Wired interviews the VanderMeers, gives away chapbook

Paul Raven @ 05-03-2008

Cover art: Jeff VanderMeer - The Situation Those VanderMeers are everywhere at the moment - and not just in the traditional venues of genre fiction enthusiasts. Wired’s GeekDads blog (which strikes me as a slightly sexist masthead - are there no GeekMums?) has an interview with Jeff and Ann VanderMeer that shows them off as candid, interesting and very smart people … and explains why they’re appearing in those unusual venues:

JV - “The main thing is, the internet and the way memes move now, there is no monolithic thing called “genre” or “literary mainstream” any more. There’s all of this fascinating cross-pollinations and collaborations that you never really saw before. [...] I think I like to write stuff that can connect with different kinds of readers in different ways. Like, a fantasy reader is going to perceive The Situation one way, whereas somebody who works in front of a computer all day but doesn’t read fantasy is going to take something else out of it, for example.”

Well worth a read. And even though it’s well in advance of Friday Free Fiction, I might as well mention that Wired are giving away a PDF of Jeff VanderMeer’s new PS Publishing chapbook The Situation alongside the article. Bonus!

You can find out more about PS Publishing (an excellent UK-based bespoke small press) at their website - why not order something while you’re there? [Cover art image lifted from Wired interview]


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Paul Raven @ 20-12-2007

Kim_Stanley_Robinson BLDGBLOG has an excellent in-depth interview with Kim Stanley Robinson, in which he discusses his attempts to redefine utopias, the ideological bankruptcy of primitivism, how rational design in architecture and technology is one of the crucial keys to surmounting the problems presented by our changing environment, and much more.

A brilliant interview with a brilliant thinker … and hosted on a brilliant blog. You may think you’re not really interested in architecture, but I think an exploration of BLDGBLOG’s archive would prove you wrong. Go read. [Image from Wikipedia]


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Paul Raven @ 25-07-2007

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