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Books

Exclusive Interview: “Cascade Failure” Author L.M. Sagas

 

You can’t turn on the news these days without hearing about some company doing something terrible, and getting away with it.

And by “these days” I mean the last fifty years (and maybe more, I’ve only been paying attention for my whole life).

But while there’s corporate malfeasance at play in writer L.M. Sagas’ new sci-fi space opera novel Cascade Failure (paperback, Kindle, audiobook) — which is the first of two in her series, Ambit’s Run — in the following email interview about Failure, she says she’s also “…trying to inject a little, I don’t know, optimism back into it.”

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Inhumans And Other Stories” Editor / Translator Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay

 

When we think about science fiction, we often think of the future.

But there’s a lot of sci-fi in the past as well. And not all of it as well known as those we think of as the achitects of the form: Asimov, Wells, Verne, Clarke, and so on.

MIT Press’ Radium Age series is now exploring that past by publishing what they call “proto–science fiction stories from the underappreciated era between 1900 and 1935.”

In the newest installment, The Inhumans And Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction (paperback, Kindle), we get to appreciate the era courtesy of Hemendra Kumar Roy’s titular 1935 novella, as well as through three short stories by Jagadananda Ray (from 1895), Nanigopal Majumdar (1931), and Manoranjan Bhattacharya (also 1931).

In the following email interview, The Inhumans And Other Stories editor / translator Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay — an Associate Professor in Global Culture Studies at the University of Oslo, and the producer of Kalpavigyan: A Speculative Journey, a documentary on Indian science fiction — talks about how this collection came together, as well as the significance of these stories.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: “The Art Of Psychonauts 2” Writer Ashley Esqueda

 

Sometimes you really shouldn’t see how the sausage is made. Say, with sausage.

But sometimes it can be fun. Maybe not as fun as eating sausage, but still a lot of fun in its own way.

Which brings me to The Art Of Psychonauts (hardcover), a new making-of book about the titular 2022 platforming video game, which was the sequel to 2005’s cult classic Psychonauts.

In the following email interview, Ashley Esqueda — who wrote the text and assembled the art (and who is one of my video game journo buddies) — talks about how this book came together, as well as what sets it apart from other video game art books.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “Toxxic” Author Jane Hennigan

 

In 2021, writer Jane Hennigan caused quite a stir with her self-published dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction mystery novel Moths, which was later picked up by Angry Robot.

Now she has a companion novel in Toxxic (paperback, Kindle), which further explores a world in which good men are in short supply.

In the following email interview, Hennigan discusses how these two books work together, as well as what inspired and influenced this second installment.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart” Author Izzy Wasserstein

 

“I don’t generally set out to write about social and political topics,” writer Izzy Wasserstein says in the following email interview about her new novella These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart (paperback, Kindle), “but we’re living in a time of political upheaval, climate change, and rising authoritarianism. And as a trans woman, I’m constantly being reminded that my existence is political.”

Though in talking about this queer, noir technothriller, it’s clear that while Wasserstein didn’t necessarily set out to be social or political, this story wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: “Feeding Ghosts” Writer / Artist Tessa Hulls

 

When people write memoirs, they often can’t help but bring their parents and other relatives into their story.

But in her new graphic novel memoir Feeding Ghosts (hardcover, Kindle), author and artist Tessa Hulls didn’t just include her mom and grandmother, she invoked her grandmother’s memoir in telling her multi-generational story.

In the following email interview, Hull discusses why she decided to write this book, and as a graphic novel, as well as what influenced both the words and images.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “Tales Of Horror” Editor Bill Bowers

 

Sleep is essential for a happy and healthy life.

But try telling that to Bill Bowers, who’s put together a collection of classic horror stories he calls Tales Of Horror: Terrifying Stories To Keep You Awake Past Midnight (paperback, Kindle).

Though as he explains in the following email interview, his objective with Tales was not to ruin your day…or your night.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “United We Stand” Editors John Ringo & Gary Poole

 

Be they zombie-related, medically-induced, or a religious prophecy fulfilled, stories set during apocalyptic events, or after, are often dark or depressing or dour.

But while the one chronicled in the Black Tide Rising series is grim, in the following email interview about the new anthology United We Stand (hardcover, Kindle), series creator John Ringo says, “… the thing that shines through in all the books is hope.”

Which is why I hope you will enjoy the following email interview, in which John and co-editor Gary Poole discuss this anthology of Black Tide Rising short stories, which features contributions by Brian Trent, Lydia Sherrer, Mike Massa, Jody Lynn Nye, and others.

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Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Haunting Of Velkwood” Author Gwendolyn Kiste

 

As a child of suburbia myself, I agree with author Gwendolyn Kiste who — in the following email interview about her new novel The Haunting Of Velkwood (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook) — says, “There’s something so strange and haunted about suburbia.”

But that’s not all she has to say about this horror novel, which has, “…a few doses of other genres thrown in for good measure.”