Doctor Charles E. Gannon is a Distinguished Professor of English at St. Bonaventure University. A Fulbright Senior Specialist in American Literature and Culture 2004-2009, his most recent non-fiction book won the 2006 ALA Award for Outstanding Book and was discussed on NPR’s Morning Edition when he was interviewed. He’s also appeared on Discovery Channel and is a member of SIGMA, a Science Fiction think tank of which clients include the Air Force, the Pentagon, and NATO. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Gannon worked eight years as a scriptwriter and producer in New York City. His latest novel is Fire With Fire, others are Extremis with Steve White and 1635: The Papal Stakes with Eric Flint, all from Baen Books. A happily married father of five, he lives north of Annapolis and can be found on twitter as @cegannon1, on Facebook and via his website at CharleseGannon.com.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
Charles E. Gannon: Where? Dunno. When? The cradle, I think. When I was three, I loved dinosaurs. So I wanted to be a paleontologist and write about it. When I was seven, it was zoology, and I wanted to write about it. At about nine, it was astronomy, then being an astronaut. But then I learned that space travel was still dangerous, so it was back to astronomy. And of course, write about it. You spent long, preparatory years doing immense amounts of number crunching, often living a dull existence, all so you’d get to do something uberkewl for a few days. That was not satisfying to me. But writing about it? I got to virtually live all those lives, whenever I wanted. And dive into the topix. Now that was kewl!
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Known as the “Wizard of Storytelling,” David Farland (a.k.a. Dave Wolverton) is the New York Times bestselling author of fifty novels, including novels for adults, young adults, anthologies, middle-grade readers, and picture books. As a child, he wrote short stories and dreamt of growing up to become a fantasy writer. At BYU, he wrote “On My Way to Paradise,” based on a vivid dream, and entered it in L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest and won the grand prize the Gold Award. He was immediately contracted by Bantam Books to turn the short story into a novel, along with a contract to write two more. On My Way to Paradise spent months on the Locus Bestseller list and won a Phillip K. Dick Memorial Special Award. He wrote Science Fiction for ten years under his given name David Wolverton then decided to try fantasy. He has amassed many awards for his short fiction in particular, and set a Guinness Record for the world’s largest book signing, a record he still holds. A dedicated teacher, he is known for having taught many great emerging writers, including Stephanie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint and more. As part of his dedication to helping other writers, David writes David Farland’s Daily Kick in the Pants email bulletin for writers. He can be found on twitter as @DavidFarland, Facebook and via his website at DavidFarland.com.
[Editor's Note: David's son, Ben Wolverton, was in a tragic accident after this interview was conducted. Here's how you can help.]
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
David Farland: Seriously, I think my interest in fantastic literature came from sitting on my mother’s knee and listening to bedtime stories. As a kid of twelve, I became a Star Trek fan-when I got to watch it in color. But my love for speculative literature really blossomed at sixteen, when I read Lord of the Rings.
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Alaya Dawn Johnson has a new young adult science fiction novel out from Scholastic/Arthur Levine titled Summer Prince, set in future Brazil that’s an awesome read. As a child, her father introduced her to Joao Gilberto and Brazilian bossa nova, a music for which this host also has great passion. She later traveled to Brazil with her sister and cousin. A Columbia University graduate with a degree in East Asian languages and cultures, she lives in New York City. She’s authored the vampire series Zephyr Hollis set in 1920s NYC, The Spirit Binders fantasy series and Twisted Journeys graphic novels. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies like Zombies v. Unicorns, Welcome to Bordertown, Year’s Best Science Fiction 11,and Year’s Best Fantasy 6. She’s also had stories in Asimov’s and Fantasy magazines. She can be found on Twitter as @alayadj, on Facebook or at her website AlayaDawnJohnson.com.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
Alaya Dawn Johnson: Diana Wynne Jones was my gateway drug. Hexwood and The Homeward Bounders forever. Besides Jones, Guy Gavriel Kay is one of my favorite writers on earth, and had a huge influence on young me. Also, Ursula Le Guin for how she changed my view of the possibilities of science fiction.
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Sarah A. Hoyt is one if the headliners for my anthology Raygun Chronicles. A transplant from Portugal, whose third language is English, she lives with other authors, including her husband and sons, in Colorado. A novelist with three pseudonyms in addition to her name and eighteen novels out, her motto is “no genre is safe from me.” She’s authored popular space operas, Darkship Thieves and Darkship Renegades from Baen Books, the 1st won the Prometheus Award. A third book, A Few Good Men, came out March 5th. Her next novel in her Shifters series, Noah’s Boy, arrives this July. As Sarah D’Almeida, she writes a series of Musketeers mysteries, and as Elise Hiatt, the Daring Finds Mysteries for Berkley. She also has series called Shakespeare Fantasies, Shifters and Magical British Empire as well. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog, Asimov’s and anthologies including Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3, Going Interstellar and Space Horrors amongst many others. She can be found on Facebook or at her website SarahaHoyt.com or blog AccordingToHoyt.com .
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
Sarah A. Hoyt: My ten year older brother brought home science fiction and fantasy books. I got hooked. First taste was free. After that he made me go halves on the books from my allowance!
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Philip K. Dick and World Fantasy Award Winning novelist James P. Blaylock is considered, along with Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, to be one of the Founding Fathers of Steampunk. His novels include Lord Kelvin’s Machine, The Stone Giant, The Magic Spectacles, The Last Coin and The Disappearing Dwarf. His latest novel, The Aylesford Skull (now avilabale from from Titan Books) is a Langdon St. Ives steampunk tale set in Victorian England that follows up Lord Kelvin’s Machine, Humunculus, The Ebb Tide, and The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs. He is currently director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where Tim Powers is Writer in Residence. Mr. Blaylock was born in Long Beach, California and studied English at California State University, Fullerton, receiving an M.A. in 1974. He lives in Orange, California, teaching creative writing at Chapman University. Many of his books are set in Orange County, California, and can more specifically be termed “fabulism” — that is, fantastic things happen in our present-day world, rather than in traditional fantasy, where the setting is often some other world. His works have also been categorized as magic realism. He can be found online at Goodreads and via his website at JamespBlaylock.com/.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
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L. Jagi Lamplighter, is the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series from Tor Books. She lives with her husband, fellow author John Wright, and sons on the East Coast. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies including Bad Ass Faeries, No Longer Dreams, Don’t Open This Book and Best Dreams of Decadence. She is coeditor of the Bad Ass Faeries anthology series and can be found on Facebook or at her website ljagilamplighter.com.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
L. Jagi Lamplighter: I have always been interested in speculative fiction as long as I can remember. As a child, my mom entertained us on the long walks my family took by telling us stories. She told wondrous stories–stuff like people riding through space on a soda bottle propelled by fizz shooting out the back. From this, I developed a love of fantasy and wonder. My goal as a writer is to share this wonder with others.
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Steven Gould is the New York Times bestselling author of Jumper. His other works include Wildside, Helm, Blind Waves, Reflex, Jumper: Griffin’s Story, and 7th Sigma as well as several short stories published in Analog, Asimov’s, Amazing, and other magazines and anthologies. He is the recipient of the Hal Clement YA Award for SF and has been on the Hugo ballot twice and Nebula ballot once for his short fiction, but his favorite distinction was being on the American Library Association’s Top 100 Banned Books list 1990-1999. Steve lives in New Mexico with his wife, writer Laura J. Mixon (a.k.a. Morgan J. Locke), and their two daughters. He’s also a current candidate for SFWA President. Jumper was adapted into the 2008 movie of the same name staring Hayden Christensen, Samuel L Jackson, Rachel Bilson and Jamie Bell. He can be found on Facebook: as Steven Gould, on Twitter as @StevenGould, and at his website eatourbrains.com/steve/.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from? And who are some of your favorite authors and books that inspire you?
Steven Gould: I was bit by the SF bug early, a book called The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey. Zelazny, early Heinlein, Blish. I’ve always liked Bujold but I’ve been especially pleased with the Chalion fantasies.
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Andrew P. Mayer‘s third steampunk superhero novel — a fantastic and fun read called Power Under Pressure — came out from PYR Books in January. It’s the third book of his Society of Steam trilogy, following The Falling Machine and Hearts of Smoke & Steam. These stories capture the feel of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells while being set in Victorian New York City, where Mayer was born. Mayer is a game designer who has also has written comic books and short stories. You can find Andrew online at societyofsteam.com, andrewpmayer.com/, and on Twitter as @AndrewMayer.
SFFWRTCHT: Andrew, congrats on the completion of your trilogy. What’s it like to have that complete cycle under your belt?
Andrew P. Mayer: I’m still breathing the same sigh of relief that I started when I handed in the book. It’s nice to have the completed story out in the world after six years of work.
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Damien Walters Grintalis lives in Maryland with her husband and two rescued pit bulls. At the age of eleven, she saw the movie Alien, read Stephen King’s The Shining and her attraction to all things dark and scary turned true love. A member of HWA and SFWA, her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Lightspeed, Shimmer, Shock Totem and more. She is also an Associate Editor of the Hugo Award-winning magazine, Electric Velocipede and a staff writer with BooklifeNow. Ink, released in December 2012 from Samhain Horror, is her debut novel. It’s on the 2012 recommended Bram Stoker reading list. She can be found on Twitter and Facebook or via her website at damienwaltersgrintalis.com.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in speculative fiction come from?
DW Grintalis: I’m not sure I really know where, but when I was a kid, I loved books like The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson and Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan. I guess I’ve always loved the fantastic and impossible.
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Tom King is a former Counterterrorism officer for the CIA who served in the Gulf. A husband and father, he’s also worked at Marvel and DC Comics, and lives in Washington D.C. His debut novel, a mix of graphic novel and literary prose, A Once Crowded Sky, is out from Touchstone. It’s the story of superheroes who’ve lost their powers and purpose until a crisis calls them again. He can be found online at Goodreads, on twitter as @TomKingTK and on Facebook.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy and comics come from?
Tom King: I was your typical nerd kid who escaped from the world of bullies to the world of heroes and swords and powers. I think it started with Greek Myths, moved on to Narnia, and then the world, not this world, but other, cooler ones.
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E.C. Myers is the product of German and Korean parents, and was raised in Yonkers by his mother and by the public library. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from Columbia which he put to no use as a technical writer, former software development, and women’s programming developer for TV. Currently a writer for a Children’s hospital development department, he spends way too much time gaming and on the internet. His debut young adult science fiction novel, Fair Coin (Pyr, 2012), received rave reviews and is a current finalist for the Andre Norton Award. His second novel, Quantum Coin, was released last October. He’s a graduate of Clarion West and member of Altered Fluid, a NY writing group. His short fiction has appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Shimmer, amongst other venues. His romantic short story featuring horny zombies, “In the Closet”, received Honorable Mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008. His nostalgic short story about horny cavemen, “My Father’s Eyes”, got an Honorable Mention in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 3. Horny characters are thus key to his success. Myers was also a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. He is an avid Star Trek fan who blogs about it at The View Screen. Myers can be found online at ecmyers.net, on twitter as @ECMyers, and on Facebook.
SFFWRTCHT: I couldn’t put your book down. But first things first: where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
E.C. Myers: Thank you! That’s always a wonderful compliment to receive. Probably from cartoons I watched as a kid, like He-Man and Thundercats. And the first science fiction novel I read, Interstellar Pig by William Sleator.
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Nancy Kress‘ latest novel is Flash Point, a young adult science fiction story about a teen who takes a job on a virtual reality TV show that’s more than she bargained for. A former columnist for Writer’s Digest, Kress has been nominated for and won one Hugos and four Nebulas. She’s currently nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and Nebula for her novella After The Fall, Before The Fall, During The Fall. Her novels include The Probability Trilogy and The Sleepers Saga, which includes Beggars In Spain based on her award winning novella. And she’s written writing books for Writer’s Digest and more. Her short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Omni, Galaxy, amongst others, as well as several year’s best anthologies. Along with Robert Silverberg, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Mike Resnick, she’s headlining the colonist science fiction anthology, Beyond The Sun, coming in July from Fairwood Press. She lives in Seattle with her husband, fellow writer Jack Skillingstead, and a spoiled toy poodle, Cosette. She can be found online at www.sff.net/people/nankress, on Twitter as @NancyKress and Facebook.
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Kelly McCullough and I met at Convergence where we had a blast creating chaos on panels together. I hadn’t had time to read his books until he agreed to guest, but Broken Blade is an adventure fantasy. I couldn’t put down Book 1, it’s followed by Bared Blade and his latest Crossed Blades from Ace Books. He is also the author of the Webmage series of five books which mix internet and sorcery, so urban science fantasy perhaps? A full time writer/cat wrangler, he’s married to physicist Laura and lives in MN where he dabbles in politics amongst other things. He can be found online at http://t.co/hfjXQIJB, on twitter as @KellyDMcC and Facebook.
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Brenda Cooper is the Chief Information Officer of Kirkland, WA by day and a Science Fiction writer by night. Her stories appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld and anthologies including Fast Forward and Footprints. She’s also headlining my forthcoming space opera anthology Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age, due out in November 2013. Her novels include Building Harlequin’s Moon with Larry Niven, The Silver Ship and The Sea and two sequels. Her last appearance was to discuss Mayan December. Her debut at Pyr Books is The Creative Fire, first in a new duology, Ruby’s Song. She can be found on twitter as @BrendaCooper, on Facebook and via her website at brenda-cooper.com.
SFFWRTCHT: We talked about this before but briefly, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
Brenda Cooper: I’ve always read SF and F. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love, Herbert’s Dune, Madeline L’Engle, Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, L. Frank Baum’s original Oz. I’m also interested in science and the future. I think those matter.
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Melinda Snodgrass has been a writer for Star Trek TNG, Wild Cards, a lawyer, an opera singer and run a natural gas company. Her Star Trek Original series novel The Tears Of The Singers (1984) was 19th in the novel series and predated her TV work for TNG. In television, she also worked on Profiler and Reasonable Doubt and is currently developing a Wild Card screenplay. Her novels include the Circuit trilogy of sciencefiction novels, the Edge series of urban fantasy novels, and several Wild Card novels and collections. As well as the fantasy Queen’s Gambit Declined and the romance Santa Fe. She can be found at her website and blog MelindaSnodgrass.com, on twitter as @mmsnodgrass and on Facebook.
SFFWRTCHT: What got you into speculative fiction?
Melinda M. Snodgrass: I was an unhappy lawyer. Went to a BBQ at Fred Saberhagen’s house. The writers rocked, wanted to join them. I wrote in secret on the first Circuit book while I learned to finish books with six romance novels. I was able to tell Fred before his death that his hospitality and friendship changed my life.
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Kameron Hurley is an award-winnng, Nebula-nominated writer who hacks out a living as marketing and advertising copywriter. She’s lived in Fairbanks, AK, Durban, South Africa, and Chicago, but grew up in Washington state. With degrees in history from the University of Alaska and the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal she survives on Coke 0, Chipotle, low-carb cooking and lots of words. Her science fiction novels God’s War, Infidel and Rapture, a series, are out from Night Shade Books. Her short fiction has appeared in Year’s Best SF 12, Strange Horizons, Talebones, and on Escape Pod, amongst others. God’s War was nominated for a Nebula, made the Honor list for James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award and won the Kitschies Golden Tentacle. She can be found at her website and blog, on Twitter as @KameronHurley and on Facebook.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
Kameron Hurley: My interest in science fiction came from being an imaginative kid, I guess. I spent too much time making up stories. Science fiction and fantasy was the best place to explore how things could be really different. It had the best sandbox of any genre I read. I could do whatever I wanted.
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Dave Gross is the former editor of Dragon Magazine, Star Wars Insider, and Amazing Stories. By day, he is lead writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, which reunites him with the beloved Forgotten Realms setting. Also for Realms, he wrote Black Wolf, Lord of Stormweather, and other stories and novels. More recently he’s written Prince of Wolves, Master of Devils and Queen Of Thorns for Pathfinder Tales, featuring the not-always-heroic Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan. Find more tales of Radovan and Jeggare online. Gross has stories in the recent or upcoming anthologies Tales of the Far West, Shotguns v. Cthulhu, and The Lion and the Aardvark. He can be found on his website as well as on Facebook on on Twitter as @frabjousdave!
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
Dave Gross: The library. And I’m not joking. My folks encouraged us to read at an early age, and then they let us loose on the library. That’s where I started discovering the horror, science fiction, and fantasy books I came to love.
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Born in Bangkok, Thailand the daughter of a Mexican-Guatemalan artist and an American businessman, Sabrina Vourvoulias grew up in Guatemala. She was 15 when she moved to the U.S., later studying filmmaking and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence. She’s worked as everything from an art gallery assistant to an opera house director then started a career in newspapers in New York and Pennsylvania. She’s currently Managing Editor of Philadelphia’s largest Spanish language newspaper, Al Dia, also a #sffwrtcht #latism regular on Twitter and a social media fan. In addition to news, her poetry has appeared in Dappled Things, Graham House Review, We’Moon, and another is forthcoming in Bull Spec. Her fiction has appeared in Crossed Genres in the Fat Girl in a Strange Land and Crossed Genres Year Two anthologies and more are forthcoming in GUD and Strange Horizons. Her debut science fiction novel, Ink, is out from Crossed Genres, a futuristic tale about a U.S. where tattoos mark immigration status for population control. She lives in a charming, dilapidated old farmhouse outside Philadelphia with her husband and brilliant, cantankerous teen daughter. She can be found via her website/blog as well as on Twitter as @followthelede.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
Sabrina Vourvoulias: I’ve always been a voracious reader. I started w fairy tales and mythology and was quickly drawn to literature with similar qualities. So, as a kid I read Tolkien and Bradbury; Homer and Miguel Angel Asturias; Arthurian legend and the Popol Vuh.
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Born in Georgia, raised in Virginia, Courtney Schafer dreamed of adventures in the jagged mountains and sweeping deserts of fantasy novels. She escaped the east via Caltech, obtaining a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, while learning to rock climb, backpack, ski, scuba dive, and stack her massive book collection so it wouldn’t crush anyone in an earthquake. Now in the climber’s paradise of Boulder, Colorado, she got her masters in EE at CU Boulder between adventures. She married an Australian scientist, went to work for an aerospace company and took up figure skating, because life was too easy. A voracious reader, she always wished fantasy novels were written faster, until she started writing her own to satisfy the craving . Her first novel, The Whitefire Crossing, released in 2011 from Night Shade Books and her second, The Tainted City, released last Fall. She can be found on Twitter as @cischafer, via her website or on her blog.
SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?
Courtney I. Schafer: I loved science fiction and fantasy from birth, I think! Narnia, Neverland, Alice in Wonderland, Jungle Book, L’Engle, Yolen, Diana Wynne Jones—I jumped right in, and my love of the genre has only grown with age.
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Claire Ashgrove has been writing since her early teens and maintained the hobby for twenty years before seeking a publisher. Her first contemporary novel, Seduction’s Stakes, sold to The Wild Rose Press in 2008, where she continues to write steamy, sexy stories. Claire’s paranormal romance series, The Curse of the Templars debuted with Tor in January 2012. The second book, Immortal Surrender, was just released in September, and the third follows in March 2013. For those who prefer the more erotic side, she also writes for Berkley Heat as the National Bestselling Author Tori St. Claire. She is an active member of Romance Writers of America, and her local RWA chapters. She lives in Missouri on a farm with her two toddler sons, and too-many horses, cats, and dogs. She can be found online as @ClaireAshgrove on twitter, on Facebook and via her website and blog.
SFFWRTCHT: What got you started with speculative fiction? Which authors, books or movies inspired you?
Claire Ashgrove: What got me hooked was an infusion of R.A. Salvatore, The Hobbit, and Steve Berry. More than anything, I got hooked in fiction. Escaping to different worlds. Making my own. I love world building. Steve Berry is a huge influence on my speculative fiction… I’m also a huge fan of R.A. Salvatore and his Drizzt books. Of course, I read romance, and Meredith Duran I can’t put down, along with Karin Tabke/Harlow, Maggie Shayne and Shayla Black. I adore Faulkner as well. If I can ever make an impact like “My mother is a fish”… I’ll have reached my personal goal.
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