Help: RSS Feed?
Category Archive: Interviews
Ray Bradbury interviewed by Steve Wasserman
Posted by Paul Raven on July 30th, 2008 at 7:07
Via the ever-vigilant Ed Ashby (and the Forbidden Planet blog) comes news of a video interview with Ray Bradbury on the TruthDig website.
Bradbury has never been short of things to say, and it's good to see that's still true. Here are his thoughts about reading book reviews:
"... as a writer, I’ve always ignored the reviews, because they’re always wrong. And even the right ones are wrong. They love you for the wrong reasons. So you mustn’t read them. So I turned down 200 reviews in the last 40 years, because I knew they couldn’t help me. It’s too late. I’m already me! The book’s out—you can’t change that book by criticizing it. It’s too late! You’re too late for me. If you could help by looking over my shoulder when I’m throwing up, you could teach me to throw up better. But those reviews can’t help me throw up, you see?
There's a full-length transcript available below the four video players, for those who prefer to read instead of watch, but here's the first quarter as a taster:
If that's left you feeling that there aren't enough books by Ray Bradbury sat on your shelves, feel free to remedy the situation by browsing through a selection of his titles in the PS Publishing catalogue!
Sarah Pinborough interviewed by Dark Scribe Magazine
Posted by Paul Raven on July 29th, 2008 at 7:26
Over at Dark Scribe Magazine they're running an interview with the very lovely Sarah Pinborough, whose novella The Language Of Dying will be published by PS Publishing early next year - a book she describes as being "definitely a bold departure" from her current body of work.
In this little snippet Sarah - who is also a full-time teacher - discusses how much hard work is involved in writing for a living:
"I think I’m now very aware of what hard work it is, and that for most writers in this market, you need a second income or you have to be very, very prolific. I’ve met very talented writers who’ve had huge advances for a book then couldn’t sell one for years. If you’re in this business for the money then get out - there are easier ways to earn a living. I think you just have to write the stories you want to write and hope for the best.
But I’ll always watch other people’s careers and see what’s working and what’s not and keep pushing myself in order to reach a place where I can write full-time. If I was married, I think that would be easier, but as a single person, where you can only rely on your own income, you have to work very hard to be at that level. However, I can’t imagine not writing. My brain doesn’t get the concept, so I’ll just keep on producing and hopefully the hard work will pay off one day."
We don't have a catalogue page for The Language Of Dying yet, but rest assured we'll let you know when we do. In the mean time, you can find out more about Sarah Pinborough and her books on her website.
Full disclosure: in addition to being a PS author-in-waiting, Sarah Pinborough is also one of my clients.
Jeffrey Ford interview excerpts at Locus Online
Posted by Paul Raven on July 3rd, 2008 at 7:27
For those of us who aren't full subscribers to the print magazine, Locus Magazine likes to chum the waters a little with online teaser snippets of their content. This month's offering includes some excerpts from a much longer interview with Jeffrey Ford, whose quasi-mythological talking-animal novella The Cosmology of the Wider World was published here at PS Publishing back in 2005.
Here's Ford talking about the writing process, revealing that he breaks a lot of the rules and guideline that those teach-yourself-writing manuals will try to instil in you:
“I never take notes, never write outlines, none of that. I like it to mix in my head. I'm working when I'm at the grocery store picking out melons. It's all up there, and I figure if I forget about it, it probably wasn't worth remembering anyway. That's the way I work. I don't think things like journals are bad; I just don't use 'em. Some people have special little notebooks and pens -- whatever works for you.”
Sounds like a much more liberated way to work, doesn't it? Personally I find I need rigid discipline to get anything done... maybe that's what separates the pros from the rank amateurs, eh?
We still have a few copies of The Cosmology of the Wider World ferreted away (arf!) in the PS Publishing warehouse, by the way - click on through to pick one up:
- The Cosmology of the Wider World (jacketed hardcover) - £25 (US$50 approx)
- The Cosmology of the Wider World (paperback) - £10 (US$20 approx)
Peter Crowther interviewed by Gareth D Jones
Posted by Paul Raven on July 2nd, 2008 at 6:39
Short-story author Gareth D Jones has been running a series of posts on his blog wherein he talks to the editors of short fiction venues to get a feel for how they do their job ... and what they look for in a story!
Gareth had some questions for PS Publishing's very own Peter Crowther, and the results appeared yesterday. Here's Gareth asking Pete about whether Postscripts is an an attempt to compete against 'The Big Three':
GDJ: Do you think you could eventually compete with the big-selling professional mags, or would you even want to?
PC: I didn't and still don't set out to compete with anyone, either as a publisher or as a magazine. I set out to publish exactly what I wanted to publish. Let's not forget that we're small fry next to the likes of F&SF, Asimov's and Analog but yes, we'd like to build our reputation so that some of the readers of those fine titles decided to try our wares. But I don't want any success for us to result in a reduction in take-up for them -- we need more mags not fewer, and there's room for all of us. We need to get back to the halcyon days of many, many venues for the short-form.
On that point, I'm sure most Newsroom regulars can agree! If you feel the urge to support a bespoke short fiction market and acquire a highly collectable item in the process (not to mention a huge selection of quality science fiction stories), you could do far worse than pre-order a copy of Postscripts #15:
- Postscripts #15 (multi-autograph slipcased hardcover) - £75 (US$150 approx) - 100 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (signed hardcover) - £30 (US$60 approx) - 300 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (hardcover) - £15 (US$30 approx) - 600 copies only
Or take out a subscription, and receive four issues of Postscripts in a year plus the bonus end-of-year chapbook - a plan with no drawbacks!
Jay Lake interviewed at Fantasy Book Critic
Posted by Paul Raven on June 25th, 2008 at 9:19
The ceaseless flow of reviews and interviews from Fantasy Book Critic continues apace. Here's an interview with hirsute and prolific short fiction maestro Jay Lake, who fondly remembers his appearance in the first issue of Postscripts:
"Picking a favorite short story is a bit like picking a favorite child. Nonetheless, as I mentioned above, I'd have to say that "American, Such as She Is" is probably my strongest work to date in short fiction. As for being a part of things, my proudest moment was being included in Postscripts issue 1, alongside Brian Aldiss, Ray Bradbury, Joyce Carol Oates, Gene Wolfe and a handful of other big names. Getting the signature sheets in the mail for the limited edition back in the spring of 2004 was the moment when I realized I was a real writer."
How fast things move - four years since that appearance in Postscripts, and Jay Lake is well on his way to becoming one of those big names in his own right!
Jay also has a story in the forthcoming fifteenth issue of Postscripts, alongside an awesome line-up of other contributors - pre-order your copy now:
- Postscripts #15 (multi-autograph slipcased hardcover) - £75 (US$150 approx) - 100 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (signed hardcover) - £30 (US$60 approx) - 300 copies only
- Postscripts #15 (hardcover) - £15 (US$30 approx) - 200 copies only
And I'll just take this opportunity to say how glad I was that Jay Lake's recent brush with cancer was solved successfully; I've never met the man, but I've followed his blogging for quite a while and it paints a picture of a thoroughly decent bloke. Good luck and good health, Jay!
PS Publishing’s Peter Crowther in the interview hotseat
Posted by Paul Raven on June 19th, 2008 at 10:22
If you've been wanting an insight into the mastermind behind PS Publishing, you should hop on over to the Shirley Jackson Awards blog, where Charles Tan puts our very own head honcho Peter Crowther to the question about the raison d'etre of PS Publishing.
Here's a snippet of Peter explaining why he loves publishing novellas:
"The novella (20,000 to 40,000 words) is, for me, the perfect length with which to develop characters. It's not as brief as the short story but it can still be read easily in one sitting. [...] I still consider the novella to be our 'bread-and-butter' work."
You can pop back to a previous post to see the flatteringly lengthy list of PS Publishing titles in the running for a Shirley Jackson Award - more news as we have it!
Steven Erikson interviewed
Posted by Paul Raven on June 15th, 2008 at 14:53
Fantasy Book Critic strikes again, with another lengthy in-depth interview - this time with acclaimed fantasy author Steven Erikson, who PS Publishing are proud to have published (and will be publishing again).
Amongst masses of other revelations, Erikson hints at the freedom that writing novellas allows him:
"Novellas are just long short stories busting out at the seams, really. F*ck epiphanies and denouement. Just clobber the structural confines and ramble all over the page.
I'm actually less deliberate in the novellas, as compared to the novels. This is the only change in my approach. I'm wilder with tangents and absurd sidelights. Looser."
Indeed - Blood Follows was so popular that PS Publishing ran a second printing of the novella, and there are still a few copies left. Click through to complete your collection:
- Blood Follows - second print paperback - £10 (US$20 approx)
We also collected three novellas into one book in the shape of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories Volume One. There are still a handful of hardcover copies of this title available, too:
- Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories Volume One - hardcover - £20 (US$40 approx)
And there'll be more to come from Erikson and the Malazan Empire from PS Publishing in times to come ... watch this space!
Ian C Esslemont interviewed at Fantasybookspot
Posted by Paul Raven on May 27th, 2008 at 13:42
Jay Tomio of Fantasybookspot has a very in-depth interview with Ian Esslemont, with plenty of detail about the Malazan Empire - the setting for his recently-released double-volume Return Of The Crimson Guard novel.
He has nice things to say about working with PS Publishing, too:
"Working with Peter at PS is great. It is very possible that Night of Knives may never have seen print had he not dared to take the chance. And there remain obvious reasons why Bantam, for example, was reluctant to take that chance. Its brevity for one thing, and - to be fair - it remains the work of a craftsperson coming to grips with his medium. Few publishing houses these days are willing to take on new untried names to watch them feel their way into the industry. That's the older model where publishing houses used to nourish and develop authors rather than searching for that instant hit or 'blockbuster'."
That's one of Peter's missions for PS - finding the star writers of tomorrow! And the odds are good that Ian Cameron Esslemont will be one of them - grab yourself a copy of Return Of The Crimson Guard and find out why.
- Return of the Crimson Guard - slipcased two-volume hardcover - £75 ($150 approx.), 300 copies
Download Jeff VanderMeer’s ‘The Situation’, FREE, from Wired.com
Posted by Darren on March 5th, 2008 at 9:39
Canadian journalist Brad Moon has interviewed Jeff and Ann VanderMeer for Wired.com's GeekDad blog and to mark the occasion, we've supplied a pdf copy of Jeff's forthcoming chapbook / novelette, The Situation and made it available as a free download from the blog.wired.com/geekdad article.
That's right folks, if you'd like to try before you buy, simply head on over and grab the pdf, then put the printer on or transfer the file to your e-reader of choice. Once you're done, high-tail it over to the PS Webstore to place your pre-order; the book should be back from the printers and shipping at the end of the third week in March.
Quick word to the wise: we're only printing 200 copies of the signed, numbered, jacketed hardcover edition and around a hundred of those are already accounted for by pre-order customers, so you may have to be quick to secure your copy.
Jeff VanderMeer podcast interview available from Adventures in Scifi Publishing
Posted by Darren on February 26th, 2008 at 14:47
Jeff VanderMeer, author of our forthcoming chapbook / novelette The Situation has been interviewed by Singularity Audio's Shaun Farrell and Sam Wynns for the latest episode of their Adventures in Scifi Publishing podcast; talking about his work, The Situation, office life and politics.
The show is available as a direct MP3 download from the site, or via iTunes subscription.
Joe Hill interviewed by SeaCoastOnline.com
Posted by Darren on October 9th, 2007 at 11:36
There's a good, mid-length interview with rising star Joe Hill over at www.seacoastonline.com, (The Source for Seacoast NH and Southeast ME).
The interviewer leads with some fairly predictable questions about the writer's 'secret' identity - which we here at PS did our very best to keep under wraps throughout the publication of Joe's debut collection 20th Century Ghosts - and then moves on to talk to Joe about the forthcoming US re-issue of 20th Century Ghosts, the Neil Jordan movie version of Joe's debut novel Heart-Shaped Box and Joe's current comics project:
"I'm writing Locke and Key ... It's a straight up comic book about three children who after tragedy move to a vast New England mansion. They discover there secret doors ... Eventually the first six issues will be collected into a trade paperback graphic novel."
Brian W. Aldiss interviewed by Del Rey Books
Posted by Darren on June 17th, 2007 at 10:57
Spotted this interview with Brian W. Aldiss (Sanity and the Lady) on the Del Rey website, in which he discusses his latest novel, Harm.