Margo Lanagan - Author Interview Series

Margo Lanagan is a four-time World Fantasy Award winner (for best collection, short story, novel and novella), and has won and been shortlisted for many other awards.

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I was the third of four children, so I had two readers going ahead of me. There wasn’t a time when books weren’t part of my life. My mum read to us at bedtime all through our childhood.

I read, and continue to read, all over the place in a very undisciplined way. As a child I remember enjoying fairly white-bread books from the US (Elizabeth Enright’s Melendy family series, Eleanor Estes’ Moffatt books) and the UK (Noel Streatfeild), and perhaps slightly-less-white-bread Australian books (Patricia Wrightson, Nan Chauncy). Tove Jansson’s Moomin books, the Narnia chronicles and Alan Garner’s books were favourites.

When did you first realise you were a writer?

I started writing (poetry) for my own interest when I was about 14. I don’t think I thought of myself as a writer, though, for another decade or so, after which I’d published a dozen or so poems and received a Literature Board grant and residency at the Nancy Keesing Studio in Paris. Even then, being a writer wasn’t something I ‘realised I was’ as much as it was a goal that I set myself.

What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

A strong emotional impression; an atmosphere they can’t shake off for a while. Curiosity about what I might try next.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

I don’t have a problem finding books that are pleasurable to read. Sometimes it’s difficult to pick up a novel and read for pleasure after a day of reading grant applications or Vogel entries, but that’s more burnout than writerly-microscope problems. I certainly have lower tolerance for sloppy or inexpert writing than I used to.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Undoubtedly what I read affects what I write. Sometimes there’s a kind of stain across my own writing that I can identify as the influence of my reading at the time; it can be removed during revision, though, and I don’t swear off particular styles of writing if I’m enjoying them. The effect of other writers’ work can just as often be positive as negative, adding a different energy to a story I’m working on. It tends to be more at the idea-generation level than an echo of their writing style, though.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker and Greer Gilman’s Cloud and Ashes show me how far you can push language and still retain sense and story. Anne Tyler and Ursula Dubosarsky are great at creating characters I get attached to. Tove Jansson in both her children’s and her adult books is a wonderful inhabitant of the worlds she creates, and her fine, serious, pared-back style is an inspiration.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

I’d take the latest issue of The Lifted Brow magazine, because it’s always jam-packed with so much good and interesting material, it’d last a while and would provide something for whatever mood I found myself in.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Characters whose fate I care about and whose company I enjoy (and I can enjoy thoroughly nasty characters just as much as amiable ones); a strong plot; a setting that the author has clearly spent a lot of love constructing; confident, correct, flexible use of language and good control of shades of meaning.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

The opposites of the above, all of which can be summed up in a word: boredom.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I don’t really have a favourite author, or even a favourite genre; within the constraints of what’s ‘too good to put down’ I like to roam widely from literary to all the different kinds of speculative fiction, and also take in some crime, non-fiction and poetry.

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

Hm, I don’t like to be too definitive about these things, as some reads are good for some times and not for others. However, here’s a stab:

Anne Tyler, Noah’s Compass (beautifully drawn characters in a strong, relevant story characteristically tinged with both sadness and humour)

George Saunders, Pastoralia (well, anything Saunders writes is so much his own thing – odd, funny, tragic and oblique)

Anne Enright, Taking Pictures (dark humour, lean storytelling)

William Mayne, Earthfasts (a tense and creepy story, set in a place the author knows like the back of his hand)

Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners (I’m happy to follow wherever Kelly’s distinctively serious, fantastical stories take me)

Jennifer Stevenson, Trash Sex Magic (a lush, steamy world I wanted to stay in for a lot longer)

W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz (or any Sebald, really – it’s just a privilege to see inside his brain)

Gail Godwin, The Good Husband (for intelligence and humanity)

Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe (a decent self-respecting Australian story, peopled as all Ursula’s novels are by worried children and worrying grown-ups)

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways (a lovely rich journey around the backroads of the US)

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

John Crowley’s Little, Big. The worldbuilding was so complex, yet he made it seem so effortless; there was a wonderful array of characters; the mood of it was so dreamy and magical, but kept cutting back to real-world details that anchored the story in modern times. I just thoroughly enjoyed inhabiting that book.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I welcome eBooks and look forward to the difference they’ll make to my cabin baggage and my daypack. I don’t think new technologies can help but attract new segments of the population to reading who found print books too cumbersome. But I don’t think we’re going to get rid of print books any time soon, and I think they’ll happily co-exist for a long while yet. Children’s picture books, for example, don’t translate easily into electronic forms, and I’m pretty sure children brought up on print picture books will always have an attachment to print formats.

Margo has published four collections of short stories, White Time, Black Juice, Red Spikes and Yellowcake, and a novel, Tender Morsels. She grew up in the Hunter Valley and Melbourne, and now lives in Sydney and works as a technical writer. She is currently working on a novel about selkies based on her award-winning novella, Sea-Hearts.

Margo blogs at http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com/

Katharine Kerr - Author Interview Series

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

Anything I could get my hands on. I learned to read at home when I was four. I kept on reading from then on. My grandmother and I would walk to our local library and load up on a week’s reading at a time. I don’t remember all the authors at this lapse of time, but I did love horse books in particular. Also classics like Mary Poppins, Wind in the Willows, the Moffats series - I indentified with Jane Moffat, odd of me since I was an only child - and various other chapter books.

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

When I was 8, I started writing “books” on bits of paper and stapling them together. When I was 13, I discovered SF and decided then that I would write SF and Fantasy when I grew up. Oddly enough, I have stuck by that decision.

Good stories first, involving interesting characters that seem real, and then something to think about after the story’s over, such as moral issues or bits of history.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

Yes, it is difficult. I tend to analyze as I read and then think about the book after I’m done. If the book was less than sucessful, I think about what I might have done differently if I were writing it. If it was excellent, I wallow in envy for a bit.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Not any more. When I was first working on the Deverry series, I did avoid other epic fantasies, but fortunately that didn’t last. The reading that does affect my writing is the research I do. Even for the current Urban Fantasy that I’m writing, I do research, mostly into magical traditions, but also into details - such as Ari’s gun collection in the Nola O’Grady books.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

No fantasy writer can pretend Tolkien didn’t influence them. Some try, but they’re silly. Proust’s interweavings have definitely influenced the way I like to tell a story, and Henry James’ examinations of consciousness have, oddly enough, influenced the way I depict magical actions. Heinlein’s early “boy’s books” fired up my desire to write SF that had real women in it. Ursula Le Guin showed me that this could be done.

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Believeable characters whose story interests me. They don’t have to be in mortal danger or anything like that. An emotional tangle or moral dilemma will do.

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

Paper thin characters and too much Raw Exposition. In particular, lots of exposition crammed into dialogue.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

Marcel Proust. I love the minute dissection of character and the dream-like evocation of a France that was long-gone even in his own day.

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

Kate Elliot’s Cold Magic. The world-building is amazing, nominally steampunk, but it goes well beyond that set of cliches. Magic and politics are mixed together in a really intriguing way.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I'm afraid I don't have a crystal ball . I have no idea what the answers to these questions are. No one will really know for another 20 years, probably - not that this lack of real information is going to stop people from spouting off on the subject.

Katharine Kerr describes herself as an inveterate loafer, baseball addict, and rock and roll fan, who begrudgingly spares time to write novels. She is perhaps best known for writing the Deverry series of historical fantasies or fantastical histories, depending on your point of view. She lives near San Francisco with her husband of many years and some cats.

You can find out more about Katharine here.

Ben Chandler - Author Interview Series

Ben Chandler's first novel, Quillblade: Volume One of the Voyages of the Flying Dragon, was published in 2010, and the sequel, Beast Child, is available now!

What authors/books did you read as a child? When did you first discover your love of books?

I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember, and probably even a bit before that, so I don’t have an actual memory of discovering my love of books. It’s just always been there. I first realised that loving books was something special when I was about 7 or 8, and it only occurred to me then because I noticed that not everyone enjoyed staying inside the library during school lunchtimes to read. I read a lot as a kid, so a list of authors/books would go on for a while, but I do have vivid memories of being terrified by the ‘original’ Brothers Grimm tales (i.e. the scary, non-Disney versions), and of loving Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story (the first Really Big Book I ever read on my own).

When did you first realise you were a writer? What do you hope your readers will take away with them from reading your books?

I’ve probably been a writer almost as long as I’ve been a reader, but it took me a while to realise exactly what I was doing when I was daydreaming (I do this a lot) and scribbling my stories down on paper. It didn’t occur to me that you could actually be a writer until I was about 16. It took another few years of determined scribbling before I felt game enough to call myself a writer. I hope readers enjoy visiting the worlds I create in my books. I want them to want to spend time there, and I mean that literally. I want my readers to imagine themselves into my world, to create themselves as characters within the scope of my worlds, to interact with my characters and imagine how they would handle things if they were the heroes. That’s what I do when I read really great books. I’d love to think that I could inspire that sort of imaginative journey in my readers.

Do you find it difficult to read purely for pleasure? Does everything you read come under your ‘writer’ microscope?

For me, this is a bit of a false dichotomy. Some people see reading and writing as a spectrum, with full critical scrutiny at one end (the ‘writer microscope’ frame of mind) and pure reading pleasure at the other. The idea seems to be that the more you scrutinise a piece of writing, the less you’ll enjoy it. The flip side of this, if you take it to its extreme conclusion, is that you have to switch your brain off in order to enjoy reading! This just isn’t how I read, and I suspect this isn’t really how most people read. My writer microscope actually heightens my appreciation of what I’m reading, so I don’t find it difficult to read for pleasure. If anything, it just provides another level of enjoyment, an ability to peek behind the curtain, as it were.

Do you have to avoid reading certain types of fiction while writing your own? Does what you read while writing have an effect on what you write? In what way?

Yes, no, and sometimes. This is a really hard question for me, as I don’t have a set way of doing things. For some books, I try to read as widely as possible within the genre I’m writing in as I can. Sometimes, it’s the opposite, and I have to read things that are completely different. Rarely, but occasionally, I don’t read at all when I’m writing. It just depends on what I feel I need at the time. What I read definitely impacts what I write, and sometimes I crave that influence, and sometimes I shun it. It’s the old ‘whatever works for you’ thing, but I’ll add ‘at the time’ and ‘given the circumstances’ as well.

Name five authors or books that have influenced or inspired your own writing in some way.

Just five?! That’s a tough one!

David Eddings’ early works for his grasp of genre, his humour, his characters, and his wonderful worlds.

JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings­ – ‘nuf said.

Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story for all its magic.

Neil Gaiman’s work. All of it, including his graphic novels / comics, for his contribution to contemporary mythology.

Robin Hobb’s work, particularly her assassin books – the greatest first person fantasy series ever written. Ever.

If you were travelling and were told you could only take one book with you, what book would it be and why?

Isn’t that what e-readers are for?! Seriously, though, this is the hardest question you could ask a writer. I guess it would have to be The Lord of the Rings, not because it’s my favourite book ever written (it isn’t), but because I could read and re-read it over and over again, and it always takes me ages to get through (I’ve read it through about a dozen times already, and I could easily read it a dozen more).

What makes a book ‘too good to put down’?

Interesting characters. Magical world. Engaging plot. Sounds simple when you put it like that, doesn’t it? It’s sometimes difficult to find that magic combination of the three, though, and it always comes down to the Big 3 (I’m tempted to throw in a DC Universe Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman analogy here, but I won’t): character, setting, and plot. I might be tempted to add ‘conceit’ to that list in the case of speculative fiction (i.e. the Big Idea underlining a book), but too often spec fic writers rely solely on the Big Idea to the detriment of the Big 3, and no matter how clever or cool the Big Idea is, if any of the other 3 are lacking, I’ll put it down. Really great prose is also a plus, but if it is all just wonderful sentences without the Big 3, again, I’ll put it down (and maybe pick up a book of quotes).

What makes you put down a book without finishing it?

See above. Also, if I’m bored I’ll put a book down. Life is too short and there are too many great books out there for me to waste time reading something I don’t want to read.

Do you have a favourite author? Who is it and what is it about their writing that draws you to them?

I really don’t have a favourite author, as such, because I read widely and enjoy lots of different kinds of literature, I suppose. I could easily list a couple dozen, but then I’d have left out another couple dozen, so I’m not even going to attempt it…

If you had to list them, what would be your ‘top ten’ reads of all time (excluding the classics) and why?

Excluding classics? What do you class as a classic? Oh, dear. Okay. Let me think… Hmmm… I’m going to have to include series. Each of the entries on this list has the Big 3 I was talking about earlier, and they each have that special something that earns them a prominent place on my bookshelves.

Gaiman’s Neverwhere (quirky, magical and real, and with great characters).

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (I guess this is probably a ‘classic’, but I can’t resist adding it, for all the obvious reasons).

Ende’s The Neverending Story (also a ‘classic’, but it had such a profound effect on my 8-9 year old brain for its sheer imaginativeness and for teaching me to put myself in the story).

Hobb’s The Farseer Trilogy (Best. First person fantasy. Ever.).

Michael Pryor’s The Laws of Magic (Everything YA Steampunk Fantasy should be. Full of Big Ideas that don’t get in the way of the Big 3. Everyone should have a friend like George).

Lian Hearn’s Otori series (Everything is better with ninjas. Okay, it’s also a wonderful story with that perfect mix of the grand and the personal set against a fictionalised medieval fantasy Japan).

Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (To me, this series is what YA literature is all about. Full of moral dilemmas, action, drama, great characters, and twists).

Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (Such a beautiful story told without words. A master illustrator at the top of his game telling a story that should resonate with us all).

Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (One of my favourite works of speculative fiction. Another Big Idea book, but the Big 3 still shine through).

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen (If you like comics / graphic novels, especially superhero ones, then you have to read this. An often searing look at the superhero genre and the society that spawned it). *Disclaimer: If you ask me tomorrow you’ll probably get a different list!

What was your 2010 ‘best read’? What was it that made it number one?

I can’t remember when it was published, but I first read Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove in 2010. It’s a graphic novel that places the superheroes of the Marvel Universe in the Elizabethan court. Think mutant ‘witch’ hunts and the dawning of a new world in a dinosaur-infested North America and you’ll start to get the general idea. A great reimagining of the Marvel Universe with bold characters and beautiful, dynamic illustrations. You couldn’t ask for more from a graphic novel.

What do you think of the non-traditional publishing methods – eBooks etc? Do you think the new technology will encourage more people to read? Do you think there’s a future for print books?

I do think e-readers are encouraging more people to read. I know a number of people who weren’t traditionally ‘readers’ who have now embraced the new technology and are reading more than ever. Personally, I don’t like reading books on an e-reader (I’m a bibliophile), and I don’t see this new technology as the death of the printed book, but I do think it’s going to bring books and reading to more people, and that’s a great thing.

Ben loves heroes, villains, comic books, and video games, and he believes you can learn more from watching cartoons than you can from the news. Like all fantasy writers, Ben has a cat. His cat is named Loki. It’s possible Loki is the reincarnation of the Norse God of Mischief, but Ben hopes this is just a flight of his fancy. In 2010 Ben was awarded the Colin Thiele Creative Writing Scholarship from Carclew Youth Arts Board and in 2011 was awarded a grant by Arts SA to work on a YA urban fantasy novel set in Adelaide.

Find out more about Ben here.

Jennifer Byrne in conversation with Christos Tsiolkas

I wasn’t able to attend as many sessions at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival as I would have liked, but I was fortunate enough to be in the studio audience for ‘Jennifer Byrne Presents’ – not her usual ‘First Tuesday Book Club’ but a one on one interview/conversation with Christos Tsiolkas.

Byrne was comedian, interrogator, therapist, confidant; she asked the probing questions, pushed Tsiolkas past his comfort zone and into more personal territory. The interview had depth and interest and wasn’t just about ‘The Slap’ though, with the miniseries based on his award-winning novel coming to the ABC later this year in an eight part drama, it was discussed.

For those of you who have read ‘The Slap’, whether you loved it or hated it I’m sure it sparked some thought, if not debate, on gender, sexuality, ethnicity and the raising of children. ‘The Slap’ is not about the actual ‘slap’ at all; as Tsiolkas said, it was merely a device used “to explore how badly we treat each other”, even those – or perhaps especially those, we profess to love.

Tsiolkas says he writes “to make sense of what is going on in the world; to better understand it.” When he wrote ‘The Slap’ he drew on his life for his craft. He was, in his own words, an ‘outsider’ – gay, migrant, poor. As Byrne pointed out he is no longer ‘outsider’, the readers have embraced him, also he’s loaded. He acknowledges that after the huge success of the book and the change in his economic circumstances he feels he can no longer use that voice with the same authenticity.

He talked about the different stages of his writing life, how he is now in the ‘middle passage’ and the writer he is now, reading the writer he was in his twenties, can see the mistakes and the rawness of the writing, but is also envious of the power and the energy within it.

Once an activist, though “never a very good one”, Tsiolkas is still passionate about today’s issues, in particular – refugees and asylum seekers. He talked about first-world problems and the insidious undercurrent of the Australian culture; how our sense of entitlement prevents us from giving thanks/showing gratitude for our good fortune. “We want the very best of life,” he said, “the best of everything, but we don’t want to have to do anything for it.”

‘First-world problems’ – he said this several times and for me it says, get some perspective; stop taking life (and yourself) so seriously; show a little gratitude for the freedoms you enjoy. Compared to many places in the world, and he talked about his homeland in Greece, which is really hurting at the moment, Australia really is lucky.

One last note.

Byrne is a consummate interviewer - the information she brought forth from Tsiolkas, at times laboriously (he wasn't the most articulate interviewee; many writers aren't), was deep and personal and as a writer myself I left with something special; the desire to write. In short, he made me want to write, but more importantly, he made me want to write more deeply.