Collaborating with Anne McCaffrey: An interview with Elizabeth Moon

The science fiction novel that moved my reading tastes from adolescent dragon wonder to feminist space opera was Sassinak (1990), by the then immensely prolific Anne McCaffrey and the fairly unknown Elizabeth Moon. I had been a teenage McCaffrey completist, but once I’d read Sassinak – an engrossing space opera about planet pirates, orphan enslavement, naval … Continue reading Collaborating with Anne McCaffrey: An interview with Elizabeth Moon →

First Light for Alan Garner

First Light is an Unbound book, initially paid for by its subscribers. Because the book has to sell before it’s published Unbound have to do a great deal of pre-sell publicity, and it certainly helps if the author, or subject, is famous. In this case – First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner, edited by Erica … Continue reading First Light for Alan Garner →

The biography of Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words

Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words is a weighty illustrated doorstop of a book by Boel Westin and is Jansson's authorised biography. Until a few years ago she was only known in the UK for her children’s books about the Moomins. Moominland Midwinter, Moominsummer Madness and Comet in Moominland (there are five others) are in the class … Continue reading The biography of Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words →

Interview with Laila Lalami, author of The Moor’s Account

I interviewed Laila Lalami about her longlisted Man Booker novel, The Moor's Account, which I reviewed some weeks ago. I began by asking about her literary techniques. The narrative of The Moor’s Account mimics real life, in that there isn’t a climactic ending. The events in the last section don’t seem to be presented by … Continue reading Interview with Laila Lalami, author of The Moor’s Account →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: the Alternative Publishing thrortnight

It's going to be busy on Vulpes Libris for three weeks, as we begin a festival of blogging about alternative publishing. I kicked the opening salvo into the stands today with an interview with Peter Kennedy, a first-time novelist who paid for his first novel, Fishermen's Tales, to come out exactly the way he wanted it … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: the Alternative Publishing thrortnight →