If N.K. Jemisin’s name (okay, well, initials) hasn’t already caught your ear, it will. Soon, with the impending release of her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (REVIEW), her name will be on the lips of bloggers and reviewers everywhere. Every year, a handful of debut novels catch fire and set themselves, and their authors, above the rest and Jemisin seems poised to do so with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, a confident novel that stands head and shoulders above other debuts.

So, I teamed up with Ana of The Book Smugglers to round up Jemisin and get her to talk about everything from her novel (natch), #racefail, my own potential #generfail, and even Squeenix (you’ll find out).

The Interview

Welcome, Ms. Jemisin, to A Dribble of Ink! Anything you want to say to start things off? To set the tone?

   Hi? =) I dunno, what do people usually say here? How’s it going? I like chocolate. Buy my book!

Chocolate, huh? I like chocolate, too. You’d think I was a woman, I love it so much. Speaking of which, the name, N.K. Jemisin. What’s it stand for and why the initials? And don’t tell me its to appear gender neutral on store shelves (like Robin Hobb or K.J. Parker).

   It’s not, but what if it was? There are a lot of good reasons to go for gender neutrality in this business. Like, say, if I was a male writer in the romance genre — there are quite a few, but it’s hard to tell, because they usually use female or neutral names. I don’t blame them; they don’t want readers’ biases interfering with the stories they’re trying to tell. Of course, there’s a fine line between short-circuiting reader biases and encouraging those biases by concealing the truth, so I don’t bother hiding the fact that I’m female. I figure if anybody really has that much of a problem with it, they’re not going to like my work anyway, so better that they figure it out quickly.

   But the real reason I use initials is just that I prefer to keep some separation between my day job and my writing life. That doesn’t work very well because people keep asking me what the initials stand for. =) Oh, well. But anyway, it’s Nora Keita.

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Every year, we hear about several new authors who are the next great hope for Fantasy fiction. Some of them turn out well (Patrick Rothfuss) some of them… not so much (Robert Newcomb). The mysteriously shrouded Sam Sykes is one of those authors. With the upcoming release of Tome of the Undergates, both Pyr Books and Gollancz feel that Sykes is ready to set the genre world aflame in the same way that Joe Abercrombie did just a few years ago. The kicker? Sykes is only 25.

Talk about humbling.

I caught up with Sykes and put him to task. We talk about everything from Tome of the Undergates to Terry Goodkind’s ponytail, flaming urine to the various depictions on hell in our culture, Videogames to Canadian Prime Ministers. It’s a hell of a ride, and just may give you a taste of what Sykes is set to do when his novel hits shelves in April. Oh, and he wanted me to say that this interview put my recent one with Blake Charlton to absolute shame. And he has more hair than Charlton. Charlton should be ashamed and give up the gig.

But, well, we’ll let you all decide for yourselves.

The Interview

Hey Sam. Welcome to A Dribble of Ink! Anything you want to say to set the tone for the interview?
   Hi there and thanks for having me on A Dribble of Ink!  Things you should probably know about me: I wrote a book, it’s called TOME OF THE UNDERGATES, it’s pretty boss, and I can (and have) defeat(ed) nine out of ten Prime Ministers.

Nine out of ten, huh? I can only assume that the missing one is my very own Prime Minister, the steely eyed Stephen Harper.

   Dream on, son. There is no man, animal, manimal or machine that can defeat Putin.

Normally I stay away from the tell-us-about-your-book-because-I’m-too-lazy-to-do-the-research-myself-and-can’t-think-of-any-other-good-questions-to-fill-out-this-interview questions, but since you’re a new author, why don’t you tell us a bit about your first novel, Tome of the Undergates that can’t be found in the synopsis I’ve included above?
   It’s actually a surprisingly philosophical book.  Not the overt, beard-stroking, “what is a chestnut” kind of philosophy, but the sort that delves deep into the psyche of people without being boring.  It takes the standard idea of the adventurer in fantasy and asks the questions that are presumed to be answered in the genre: what drives someone to become an adventurer, who is largely presumed to be a graverobber, thief and unprofessional assassin?  Would a group composed of many different races, religions and professions really get along so well as to perform a quest?  How can they presume a benevolent deity is on their side when they continue to suffer and die?  How can they presume that they are in the right when they continue to cause others to suffer and die?

   Beyond this, the book is really about the six companions and what motivates them: racial agendas and what happens when one feels compelled to violate them, atonement through murder, what really goes through the mind of the last of a particular race (hint: it’s not pleasant).  Basically, TOME takes a lot of the things you might be familiar with and starts sodomizing them in front of you.

   Also, there is a scene in which a man gets his crotch stomped into pulp.  This is in the first fifty pages or so.  They would not tell you about that in a synopsis, friends!
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Over the past few weeks, since first finding out about Blake Charlton and his upcoming debut novel, Spellwright, I’ve made a point of covering the novel. I don’t know what it is that’s grabbed my attention (certainly not the suitcase full of small, unmarked bills…); maybe it’s glowingly positive praise from Terry Brooks, Robin Hobb, Tad Williams, Tobias Buckell and Daniel Abraham, some of my very favourite authors; maybe it’s the fact that it reminds me of the Fantasy I used to love as a kid; maybe it’s Charlton’s background as a Med Student and his fight with Dyslexia (which plays a huge role in the story). What I do know is that I’m anxious to get my hands on an advance copy (that seems stuck in the endless limbo of the Canadian/US postal system) and even more excited about the 6,500+ word interview Charlton and I put together.

So take a look, and see why you might be just as excited about Spellwright as I am.

The Interview

Blake, welcome to A Dribble of Ink! I appreciate you taking the time to drop by.

   Thanks so much. I’ve become a big fan of the blog, and it’s wonderful to have my first interview here.
 
One look at your bio reveals an interesting aspect of your history as a reader and a writer: you were diagnosed at a young age with severe dyslexia, a learning disorder that manifests itself as a difficulty with reading and spelling. My brother is also dyslexic, working now in the film industry and writing some damn good scripts, so I’m aware of the struggles and trials facing someone with the disorder as they try to prove, to themselves and others, that it does not define them.

What was it like for you, growing up with dyslexia, but still finding yourself on the path to becoming a published author?

   First off, the very best of luck to your brother. I’ve run into scores of successful dyslexics, but not another who writes. I’d be curious to know what his experience has been like.
 
   For me it was a long, strange journey. Dyslexia has taken a lot from and given a lot to me.
 
   One of the most vivid memories of my childhood comes from watching my older sister read and write. How she knew to decode the symbols on a page was absolutely beyond me. How could she know that the letters ‘ough’ could make a sound like ‘f’ in at the end of a word (enough) but not at the beginning of a word (ought). It made absolutely no sense. How could ‘good’ and ‘food’ not rhyme? When angry, I would rant about how it was English–not me–that was retarded, about how English–not me–should be in special ed. And yet, when I wasn’t so furious, I felt a sense of awe about the written word. And it is magical. That sense of wonder only intensified when, much later, I learned to read and lost myself in so many fantasies. Somehow, lying alone in bed and staring at black and white symbols can transport us to distant countries and fill our minds with color. It’s that sense of wonder that I hope to share with others through my writing.
 
   Before I had a grasp of standard English spelling, I would write stories for myself in my own uber-dyslexic script. I liked that no one else could read them. I was comfortable. But when I could spell well enough to write for other people, I began to distrust my own words. I would print up a paper for school and would read it over and over and over for misspellings. But when I turned it in, it would come back bleeding red ink. That distrust became habitual. Even now, I distrust every sentence I write. I scrutinize them and edit them ad nauseam. Some days, I wish I didn’t do this. I’d certainly write faster if I didn’t. But there are other days I feel like my self-scrutiny helps me keep improving.
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Jesse Bullington may be unfamiliar to you now, but I have a feeling that the upcoming release of his first novel, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart might change that. Whisked from obscurity on the wings of Jeff Vandermeer, Bullington found a home for his unusual first novel with Orbit Books.

I recently caught up (digitally) with Bullington and we shot the proverbial shit for a few days. We covered swelling heads, gorgeous covers, rambling tangets about art and music, Jesse’s late-night mis-adventures, and even the origins of the word ‘Fuck’, in the form of Fucked In Fucking: A Mildly Morose Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, a piece of original Flash Fiction that marks A Dribble of Ink’s debut as a publishing imprint! As you can probably tell, the interview isn’t always for those feint of heart. For those looking for a good time… read on!

The Interview

Alright, let’s get the most obvious question out of the way. That curlicue mustache speaks volumes. What can it tell us of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart?

   It can tell you that it was written by one obviously lacking in the constitution to wear a beard, in other words, a liar and a cad. That the mustache is curled into dandy whips signifies an especially disingenuous character, the man who wears such curls telling the world, “behold, I smile at all things at all times, and am therefore to be trusted,” when of course the opposite is true. A down-turned mustache would at least admit sorrow at being unable or unwilling to champion a beard, but the boorish upturn of the mustache in tandem with a naked chin indicates a contempt, indeed, a scorn, for an honest beard. The longer the beard the more honest the man, and the higher the mustache the more treacherous the wag. Those who value a fair and true account of men with beards had best seek their novels elsewhere—the mustache gives away the author’s bias, and crows “slanderous revisionist historian” as loud and as proud as a rooster atop a midden heap.

Wow! Now that’s an answer. The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is being marketed as a Fantasy, but reading the summary, it sounds more like a fucked up Brothers Grimm-fairy-tale-cum-The Blues Brothers. What was your prerogative, when you set out to write The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart?

   Authors quibbling over genre classifications is something I try to steer away from—leaving aside how well I succeed at that—because a good story is a good story is a good story. The novel certainly has its share of the fantastic and may appeal to readers who, like me, grew up with a diet of fantasy that came from all the usual sources—fairy tales, books, movies, comics, roleplaying games, video games, etc., but it also reflects my long abiding interest in history and more obscure folklore. I wanted to incorporate as much of my interests into one project as possible, something with the humor of the medieval romances and Rabelais, the attention to the historical that I so love in the work of Calvino and Eco, the theological complexities of the medieval Church, the horrors of the age (be they real or imagined), the fantasy and adventure of my favorite folklore and fiction, and a gritty, almost hard-boiled approach to violence.

   I must confess to not necessarily having too strong a mission statement beyond wanting to write what I thought would be a good story, something that would appeal as much to my current sensibilities as it would to the teenage me, and to my friends past and present. That I was writing a story about enterprising, religious-minded young men seeking an “honest” reward in the Middle East at the time that my nation was doing what it was, and is, doing certainly played into it on one or two levels, but at its heart this novel is both an ode to and satire of the pulpy fantasy and adventure I so loved growing up, an attempt to give the old tropes another go with a slightly more realistic bent. Realistic being subjective, of course.
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Mark Charan Newton’s, best known as one of the editors at Solaris Books, is making waves waves these days, but from the other side of the industry this time. Reviews of his debut novel, Nights of Villjamur (REVIEW), have been popping up around the ‘net and all the early buzz is mighty fine. Hell, I loved it, too. From my review:

So, read on, and find out why Newton means as much to the industry as an author as he does as an editor, maybe even more.

The Interview

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. You’re an editor with Solaris Books and yet your novel is being published by Tor UK. What’s the story behind this?

   Well, I made sure the two remained mutually exclusive. I was writing long before I came anywhere near the world of editorial. (In fact, I have more to do with the backroom mechanics these days, rather than editorial work specifically.) I signed with my agent, John Jarrold, when I was about 22, and it’s taken me this long to get a deal. As far as my writing was concerned, it didn’t matter who I worked for.

   And it’s just not ethical if I submitted anything to Solaris – I mean, that’s like self-publishing, right? I wouldn’t want it. Hell, the guys at work would slap me silly if I wanted to add to their submissions pile. In all honesty, I was conscious of keeping things very, very separate – for my own sake. It just wouldn’t have felt worthwhile. It would be cheating. So even though I work where I do, I worked through the submission process like every other wannabe writer – and that included getting rejection letters…

22? That’s bloody young to be picking up an agent and most authors don’t seem to break in until much later in life. How did you manage to find an agent at such a young age, and what’s it like to work in an industry where, even at 28, you’re still considered a young buck?

   Young?! I don’t feel it. Every time I go in a bar or club I look around and wonder how I became so old so quickly. I groan when I sit in chairs. And that’s 28 at the end of March, young man – as of writing this, I’m clinging on to those last days of 27!

   I found an agent when I heard that John Jarrold was open for submissions, pretty early in his agency career. I simply sent him my work and got an email from him that same night saying he’d like to represent me – hugely exciting at the time, although it’s seemed like forever since then to getting published.

   But actually, being relatively young is intimidating. The older you get, the more wisdom you acquire, but the younger you are the more you think you know. This becomes apparent to many of us. So I wonder what an older person might think when they pick up my book – would they say: “What’s this immature nonsense – he’s too young to know about life, let alone write about it!” Or something like that. I actually think it might count against me to some extent, or maybe that’s just my paranoia.

Working at Solaris and juggling a writing career can’t be easy. How do you squeeze the time in to write and what’s your typical day look like at the office.

   Oh, well a little know fact is I also straddle over the Black Library imprint as well, so I juggle time between working on both. These days I tend to be less hands-on editorial, which is a big big difference – being so close to manuscripts all day and night took its toll. But, it’s an office job much like any other, albeit fun. I’m usually at home writing by 5.30 for a couple of hours – no more. And do that every night, so I have the routine. It’s easy once you get used to it.
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Since his debut novel, The Painted Man (called The Warded Man in North America) was released late last year, Peter V. Brett has been making quite a name for himself. Considered by many to be the best Fantasy debut since Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind and right up alongside other debut’s such as Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora and Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself, Brett’s first novel has a lot to live up to.

Peter and I cover a lot of things in the interview, including the fact that a large part of The Painted Man was written on his PDA, why it’s okay for an unpublished author to tackle a trilogy, how life has changed since becoming a full time writer and why he’s not writing 900,000 words a year.

But you don’t want to hear that from me, right? Hear it from the man himself, instead.

The Interview

Peter, welcome to A Dribble of Ink! To start things off, why don’t you tell us something that we don’t know about Peter V. Brett.

   I had really long hair and wore heavy metal t-shirts in high school.

Now how about something we don’t know about The Painted/Warded Man

   The first draft had a totally different (and in my opinion, shit) ending about building warded roads, and didn’t introduce Rojer and Leesha until they were adults. In retrospect, it’s no wonder why no one wanted to buy or represent that draft.
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When I approach Brian Ruckley, author of the acclaimed Winterbirth (REVIEW) and the newly released Bloodheir, a couple of weeks ago about an interview, he suggested we buck the system a bit and go
for a more conversational tone. We wanted to tackle some things that you haven’t read in all the other interviews you’ve seen with Ruckley and hopefully have some fun in the meantime.

In the end, Brian and I managed to put together what is probably one of my favourite interviews to appear on A Dribble of Ink. If you’re interested in learning more about Brian and his novels, you can check out his web site HERE. You can also read my first interview with Brian HERE.

Break out the popcorn, this is a long one! Let me know what you think of the new format.

The Interview

Alright Brian, let’s get the easy question out of the way. Why should readers give a damn about your upcoming release Bloodheir?

    Well I imagine those predisposed to give a damn (to whom I am, of course, inordinately grateful) already do so, and don’t need me to tell them why they should. As far as everyone else is concerned … what can I say? Although perfection remains, unsurprisingly, out of reach, I think I’m improving as a writer, bit by little bit. It’s got one or two plot developments that I really don’t believe many reasonable readers will have seen coming (plus, of course, one or two that they probably will…). And it’s got another lovely cover, just like Winterbirth did, so it’ll look grand on your bookshelf. Come to that, it’ll look great anywhere, so even if you’re only in the market for a cool-looking doorstop, it should fit the bill nicely.
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Alright everyone, as promised, Paul and I worked our buns off to bring this second part of the interview to light. For some reason (maybe due to angering the Irish Gods with my attempt at writing a novel set in their land…), the Internet wasn’t allowing Paul and I to connect and get the text of the interview from one side of the Atlantic to the other. But, Paul and I are made of tougher stuff than that and used brute force (Paul paddled over to North America in a Canoe) to make sure it happened.

To that end, the second half of the interview might feel a little choppy (the questions were supposed to be interlaced with those from the first part), but all of Paul’s incredible rapier wit is still intact. If you’re so inclined, you can download a PDF of the entire interview, in one long piece, HERE.
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This interview’s been a long time comin’.

Many folk around the Internet will claim that there’s no author that deserves a wider audience than Paul Kearney. He’s best known for his five volume series The Monarchies of God, which is due to be republished later this year in an updated omnibus edition. Paul also has another upcoming novel, The Ten Thousand being published later this year by Solaris Books as well as the concluding volume to his Sea Beggars Trilogy. A pretty hectic year for an author who almost swore off writing entirely.

Paul has been the essence of patience as we’ve tried to get this interview to see the light of day. For some reason the Internet gods seem to be conspiring against us and, despite all of our various efforts, Paul and I cannot seem to connect to get the second part of the interview into my hands! Talk about weird. Instead of delaying any longer, Paul and I decided to run the first part of the interview and, with any luck, we’ll be able to bring you the second half somewhere down the line.

So, without any more delays, enjoy!
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Michael Swanwick’s been around a long time, seen a lot of things and written a lot of stories. In fact, to use a classic cliché, he’s probably forgotten more about writing genre fiction than most authors remember and he’s got the hardware to prove it – how does 5 Hugos, a Nebula (along with a few more nominations), a Theodore Sturgeon, and a World Fantasy Award sound? On top of all of this, he’s got to hang out with a Koala at some point in his life and had stories published by Penthouse. If that isn’t enough to qualify him for your attention, I don’t know what is.

He’s known for taking conventions of the genre and spinning on their head, often with thought provoking and comical results. His latest novel, The Dragons of Babel is his riff on the classic quest-fantasy, only this time it includes Dragons that double as fighter jets, motorcycles and a post-industrial version of the Fey World.

So check out the interview and you’ll find out why Michael Swanwick is the best author you’ve never heard of… yet. And when you’re done, be sure to head on over to his terrific blog, Flogging Babel, to further find out just why you should care about him.

So, without further adieu, Michael Swanwick, everyone!
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You may have noticed (based on the photo greeting you to the left) that Drew Bowling’s young. Not only is he young, but he’s a good looking, college-age guy who one might expect has better things to do – say traipsing the streets of Madrid, his life stuffed into a backpack, a beautiful woman hanging off his arm – than write Fantasy. You might also be worried that a hip, good looking college kid should stay far away from the writing scene. Well, Bowling’s not afraid to show you why you’re wrong.

Last year’s debut, The Tower of Shadows, surprised me by offering a quick, punch novel (so much a rarity in the Epic Fantasy genre these days), peppered with terrific prose, almost poetic at times, and really made me sit up and notice an author who is sure to make some waves as he grows and refines his craft.

Drew and I have been working on this interview for a good while now, so it’s with pleasure that I can finally bring it to the table. I think you’ll enjoy it.
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Earlier this year La Gringa, muse over at The Swivet and new literary agent with FinePoint Literary Management, sent out a press kit promoting David Keck’s first novel, In The Eye of Heaven, and its sequel, In a Time of Treason, and several of us who received the packages decided to get together and do a group interview with Keck. I think many of you (Malazan fans especially) will be interested to find out about the strong connection between Keck and Steven Erikson.

Much love goes out to David Keck, La Gringa, Robert (from Fantasy Book Critic), Tia (from Fantasy Debut) and Graeme (from Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review) for all the hard work in putting together what turned out to be a great interview.

I’m eagerly looking forward to reading David’s first novel, In The Eye of Heaven soon, so keep an eye out for a review somewhere down the road. If you’re interested in getting your hands on signed copies of David’s novels, be sure to head HERE to enter Tia’s giveaway for a chance to win one of two sets!

You can find the full interview (which I fully encourage you to read!) over at Fantasy Book Critic or by clicking HERE.

Joe Abercrombie can weave a tale and people are starting to take notice. His first novel, The Blade Itself, just recently released in the United States, is the best selling novel in Pyr, his publisher’s, catalog and, as Joe himself would be the first to admit, it damn well deserves it.

I’ve brought Joe back for round two (the first interview can be found HERE) and he proved no less witty, no less charming, and no less arrogant than the first time around. So, in other words, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! I’m currently reading the third (and final) volume of The First Law Trilogy, so be on the lookout for a review soon, but in the meantime grab a bowl of popcorn and listen to what Joe has to say.
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Shawn Speakman is a good friend of mine. I recently wrote a testimonial about him (HERE) and since it proved so popular, I thought a terrific way to complement it would be to interview him. Speakman’s a hard working author-to-be who’s been around the publishing industry for a long time and has rubbed shoulders with some of the genre’s biggest names (Richard Morgan, Terry Brooks, R.A. Salvatore, Robin Hobb, Steven Erikson and Patrick Rothfuss, to name a few).

It may seem strange for me to interview an as-yet-unpublished author, but once you read what Speakman has to say, you’ll see he has a lot of knowledge about the industry, a strong philosophy when it comes to writing and an interesting story with regards to how he became web master, and friend, to Terry Brooks, one of the heavyweights of the Fantasy World.

Enjoy!
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Alright, everyone! As promised, here’s the second part in my interview with several of the prominent SF/F bloggers! I hope you all enjoy it as much as you seem to have enjoyed the first part!

Included in the review are Chris, the Book Swede, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, The Fantasy Review, Neth Space, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, Rob’s Blog o’ Stuff, SciFiChick, Fantasy Book Critic and La Gringa from The Swivet.

You can find the first part HERE.

Enjoy!
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