nibbles, but so far nothing has happened—as is not unusual in the theater. It’s a natural for an amateur production—two characters, one set—so if anyone wants to stage it, all they have to do is get in touch.

ANTHONY: Are there any other Block (or pseudonymous) stories out there left to be collected, or have they finally all been un-earthed?

LAWRENCE: Well, only “Part of the Job” was unearthed; the others are all pretty recent. It would surprise me mightily if any more stories turned up from way back when, but the possibility’s hard to rule out.

ANTHONY: This is the second time Hard Case Crime has partnered with Subterranean to release a limited edition hardcover collection of yours. The STRANGE EMBRACE / 69 BARROW STREET collection is out of print now?

LAWRENCE: I believe so. The two individual titles are eVailable as eBooks from Open Road.

ANTHONY: Most of the Hard Case Crime line is mass market or trade paperback editions. Will we be seeing paperback releases for either of the Subterranean titles?

LAWRENCE: No plans that I know of for PB editions of Strange Embrace or 69 Barrow Street. As far as CATCH AND RELEASE is concerned, I retained both eBook and paperback rights, and have already self-published the eBook edition; it’s on sale even as we speak, and here’s a Kindle link.

I’ll also be bringing out a trade paperback edition any day now; it’s coming from CreateSpace, and will be widely available at Amazon and other online booksellers as well. Same format as the SubPress hardcover, same great cover art—and, since the hardcover’s essentially sold out on publication, a chance for readers to get the printed book at a reasonable price.

There an audiobook coming, too, and Dreamscape is already taking preorders in advance of a November release date. I did the narration, with an assistant from the beautiful and talented Lynne Wood Block; the play, “How Far,” needed two voices, one male, one female. And while she was at it she also voiced “Without a Body,” a brief monologue with a woman narrator.

ANTHONY: Since there’s a Scudder story in the new collection, I have to ask how filming for “A Walk Among The Tombstones” has progressed. Are they still filming, or are they in post-production now?

LAWRENCE: It’s in post-production, and I don’t know if they’ve set a release date, but I’m sure it’ll be sometime in the first half of 2014.

ANTHONY: You got to spend some time on the set. How was that?

LAWRENCE: It was fun. Liam Neeson was absolutely brilliant in the scenes I saw, and I think fans will love him as Scudder.

ANTHONY: I’m looking forward to that. Final question: What’s coming down the pike in the next few months?

LAWRENCE: A brand-new novel, the one I wrote this summer on a Holland America cruise. Don’t ask me where we went, as I barely got out of my cabin. I’m very excited about the book, and couldn’t bear to wait a year and a half for a traditional publisher to bring it out. So I’m publishing it myself, and we’ve settled on Christmas as  our release date.

Yeah, this Christmas. Christmas of 2013, which is like 90 days from now.

And, for the moment, that’s all I can tell you about it…

You can find more of Lawrence Block’s discussions of his writing on his website, his blog, his facebook and his goodreads discussion group. You can also follow him on Twitter as @LawrenceBlock.

BRENDON EGGERTSEN - Interview

Through my interviews with Sam Lant, Brandon Tyler Russell and Austin MacDonald and my friendships with their parents, I’ve become connected to a small group of young actors who have interesting projects (film, radio, television and charity work) to share. My latest interview from this “Burbank gang” is with Brandon Eggertsen: actor, radio engineer, aspiring stuntman and … monkeyman?

ANTHONY: Hi Brendon! So, let’s start out with the most obvious question: when did you start acting?

BRENDON: Age 10, while in Michigan. When I was 11, I competed in IMTA (International Model Talent Association) and got my manager from there. Julie Abrams from Dreamscope Entertainment. We moved out to California so I could pursue my love of acting, my siblings and dad are still in Michigan.

ANTHONY: What was your first role?

BRENDON: Take Me Away—played in a flashback of one of the main characters, I get beat up by my father.

ANTHONY: Who are some of your favorite actors / biggest influences?

BRENDON: Adam Sandler (he is so funny), Jim Carrey (he’s amazing) Brad Pitt (he’s a great actor) Tom Cruise (love how he does his own stunts), Will Ferrell (love his acting), Charlie Sheen (he is just cool)

ANTHONY: I have a lot of friends who are horror movie fans. You were in Paranormal Activity 4. Tell us a bit about that experience.

BRENDON: Loved going to set every day. It was a lot of fun and not scary at all.

ANTHONY: Are you a big fan of horror (movies or books)?

BRENDON: I am not scared very easily, actually it’s pretty impossible. No one has been able to spook me.

ANTHONY: Okay, so you’re not easily scared, but what are some of your favorites?

BRENDON: I do enjoy the old school Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm street movies.

ANTHONY: You also had a role in Adam Sandler’s “Just Go With It.” Tell us about that character and what filming was like.

BRENDON: I loved it!!! I played Arial, Keven Nealon and Heidi Montag’s son who falls and scrapes his knee. Adam gives me an injection in my knee and he slaps me across the face. It was great to improv with him.

ANTHONY: IMDb reports that you’re also in the cast of an upcoming film called “Pass The Light.” What’s that about, and what’s your role in it?

BRENDON: I play Francis, the school nerd. It is a Christian based film with a great message about making others happy and not judging because someone is homosexual, but loving people for who they are and giving everyone a chance.

ANTHONY: It’s nice to hear about a Christian-based movie that’s not automatically anti-gay. I know you recently took over as the sound engineer for the internet radio show “Beyond The Spotlight.” Did you have an interest in sound-engineering before you took the job, or is this something you’re learning as you go along?

BRENDON: Learning as I go along, but I really like it. I love music!! I am also a drummer.

ANTHONY: What personal touches are you bringing to BTS (music style, harrassing the hosts, etc)?

BRENDON: I love Music, I have a great connection with the hosts, Sam Lant is my best friend, some say we have a bromance. I will also have some funny side comments as I go along.

ANTHONY: Any projects coming up that you’d like to tell us about?

BRENDON: I do not have any current projects coming up but I also am a stunt kid and I am perfecting my fighting, falls, rappelling, trampoline, flipping, parkour, and freelining.

I am also a big supporter of the Gibbon Conservatory Center. I love Monkeys and apes and this is a way for me to hang with them. One of my nicknames is monkeyman.

ANTHONY: Tell us more about your work at the Gibbon Conservatory Center.

BRENDON: I have always liked monkeys and so when I got the opportunity to work at the Gibbon Conservatory Center in Santa Clarita I jumped at the chance. Gibbons are actually apes not monkeys and they are also the musicians of the ape families. Their calls are amazing and that is how they mark their territories. My mom and I volunteer. I work on their clean-up crew and docent (welcoming visitors, and answering questions). When I volunteer at least 20 hours, I might have the opportunity to feed them, which I hope to do. The center has 40 Gibbons and 5 of the 17 different species are represented there.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What’s your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

BRENDON: I hate books and reading. I am one that likes to always move, so sitting down and reading is something I have never been fond of.

You can follow Brendon on Twitter as @brenegg, find him on Facebook, IMDb, on Instagram as btotheegg and his own website.  And of course you can hear him working the sound board for BEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT every Saturday at 10am Pacific time, with hosts Sam Lant and Mandalynn Carlson.

RICHARD BOWES, author - Interview

Richard Bowes is an author I should have been long-since familiar with, but who I’ve only started reading in the past two years or so. Rick has lived an interesting life, a large portion of it in Greenwich Village serving as a librarian at NYU.  He’s seen the city change a lot, and regularly posts photos of Old New York on his Facebook page. He was, of course, in the city on September 11, 2001, and one of his most moving stories, “There’s a Hole in the City,” takes place in the days immediately following; WBAI out of NYC airs Rick’s reading of the story ever year to commemorate the anniversary of the event.  All of Rick’s stories and novels are character-driven and many, but not all, have some aspect of the supernatural or fantastic.  I met Rick in person, finally, at Readercon 2013 in Boston, and he’s as fun to talk to in person as he is on Twitter or Facebook.

ANTHONY: Thanks for taking the time to chat, Rick. Let’s start with an easy one: when was your first professional sale?

RICK: It was early 1985. Before then I’d designed board games that got bought and published. And I wrote gay porn under a pseudonym. But my first real fiction sale was a paperback time travel/alternate worlds novel, WARCHILD, to Warner Questar in 1985. It was the first piece of real spec fiction I’d written.

ANTHONY: What is your writing process like? What’s a Day In The Life of Rick Bowes?

RICK: Well I’m old so a day in the life isn’t as exciting as it might once have been.  I’m retired and can stay up far into the night like I’m doing as I write this and can sleep until noon if I want. I try to have something: Yoga class, shopping, early brunch with a friend, to get me out the door before noon. I live in a tiny apartment in what was the heart of the 1950’s/1960’s Greenwich Village and I love this place dearly. I almost always manage to write something each day. I don’t have those spectacular daily word counts I read about in young writers’ tweets and Facebook entries but I produce stories and they get bought and published.

ANTHONY: You’ve written short stories and novels. Does your process change at all from one form to the other?

RICK: The two are often intertwined. The first three books I published, WARCHILD and its sequel GOBLIN MARKET plus the standalone FERAL CELL were novels written as novels. In 1989 I began writing short stories for the first time since college nearly 25 years before. The first one never sold (though I cannibalized it many years later). Every story since then has sold. My fifth story “On Death and the Deuce” was my first fictionalized autobiographical story. It was about kicking alcohol and drugs which I’d done 15 years or so years earlier and it introduced Kevin Grierson and his doppelganger who was his addictions. A couple of my other stories had already been bought but ODATD was the first to be published (in F&SF May 1992).  I wrote nine more Grierson stories and all ten became the Lambda Award winning MINIONS OF THE MOON.

At some point fairly early on I realized I had a book and began “hooking” the stories,  introducing the same characters in different stories, creating story arcs (like showing Grierson going from self destructive kid hustler to a gay man in an adult relationship). Each piece had to be written in the classic short story form in order to sell to the magazines and anthologies.  But certain changes had to be made for them to then serve as chapters. My story, “Streetcar Dreams” which won a World Fantasy Award was actually the linking material that joined the other stories together in the finished novel.

ANTHONY: You know I’m a big fan of your short fiction. A lot (if not all of it) draws from your real life in a much more concrete way than I think a lot of authors would be comfortable doing (at least, while the people they’re drawing from are still alive).  Are there any pieces of your past that are “off limits” as story fodder or inspiration?

RICK: “Still alive,” may play a bigger part in this than I’d consciously realized. Except for my late brother Gerry, I guess I’ve written less about my family than I might have. Gerry and my relationship was what my story “Circle Dance” was about. It appeared in Postscripts magazine and my 2006 collection STREETCAR DREAMS then got adapted into a chapter of DUST DEVIL.  Gerry and I were in the East Village together in the heady late ’60’s and grim early ’70’s. I was as close to him in many ways as I’ve ever been to anyone.

“Off limits”? I’m not sure. My parents were fascinating people. My father and mother were both in the theater when I was a kid. Both were writers. I use some of that in DUST DEVIL and in my “were actor” story “A Song to the Moon” which I’ve included in IF ANGELS FIGHT.  Often my narrator’s mother is crazy/unhappy and his father is angry and tough (mine had been a WW2 army bomber crewman). I’ve written about my father in the story “My Life in Speculative Fiction (in the STREETCAR DREAM and TRANSFIGURED NIGHT collections) and in an upcoming non-speculative fiction story for the magazine “The Revelator”.  I used an aspect of my mother for the mother in MINIONS. But there was much more to each of them than I’ve shown.

My sisters and their husbands and children and my youngest brother are all highly successful many of them in the creative arts and I’ve never really written about them.  I’d love to but, yeah, that can get difficult and somehow the right circumstances never seemed to arise.

ANTHONY: Without naming names (unless you want to), have there been any instances where you’ve based a character on someone from your past and they’ve reacted negatively?

RICK: The friends/boyfriends/girlfriends/chance encounters in my stories tend to be modular creations; a single character will be drawn from several different people. Also this is fiction. I make varying amounts of this up. It draws from real life but isn’t autobiography.

That said one advantage I had was that in a large part of my life most of the people I associated with weren’t readers or if they were didn’t read fiction. It’s only in the last fifteen or so years that I’ve started hanging out with writers. I put aspects of people in books and they never knew. Now the God-damnedest people see themselves in my stories. Usually they seem pleased. Maybe they’re right but it wasn’t intentional.

Dust Devil on a Quiet Street

ANTHONY: I remember a guest on the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Chat on Twitter (#sffwrtcht) once commenting that the defining aspect of “urban fantasy” is that the setting is as much a character as the actual characters are. It strikes me that this is very true of a lot of your work: most obviously with Greenwich Village in DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREET, but even with your Time Ranger stories (especially “The Ferryman’s Wife” and “Mask of the Rex”) and your story “Seven Days of Poe” in Steve Berman’s WHERE THY DARK EYE GLANCES. Do you intentionally give Place this level of importance, or is it something that is just organic to your style and process?

RICK: So do you consider any of your story cycles to be “urban fantasy?”  If not, is there a sub-genre you would say your work falls into?

I’m going to try to answer both of these questions in one if you don’t mind. It’s probably a sign of my alienation that I find my surroundings so endlessly fascinating and surprising that I don’t really need to invent imaginary ones.

FERAL CELL was my second novel. It came out in 1987. FC gets talked about in DUST DEVIL in the chapter where the narrator is in St. Vincent’s Hospital. I had cancer in 1984/5 which is when I began writing FERAL CELL. It’s set slightly in the future in a New York where the narrator is dying of cancer and when he discovers an alternate world called Capricorn where people dying of cancer in our world (which they call Cancer) appear like spirits and are considered sacred. There are evil aristocrats in Capricorn and rival gangs of skateboard and roller skaters here in NYC.

The vast apparatus of online websites and blogs and so on didn’t exist twenty-six years ago. The book got interesting reviews and attention, especially from people who had or once had cancer. Among them was Terri Windling the editor/author whose BORDERTOWN anthologies in the 1980’s did so much to establish Urban Fantasy as a sub-genre. She discovered Feral Cell, included my story “On Death and the Deuce, in YEAR’S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR and helped get MINIONS published. Terri identified me as one of the early practitioners of the sub-genre.

Stories of magic set in cities go back as far as cities do. Urban Fantasy wasn’t something I did intentionally. The Boston (especially the Boston Public Library) of  1960 in my Poe Story, the Bar Harbor Maine of FROM THE FILES OF THE TIME RANGERS, the New York of the late 20th/early 21st centuries in DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREET are my world.  I’m glad there’s a subgenre to accommodate it.

If Angels Fight

ANTHONY: In October, Fairwood Press is releasing your collection IF ANGELS FIGHT, which brings together stories from across your career, with new introductions written by you. How did you choose what would be included? Was there anything that didn’t quite make the cut that you wish you’d had the room to include?

RICK: Patrick Swenson of Fairwood Press has been great to work with. The stories in the book are the ones I wanted included. It could have been a longer book if I’d decided I needed that.

But I intend it to give an overview of my career as a short fiction writer from my first published story to very recent pieces. I included stories like “Jacket Jackson” (my collaboration with Marc Rich) and some recent stories that appeared in large anthologies because I didn’t think they got the attention they deserved. Also I thought would give variety to the collection and show what I could do.  Others like “If Angels Fight” itself, a Nebula nominee and World Fantasy Award winner is a personal favorite I wanted to show off.

ANTHONY: IF ANGELS FIGHT includes a number of stories that went on to be folded into full novel narratives: the Time Rangers stories are part of a ‘mosaic novel,’ but the Kevin Grierson story became part of MINIONS OF THE MOON and “A Hole In The City” became the lead-off chapter of your recent novel DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREET. Is the concept of merging short stories into novel form something you’re always thinking about as you write?

RICK: “On Death and the Deuce,” “The Ferryman’s Wife,” “The Mask of the Rex,” “There’s a Hole in the City,” were changed in the process of being turned into novel chapters and I present them here in their original story format – all of them also attracted attention (award nominations, inclusion in Year’s Best anthologies etc).

I often have a novel in mind as a final destination when I’m writing a story. But sometimes stories I think of as part of a novel, don’t fit into the finished manuscript. Doing a novel about Greenwich Village and how I ended up here was already a concept when I wrote the first story, “There’s a Hole in the City” in 2005 and I wrote many stories that became chapters in what turned out to be DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREET. It didn’t always work out. “If Angels Fight,” for example was intended it to be part of DUST DEVIL but it turned out  to be too much an entity unto itself to fit.

A lot of the stories I write are stand alones. That’s why I do collections.

ANTHONY: What is the appeal, and what are the challenges, of taking a short story cycle and creating a full novel around them rather than just releasing a story collection?

RICK: I get a lot of satisfaction out of fitting the pieces together. Also novels generally sell better than short story collections and do more to establish a certain name recognition which then helps the process of selling more stories. That may sound a bit brutal but this is a commercial medium.

ANTHONY: I think I’ve told you the story of reading the first chapter of DUST DEVILS in a restaurant in Alexandria VA and being almost in tears as you describe New York City in the days immediately after September 11, and then hearing Ryan Adams’ “I Still Love You, New York,” (the video for which was filmed only days before the Towers fell) and completely losing it. Does music play a part in your creative process, as it does for many writers?

RICK: Music is my main love. I confess I don’t keep up with current popular music. I know Rock from the fifties through the seventies but not much later. Aside from that – classical music, opera, classic jazz, Broadway and what’s called The American Songbook – especially stuff from the thirties and forties Gershwin, Rogers and Hart, Porter etc. are what I listen to.

(As I write this at 2 AM on September 12, 2013, twelve years and a couple of hours after 9/11 I’m listening (as I know you are) to Jim Freund playing the wrong version of me reading “There’s a Hole in the City” on WBAI radio).

The Queen, The Cambion and Seven Others

ANTHONY: I felt bad for Jim when we realized the wrong version was playing, but I loved the insight it gave to how he works with voice folks. In addition to DUST DEVILS and IF ANGELS FIGHT, you’ve also recently released THE QUEEN, THE CAMBION AND SEVEN OTHERS, another short story collection with the focus on “modern fairy tales.” Tell us a little about that collection and how/if it differs from your previous collections.

RICK: TQTCASO has been a joy. I’ve always been interested in fairy tales. You should see my shelves. But in the last few years reading them and reading about them has become a minor obsession. And I wrote stories in that mode – third person, past tense fantasy tales. Chris Barzak turned me on to Aqueduct Press and their Conversation Series: small books nicely produced.

Aqueduct is mainly a feminist press and the fairy tale was for much of its history largely a woman’s genre and a refuge for gay and lesbian writers (think of Anderson and Wilde) in bad times. So I asked and Timmi Duchamp the publisher was interested. She and Kathryn Wilham, the editor, were very supportive. The book includes an essay and eight stories involving everything from the daughter of Winter and Summer (very unhappy marriage), to a young woman who learns to dress bears, to stuff you didn’t know about Merlin and Queen Victoria.

Just under 35 thousand words which I think is a perfect length for such an enterprise. In fact my essay (one of maybe five which I’ve written in my entire life) is titled “A Secret History of Small Books.”

Kath Wilham suggested the pictures and helped me find suitable ones by Rackham and Dore. There’s a generous sampling (and what is a fairy tale book without pictures?).  I know I would have been delighted to find something like this.

ANTHONY: What work do you have due to be published in the near future?

RICK: Getting four books out this year took a lot of my time and took a lot of writing over the last year. Both TQTCASO and IF ANGELS FIGHT include never-before-seen stories. DUST DEVIL needed lots of new linking material. Even the new edition of MINIONS has the first new Grierson story in many years.

So only a couple of new stories are due out:

One is:

“Tales That Fairies Tell” involving a certain famous fairy tale cat and set in a more desperate New York (The Big Arena) fifty or so years down the line.

It’s included in: Once Upon A Time: A modern fairy tale anthology (Guran ed), Prime Books,  October.

The other is:

“Stories I Tell My Friends” – Narrated by the same kid who appears in my “Seven Days of Poe” (from the Berman/Lethe WHERE THY DARK EYE GLANCES). But this will be a first:  sex and drugs and parent problems in Boston circa 1960 but NON GENRE!  NO SPEC FICTION ELEMENT! It will appear later this year in Matthew Cheney and Eric Schaller’s experimental online magazine The Revelator (which everyone should check out).

Currently I’m writing a story about a play being staged in an abandoned hotel in the same NYC as “Tales That Fairies Tell.”

And I’m writing what seems to be a very short story about a mortal, once a fairy bridegroom now the owner of a bar in the current Greenwich Village.

ANTHONY: Now I’m looking forward to all of those. And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book and what would you say to someone who has never read it to convince them that they should?

RICK: Not one book but two! I would like to thank Steve Berman and his Lethe Press for bringing out a new edition MINIONS OF THE MOON as well as the first publication of DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREET.  Together I think they make a gay chronicle from the 1940’s till now.

You can follow Rick on Twitter @rickbowes, find him on Facebook, and of course check Rick’s website for updates on his work.  DUST DEVIL ON A QUIET STREETand MINIONS OF THE MOON can both be purchased from Lethe Press, Amazon or BN.  IF ANGELS FIGHT will be out in October from Fairwood Press and on Amazon and BN.  THE QUEEN, THE CAMBION, AND SEVEN OTHERS is available from Aqueduct and on Amazon and BN.