Ken Liu, moderator

“Writing the Other” looked like the staff of a think-tank. Saladin Ahmed (Throne of the Crescent Moon), Kim Stanley Robinson, (2312, which won the Nebula), Ken Liu (“Paper Menagerie”) and Aliette de Bodard (who would win for the novelette “Immersion”) made up the panel.

Liu, who moderated, said that originally the theme of the panel had been how to write space aliens. Robinson said he agreed with Stanislaw Lem in Solaris; no one could write a believable space alien story because we wouldn’t ever be able to communicate with aliens. End of story. You can’t. De Bodard then weighed in with the argument that even if you could, you mustn’t, because “alien” equaled “non-human” and had been used as propaganda for centuries to dehumanize people of color and justify enslavement and genocide.

So, writing aliens: 1) You can’t, and 2) you shouldn’t anyway. While I was sighing deeply and writing “I am very disappointed right now,” in my notes, the panel went on to discuss the challenges of writing “the human other.” They did all agree that this could be done, although at least two of them, again, thought you probably shouldn’t, (although they had). This got pretty lively.

Saladin Ahmed raised an interesting issue when he talked about writing Islamic characters. Ahmed was raised Muslim and is Arab-American. When he wrote Throne of the Crescent Moon, he was not writing “the other.” He was writing what he knew. Those of us reading it who did not grow up in that culture might have been reading “the other.” A person in the audience, though, brought up the fact that Ahmed’s main character is an elder; elders might represent “the other” for Ahmed.

What do you think? Is there a benefit in writing about, and reading about, cultures that are different from your own? Are there risks? And, to you, just what is “the other,” anyway?

One commenter wins a book from our stacks.

Please identify just one cover that has not yet been identified correctly so that others will have a chance to play. If they’re not all identified by next Thursday, you can come back and identify more. Each of your correct entries enters you into a drawing to win a book of your choice from our stacks.

Winners are notified in the comments, so make sure to check the notification box or remember to check back in about 10 days.

Good Luck!

The world is rife with famous duos (the Dynamic Duo). But what about the fantasy/science fiction worlds? Who are our famous duos? Our favorites? When you think of paired characters, whom do you think of? Frodo and Sam? Merry and Pippin? The City and the Stars? Rendezvous and Rama? Oh, wait…

Well, you get the idea. Tell us who your favorite SFF duo is and why we should all agree. Or at least, nod our heads and go “Oh, yeah. Them too . . .”

One commenter wins a book from our stacks!

Kelly Lasiter: In an earlier novel, The Court of the Midnight King (which I’ve been meaning to read for a few years now), you deal with the history of Richard III, a plot that gets a little cameo in Grail. I was just thinking recently that the discovery of Richard’s burial site had sort of made my geeky year! Do you have any thoughts on this find?

Freda Warrington: It’s been incredibly exciting. I was born in Leicester and consider it my home town. I’ve been fascinated by Richard III for years, and we have so much related history around us – the Battle of Bosworth site, the Grey family home in Bradgate Park (from which came Richard’s brother Edward IV’s wife, and the tragic “9 days queen” Lady Jane Grey), and the ruins of Ashby Castle owned by the Hastings family who had close connections with Richard. A countess, who lived in a modest house next to the castle until her quite recent death, was descended from another of Richard’s brothers, the Duke of Clarence. (A friend of mine was her neighbour and good friends with her). So you feel as if the history’s still alive all around you. The discovery of his remains was like a miracle. If it wasn’t for the persistence of a member of the Richard III Society, and the sheer good fortune that there was a car park and not a building over his grave, he might never have been found. The fact that his remains were nearly intact, and hadn’t been thrown in the River Soar as was rumoured, and that we have the technology to make a positive identification, and that he turned out be physically SO very like contemporary accounts of him – it’s almost beyond belief! Everything came together at the right time. This sort of thing just does not happen, and yet it has! We’ve been to see the exhibition in the Leicester Guildhall, an extraordinary medieval building in itself. I’m really upset that a dispute has arisen over whether his remains should be buried in Leicester or York. I know he was loved in the North of England, but my heart wants him to stay in Leicester, where all the archeological work was done, and where, after all, he lost his final battle.

One of the recurring themes in the AETHERIAL TALES novels is art as a form of magic, or a manifestation of magic. Are there any specific artists–visual, musical, etc.–who helped inspire you while writing this series?

Art has inspired me in all kinds of ways over the years. When I was writing the character of Dame Juliana Flagg in Midsummer Night, I had in mind sculptors such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. I absolutely love the Pre-Raphaelites and related artists, especially John William Waterhouse. His famous painting that shows “The Lady of Shalott” looking tragic in a boat with her hair flowing around her, as she drifts to her doom, directly inspired the character of Stevie in Grail of the Summer Stars. In fact Rosie, in a certain scene in the novel, actually tells Stevie that that’s who she looks like! (Stevie responds, “More like the Bag Lady of Shalott.” – she certainly doesn’t take herself too seriously!). Although I’m not religious, I love Byzantine icons with their stylized figures and gold leaf, so I thought it would be fun and different if Stevie’s artist friend Daniel – who has gone missing – created artwork in this style, rather than conventional painting.

Recently I was a Guest of Honour at Eastercon (UK) alongside the wonderful artist Anne Sudworth, and I was struck by how similar some of our ideas must be. She constantly paints mysterious paths dwindling towards an unseen, just-over-the-horizon Otherworld. I constantly write about them! The idea of pathways into other realms has always intrigued me, and crops up in virtually everything I write. So Anne’s work is very compelling too. And I love illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac.

Grail of the Summer Stars ties together a number of plot threads from the previous two books and weaves them into an overarching plot — an overarching plot I didn’t even expect! In your Afterword, you mention that you didn’t quite expect it either! How and when did you begin to realize that all of these elements could go together to create this larger story?

I’m not sure! I had all these different situations, like jigsaw pieces, and it takes a while to see how they will fit together. Lord Albin appeared in the first two books as a sinister background figure, secretly manipulating people, even his own family. He’s a cold, controlling Aetherial in an ice-white tower, a puritanical extremist who believes that the Otherworld, aka the Spiral, must be permanently severed from Earth in order to prevent worldly pollution creeping into the Aetherial Realms. He doesn’t set out to be villainous; like any fanatic, he’s doing what he believes to be right – but at the same time he has a vengeful, heartless streak and doesn’t care who he hurts in the process. Although he’s quite enigmatic and remote from the action, I always knew that he was dangerous and had not finished his games with my main characters – in this case Stevie and Mist, Sam and Rosie and Lucas.

In Aetherial politics, you’ve got three main factions: the majority, who believe in discreet, peaceful interaction with the human world, a minority group who believe in total separation from Earth, and an anarchic faction who believe in destroying all the barriers and using the Earth as their playground, if not actually trashing the place and taking over. The two extremist factions were bound to have a big showdown sooner or later, with the potential for “mutually assured destruction”! Without wishing to give away the plot, the more I thought about Albin and his opponents, the more clear it became how the entire story could play out. I think that’s the best kind of resolution to a novel – one you didn’t see coming but which, when you think about it, couldn’t have ended any other way.

There’s still plenty of room in this universe for more stories. Do you plan to write further AETHERIAL TALES?

Oh, I’d love to! I’ve already got one pretty well mapped out. Returning to my Elfland characters, the story revolves around Lucas and his struggle to grow into his new responsibilities as guardian of the Great Gates between the Earth and the Otherworld. Sam and Rosie are heavily involved too, but it’s mainly Lucas’s story. He’s such a sweet character, sexy yet naïve! And I’ve other, vaguer ideas for tales set in historical periods, or within the Spiral itself. A lot depends on Tor, as I’m between contracts at the moment, but whatever happens, I’d definitely love to continue with my Aetherial world.

Finally, if you could live in one of the five elemental realms, which would you choose?

Now that’s an interesting question… I think I’m going to make a very obvious choice. The deepest realm, Asru, representing Ether or spirit, is rather dark and sinister. Sibeyla – Air – is all floaty mountains, very bleak and chilly unless you like that sort of thing (as Albin does!). Naamon, the realm of Fire, is deserts, volcanoes, jewel-mines, smouldering foundries – even after three books, all the realms are shrouded in mystery as to what actually goes on there, but I like that, and it’s why I’d love to explore them in further stories. Melusiel is a violet and grey place of cloud, rain, lakes and wetlands, full of elusive beings that live under water or beside it. So I’d have to choose Elysion, the earthy realm. A place of forests and standing stones, meadows and lush orchards, it’s definitely the most human-friendly realm to settle in! That is, if you can avoid being hunted or captured by some of the less friendly Aetherial inhabitants…

Thank you so much for your time!

Readers, comment below for a chance to win a hardback copy of Grail of the Summer Stars. The winner will be announced in the comments, so either check back in about 10 days, or check the little box. US or Canada only, please.

It’s the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s time to report!

What is the best book you read in April 2013 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF. We just want to share some great reading material. Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.

(And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page.)

As always, one commenter will choose a book from our stacks.

I loved Paul Cornell‘s new book, London Falling which is a terrific mash-up of urban fantasy and police procedural (here’s my review). I had a few questions for Paul and he was kind enough to spare some time for me. I’ll send one commenter a shiny new copy of London Falling (US and Canadian addresses, only, please). 

Terry Weyna: Paul, London Falling is terrific fun to read! Please tell me we’re going to be reading more about Quill, Costain, Sefton and Ross — will there be a sequel? Will Lofthouse be more involved in the next investigation?

Paul Cornell: The sequel, The Severed Streets, is out in December in the UK, but I don’t know a US release day yet. The hook line is: ‘Jack the Ripper is back, and this time he’s killing rich white men’. Lofthouse will be vastly more involved next time out, and you’ll get answers to the questions raised in the end scene of London Falling.

I was intrigued by all of the conflicts in London Falling, particularly what seems to be a conflict between religious belief and science. Sefton, particularly, doesn’t believe in God, Satan or hell, and yet seems to come face to face with at least two of those made manifest. Would you say more about the struggle between religion and science, and what role this conflict plays and will continue to play in your series?

Myself, I don’t think there is as much of a conflict between the two as people think there is. But my characters are ordinary people, and Sefton especially is a proud atheist, so for him this ‘conflict’ model is a natural way to see things. (I notice you don’t bet on which two of those three!) I think as he continues down the path of initiation into the mysteries, he’ll realise that dualities like that aren’t much use. And the others will wonder what he’s going on about.

London is not just a place in your novel, it seems, but also an idea. One gets the impression that you have something of a love/hate relationship with the city. Tell us what London means to you.

There’s not much hate involved, really. London is that big gravitational thing that was always there at the Eastern end of the motorway when I was a kid growing up in the West Country. I’ve lived there myself (in Mora’s house!) and had good times and bad times. I love its layers, how things can change hugely just by turning a corner, how big things are tucked away in small places, how you can feel the forces that shape it.

Whose work inspired you as you wrote London Falling? Are you consciously influenced more by the fantasy writers or the crime writers as you blend the two genres?

I think I have one eye on Neil Gaiman often, because Neverwhere is kind of the touchstone for this stuff, but I also try to take crispness and directness from people like Christopher Priest. My favourite crime writer is Dorothy L. Sayers, who I can’t see had any impact on this book at all!

How different is writing a novel from writing a television script? Do you prefer writing a work that is entirely your own creation, instead of writing in a shared universe like Dr. Who?

Hugely, even though I love Who so much. To start one’s own world is the best thing, the central thing. It’s especially satisfying to create one with its own rules and hidden occult systems, that’ll gradually be revealed over time.

Who are your favorite writers of urban fantasy?

Neil, China Miéville, Carrie Vaughan, Sophia McDougall, Seanan McGuire, Sarah Pinborough… loads more not on the top of my head.

Whose work do you read when you’re reading entirely for pleasure?

Chris Priest, Stephen Baxter, M. John Harrison… I like New Wave SF, particularly from the UK.

Thanks very much, Paul, and I can’t wait for The Severed Streets!

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of London Falling (US and Canadian addresses only, please). I hope you’ll love it as much as I do!

Clearly, one large reason for the explosion in such films’ popularity is the relatively recent ability to simply film the kinds of scenes we expect to see. It wasn’t too long ago, for instance, that conventional wisdom thought that the Lord of the Rings, for instance, was unfilmable: “A thousand page story with giant, talking trees and a disembodied villain? Yeah, good luck with that on-screen.” The same was true of Cloud Atlas, albeit for different reasons than the visuals: “Six different stories?. All with different characters? And then you stop telling each one in the middle? And pick them up later? But backwards? Get out of my office.”

All of which got me to thinking, with all that can be done nowadays with CGI and motion capture and all the other special effects, is there any fantasy or science fiction novel out there that is still “unfilmable,” whether it be due to visuals, or topic, or structure (yes, there are some people who would argue the movie only showed Cloud Atlas was indeed unfilmable). How about it? Any books still out there you think can’t be filmed? Not the ones you don’t want to see filmed — that’s a different question (“Leave me my vision!”), but ones you think can’t be filmed?

As usual, one commenter wins a book from our stacks.

Please identify just one cover that has not yet been identified correctly so that others will have a chance to play. If they’re not all identified by next Thursday, you can come back and identify more. Each of your correct entries enters you into a drawing to win a book of your choice from our stacks.

Winners are notified in the comments, so make sure to check the notification box or remember to check back in about 10 days.

Good Luck!

Visit Arrakis!

Looking for a change of pace from frantic tropical vacations, with all that hang-gliding, drink-sipping, body-surfing, massage-getting madness? Considering a quiet, exclusive getaway where you and your true love can focus on each other, without unnecessary distractions? Where you can grow even closer? Visit Arrakis!

Visit Arrakis!

From its blazing, stark deserts to its monochrome underground passageways, Dune offers nothing to distract you from your loved one. Sharing a glass of the water of life together will draw you even closer to each other as you learn each other’s secret hopes, fears, and genetic legacy. For a change of pace, join the friendly natives for a bracing day of worm-riding; schedule a tour of the ruins of the imperial embassy or observe spice harvesting from a presumably safe distance. Join your hosts for delightfully austere dinners around the crackling campfire, black-tie-optional, black-stillsuit-mandatory. Dune exists only to serve… your every whim.

_{DISCLAIMER: Trips to Arrakis are not recommended for children, pregnant women or members of the former Imperial family. Some people exhibit an immediate, severe allergic reaction to Arrakis. If this happens to you, contact your travel agent immediately. In some instances, death, disappearance, dismemberment, dehydration, delusions, dementia, discoloration of eyes, bad soothsaying, random pontificating, self-mutilation, abrupt sexual interest in a close family member for no particular reason, possession by ancestors, poor wardrobe choices, challenging a training robot to a knife fight while naked, hearing more voices in your head than usual, or an irrational belief that you are both part sandworm and the emperor of the universe can occur. The agency assumes no liability for these occurrences. All waivers must be signed and witnessed before disembarkation. Please enjoy Dune responsibly.}

It’s the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s time to report!

What is the best book you read in March 2013 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF. We just want to share some great reading material. Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.

(And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page.)

As always, one commenter will choose a book from our stacks.

I’m happy to temporarily come out of FanLit retirement to spend some time with my favorite author, Guy Gavriel Kay. Kay’s newest novel, River of Stars, was released today and it’s as wonderful as I’d hoped (here’s my review). Bill and Kelly loved it, too. Trust us: you don’t want to miss River of Stars!

We’re giving away a copy of River of Stars to one random commenter with a U.S.A. address.

Robert Rhodes: I have in hand a beautiful edition of your new novel, River of Stars. Your previous work, Under Heaven, appeared three years ago, in April of 2010 — April’s no longer the cruelest month, is it? Both novels are set in the land of Kitai, an ‘alternate’ China, although in quite different eras. Would you introduce us to the Kitai of this novel? How does it compare with the Kitai of Under Heaven?

Guy Gavriel Kay: A T.S. Eliot riff off the top? This is the literary interview, it seems. River of Stars is not a sequel; 350-400 years of time passing will negate that. But it is still my ‘quarter-turn’ away from dynastic China, in the style I’ve used for many books now. The main difference is that the empire here is smaller, more limited, less ‘grand’ than before — and that is partly a result of where the dynamic between military and court has gone in the intervening centuries. I’m inspired by the Song Dynasty this time, which is sometimes cited by historians as offering the first beginnings of a ‘new’ China, the end of the ‘medieval’ period.

Well, we do take the ‘Literature’ aspect of ‘Fantasy Literature’ seriously, and we’re delighted to have you with us. At the time we discussed Under Heaven, I believe you were considering a visit to China. Can you tell us about your experience and how it may have shaped River of Stars?

I don’t think there was any obvious or direct influence on how the book took shape. I was treated wonderfully well, though, and that may have subliminally cued me up to stay with China for exploration. There was a symposium at Beijing Normal University on my work (three books were out there by then, with Under Heaven to come), five or six papers were delivered in Chinese, and I had a translator at my elbow. One paper was by someone who had read Under Heaven in English and was wonderfully generous in his response to it. It was reassuring and even exciting to see Chinese critics and academics ‘getting’ what I do, the respect underlying my use of the fantastic to address history.

And with war and politics figuring so predominantly in this novel, it’s certainly a ‘history’, but of another world. And the ‘fantastic’ makes its mark as well on the characters. The principal characters of River of Stars, among a host of figures, are Ren Daiyan and Lin Shan. Who are they, and how did you discover them?

Well, on one level, they are invented characters, as all my characters are. A reason I use the fantastic is that I do not want to pretend I know what real people in history thought or felt, or what their preferred positions in bed might have been. So when I say that characters such as these two, or others, are inspired by real people sometimes, that is truly as far as it goes. These two do take their inspiration from figures of the Song Dynasty, but the personalities that emerge — and the personal events of their lives, including when they are together — are part of the history of Kitai, not China! That’s important to me. As to where they came from, in imaginative terms, I wanted to develop and explore characters whose inner drives set them at odds with the restraints and limitations that their culture placed on what men and women (women, in particular) were ‘allowed’ to do or be.

Were there any characters in the novel who surprised you? Any who, for example, forced their way into the novel or behaved in a way you hadn’t foreseen?

There always are, every book. I don’t outline — the writing is a process of exploration — so inevitably characters (and plot elements) surprise me. There are a number of focal point characters (an assassin, a magistrate who changes a great deal, a young boy on the steppe, a village woman with a sick daughter, among others) who were not part of the original process of shaping the book at all. Each novel startles me, sometimes shakes me deeply.

Speaking as a reader, I promise you’re not alone in that. I did find Lin Shan an exceptional character, the one most ‘at odds’ with her culture. One of her skills, and a skill prized in Kitai, is calligraphy. In an early scene, as she prepares to write a critical letter, you describe how she mixes her ink and focuses on the proper posture and style for her writing. How did you research the art of calligraphy? And more broadly, how much and what kinds of research have you done for your novels?

The formal research for that was straightforward, as there is a lot of literature on calligraphy both from the time and modern. Indeed, one of my dearest friends is finishing a Ph.D right now on calligraphy in the Song. (That was useful!) I wanted to do something I have done before (with mosaic, say): reveal expertise and craft by focusing on technical details. The research in general, for all the books, is my favourite aspect. At that stage I am just learning things, making notes, and by definition, since I have decided I want to write a book about these subjects, it is material that interests me a lot. It is only at the point where that nagging inner voice reminds me that there a book to be written out of all this that I start getting edgy. Most research is reading (some is travel), but increasingly I end up in correspondence, or sometimes sitting down, with scholars who have spent their professional lives working in the fields I am exploring. I learn so much and end up with friendships, too. One of my own greatest pleasures as a writer has been the support of the academic community for my very personal, idiosyncratic approach to writing fiction about history. Just as those Chinese scholars in Beijing did, most historians seem to understand the impulses of respect and a desire not to claim knowledge of real lives that infuse what I do.

Let’s assume that most of us over the age of thirty grew up writing by hand and later transitioned, at least to some extent, to typing. Do you prefer writing or typing? If you were in Kitai, what might your own handwriting suggest about your character? And for the computer purists, do you have a favorite font?

Cool question. My handwriting when young was actually quite good (and I’m left-handed, which makes it way harder). I have aerogram letters sent home from my first backpacking trips to Europe that amaze me today: that I could write so small (aerograms were a finite size, to be folded and mailed) and so attractively. Today? I still do my research notes mostly by hand in stiff black notebooks, but no one who doesn’t love me would ever say my writing is remotely attractive! All the novels are typed now (early adopting Mac geek here). But I can say that my first three novels were written longhand with a fountain pen, then retyped. That’s pretty quaint, isn’t it? I’m not a font fetishist. My Word default is Bookman Old Style, for what that’s worth.

Staying on the topic of paperwork… even though the Kitai of River of Stars is somewhat diminished, its imperial bureaucracy continues to thrive. You’re a lawyer by training, and your novels traditionally feature the rulers of lands as major characters. How have your own experiences with law, government, and politics influenced your work?

Another cool question. And you are right about bureaucracy in the book. Often as a nation or empire diminishes, its administrative rigidity grows. I am absolutely certain that ‘influence’ comes into all of us in wide and varied and often invisible ways. (We overfocus far too much on what books or writers influence an author, or what painters an artist.) But did an early interest in that dangerous political aspect of the human dynamic make me interested in law, or did my exposure to criminal law make me write a certain way afterwards? See what I mean? It can cut in so many different directions. I do believe that training in courtroom law shaped my writing in one strong way: courtroom lawyers need to become very good at gaining ‘instant expert’ status in something. That’s not a ‘real’ expertise, but you have to get to a point where you can examine or cross-examine a true expert on their own ground. My research in various periods and motifs of history (Byzantine chariot racing!) probably takes advantage of training in that way.

Your novels have now explored vast tracts of Europe and Asia — and Toronto, if one goes back to THE FIONAVAR TAPESTRY. Which points in space and time have captured your interest since the completion of River of Stars? Which is another way of asking, “What might you write about next?”

Nice try, Robert! Teasing aside, my standard answer is still my answer: I never know what a next book will be. I don’t know right now, as I answer these questions. The only exception was that after Ysabel I knew I was going to do a China-inspired book, because I had intended to do that when I was ‘hijacked’ in the south of France, where we’d gone for me to research and write a book evoking the Silk Road. Returning to Provence after many years overwhelmed me with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, emotions, and a sense of the past there… and Ysabel emerged from that. So I did know, that one time, what would follow. But even then, it shifted: Under Heaven was not a Silk Road book after all, it was shaped by the Tang Dynasty.

I had to try. I’d personally love to see your interpretation of imperial Russia, and Africa, and colonial America — but of course, it’s time to savor this novel and take a well-deserved break. Last time, you introduced us to Springbank Scotch and the “Dark and Stormy.” Can you recommend a refreshment to accompany the reading of River of Stars and otherwise sustain your readers through the summer?

Ah, summer drinks. It is still chilly outside right now, but seasons do turn. I am a campari fan, but the heads-up is that many people find that aperitif too bitter. If so, try it with orange juice in a campari and orange. I like it with soda (not too much), and I have been drinking Negronis, too: campari, gin, sweet vermouth. If you switch in bourbon for the gin you get something called a Boulevardier and that is really quite… well, give it a shot, so to speak.

Fantastic. Thank you for your time and cheers!

Readers, comment below for a chance to win a hardback copy of River of Stars. We need to send it to a U.S.A address.

This one here, in fact…

We think the title Space Opera is just too generic for this striking cover. Can you help us rename it?

Here’s the description, if it helps:

Space Opera — (1965) A society matron underwrites the interstellar tour of an Earth opera company, performing Beethoven, Mozart and Rossini for bewildered human and alien audiences on a kaleidoscopic range of planets. But intrigue and secret agendas complicate what was already a doubtful enterprise, and the matron’s feckless nephew finds that the simple country girl he plans to marry is far more mysterious than she seems. This is Jack Vance at his funniest, rolling out a rollicking picaresque tale where the belly laughs play a perfect duet with the grandmaster’s sly observations on the absurdities of life, love and librettos.

The author of the new title we like best wins a book from the FanLit Stacks. (Unfortunately, we don’t have a copy of this book, but we do have some Jack Vance on audio that we know you’ll love.)