Salon Futura Interview with Gary K Wolfe

Below is an interview conducted by Cheryl Morgan of Salon Futura fame.  She's interviewing Gary K. Wolfe who some readers may recognize as the American half of the Coode Street Podcast, the other being Jonathan Strahan.


The video runs to about 35 minutes and has some interesting points and observations to make about reviewing.  I found the discussion toward the end where Cheryl and Gary talk about publishers and the pressure placed on reviewers to review to a set timetable revealing.  I agree with Gary too when he says it doesn't take long for the novelty of a free book to wear off.


The interview was promoted at Salon Futura Issue 6 worth checking out if you are a SpecFic fan.




Interview with Gary K. Wolfe from Cheryl Morgan on Vimeo.

For those interested in critical reviewing Gary has a book of critical essays out called

Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature

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Is the tide turning? Eisler does a self pub ebook

One of my favourite thriller writers is Barry Eisler, he is infinitely better in my opinion than Lustbader, Clancy, Cussler or Childs.  Fast paced gritty action that is about as psychologically real as it can get, especially when it comes to the description of combat.  Did I mention he's a New York Times' best seller as well.  Which is what makes news of his decision to self publish a short story quite significant.

The Story
Eisler has self published a short story called The Lost Coast featuring the character Larison from his previous novel Inside Out.  The file includes teaser chapters from his next book and to make things a little more interesting Larison, an anti hero in Inside Out, is gay. So Eisler appears to be  pushing more than one boundary in this experiment.


Blurb from Barry's website:

For Larison, a man off the grid and on the run, the sleepy northern California town of Arcata, gateway to the state's fabled Lost Coast, seems like a perfect place to disappear for a while. But Arcata isn't nearly as sleepy as it seems, and when three locals decide Larison would make a perfect target for their twisted sport, Larison exacts a lifetime of vengeance in one explosive evening.

How is it working out?
Well it's early days yet, but Joe Konrath the Self Publishing maestro, reports it rocketing up the kindle best selling lists. With only a handful of reviews on Amazon though, it's probably down to Eisler's well known brand.  


Mature Content
Now I would argue that most of Barry's work is mature content but this story comes with the following warning:

Warning: this story is intended for mature audiences, and contains depictions of sexual activity, though perhaps not in the way you're expecting. 

I suspect this is to warn the insecure among the readership that it features some homosexual sexual activity.


Across all formats
It can be purchased through Amazon, Smashwords or Barnes & Noble.  Which would seem to me to be the best way to go; to make the work available to as many of his fans as possible.


Note there appear to be no geo-restrictions on this product either.

eBook Review - Embedded by Dan Abnett

Embedded is realeased worldwide in April of this year.  The Robot Overlords at Angry Robot Books have supplied an ARC for my perusal.


The Author
Dan Abnett is well known within gaming and comics subcultures. Abnett worked for some years on the iconic 2000AD comic from whence the Judge Dread character originates. He also worked for Marvel on several lines including The Punisher and X-Men.


He is also the evil genius behind some of Games Workshops/Black Library's best selling and most highly acclaimed Warhammer 40K game tie ins.  Fans of Doctor Who and Torchwood may know him from his, novels Border Princes, The Story of Martha and his writing for the big finish audio series.


So with that much popculture cred under his belt we'd be expecting something fairly spectacular from Abnett. What we get is a well realised background and military science fiction  that is most definitely a post "war on terror" novel.


The Story
Lex Falk is a reporter on the slow downward spiral of his career. Though he still has enough cred and nouse to play the game, life and long haul space flights is taking its toll.  


He lands on Eighty-Six, (settlement worlds are numbered for some time before they are named) the commission is cushy and having him there reporting grants the Settlement Office's (SO) operations and media strategy credibility in dealing with the "dispute" that is affecting corporate share prices.


It soon becomes apparent that what the SO is presenting as "dispute" is something more.  Falk teams up with some old contacts and a corporate trouble shooter to try and dig up some more information.  This involves Falk being embedded into the consciousness of an enlisted soldier and as you might guess the ride from there on isn't a piece of cake.


What I liked
The "world" of Embedded is nicely realized and I detect some subtle comments, or perhaps observations on current world affairs in regard to corporatisation and military action.  The language used by the Settlement Office Military Directorate (SOMD) is reminiscent of the Bush Administration's sanitizing of the term 'torture' ie enhanced interrogation. The book is certainly post September 11 fiction.


I had a nice chuckle at the idea of a corporation sponsoring a swearword that is linked to one of their beverages it was Freeking® brilliant.


It's not 'ard science fiction, there's hat tips to it though, with spinrad drivers for 'in system' travel and health problems caused by low gravity, but its light on detail for how live communication works across the vastness of space. Mind you I don't think it pretends to be either, it's gritty military science fiction. 


What I didn't
There wasn't much to dislike, I only have two minor quibbles;

1. I felt the reveal at the end came a little too late in the book, I wanted a bit more story about the mining discovery that the forces are fighting over.  I suspect though, that there might be a second book in the works. 
2. A couple of fight descriptions we a tad over done.  They were gratuitous and disrupted the flow of the action, dropping me out of the story. I think Abnett might have been having a bit too much fun with them.

In Summary
A great first outing with a sci-fi 'world' of his own making.  Plenty of action, plenty of grit and good characterization.  It's extrapolation from themes in current affairs helps keep it grounded and out of the realms of Space Opera.  To me it feels like equal parts Black Hawk Down, and  Behind Enemy Lines in its tone.  Though to be fair it stands on its own is good piece of original fiction.  The use of a journalist, albeit in the body of a soldier, as lead character strikes me as original


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