Page 63 - Author Interview News Today

Alex Brown (by Henrik Meng) 2020 has been a hellish year for so many reasons, but one of the few bright spots has been the mass of absolutely incredible fiction that managed to get published. Usually I’m able to read a good chunk of new books, particularly young-adult speculative fiction, but what with – waves hands dramatically – everything, my reading this year took a sharp left into romance fiction. It’s become my main reading genre at this point, which hasn’t left much room for a...

I’m a confirmed fan of Aliette de Bodard’s work. Quite aside from her novels, In the Vanishers’ Palace is perhaps my favourite fantasy novella in a field bursting with excellent novellas, and her Xuya science fiction includes the award-winning The Tea Master and the Detective – so I’m not alone in valuing her work highly. Fireheart Tiger is a new novella set in a fantasy world inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam. It is a quiet, powerful story of power and resistance, of control and aff...

HarperCollins has joined the other major publishers in raising starting salaries. They made an agreement with their union to increase starting salaries to $45,000 a year for staff in New York NY and San Francisco CA, starting January 18, 2021. The following three sal­ary tiers will also be increased commensurately. “This decision is part of the company’s ongoing review of industry data on salaries in order to remain competitive.” About half the union mem­bership will receive pay increas...

Arley Sorg As rough as the year has been for the country, it’s been a great time for reading. As if in response to the year itself, a slew of powerful books came out, expanding the scope of genre and engaging in conversations long overdue. Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby kicked things off in January, on the heels of his excellent late-2019 release War Girls. The story follows Ella as her powers develop, and Kev, who was promising as a kid but ends up in prison. They negotiate their fragile re...

—and by the many for whom he was ‘‘Science Fiction’s Dad.’’ Deepest condolences to all who cared about Jim, whose lives he touched and careers he influenced. This amounts to almost everyone in our field today, whether or not they’re aware of his intellectual parentage. Career highlights: In 2007, SFWA named Jim Grand Master. In 2015, he was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame. He was festooned with countless honors over decades at the heart of the field. He authored some 35 books an...

The third in the companion novel series to the podcast Welcome to Night Vale is a memoir of sorts from one of the most iconic characters in the show, the titular strange being who si­multaneously occupies everyone’s house in a mysterious desert town. The book is narrated by the actor who performs her on the podcast, writer and former child actor Mara Wilson. The voice of the Faceless Old Woman has always been dryly humorous, almost clinical, as she recounts the peculiar and often sadistic p...

Artist Rowena Morrill, 76, died February 11, 2021 following years of poor health. Morrill was one of the most prominent artists in the field, with an active career that spanned decades. Some of her work has been collected in Hugo Award finalist The Fantastic Art of Rowena (1983) and The Art of Rowena (2000). Born September 14, 1944, Morrill graduated from the University of Delaware in 1971 with an art degree and attended the Tyler School of Arts MFA program (though she left before completing ...

“Today he would become a god. His mother had told him so.” Rebecca Roanhorse kicks off her latest novel, Black Sun, with an opening line that hits hard, then rolls into one of the best first chapters I’ve read in a very long time. After I finished it, I had to set the book down and walk away for a bit to process what just happened. As I kept reading, I found myself constantly needing a break and to remind myself to breathe. Every subsequent chapter, from the moments of quiet reflection t...

The Time Machine, the title character from The Invisible Man, and the alien death machines from The War of the Worlds, but in their illustration of the latter’s iconic Martian tripods… the alien vehicles have four legs instead of three. Patrick Parrinder of the H.G. Wells Society wrote, “Three legs good, four legs bad. It’s a shame that the artist didn’t pick that out.” SF writer Adam Roberts (vice president of the Wells Society) spotted another error: “Not only did Wells’ Tri...

In C.L. Polk’s sparkling third novel, The Mid­night Bargain, Beatrice Clayborn is a young woman with a terrible problem. As a debutante participating in “Bargaining Season,” she must capture the attention of an appropriately wealthy and suitable man who will propose marriage and thus save her family from an ever-increasing threat of poverty and social humiliation (her father has made one too many poor investment decisions). To anyone familiar with Jane Austen, this scenario will read as...