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Exclusive Interview: Between Worlds Author Skip Brittenham, Artist Brian Haberlin

When done right, a novel creates a vivid world that jumps off the pages. But in their fantasy novel Between Worlds (hardcover, digital), writer Skip Brittenham and artists Brian Haberlin, Jay Anacleto, and Doug Siros don’t just do this with words and full color illustrations. The thirteen images in the book actually interact with a free app for iOS and Android, turning the cover and the illustrations into 3D images you can interact with, as well as use for magic training so you can learn to battle Monga. It’s rather trippy how well it works. Though as I learned when I spoke to Skip and Brian about the book, the illustrations, and the interactivity, call the latter two elements an augmentation of the former isn’t quite right.

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Exclusive Interview: “Mister Sam Shearon’s Creepy Christmas” Writer, Illustrator Sam Shearon

 

Christmas is a time for love, joy, and happiness. Which is why it’s also a time for fans of the dark arts to indulge their macabre side in hopes of keeping the holiday cheer from sending them into a diabetic coma. It is for those latter people that I present the following interview with Sam Shearon, a.k.a. Mister-Sam, the writer and illustrator of the coloring book Mister Sam Shearon’s Creepy Christmas: A Merry Macabre Coloring Book (paperback).

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Exclusive Interview: The Elephants In My Backyard Author Rajiv Surendra

According to cliché, you’re not supposed to count your chickens before they hatch. It’s something someone should’ve told actor Rajiv Surendra (Mean Girls), who so identified with the lead character in Yann Martel’s novel Life Of Pi that he thought it was his destiny to play that part in Ang Lee’s movie adaptation. Unfortunately, no one told Lee, who cast someone else. But as Surendra has apparently learned from another cliché, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Which is what he’s done with his new memoir The Elephants In My Backyard (hardcover, digital). Though as he admitted in the following interview, it actually wasn’t his idea to make lemonade.

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Exclusive Interview: The Dumbest Kid In Gifted Class Author Dan Ryckert

One of the ironies of our social media-obsessed/broadcast everything culture is that most people actually lead rather dull lives. “Birth, School, Work, Death” as The Godfathers used to sing. But that’s not true for Dan Ryckert, a game journalist for Giant Bomb, published author and memoirist, wrestling manager, “two-time Guinness World Record holder,” and all-around character (something, as a fellow game journalist, I can attest to). Which is why I was interested in talking to him about his latest memoir, The Dumbest Kid In Gifted Class (digital; paperback forthcoming), a collection of true tales from what has clearly been an odd life.

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Exclusive Interview: Alien Morning Author Rick Wilber

In novels about aliens making first contact with humanity, usually one of two things happen. First, the aliens enslave humanity, and we fight back. Or, the aliens become our friends and we still fight back because sometimes humans can be real dicks. But in Rick Wilber’s new novel, Alien Morning (hardcover, paperback), he puts this trope for a tailspin by including some alien-on-alien violence, alien economic policies, and a new kind of social media that carry it all out.

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Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: Such A Lovely Little War Author Marcelino Truong

In America, most of the movies, novels, and comics about the Vietnam War are told from the perspective of the American soldiers. But in his autobiographical graphic novel Such A Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63 (paperback, digital), writer and artist Marcelino Truong explores what it was like for the local Vietnamese people during the two years when President Kennedy escalated the U.S.’s involvement in the conflict.

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Exclusive Interview: “Rune Of The Apprentice” Author Jamison Stone

 

Writers of fantasy and science fiction often take things very seriously. But in talking to writer Jamison Stone about his new novel, Rune Of The Apprentice (hardcover, digital), which encompasses both fantasy and science fiction, I learned that him mixing genres isn’t why the first book in his Rune Chronicles is so deep, philosophical, and psychological.

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Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: “Becoming Unbecoming” Author Una

 

Some of the best art comes from when we explore difficult subjects. It’s something I thought about a lot when editing the following interview with Una, the writer and artist of the graphic novel memoir Becoming Unbecoming (paperback, digital), in which she explores the serial murders committed in the late-’70s by Peter Sutcliffe as a way to explore her experiences with sexualized violence. Especially since, according to UN Women, 35% of women worldwide have experienced, “either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives.” Though in talking to Una about the book, it was interesting — but not the least bit surprising — to learn that it wasn’t as much about Sutcliffe as you might expect.

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Books Video Games

Exclusive Interview: Power-Up Author Chris Kohler

It may seem strange to people who grew up playing Call Of Duty sequels and Halo games, but there was a time when Japan dominated video games. But while they may have lost that prominent position, their influence is still felt, even in Call Of Duty sequels and Halo games. Originally published in 2004, but newly republished with a new chapter, Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave The World An Extra Life (paperback, digital) by Wired’s Games Editor Chris Kohler — who, full disclosure, is a fellow game writer with whom I’ve shared many a conversation and meal — explores how Japan became such a cultural force in gaming at a time when America and Europe dominated movies, music, and other forms of entertainment. In the following interview, we discussed how the original came together, what prompted this reprint, and what he added to this new edition.

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