James Van Pelt is a Colorado based English teacher and speculative fiction writer who has written over 100 short stories, novels and has four collections of his short work. His fiction has appeared in publications including Analog, Asimov’s, Realms Of Fantasy, Weird Tales, numerous anthologies and several Year’s Best anthologies. He’s written nonfiction for Tangent and was a 1999 finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.  He’s received several Nebula and Stoker nominations for his stories. A father and husband, he can be found online via his website or his blog.

SFFWRTCHT: First things first, where’d your interest in science fiction and fantasy come from?

James Van Pelt: For science fiction, my dad had a big influence.  He was an aeronautical engineer who love astronomy, space, rockets and science fiction.  When I was little, we’d go to the drive-in to watch science fiction films that my mom didn’t want to see.  We’d see all of them: junk, good stuff, it didn’t matter.  He’d point out where the science was bad during the film.  It was like being entertained and being in class at the same time.  My interest in fantasy didn’t come until later, when I found a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring in the student center of Metro State College.  I fell into that book and didn’t emerge for a week.  Tolkien is responsible for my poor grades that quarter.

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From Fairwood Press comes the table of contents for James van Pelt’s upcoming (October 2012) collection Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille:

1. “Father’s Dragon”
2. “Just Before Recess”
3. “O Tannebaum”
4. “Night Sweats”
5. “Teaching”
6. “Working the Moon Unit”
7. “Plant Life”
8. “That He Might Yet Find the Unknown”
9. “Floaters”
10. “The Road’s End”
11. “One in a Thousand”
12. “Rockhouse”
13. “Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation”
14. “Far From the Emerald Isle”
15. “Howl Above the Din”
16. “No Small Change”
17. “The Saint from Abdijan”
18. “Ark Ascension”
19. “Working Pushout”
20. “Notes from the Field”
21. “Savannah is Six”

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @SciFi Scanner: Eoin Colfer.
  • @Stomping on Yeti: Joe Schreiber (Star Wars: Death Troopers).
  • @SciFi TV Zone: Morena Baccarin (V and Firefly). [via Whedonesque]
  • Scott Westerfeld has posted his video-interview with Romantic Times.
• Book View Cafe Forms Book View Press.
• The following authors to the list of sf/f authors who blog (Thanks, Phil & Amanda!):
  • Jaine Fenn
  • Andrew Hook
  • Gareth Jones
  • Gareth L Powell
  • Jason Sanford
• Cool Art: Maurizio Manzieri has completed the amazing illustration for Bone and Juwel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear.
• James van Pelt offers advice on How to Have a Successful Book Signing.
• Larry Ketchersid reviews Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
• @Time magazine: Attack of the Kindle Killers: The Boom in New E-Readers.
• @TeleRead: How to get more young people to love books.
• Lists:
  • @The Guardian: 10 of the best secret societies in literature.
  • [via Lit Lists]
  • @SCI FI Wire: 16 horror movie posters so gruesome they make our eyeballs bleed.
  • @Discover Magazine: 10 things you don’t know about Hubble. [via MonkeyFilter]
  • @Cinematical: Villains Too Charismatic For Their Own Good.
  • @Cracked.com: 5 Superheroes Rendered Ridiculous by Gritty Reboots.

• @B&N: The Candy Man Can: Or Why John Joseph Adams is Genre Fiction’s Willy Wonka.
• Sequential Tart interviews Mike Allen (Mythic Delirium).
• Matthew Hughes has signed a three-book deal with Angry Robot for “a contemporary fantasy series about a mild-mannered actuary who becomes a caped crusader crime fighter with the unwilling assistance of a demon who talks and dresses like Jimmy Cagney in a 1930s gangster movie.”
• David Herter and Earthling Publications are offering a page of David Herter’s original manuscript to anyone who buys a copy of his upcoming Halloween novel, October Dark. (See also: Jeffrey Ford’s introduction.) [Thanks, Christopher!]
• James van Pelt discusses The Fundamental Disconnect Between Young Adults and Young Adults Writing.
• Lou Anders on Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (with spoilers): “Moffat, you can’t get here fast enough for me.”
• Mark Wegierski writes about Traditionalist and libertarian themes in science fiction and fantasy. Part Four concerns Fantasy in pop-culture; military SF; and space opera.
• Fantasy Magazine is Looking For Slush Readers.
• Hayao Miyazaki and his anime museum in Tokyo. [via Raymond Thornton]
• Dr. Horrible wins first Emmy for Joss Whedon. Yay, Joss!
• Lists:
  • Angela Slatter lists Desirable Characteristics for an Editor (Not to be confused with What Makes an Editor Sexy).
  • Den of Geek lists Top 75 spaceships in movies and TV (part 6).
  • Innsmouth Free Press lists 10 Vampire Movies You Need to Watch.
  • Movies Everyone Else Loved That Joseph Mallozzi Hated. Agreed on Deathproof and Goldmember, but The Usual Suspects? That’s just crazy talk.