Library Thing

I’ve just joined up on The Library Thing, which seems pretty lively. Masses of reviews on there from the readers and lots of handy book suggestions. I rather like one comment I got there from a poster called ‘andyl’ (emphasis mine):

Yeah apart from Cowl Neal’s books fall into two broad camps

1) Fast-paced super-spy secret agent types.
2) Very visceral novels about the alien environment of Spatterjay which someone summed up as “Blood, guts, and hundred-ton-sentient-mollusc rape.” and which if I was Neal I would insist appear on the covers of all the Spatterjay novels.

However apart from those I really like the Mason’s Rats short stories which are completely divorced from the Spatterjay / Polity setting.

Editor Interview

Here’s Mark Charan Newton interviewing Julie Crisp – his editor and mine.

You’ve been on the throne at Tor UK for over a year now, and have inherited an established author list from the legendary Peter Lavery. What was that like for an introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy publishing?

I did work on some SFF books previously – the Dune books by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert, and Ben Bova’s novels when I worked at Hodder and Stoughton many years ago. So the Tor list wasn’t really my first introduction to SFF publishing.
However, taking over from the ‘legend in his own lunchtime and he of the terrifying red pencil’ Mr Lavery was, admittedly, rather intimidating. He’d been working in publishing for years and knew pretty much everything there was to know about the genre, so he left some big shoes to fill and they’re still feeling rather loose around the ankles a year on. But I think I’m getting there…

Where's My Banner?


 
Now let’s play a game of ‘Where’s My Banner?’

The first place I find it is at Mark Chitty’s Walker of Worlds.

The next place is at Gecko Mines, Railguns and Crab-Paste the website belonging to the poster here Jebel Krong (where does he get these outlandish names?)

I’m told it should be appearing at Civilian Reader, but it hasn’t yet.

Anywhere else?

Update: now on http://www.sffnews.com/
 

Straylight Interview

Via Skype I recently did an interview (voice only) with some people at the University of Wisconsin. Here’s the link to it. I think I babbled a lot — too much coffee and too many cigarettes!

This week we bring you our third installment of our podcast series. This week we’ve interviewed novelist Neal Asher. The interview runs about 43 minutes and in it we discuss Mr. Asher’s writing process, his love of science fiction, as well as some of his upcoming works.

Heavy Metal Movie

Interesting stuff here from the Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page:

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Pre-release Information – A $50 million budget 3D CG animated movie based on the magazine.   This probably won’t have any stories from the first 1981 movie, however like the first one, it will feature around seven or eight different stories.  Each segment will be directed by a different person.  The title to this movie hasn’t been chosen yet.  This current title is just a placeholder. 
Main Crew:
Executive Producer – David Fincher and James Cameron
Producer
– Kevin Eastman and Tim Miller
Director
– David Fincher (1 segment)
Director – James Cameron (1 segment)
Director – Zack Snyder (1 segment, a story that Kevin Eastman wrote)
Director – Gore Verbinski (1 segment)
Director – Mark Osborne (1 segment, a comedy with Jack Black)
Director – Tim Miller (1 segment)
Director – Jeff Fowler (1 segment)
Director – Kevin Eastman (tentatively 1 segment)
Director – Guillermo del Toro (tentatively 1 segment)
Director – Rob Zombie (tentatively 1 segment)
Writer – Marc Laidlaw (1 segment)
Writer – Steve Niles (1 segment)
Writer – Joe Haldeman (1 segment)
Writer – Neal Asher (1 segment)
Writer – Kevin Eastman (1 segment, a story that Zack Snyder will direct)
? – Jack Black (a comedy segment that Mark Osborne will direct.  No details on how he’s involved, but most likely will be an actor)
? – Jhonen Vasquez (no details on how he’s involved, but most likely will be a writer)

***

I have to wonder about that ‘seven or eight’ different stories – which ones will be kept and which dumped – since they were working with five of mine…

Who Reads My Books? Cameron Mackay.

My brother got me into SCI-FI by passing a pile of books on to me after he had read them. Amongst the pile was a few by Neal. Gridlinked made a special impression with me and I was hungry for more. I would eagerly await notification of the latest release from my brother but now I am linked (gridlinked?) through the medium of the internet to Neal’s blogs and facebook pages, the notification is almost instant.

So who am I?. My name is Cameron Mackay. Born in 1968 and a complete geek. Living in Tewkesbury with my Wife Sue and my right hand man in the shape of a hyperactive but obedient Border Collie called “Trouble”. I joined the RAF in 1986 and flew fighters in the ground attack and reconnaissance role for 10 years and now earn my keep as an airline pilot flying the Boeing 777. In my spare time I am studying for an Open University degree in Physics and Astronomy. Mostly that keeps me from sloping off to the pub of an evening but essentially, my studies are borne of an interest in all things related to space travel and the very nature of our existence; and where we all came from. So far I have discovered we all started in relatively young stars that were large enough to produce heavy elements in their core. The next stage in our existence is a little less clear, but Neal’s books give us all some food for thought on the nature of our consciousness and where we fit in to the universe we inhabit. Maybe one day we will see Reifs, Golems and subminds. but either way, I know when on I’m on my deathbed and expecting “lights out” I will be seriously disappointed they haven’t been invented yet!

So that’s about it. An amateur at SCI-FI but enjoying the glimpse into a possible future that I will never get to see.

You Gotta Laugh.

It is hilarious to read some of the sniping from that wankland occupied by many critics and wannabe academics of SF world. In that place it is possible to get away with the most egregious left-wing fuckwittery but, if you do not agree with their common purpose, you are first described as a clumsy and generally bad writer, then farcically branded ‘too political’! If an author writes the most grotesque Marxist diatribe dressed up as SF, the critics from this region will be fulsome in their praise, their literati masturbation frenetic as they mount his leg like over-excited terriers.
The above is my brief reaction to some shite I’ve read on the Internet about my stuff. Some while ago an American SF writer was in contact with me. With a degree of disbelief he said, “You’ve actually admitted to being Conservative … and you write science fiction?” Actually, I disagree. Since you’d have difficulty slotting a fag paper between the British Conservative and Labour parties, and since they are equally undemocratic and authoritarian, I style myself Libertarian i.e. I’m for small government, less interference and hey, let’s stop the growth of the thought-police right now. But I knew precisely what that writer meant by his comment, and am relatively unsurprised by the reaction I get from some quarters.
Damn but it must peeve these people to know that despite my not buying the party line I’m simply not failing and fading away into obscurity.
No, I’m not paranoid, though I’m sure the guy following me is.