Mitološke životinje Beograđani, ili kako ljudi polude na vrućini

Verujem da ste primetili nesnosnu vrućinu koja nas je ovih dana zadesila odmah nakon nesnosne zime. Zarad zdravlja vašeg duha i tela, nadam se da ste na nekom letovanju, planini, moru, u banji - bilo gde, samo ne okruženi betonom, smogom i bukom. Rečeni činioci pogubni su za čoveka. Evo dokaza da pričam iz iskustva - mesto da juče završim prevod "Odmazde Mračnog Viteza", prevedem nekoliko stranica "Srca zime" i počnem da pišem priču koju mi je jedan sajt naručio za antologiju celog dana sam se borio sa mrzovoljom i "bedakom", što bi se reklo kada čoveka mrzi da uključi mozak.

Očigledno da ova vrućina smeta ljudima i dovodi do najrazličitijih stanja svesti. Eto, ja sam bio "smoren", da se opet poslužim kapitalnim primerkom beogradskog žargona, pa nisam radio gotovo ništa, a izvesni gospodin, zvaćemo ga Pavlović, poklekao je pred dosadom i napisao mi mejl.

Nemojte me shvatiti pogrešno - volim da čitam vaše i sve ostale mejlove. Pobornik sam stava da savremena tehnologija više spaja ljude nego što ih otuđuje. Na kraju krajeva, da mi nije stalo do toga da budem pristupačan ljudima koji čitaju moje prevode - ne bih ni počinjao da pišem blog.

U svakom slučaju, dobijem ja tako mejl od gosn Pavlovića i krenem da ga čitam. Neću ovde doslovno preneti sadržaj, jer je pismo podugačko, a i svodi se na jednu tezu. Naime, gosn Pavlović je u besposlenoj pretrazi interneta naleteo na ovaj blog, što ga je ponukalo da potraži i moju biografiju. Za svaku je pohvalu, kaže on, to što sam preveo sedamdesetak naslova za poslednjih desetak godina, ali malo je licemerno sve to, po njegovom mišljenju.

Naime, u Beogradu se proda velika većina naslova objavljenih u Srbiji i Beograd stvara oko 40 odsto kapitala u ovoj zemlji - a ja nisam rođen u Beogradu. Postavlja se pitanje, zar ne mislim da je u najmanju ruku bezobrazno što sam preoteo posao nekome ko je rođen u ovom gradu i čitav život proveo u ovom gradu? Zar nije pokvareno to što svojim radom promovišem provincijalne vrednosti i zar ne bi bilo pametnije da se vratim odakle sam došao, mesto da ovde stvaram gužvu i onemogućavam ljudima koji zaista imaju prava na ovaj grad da nađu posao? Dapače, moglo bi se reći da sam relikt Slobinog vremena i aktivni činilac razgradnje kulturne elite ove zemlje, koja je - naravno - oličena u "Beogradskim Intelektualcima" (citat iz mejla; bojim se da je poštovanje pravopisa jedna od tih mojih provincijalnih vrednosti).

Gospodin Pavlović čak pominje i to da bi oko Beograda trebalo podići veliki zid i zabraniti ulaz "dođošima". Na to se ja pitam kako bi se onda Beograd prehranjivao. Sve terase su zastakljene, pa više ni papričice ne mogu da se gaje u saksijama, a kamoli nešto konkretno.

I tako.

Dobijam ja povremeno pisma u kojima se lamentuje nad činjenicom da kao neko ko nije filolog nemam nikakva prava da prevodim knjige, ali ovo je - moram priznati - prvi put da mi se za zlo uzima oznaka geografskog porekla. Valjda nema nikakve svrhe odgovarati gospodinu Pavloviću da u Beogradu živi manje od 30000 osoba čiji ja porodica ovde bila i pre Drugog svetskog rata, da je Beograd - kao i svi veliki gradovi - po veliki blender ljudi i njihovih života, da u krštenicama najpozatijih i najuglednijih Beograždana stoji neko drugo selo kao mesto rođenja... uostalom, ovo je valjda glupost jednaka onoj da je Beograd velika pijavica jadne provincije. Veoma je teško objasniti ljudima da je provincija stanje svesti, a ne pitanje geografske širine i dužine ili društvenog staleža. Uostalom, najzanimljivije mi je što sticajem čudnih okolnosti poznajem nekoliko od tih tridesetak hiljada mitoloških zverki čije porodice bivstvuju u ovom kamenom kavezu duže od četiri pokoljenja i nikome od njih nije smetalo moje egzotično nacionalno-geografsko poreklo. Šta znam, valjda gosn Pavlović ima potrebu da nešto kompenzuje - ili mu je samo vrućina udarila u glavu (pretpostavljam da razmišlja tu smeštenim organom).

Pravo da vam kažem, ne znam otkud mi potreba da ovu glupost podelim sa vama. Možda je i meni vruće. Nadam se da će sledeći unos biti pametniji - a ako među vama ima mitoloških zverki znanih kao "stari Beograđani", javite se. Lepo je znati da ipak postojite.

Letnje vrućine... i "Sirijus Reborn"!!!!

Bojim se da nemam nekih značajnih vesti za vas. Ovaj unos je pre posledica nedostatka vremena da se napiše nešto smisleno, nego što je bogzna kako bitno obaveštenje za moje drage čitaoce. No, popuniću prostor starim vestima, ponegde osveženim daškom novih informacija, koje bi možda mogle biti zanimljive.

Elem, za jedno nedelju dana završavam sav rad na "Srcu zime", poznatom i kao "deveta knjiga "Točka vremena", koja se vuče kao gladna godina". Roman će se po svoj prilici pojaviti u "Laguninom" predsajamskom talasu, skupa sa novoprevedenim romanom Džastina Kronina "Passage" (preveo Goran Skrobonja), ali i "Imenom vetra" Patrika Rotfasa i "Poslednjim carstvom" Brendona Sandersona, u prevodu moje malenkosti (što je besmislen izraz za čoveka od 188 cm i 100 kg, ali 'ajde da se pravimo fini...). Ovo poslednje je velika stvar i roman koji se ne sme propustiti. Ponosim se time što sam Sandersona prepoznao kao novog velikog pisca EF još dok je imao samo jedan roman i preporučio ga izdavaču pre neke tri godine. Ne moram posebno da naglašavam da je reč o čoveku koji dovršava Džordanov serijal, zar ne?

U toku je rad i na dve grafičke novele za "Beli put" - o tome nešto malo više u nekom narednom unosu, nadam se u ponedeljak, a potpuno sveža vest je da sam sa "Sirijus izdavaštvom" postigao dogovor o prevodu dva romana Tima Pauersa. Prvi bi trebalo da se pojavi za oktobarski sajam.

Eto, čisto da ne bude da nema vesti...

Nightflier's Interviews - Daniel Abraham

Možda u poslednje vreme retko objavljujem nove unose, ali zato imamo sva intervjua - jedan za drugim - sa poznatim i priznatim svetskim piscima, članovima književnog kružoka Critical Mass, čiji je najpoznatiji član GRRM.

Denijel Ejbraham je u neku ruku nastavljač Martinove tradicije pripovedanja. Njegova tetralogija Long Price spada među najlepše napisana ostvarenja epske fantastike u poslednjih deset godina. Rekao bih da samo Kej Kenjon ima lepši stil od njega. Elem...


NF: There is one thing that I ask all the authors that I talk to: What made you want to write in the first place? What is your favorite book? How did you got published? Who are your favorite writers? Do you have any role-models in the literature?

DA: My dad always read to me when I was a kid. I mean always. And everything. He's fluent in Spanish (which I'm not) and he'd read me Enrique Anderson Imbert stories he translated on the fly. Max Beerbaum. One time when I was in middle school, I stayed home one day, and he read me Sayers' Strong Poison cover to cover in a sitting. I wanted to write my own stories by fifth grade.

Favorite book is hard, because after a certain point, they stop being comparable. I love Camus' The Plague. I love Walter Tevis' Queen's Gambit. I love Peter Beagle's Tamsin. I love early Robert B. Parker and The Demolished Man and Catherynne Valente. When I was in high school, I read David Eddison until the spines broke.

I got published through what jay Lake calls psychotic persistence. I sent out stories and collected rejection slips for about 10 or 15 years and managed two semi-pro sales. On the strength of those, I got into the Clarion West workshop, and things really picked up after that.

My favorite writers gets to be difficult territory, partly because I know some of them personally. Walter Jon Williams -- especially his Dread Empire's Fall series -- is a master craftsman. I love Guy Gavriel Kay. I've only read about 50 pages of Charlie Huston, but if the rest of the book is that good, he'll be in the running.

I don't have a role model in the sense of someone whose work I'm particuarly trying to emulate, but as far as the guy whose career I'd like to have -- or something close to anyway -- it's be Elmore Leonard. He's mastered his craft, knows all the tricks, writes good books, and supports himself doing it. What's not to like?

NF: I almost never read short stories - and that means novellas as well - but now I find myself looking forward to your Leviathan Wept collection. "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics" is one of the best short stories in the recent years, but today's market is not very friendly to short stories and to those who write them. So, what made you interested in the first place in writing stories and is it difficult to get them published?

DA: The nice thing about writing short stories is that you can fail quickly. Short stories are different than novels, and knowing how to write a solid short piece doesn't guarantee you'll be able to write something longer that's any good. But there is a lot overlap. I started with short storied because I was trying to learn how to write at all, and cranking something out in a week, seeing how it failed, and then cranking out another one, and seeing how it failed, and again and again was just less time consuming than spending a years writing a novel to see how it failed. That said, I've written or co-written ten novels now, and I'm still figuring out that skill set.

NF: Do you yourself read short stories or do you prefer longer form?

DA: I like both. I think they do different things. Short stories can pack more of a visceral punch than longer pieces, but longer pieces can create a long-lived experience and mood better than short stuff.


NF: "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics" was included in Fantasy: The Best of the Year 2008 by Rich Horton. Have you read other in that collection? What do you think of "The Teashop" by Zoran Zivkovic?

DA: I've read about half of them. The Teashop was the one with the woman who ordered tea made from stories, and every time she drank, someone came and told her part of the story, right? I liked that one. It reminded me of "The Phantom Church" by Ana Blandiana (one of my favorite ghost stories of all time, so that's pretty high praise).

NF: Among Serbian fans there is no greater praise than to be called good writer by GRRM. You have become a member of his Critical Mass group and you contribute to the Wild Card series - how did it came to pass? What's it like to work that closely with world's greatest living fantasy writer?

DA: I met George when he was organizing the Nebula awards in Santa Fe. I was the guy who drove Nelson Bond and his wife the hour from Albuquerque to the ceremony. So George and I were acquainted. But then he was one of six instructors I had at Clarion West, so I got to hang out with him for a week and talk about the craft and business of writing. Apparently he thought I was all right.

Knowing him can be a little weird, though. I mean he's George RR Martin. I got in trouble at my second job for reading The Pear-Shaped man when I was supposed to be working. He did Fevre Dream and Tuf Voyaging and Sand Kings, and that was *before* he hit it out of the park with A Song of Ice and Fire. The man's a legend. He's above the law.

But he's also not the guy I hang out with. When I'm going out to dinner, it's with George, the guy with all the knight miniatures. The guy who disagrees with me about Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica. He's a good guy. Smart. I enjoy his company, but it's George, you know? He's cool. If I was hanging out with George RR Martin, that'd be something different.

NF: About Wild Cards - I love the new direction of the series, but somehow I always find myself looking for Sleeper or the Turtle. I suppose that those characters will not make any appearances in the future Wild Card novels, but I feel like those new Aces are not as larger than life as Old Guard? Was that intentional? Is it possible for the heroes of the eighties to exist in the 21st century?

DA: We've talked about this a lot. The problem, I think, is that when you start a project like Wildcards, it gets defined by the first characters you meet. The Turtle and the Sleeper and Fortunato aren't particularly more interesting than Bugsy or Curveball or Rustbelt. But the 80s heros are the standard against which everything else is measured, and in the ways that they're different, they aren't meeting that initial expectation. It happened with comic book superheroes too. The only three superheros that have had uninterrupted runs since the early days
are Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And because of that, they have an iconic status that, say, X-Men or Moon Knight are never going to touch. Even the really great second-tier ones -- Spiderman, Swamp Thing -- don't have the same gravitas as the big three. They can't.

There's actually a whole field built around questions like this called Behavioral Economics. One of the things they've shown is that you peg your expectations to first experiences. So if the first bottle of wine you buy -- the one where you go in the store with no freaking clue how much wine costs -- was $20, you're going to set that as normal. And once it's set it's really hard to change.

And yes, 80s heroes can exist in the 21st century, but not in Wildcards. Because in Wildcards, time passes. People age. A character who was in his middle 30s in 1987 is pushing 60 now. Keeping that part of the Wildcards world realistic carries a price.

NF: Among the fans there is a sort of consensus that Brandon Sanderson is the heir to the late Robert Jordan's tradition of fantasy. During the Jordan and GRRM were considered to be two sides of the same fantasy coin. Now there is some talk that the same can be said of Sanderson and you - that the Mistborn trilogy and your Long Price quartet represent two very different approaches to fantasy, but with equally great results. Have you read Sanderson? How would you compare your work with his?

DA: I love Brandon's stuff. Yes, Mistborn and Elantris were a very different litereary project than The Long Price Quartet, but he's damn good at what he does, and I respect the work he's doing. Actually, we did come cross promotion back when we were both at Tor. You know how
often a paperback will come out with the first chapter of the next book? We swapped it so that his book came out with the first chapter of my next book, and mine came out with the first chapter of his. We both wrote notes about why we liked the other guy's stuff. Tor didn't come
up with that idea either. That was us.

As for comparison, I think the Long Price books are really trying to use the idiom of epic fantasy to say things that aren't usually said in this sandbox. Brandon, on the other hand, I feel embraced and embraces the real strengths of the genre and utterly owns them. Shorthanding it, I'd say his books are celebratory and mine are consoling. But we're both young pups. I know my interests have changed since I started the Long Price books. I expect his have and will. And you can bet I'll buy his books when they hit shelf.

NF: Price quartet was lauded as most original fantasy of the decade. It certainly got my attention and it found the place among my favorite books. It generated a huge interest all over the internet and it was well received amongst the fans. So, what next? Do you intend to revisit the same world?

DA: Oh no. That story's done. There's nothing more to be said there. The new project is both more familiar and more difficult. The nice thing about lighting out for the territories and doing something so original, no one's seen it before is you can't really be compared to anything
unfavorably. The Long Price Quartet isn't anybody's second-best Asian-flavored semi-literary set of four stand-alone stories that build on each other to make a larger argument about mortality and the epic nature of a normal life. It's the one that's like that. The new project -- The Dagger and the Coin -- is scarier for me. It's overly stealing from everything I think is deeply cool and using it to make gumbo. The difference between the Long Price books and the Dagger & Coin ones is the line between doing something really new and doing something familiar really well. I just turned in the first one, and I'm waiting for notes back from my editor, so I'm a little nervous right now. But I have hopes for it.


NF: Your urban fantasy, The Black Sun's Daughter, was published under the name of M.L.N. Hanover. A lot of readers assumed that the author is female. Do you think that women have the advantage when writing urban fantasy? Who is closer to you as an author - Laurell Hamilton or Jim Butcher?

DA: Actually, I think women have an advantage writing the kind of urban fantasy I wanted to write. Clearly Jim Butcher (and Mike Carey and Charlie Huston) are doing good, successful work. But the thread in urban fantasy that turns my crank is the uncomfortable relationship
between women and power. When you look at the work that's grown out of specifically Laurel K Hamilton and Joss Whedon, I think it's really the venue for the sticky, difficult feminist conversation about what power means and how it fits with being a woman. And a relationship to
traditionally masculine power, which it to say violence, that I find fascinating and frankly unhealthy. I am a skeptic of masculine power, and along with being a set of, hopefully, entertaining stories about engaging characters, I want the Black Sun books to be my comment on that subject.

And yes, I think women are more likely to connect with that conversation if they think a woman's writing it. I've had letters from readers who've said they wouldn't have picked the books up with a man's name on it, but that they went on to like them.

NF:Why did you use a pseudonym anyway? Do you think that your reputation as fantasy and sf writer makes it harder for you to be successful in urban fantasy subgenre?

DA: It's the same thing we were talking about with wild cards. There's a set of expectations and context that come with a name. If you picked up one of the Black Sun books expecting a Long Price-like read, it doesn't matter how well I've done with the urban fantasy. It's going to disappoint you. Having a new name for it helps reset those expectations. Or I hope it does.

NF: What is your take on the fragmentation of the genre anyway? We have urban fantasy, paranormal romances, military sf, military fantasy, dark fantasy - you name it. Does that makes things easier or more difficult for an author? Do you get up in the morning and say "I'm gonna write some paranormal military sf romance today"?

DA: I don't think it matters much. The fragmentation of genre is, I think, an aritfact of having a public that's actually reading and buying a lot of books. Back in the 60s, I'm told it was possible to read every science fiction book that came out in a given year, because there were really that few of them. Now, it would be physically impossible. What we've gained from that is a huge, rich literature where people can really follow the thread that turns their crank. What we lose is a
shared context with other readers who haven't had to read something they might not otherwise because it was kind of close.

As a writer, I like having a lot of people buy a lot of books.

NF: Who are your favorite authors today? Is there a novel or a story by some other author that you wish you have written?

DA: My favorite authors right now are Ted Chiang and Peter Watts. There are some others that I think are very, very good -- David Anthony Durham, Maureen McHugh, Catherynne Valente, Paolo Bacigalupi, and on and on and on -- but if I'd written Chiang's The Story of Your Life or Watts' Blightsight, I could quit and get a day job.

NF: I have a theory that if a man wishes to be a great author of fantasy and science fiction he needs to fulfill two conditions - to be fat and to have a beard. Joking aside, how much time do you spend writing? Do make any sacrifices because of your work? Do you get to go on vacations, sport events? Do you have time for nice meals or do you eat junk food? Do you plan to grow a beard?

DA: In one sense, I'm rarely not writing, in that I'm chewing projects over in my head. But as far as ass-in-chair hours, I drop the kid off at school at 8:30, I pick her up at 3. Five days a week, I've got office hours.

I don't feel I've sacrificed more for my work that way thatn I'd have sacrificed to technical support if I were still taking calls. It's my job, and I'm lucky to get to support myself with something I'd be doing anyway. I do go on vacations, though they're often on my couch. I eat
nice meals and junk food both. And I appear to be genetically incapable of growing an emotionally satisfying beard.

NF: Any words for those who aspire to become published writers? Anything wish to add?

DA: Read a lot, read what you enjoy (not what you think other people would approve of you for enjoying), write a lot and expect most of it to suck for a long, long time. And don't do it for the money.

Sveže vesti

Krajnje je vreme da malo pažnje posvetim i blogu. Ovo će biti kratak unos, nakon onog dugačkog intervjua s Stivom Stirlingom, ali će zato biti pun nekakvih vesti i najava. Najpre, izveštaj o napretku korekture "Srca zime" - ide veoma sporo, ali nekako se borim. Za sada sam uradio oko trećine teksta koji sam dobio, što čini negde četvrtinu romana u celosti. Biće mi potrebno još najmanje dve nedelje da završim korekturu, pa da mogu da nastavim s prevodom.

On unrelated news, izdavačka kuća "Kompjuterska biblioteka" najavila je objavljivanje ovogodišnjeg dobitnika nagrade "Nebula" za najbolji žanrovski roman. Reč je o "Mehaničkoj devojci" Paola Baćigalupija. "Kombib" će pokrenuti čitavu ediciju naučne i epske fantastike, ali o tome nešto više nadam se naredne sedmice.

A biće i novih prikaza na blogu. Juče sam dobio Martinovu antologiju Warriors, koja sadrži i novu novelu iz sveta "Pesme leda i vatre", tako da ćete ubrzo dobiti blow by blow izveštaj o svim pričama koje sadrži.

Toliko za sada.

Nightflier's Interviews - S.M. Stirling

Stiv Stirling je jedan od trenutno najboljih pisaca alternativne istorije - i najpopularnijih. Premda je kod nas nepoznat, domaćim čitaocima fantastike biće zanimljiv po tome što je član književnog kružoka Džordža Martina i njegov zemljak i prijatelj. Naravno, pitao sam ga i o tome. Ovo je prvi u nizu razgovora koje sam vodio s domaćim i stranim delatnicima i pregaocima na raznoraznim fantastičnim poljima. Uživajte.

NF: A lot of those who will read this interview aspire to be published writers. One of the first things those kind of people want to know about successful authors is what made you want to write in the first place? What is your favorite book? How did you got published? Who are your favorite writers? Do you have any role-models in the literature?

SM: I've always told myself long, brightly-hued, intricately organized daydreams, as early as I can remember. I was surprised to learn that some people don't, in fact. While not all people who do that are writers, all writers do that, to the best of my knowledge.

Then, of course, I started reading fiction. Writing it was a combination of irresistible impulse, an "I can do that" feeling, and a desire to read the book that nobody else had quite written.

"My favorite book" depends on the mood I'm in. I'm passionately fond of classic adventure fiction, the tradition from the chansons du geste on through Haggard and Buchan and Kipling, but in some states of mind I've enjoyed Hardy. And I read a -lot- of nonfiction.

As for getting published, I just sent in my manuscript and waited. This is difficult and includes an element of dumb luck, hitting the right editor on the right day, and it's harder now than it was in the 1980's. Apart from writing a good book -- don't try to write to market, it can't be done -- all I can say is to avoid the obvious mistakes. Put the manuscript in proper format, check what the publisher wants, which is usually available on their websites (don't send horror novels when they're only buying romance!), and be prepared for a lot of rejection. I know people who've given up when they got a -favorable- reply, asking for revisions. That's reason to jump around the room yelling with joy! You have to have a professional attitude.)

(I sold my first short story in the same year I sold my first novel. The editor called and said he liked it, but that the ending was ambiguous. I thought that was odd, but I was willing to modify it. It took ten minutes of talking at cross-purposes before we realized I hadn't sent the last page.)

My favorite authors also vary; I certainly like a lot of the moderns, Harry Turtledove, Dave Drake, and so forth. I was Poul Anderson fan from an early age and was privileged to know him.



NF: The first books written by you that I ever read were Draka novels. Than I knew that I am reading a work by master of alternative history. Today you are considered one of the Holy Trinity of alternative history writers, alongside Turtledove and Flint. What made you so interested in that subgenre? Do you even consider it subgenre of it's own?

SM: It's becoming a subgenre. My interest was partly because I've always been fascinated by history, which is the sum of all stories, and partly because of the way that choices and accident affect everyone's life. If an individual, then how not the world?

NF: I know that you said several times that there is a slim chance for the next Draka novel to be published, but is there a chance for a story or a short novel set in that universe of yours? How and why does a series of novels considered to be cult one by the fans and internet community stop being published?

SM: Three reasons: I'm not with that publisher any more, I've moved on and am now in a different place and don't want to write them any more, and frankly while they aroused intense interest (both positive and negative) they didn't sell spectacularly well. Put them together with the fact that I've got far, far more ideas for books I'd enjoy writing than I'll ever have time to write them...


NF: You tend to describe "great white hunters" so well that many consider you to be right-wing writer, but at the same time one of your most famous character is a African-American lesbian. In your Peshawar Lancers, Change novels and Lords of Creation novels Russians are depicted as stupid bad guys, but at the same time you chose to write a short novel for GRRM's Warriors set in post-Change Russia (I haven't read it yet. I'm waiting the book to arrive). Is there a purpose to choosing stereotypical bad guys and then turning all that upside down?

SM: There may be, but the process is subconscious. I'm upfront about my debt to the great adventure writers of the past like Harold Lamb (who was also fond of Cossack heroes, by the way, which is what my story in Warriors features) but I'm of my era, not theirs.

NF: Let me get back to your beginnings as a writer: you've done a lot of collaborative work with David Drake. Did it help you to become the renowned author on your own? How does that work? Are there any rules and guidelines for writing collaborations? Do you sometimes consider going back to those characters and themes you wrote so many years ago?

SM: Writing with Dave was a pleasure and an education. Dave plots his works out very fully before writing them. At the time I thought this odd and constraining, but as we went on I came to realize how much work this saved and how it enabled the writer to concentrate on different parts of the process at separate times and so focus more intensely. Also he's just interesting to be around -- a scholar and a gentleman in the best senses of the word.

Collaborations are as individual as the people doing them. I've had everything from some vague suggestions to the intense two-way process it was with Dave. Some have been a pleasure to do, some not so much.

NF: I enjoyed great deal Lords of Creation novels. I've recently translated League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and I found myself craving for those Golden Age worlds. What made you return to those tropes an motifs? When will we see more novels in that series?

SM: The Lords of Creation was a great deal of fun; I took a minor hit simply because I wanted to write them. However, they appeal more to people already saturated in SFnal tropes, I find.

NF: Same question for Conquistador? Do you have plans for more novels in that universe? Perhaps some kind of tie-in with the Emberverse?

SM: I certainly left room for sequels, but again, right now I'm contracted up for years with the Emberverse and my new secret-history, quasi-urban-fantasy series that will start with A TAINT IN THE BLOOD (out in May).

There's an old joke: "How many writers does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: Forget about that, let me tell you about MY lightbulb..."

I'm always most interested in and positive about the book I'm working on now.

NF: I must admit that Change novels are right now my favorite books. I'm eagerly waiting each new novel. What gave you the idea for Dies the Fire?

SM: I had something of the sort vaguely in mind while working on ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME; after all, it's natural to wonder what happened to the rest of the world while Nantucket went back to 1250 BCE, and there are elaborate cosmological speculations underlying the whole thing.



NF: In the Change novels you give homage to great fantasy and sf writers, to Tolkien most of all. But I always wondered why do you not mention other famous writers as well? There is a slim chance that those who loved Tolkien did not play D&D or read works by Robert Jordan or George Martin. I'm still waiting for Rangers to have animal companions - wolfhound, at least - and to read about paladins in the Changed world. Jest aside, why did you gave so much space to Tolkien's work? Do you find him personally important?

SM: He's one of the giants, of course, but the main reason the Dunedain are obsessed with him is the workings of Astrid's psyche. In my experience her particular sort of fanish quasi-lunacy tends to be exclusive, particularly at 14, which is her age when the Change struck.

The rest of the book has, if you look closely, a fair number of homages to other work!

NF: Eric Flint opened up his Ring of Fire series to other authors. Is there any chance for you to do the same with Emberverse? Do you like fan-fiction? You are the member of probably the most talented writing group in the history of genre. Is there any chance to read a collaborative work done by you and GRRM or you and Daniel Abraham?

SM: No collaborations planned right now. There's a possibility for a shared-world anthology set in the Change universe sometime... maybe.

NF: How does writing group work anyway? Do you talk about different ideas, approaches to writing? Do you comment on each other's work? Hey, do you get to read new Song of Ice and Fire stuff before us mortals?

SM: We meet once a month (except when something urgent intervenes). We e-mail chunks of work (usually not more than 100 pages) to each other and then meet to critique. It's a lot of fun and I've learned a great deal.

NF: You announced new series of urban fantasy novels. Daniel Abraham wrote two of them by another name. What got you interested in that subgenre of fantasy? Do you have some favorite authors that work in that field? Have you read Laurell Hamilton or Jim Butcher?

SM: Yes, I've read others in that field. As for why... well, the Change series has done very well, but I didn't want to get typecast. I had a number of other ideas, and I ran them by my publisher and agent, and they decided to go with that one. As I said, I've got -lots- of ideas for books!

NF: I live in Serbia and whole of Balkans is burdened by too much history.

SM: "May you live in interesting times", as the saying goes. Generally speaking we Anglo-Saxons export our interesting bits.

NF: A large part of us living here have different blood comingling in our veins. I myself am part Serb and part Vlach (Walachian). You were born in France and lived in several countries before settling in New Mexico and you write alternative history - that gives you unique perspective on history and interpretations of history. In your opinion - does ours, yours, everyone's history really matter, or it's just burden of fables and half-truths?

SM: The answer to that question is "yes", I'm afraid! Yes it matters, yes, there are fables and half-truths (remember the story of the four blind men and the elephant) but fables and myths themselves are real things, and things of terrifying power. Humans live by their dreams -- the trouble starts when they try to live -in- their dreams.

NF: Do you have any advice for the young writers who want to get published? Anything else that I've missed?

SM: Write. Finish what you write. Then send it out, after making sure what the people you're sending it to want in the way of presentation. And it's a very, very risky field. Don't do it unless you're prepared to do it in your spare time just for the fun of it for a long time.



NF: Well, that's all. I have a hundred more questions, but I don't want to be rude and I would prefer for you to write than to waste time on me, so that I can get your next novel that much sooner. Thank you and it is an great honor.

SM: Thank you; without the readers, I wouldn't exist!

Yours,
Steve Stirling

Izveštaj o čitanju - prvi kvartal

Setih se da dosta dugo nisam pisao o naslovima koje sam pročitao. Ova godina je pretila da će mi biti mršava kada je o čitanju reč, ali to se stanje srećom popravilo. Na kraju ovog kratkog uvoda "zalepiću" šta sam pročitao u prvom kvartalu ove godine koje smo. Nažalost, nemam vremena da pišem nešto više o svakom romanu ponaosob. Jedino što mogu da kažem jeste da sam poprilično razočaran novim piscima. U ovom unosu moći ćete da pogledate šta sam sve do danas u ovoj godini pročitao, ali i ocenu uz svaki naslov. U tu svrhu koristiću se "Amazonovim" sistemom od pet zvezdica, malčice prilagođenim tako da ću svaku zvezdicu deliti na četvrtine mesto na polovine. So, here we go:

januar

The Crown Conspiracy, Michael J. Sullivan 2

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny, Simon R Green 2,5

februar

Mission of Honor, David Weber 2,5

Bright of the Sky, Kay Kenyon 4

Covenants, Lorna Freeman 4

The King’s Own, Lorna Freeman 4

Shadows Past, Lorna Freeman 4

The Devil You Know, Mike Carey 3

God Engines, John Scalzi 2,75

Much Fall of Blood, Mercedes Lackey, Erick Flint, Dave Freer 2

mart

Black Magic Sanction, Kim Harrison 2,5

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, K. J. Jemisin 2

The Myriad, R M Meluch 2

Oath of Fealty, Elizabeth Moon 2,5

Twelve, Jasper Kent 2,75

A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham 4

A Betrayal in Winter, Daniel Abraham 4

Dragon in Chains, Daniel Fox 3

Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs 2,75

april

Changes, Jim Butcher 3,75

Blood of Ambrose, James Enge 2

An Autumn War, Daniel Abraham 4

The Price of Spring, Daniel Abraham 4

A Mighty Fortress, David Weber 2,75
Midwinter, Matthew Sturges 1,75

Spellwright, Blake Charlton 2

Izveštaj o radu

Znam, dugo me nije bilo. Nije bilo novih prikaza, a ni unosa iz mog pera. Ali to ne znači da sam lenstvovao - naprotiv, marljivo sam radio. Evo izveštaja:

Verovatno svi znate da me je "Laguna" angažovala da završim prevod serijala "Točak vremena" pokojnog Roberta Džordana. Isprva je trebalo da radim desetu knjigu - pa sam i preveo prvih stotinu i kusur stranica - ali je došlo do promene plana, tako da ću ja raditi i redakturu dela prevoda devete knjige, The Heart of Winter, i završiti taj prevod pa tek onda nastaviti s radom na desetoj knjizi.

Prvi roman Kima Njumena koji će se nakon duže vremena pojaviti na srpskom jeziku, "Povratak u SSAD", na polovini je lekture. Sjajne korice srpskog izdanja možete videti na sajtu izdavača - http://www.paladin-beograd.com/.

Kada je o stripovima reč, od ponedeljka ću verovatno raditi na "100 metaka 4", a potom na "Odmazdi Mraćnog Viteza".

Eto, toliko od mene. Bar za sada. Treba prevoditi.