Interview with STEPHEN COX

January 21, 2019December 5, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Stephen Cox?

Born in America of British parents, I spent nearly all my childhood in Bristol, and I’m now an adoptive Londoner. I have a partner and two teenage children. I’m a professional communicator, a science PhD dropout, a recovering poet, and a Quaker.

Under all those nouns are verbs.

I remember walking in the garden when I was small, telling myself stories.

Your debut novel, Our Child of the Stars, was recently published by Jo Fletcher Books. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the Sixties, small town USA, the year of Woodstock and the moon landings. A childless couple, Gene and Molly, in the middle of a disaster, adopt a strange little boy, Cory, knowing they must hide him from the whole world to keep him safe. It’s closely about family life and unselfish love, and also, shows the big struggles for peace and change, and how decency flourishes in unexpected places. Continue reading →

Interview with GARETH HANRAHAN

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019 Civilian Reader Interview Black Iron Legacy, Fantasy, Gareth Hanrahan, Gutter Prayer, Most Anticipated 2019, Orbit Books

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Gareth Hanrahan?

I’m still pretty vague on that question, to be honest. I appear to be a writer and game designer living in Ireland. A preponderance of evidence suggests I’m married with twin sons, and I have it on good authority that I’m tall with somewhat absurd legs. I hope to have a more final answer to the question “who is Gareth Hanrahan” at some point, but ideally not for another forty or fifty years.

Your new novel, The Gutter Prayer, will be published by Orbit early next year. How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s a fantasy thriller set in a quasi-Victorian city, a mostly godless city of thieves and alchemists. Three such thieves are betrayed by their former boss and seek revenge using newfound occult powers; along the way, they discover the secret history of the city and their importance in a much larger play for power. It’s full of alchemy, monstrous weirdness, intrigue, architecture and stabbings.

It’s part of a series called The Black Iron Legacy, but the story’s very self-contained. Continue reading →

Interview with P. DJÈLÍ CLARK

December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Alt-History, Black God's Drums, Dead Djinn in Cairo, Fantasy, Haunting of Tram Car 015, Most Anticipated 2019, Must Read 2018, P Djèlí Clark, Tor.com

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is P. Djèlí Clark?

I’m a writer of speculative fiction by night and a mild-mannered assistant professor of history by dayd. Neither of those personas fights crime.

Your latest novella, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, will be published by Tor.com early next year. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 takes place in the same world as a 2016 novelette published on Tor.com titled, A Dead Djinn in Cairo. Set in an alternate 1912 Egypt of steampunk, djinn, magic and clockwork angels, that initial story follows the exploits of Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities — tasked with policing the boundaries of the supernatural and the mundane. The Haunting of Tram Car 015 opens up this world further through two new characters — Agents Hamed Nasr and Onsi Youseff — as they attempt to deal with a case of magic and transportation gone awry. Hilarity and hijinks ensue. Continue reading →

Interview with JACEY BEDFORD

November 23, 2018November 23, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview DAW Books, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Jacey Bedford, Rowankind, Silverwolf, Winterwood

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Jacey Bedford?

I’m a writer, a reader, a singer and an organiser. I spent twenty years ‘on the road’ with a cappella trio, Artisan and then ‘retired’ to my desk. I now organise UK gigs for folk musicians from all over the world. I’ve always written, though the literary world will be grateful that the novel I started at the age of fifteen never got beyond Chapter Six. Like most writers I suffered from the ‘is this good enough?’ syndrome, but eventually got over that when my first story was published in a DAW anthology in 1998. Since then I’ve sold close to 50 short stories on both sides of the Atlantic, but I didn’t get my first book deal (DAW again) until 2013. I now have six books (that’s two trilogies) published and, I’m working on Book Number Seven.

How would you introduce the Rowankind series to a potential reader?

The Rowankind trilogy consists of Winterwood, Silverwolf and Rowankind – in that order. When Winterwood opens it’s 1800. Mad King George is on the British throne, and Bonaparte is hammering at the door. Magic is strictly controlled by the Mysterium, but despite severe penalties, not all magic users have registered. Integral to many genteel households is an uncomplaining army of rowankind bondservants, so commonplace that no one recalls where they came from. Ross Tremayne, widowed, cross-dressing privateer captain and unregistered witch, likes her life on the high seas, accompanied by a boatload of swashbuckling, barely-reformed pirates and the jealous ghost of her late husband, Will. Continue reading →

Interview with SCOTTO MOORE

November 6, 2018November 5, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Horror, Most Anticipated 2019, Music, Mystery, Novella, Scotto Moore, Suspense, Tor.com, Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Scotto Moore?

I’ve been a playwright in Seattle for the past fifteen years, focused on bringing ambitious science fiction and science fantasy stories to the stage. Sometimes they’re comedic, like H.P. Lovecraft: Stand-Up Comedian! which envisions Howie Lovecraft as a modern day comic expressing his vision of the mythos through increasingly dangerous stand-up routines. And sometimes they’re dark, like my recent musical, Silhouette, about a genocidal war fleet hunting down immortal mutineers in hiding. I’ve written shows about a genetics lab where experiments produce sentient, intelligent (and singing) mice; scientists who weaponize linguistic techniques; inventors who capture and transmit digital emotions; and an infinitely tall building at the center of the multiverse where demiurges and interdimensional travelers mingle.

I’ve also been a music blogger for more than a decade, and over the past year and half or so, I’ve become a progressive house DJ. Not for a living — just in my living room and at the occasional party. And I write a deeply absurd Lovecraft-themed meme generator on Tumblr called Things That Cannot Save You. Continue reading →

Interview with W.L. GOODWATER

October 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Ace Books, Breach, Espionage, Fantasy, Most Anticipated 2018, Urban Fantasy, W.L. Goodwater

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is W.L. Goodwater?

I’m a writer, software engineer, fencing coach, husband, and dad. I live near the ocean in California and love watching the fog roll in through our eucalyptus trees. We share our lives with a crazy cute toddler, two cats, and piles of books that have long overgrown our bookshelves.

Your debut novel, Breach, will be published by Ace Books in November. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Breach is half Cold War spy thriller, half fantasy novel, set in divided Germany where the Berlin Wall is made out of magic. The story picks up as the CIA discovers a growing breach in the wall and sends for a magical researcher to help them stop WWIII. It is the first book in the Cold War Magic series and introduces our hero: Karen O’Neil, a young and talented magician working at the Office of Magical Research and Deployment, who has to navigate existential magical threats and the prejudice of her male coworkers. Continue reading →

An Interview with JACK WHYTE

October 20, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview A Dream of Eagles, Burning Stone, Camulod, Historical Fiction, Jack Whyte, Legends of Camelot, Penguin Random House Canada, Viking

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Jack Whyte?

Jack Whyte is probably one of Canada’s most prolific and popular authors of historical fiction, and his books have been translated into numerous languages, including all the major languages of Europe. In 2009, in recognition of his sales record in Canada alone, the Globe and Mail published a two-page tribute to him under the title, “One Pen, One Sword, One Million Copies Sold.” He is the progenitor and creator of seventeen historical novels that fall into three subcategories. Ten of them, known collectively as A Dream of Eagles in Canada, The Camulod Chronicles in the USA and Legends of Camelot in the U.K., are set in post-Roman Britain around the turn of the fifth century. All three editions comprise the same ten books — the text is unchanged and unchangeable — but the titles are different in each incarnation, since individual publishing houses, historically, have always had complete rights to govern everything else about the books within their own jurisdictions. Continue reading →

Interview with KRISTEN CICCARELLI

September 30, 2018September 25, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Caged Queen, Fantasy, Gollancz, Harper Collins, Harper Collins Canada, Iskari, Kristen Ciccarelli, Last Namsara

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Kristen Ciccarelli?

Kristen Ciccarelli is a shy Canadian who lives in the far North. You can often find her baking bread, wandering the shores of the North Atlantic, or hiking with her dog in the headlands near her house. She loves to write and read and daydream (usually in front of her wood stove).

Your latest novel, The Caged Queen, is due out this month via Gollancz. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

The Caged Queen is both a sequel and a companion novel in that it follows sequentially after the first book (The Last Namsara) but it also stands alone, meaning you can read the series out of order if you want to. The protagonist of The Last Namsara is a dragon-slayer named Asha, while the protagonist of The Caged Queen is a young outlander queen named Roa, and both girls show up in each other’s books. Continue reading →

Interview with TOM TONER

July 25, 2018June 1, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Amaranthine Spectrum, Gollancz, Night Shade Books, Promise of the Child, Sci-Fi, Tom Toner, Tropic of Eternity, Weight of the World

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Tom Toner?

Hello again! Thanks for having me. Tom Toner is the author of the Amaranthine Spectrum, an epic space opera/science fantasy series set 12,500 years in the future.

Your next novel, The Tropic of Eternity, will be published in July. It’s the third novel in your Amaranthine Spectrum series. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader, and what can fans of the first books expect from this instalment?

Time to remember the old elevator pitch… The Amaranthine Spectrum — beginning with 2015’s The Promise of the Child — sets its tale in the 147th century Mediterranean, following the misadventures of Lycaste, a shy, giant species of evolved human and his journey into the Amaranthine Firmament, the 23 surrounding stars controlled by the last remnants of immortal humanity. In between we get to see all sorts of odd beasties and MacGuffins, from singing sea monsters to paper fortresses and tin spaceships. Continue reading →

Interview with RICH LARSON

July 18, 2018April 22, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Annex, Debut 2018, Most Anticipated 2018, Orbit Books, Rich Larson, Sci-Fi, Violet Wars

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Rich Larson?

I’m just a boy, standing in front of a girl–

No, wait. I’m the author of over a hundred short stories, most of them speculative fiction sold to magazines like Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Lightspeed and Tor.com. My work has been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Polish, Czech, French and Italian. I was born in Galmi, Niger, to an American father and a Canadian mother. I like to travel and am obsessed by languages.

Your debut novel, Annex, will be published by Orbit. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Annex is about kids fighting aliens — think Animorphs, but darker. It has complex characters but also terrific action set pieces. It’s the first book of The Violet Wars trilogy. Continue reading →