A two-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, Mark Chadbourn is the author of eleven novels and one non-fiction book. His newest book in the U.S., Jack of Ravens, starts the Kingdom of the Serpent trilogy. A former journalist, he is now a screenwriter for BBC television drama. His other jobs have included running an independent record company, managing rock bands, and working on a production line. He lives in a forest in the English Midlands.

Paul Weimer had the opportunity to ask Mark about his latest novel, trilogies and not thinking in terms of genres or sub-genres…

SF Signal: For those readers who haven’t read any of your novels…Who is Mark Chadbourn?

Mark Chadbourn: I do a lot of different things. In The US, I’m just drawing to a close a long – I guess you would call it – urban fantasy sequence, which began with World’s End and will end with Destroyer of Worlds. NIne books, a trilogy of trilogies. What would happen if the ancient mythological gods returned to our world today? Standing stones, prehistoric sites, magic, mysticism, fabulous beasts, the wild hunt, the original iterations of vampires, philosophy, psychology, politics. If you only like secondary world fantasy, it’s not for you. Save yourself the trouble. I’m not supposed to say that, am I? Sell, sell, sell! If you’re interested in the Occupy protests and the Burning Man Festival, you might like it. These books were first published outside the US starting about 12 years ago now.
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[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Let us know!]

Every reader holds out for a hero, but be it movies or novels, its the antagonists, the villains, that often bring the heat, spice and power to a piece of work and make it sing.

So we asked this week’s panelists…

Here’s what they said…

.I’ve always had a great admiration for the Lady, from Glen Cook’s Black Company series, with an honorable mention for all of the Ten Who Were Taken that serve her. She’s ruthless but multifaceted, a romantic and tragic figure as well as a provisioner of all the dark arts and fell deeds a reader could desire. As for the Ten, they’re just so fun and iconic, sort of more extroverted Nazgul.

If you’ll allow historical fiction as a cousin to fantasy, I’d also vote for Livia, from Robert Graves’ I, Claudius. Subtle, pitiless, and patient, the deadliest woman (hell, the deadliest person) in a deadly milieu.

Last but not least I’d bring up O’Brien, from George Orwell’s 1984, the chillingly contented ordinary man who patiently explains to Winston what it’s all about… that all the chanting and ideology is a fog, that the politics of Oceania are meaningless, the nature of its wars completely unimportant. The whole point of the crushing pyramid of human misery is to keep a tiny elite with their boots on the throats of the rest of humanity, forever and ever, amen. To conceive that sort of thing, to accept it, to rise and sleep as a happy part of such a brutal mechanism… now that’s villainy.

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My recent and long overdue discovery of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories made me wonder about other good sword and sorcery stories, so this week’s panelists were asked:

Check out their excellent suggestions…(and share some of your own!)

I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of sword and sorcery, including the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series, and Robert E. Howard’s Dark Agnes stories. One of my earliest favorites was Charles Saunders’ Dossouye stories, which first appeared in the anthologies Amazons! and Sword and Sorceress in the early 80s. When I read the first one, “Agbewe’s Sword,” I was about fifteen years old and desperately looking for strong female protagonists. The setting of an alternate version of Africa, using cultures and myths that I wasn’t familiar with, also really set the stories apart for me. The stories are available now in a collection titled Dossouye, and I highly recommend it.

I also loved Tanith Lee’s sword and sorcery, like The Storm Lord and Vazkor, Son of Vazkor, the sequel to The Birthgrave, and her Cyrion stories, which had the main character solving magical mysteries during his adventures. The settings are so lush and rich and detailed, with the feeling of starting out in a strange place, only to follow the characters somewhere much stranger.

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Recent events and discussions once again bring the topic of genre fiction’s mainstream respectability to the forefront. So we thought it’d be timely to ask this week’s panelists:

Read on to see their level-setting responses…

That’s a softball. No. Literary sf and fantasy are not respected by mainstream critics or the mainstream professoriate. Neither needs mainstream approval, which would diminish (and perhaps destroy) both. Just look at what they DO respect. Look at what poetry was as late as the early 20th Century, and what it is now.

Now and then I’m asked at cons why I don’t write fiction of the respected sort. You know, he is a professor and she is a professor and they are having adulterous affairs, and they are almost overcome with guilt and angst, and there is no God, and scientific progress doesn’t enter into it, and just about everybody in the world is upper middle class.

When that happens, I ask the questioner abut Martin du Gard. Have you read him? Have you heard of him? Invariably the answers are no and no. Then I explain that Martin du Gard won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year H. P. Lovecraft died.

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• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Wired: Cherie Priest and her awesome steampunk/zombie novel Boneshaker.
  • @Tor.com: Ray Bradbury’s Lifelong Love Affair With Comics
  • @BSCreview: Mark Chadbourn.
• The October 2009 issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction is up.
• S.M. Duke asks: Where are my capitalist fantasies?
• John Anealio has posted Sci-Fi Songs Podcast #17.
• Laughing Squid has the scoop on live stage productions of Bride of Frankenstein & Barbarella in San Francisco.
• I’d bet good money that Zombie George Lucas could have done a better job with the prequels. Just sayin’…
• Lists:
  • @Topless Robot: The 10 Craziest Old People In Horror Movies. Oh my…Betty White!
  • @The Vault of Horror: Top 30 Pieces of Horror Literature. [via Divers and Sundry]
  • @Geek Culture: The 15 Biggest Sci-Fi Sellouts.
  • @SciFi Scanner, Mary Robinette Kowal lists Native Americans in Fantasy.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @ A Dribble of Ink: Jesse Bullington (The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart).
  • The Big Idea: Mindy Klasky.
  • @SF Site: Mark Chadbourn.
  • @Omnivoracious: David Anthony Durham (The Other Lands). [via Bibliophile Stalker]
• Award-winning sf writer and teacher Nalo Hopkinson is offering $2,000 intensive, one-on-one mentorships to budding writers, via email. [via Boing Boing]
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Freelancer’s Survival Guide: When To Return To Your Day Job.
• Robert Charles Wilson reviews Margaret Atwood’s A Dystopia Sketched in Crayon.
• AT B&N, Paul Goat Allen reviews Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl.
• Biology in Science Fiction examines James P. Hogan’s Inherit the Stars.
• It’s Steampunk Month on Tor.com! To wit: Lou Anders reviews George Man’s awesome book The Affinity Bridge.
• Brenda Cooper talks about 2 Very Cool Futurist Events.
• @AMC: Mary Robinette Kowal’s Guide to the Real Classics of Fantasy.
• David Langford has posted Ansible #267 for October 2009.
• John Anealio has posted a Sci-Fi Song podcast.
• I, for one, would like to welcome our tiny, remote-controlled insect Overlords… [Thanks, Ray!]
• Daily Galaxy asks: Space Colonization: Future or Fantasy?
• HBO’s fantasy Game of Thrones urgently needs male horseriders! [via Slice of SciFi]
• This NY TImes profile of FlashForward drops some hints about the show’s direction and the network’s commitment. For example, despite the foreshadowed April 2010 date, “…a few of the clues will not pan out for several seasons…” [via Gary Farber]
• Philippine SF Fan Charles Tan talks about the recent flooding there and lists some ways you can help.

• David Louis Edelman previews Geosynchron, book 3 of the Jump 225 Trilogy.
• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Talking with Tim: Dan Abnett (Triumff).
  • @Whatever: Paolo Bacigalupi, author of The Windup Girl.
  • @Stomping on Yeti: Alex Irvine (Buyout).
  • Future interview: For the first time, readers and fans will have the opportunity to join a live online chat with authors, and friends, Terry Brooks and Christopher Paolini. On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, the authors will discuss the worlds of fantasy, film, and literature and take questions from fans.
• The winners of the 2009 BSFS Robert. A Heinlein Award are Joe Haldeman and John Varley.
• The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced increased support for AboutSF for the coming year, continuing a partnership that began in 2006. The SFWA board of directors voted unanimously Sept. 23 to fund AboutSF with a $5,000 one-year grant. SFWA has previously supported AboutSF with $3,000 annually. “The Lessons Library, which AboutSF has put together, is a tremendous resource and is just a fraction of the work they do to bring SF to a broader audience,” said SFWA Secretary Mary Robinette Kowal. “I am delighted that SFWA is able to partner with them on this outreach.”
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch posts another installment of her Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Failure.
• Cool Book Covers of the Week:
  • Thomas Riley, a steampunk book by Nick Valentino.
  • The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn (Cover Illustration by Chris McGrath, Design by Jacqueline Cooke).
• John Anealio has posted a new Sci-Fi Songs podcast (Episode #16).
• Wil Wheaton is letting us peek behind the curtain of Big Bang Theory where he will soon be guest-starring.
• How is Automotive R&D like Flatulent Centaurs?
• Lists:
  • Books Worth Reading compiles An Immortality Reading List.
  • BookFinder has posted a list of The Most Sought After Out-Of-Print Books — a list which includes a section for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror.
  • In honor of the ree;lase of Surrogates today, io9 lists 10 Best Robot Bodies To Jack Your Brain Into and Moviefone lists The 14 Sexiest Androids in Movies.
  • @Wired: Best Sci-Fi Theme Song Reboots.
  • @ScifiSquad: The Top Ten Sci-Fi Horror Movies.
  • @Topless Robot: 5 Genuinely Worthwhile Female Versions of Male Superheroes.
• And now, for your metal listening enjoyment, here’s the book trailer for Star Wars: Death Troopers:

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @The Teeming Brain: Nick Mamatas (You Might Sleep).
  • @Suvudu: a video interview with Patrick Rothfuss (Wise Man’s Fear).
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Gwyneth Jones (Spirit).
  • Edward Willett interviews Robert J. Sawyer.
  • @Ghost in the Machine: Janny Wurts.
  • @Clarkesworld Magazine: An Mind Meld with Editors Lou Anders, Philip Athans, Victoria Blake, Paula Guran, Gabrielle Harbowy, James Lowder, John Jarrold, Susan J. Morris, Darren Nash, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Chris Schluep, Simon Spanton, Deb Taber, and Jacob Weisman.
• The Guradian responds to Adam Roberts’ Hugo rant: When democracy fails: the Hugo SF awards.
• At Omnivoracious, guest Mark Chadbourn (author of the Age of Misrule series) blogs about Real-World Roots of Fantasy.
• Clarkesworld’s Neil Clarke talks about Saving the Semiprozine Hugo.
• Torie Atkinson talks about Reader’s Block
• Del Rey Books will publish Pride and Prejudice And Zombies: The Graphic Novel, based on the New York Times bestselling book by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.
• Angry Robot signs two new authors: Guy Adams (The World House; Restoration) and Gav Thorpe (The Crown of the Blood). [NOTE: Guy and Gav have been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.]
• Speaking of Angry Robot, their publicist Lee Harris talks about The Year Of The eBook over at the SFX blog.
• Dork Tower vs. the new SyFy Channel.
• Two words: Stormtrooper zombie.
• Entertainment Weekly lists 23 Sci-Fi Characters You Want on Your Buddy List.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Wizards of the Coast: Marty Durham has a two-part video interview with fantasy author R.A. Salvatore. [via QuasarDragon]
  • @GeekDad: Alan Dean Foster.
  • @Agony Column: Lou Anders, Editor of Fast Forward 2.
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Richard Bowes.
  • Copper Robot podcast-interviews Robert Charles Wilson (Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America). (See also: Their Second Life video version) [via Boing Boing]
  • Niall Harrison has posted the transcript of a BBC interview with Alastair Reynolds and Adam Roberts.
• For those still looking for the now-missing SciFiction archive from the SciFi Channel’s original website, behold the Internets!
• The Art Department shows us the Spectrum 17 Call For Entries poster.
• Dean Wesley Smith on what the world would be like without copyright.
• Mark Chadbourn’s Omnivoracious Guest Post on the Age of Misrule series: The Invisible Hand of the Gods of Writing.
• Nancy Kress likes Shadow Unit.
• At Black Gate, James Enge looks at Henry Kuttner’s Gallagher Stories.
• Seth Godin on The purpose of a book cover. [via Bibliophile Stalker] Meanwhile, Bookninja says All Book Cover Designers Are Liars.
• The Internet Review of Science Fiction welcomes new Editor Robin Shantz of Bloginhood and Not a Planet Anymore fame. Well, not fame so much as court orders. Hiyo!
• Is the Science Fiction Book Club considering eBooks?
• Tanga is selling a Sexy Slave Leia Costume for $WhoCares. [Thanks, Kevin!]
• Lists:
  • @myFiveBest: Five Best Fantasy Series of Books. [via The World in the Satin Bag]
  • Over at AMC, Nick Nadel lists Stan Lee’s Best and Worst Marvel Movie Cameos.
  @Screen Rant: The Top 5 Astronaut Movies of All Time.