Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 54 - Kelly Robson's Top 10

This is it: the final episode of the special bonus season of Invaders From Planet 3! I hope you've enjoyed hearing these mini interviews with some of our previous guests over the past few months as we've shuffled through the strange days of the pandemic.

I'm going to be taking a little break, but stay tuned for a regular season of full-length episodes in a few months with a new batch of guests. And, by all means, go back and re-listen to some of our classic episodes.

But for now, author Kelly Robson closes the season with a previously-unaired feature where she shares her Top 10 favourite works of science fiction by other writers. Keep in mind, it's been a few years since we had this conversation, so her favourites may have changed. But you should still check them out at your local bookstore or library. And be sure to look for Kelly's books, and anthologies and magazines with her stories, while you're there!

To learn more about Kelly Robson and her work, visit her website:
https://kellyrobson.com

 

To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!

 

Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 48 - Alyx Dellamonica's Top 5

The bonus season of Invaders From Planet 3 continues, this time with the return of author Alyx Dellamonica!

My excavations of the archives in the Lair of bloginhood (currently located in a porch swing converted to a blanket fort, somewhere in Waterloo) have uncovered a previously-unaired mini interview with Alyx, where she shares her Top 5 list (and more!) of her favourite speculative fiction stories by other writers.

Keep in mind, this conversation took place a couple of years ago, so her favourites may have changed.

That said, contact your local bookstore or library to find out how you can get your hands on these stories. And be sure to ask them for copies of Alyx's books while you're there!

To learn more about Alyx or her writing, visit her website:
alyxdellamonica.com


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 41 - Alex Renwick's Top 5

Another deep dive into the vaults beneath the Lair of bloginhood (still currently located in a fort made of old, half-used rolls of Christmas wrapping paper in your great-aunt Tilly's basement closet because social distancing lockdown rules prevent the Lair from shifting across space as it normally does) has yielded more buried treasure for our bonus season of Invaders From Planet 3.

This time, we have a previously unaired short interview with author Alex Renwick (a.k.a. Alexandra Renwick, a.k.a. Zandra Renwick, a.k.a. Camille Alexa), where she shares her Top 5 favourite works of speculative fiction by other writers. At least, her Top 5 from a couple of years ago when we had our interview — her choices may have changed since then.

Be sure to talk to your local bookstore owner or librarian about finding books by the authors on her list. And look for Alex's own stories while you're there.

To find out more about Alex's work, visit her website:
alexcrenwick.com


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 38 - Naomi Novik

Author Naomi Novik joins us for the season 4 finale of Invaders From Planet 3!

Naomi tells us how her love of fantasy and science fiction was born when her mother read Polish fairy tales to her, such as Agnieszka "Piece of the Sky". At the same time, her parents were reading the Disney picture book version of Peter Pan to her, along with Tolkien's The Hobbit, and other works. She tells us how the Polish stories helped create a bond between her and her mother's past, and how her love of Disney's version of Peter Pan got her started down the road to creating her own stories... or, at least commissioning them at that point.

We also talk about the evolution of Naomi's relationship with fan fiction, from reading it in university, to her early days as a writer when she began creating it, to her eventual decision that it was too constraining for a story she wanted to tell: the story of Lawrence and the dragon Temeraire in her breakout Temeraire series of novels. And she talks about how, even after building a career around her own unique stories, she still enjoys writing fanfic.

Naomi also tells us about feeling liberated when the Temeraire series came to an end. And she discusses the importance of having control over a story's ending, right from the start.

Our conversation took place in the impromptu studio of bloginhood in the Dublin convention centre last summer at Worldcon.

To learn more about Naomi and her stories, visit her website:
www.naominovik.com


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 36 - Walter Jon Williams

Author Walter Jon Williams joins us in this episode! We talk about his first loves in science fiction, including Heinlein's Have Spacesuit — Will Travel and John Schealer's Zip-Zip Goes to Venus. And Walter tells us about his evolution as a writer: from feeling the compulsion to write at age 3, to getting a rejection letter from the editor of The New Yorker, to writing historical fiction novels, to getting into sf. He also reflects on the nature of his compulsion to write, including finding a balance between the business needs of writing and the compulsion, and eventually watching the compulsion die.

We also talk about the universe of science fiction publishing, and the change from the days of limited selection to today's huge output of stories, and the challenges of maintaining a sense of what the community is talking about. We discuss Walter's time in the spotlight in the 1980s when his cyberpunk novel Hardwired garnered love and hate. And he shares the story of his involvement in the Wild Cards mosaic superhero novels, including his coining of "toaster" as a derogatory term for androids.

And Walter shares some details from his two newest novels, Quillifer the Knight (published in late 2019), and the latest, as-yet-untitled Praxis novel, due later this year.

Our conversation took place in the impromptu studio of bloginhood in the Dublin convention centre last summer at Worldcon 2019.

To learn more about Walter and his novels, visit his website:
www.walterjonwilliams.net


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!

Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 33 - Cory Doctorow

Author, editor, blogger and activist Cory Doctor joins us for this episode. Cory shares his thoughts on speculative fiction that made an impression on him at an early age, including Doctor Who — and specifically, TV Ontario's presentation of Doctor Who episodes along with introductions by sf legend Judith Merril (who, along with Tanya Huff, would later become one of Cory's mentors) — and Star Wars. He also discusses his ongoing love of the works of Stephen Brust.

We also talk politics, from current affairs in Ontario, to his father's repurposing of Conan stories into "sword and socialism" tales for Cory's daughter. Cory also tells us about how his politics and activism inform his writing. From there, we get into a discussion about his writing process, including his current effort to enhance his ability to revise his work. And we talk about his professional balancing act and how he allocates time to writing, activism, journalism, and other endeavours.

And Cory gives us a look at some of his upcoming stories, including a new Little Brother novel, and a children's picture book called Poesy the Monster Slayer.

Our conversation took place in July, 2019 via a Skype call between Cory's home, and my studio in the Lair of bloginhood, currently located in an abandoned Ewok treetops play set that's missing one of its rope bridges, on the Island of Misfit Toys.

You can read Cory's editorials and find out about his stories and other work on his websites:

craphound.com

and

boingboing.net


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or to subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, or your other favourite podcatching service. Be sure to rate and review us while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 30 - Minister Faust Returns

Author and podcaster Minister Faust returns to lead the Invasion once again in the season 3 finale of Invaders From Planet 3! We talk about The Coyote Kings vs. the Myconauts of Plutonium City — his new, serialized novel — and his plans to unite all of his stories within the single, overarching MFU (the Minister Faust Universe). As part of this, we also discuss why he decided to keep this instalment in the adventures of the Coyotes in the 1990s, rather than bringing our heroes up to date.

Minister also shares some of his thoughts about writing, including mining old, half-developed ideas for material that can be refurbished and combined with other content into something new and compelling; how a writer decides when a story's time has come; and how deciding to publish a new novel as a serial, rather than a single, finished book, is a source of pressure, but also offers a lot of positive opportunities. He talks about the importance of letting the real world provide the conflict in a story, rather than its artificial elements. He discusses how to expand the focus of the story to give supporting characters time at centre stage, without losing the thrust of who the story is really about. And he explores the reality of being a creator in a world where writers (and other artists) have to consider expanding their work into other media platforms, and thus need to always be ready to make a pitch.

Along the way, we talk about the current Golden Age — or Gold Rush, as Minister suggests — of television. We also take time to debate the movie adaptation of The Martian. And we discuss why British TV productions are often more interesting and entertaining than their Hollywood counterparts.
Minister also teases some of his upcoming projects, including a novel about Dread Scott Jahplin (one of the supporting characters in The Coyote Kings vs. the Myconauts of Plutonium City), and a new novel called Shango, God of Thunder City.

Our interview took place in February, 2019, via a Skype connection between his headquarters at The Grand Lodge of Imhotep in Edmonton, and my studio in the lair of bloginhood, currently located beneath a small island in an ornamental duck pond in that new condo development just down the street.

You can learn more about Minister Faust and his stories on his website:
ministerfaust.com

And you can listen to his podcast, MF Galaxy, on various platforms, including his Patreon site:
https://www.patreon.com/mfgalaxy


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 27 - Nalo Hopkinson

Author, editor and professor Nalo Hopkinson joins us for our first episode of 2019. Nalo talks about her first loves in speculative fiction, including Harlan Ellison's "Shattered Like a Glass Goblin", Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain, and Kurt Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House". And she shares what it was like having the freedom to read what she wanted when she was growing up, with her library technician mother loaning Nalo her library card and letting her explore the stacks at work; and her mother and actor/poet/playwright/high school English teacher father letting her choose from their collection of books at home. We also talk about an early reading experience that didn't work out so well: her encounter with an Alfred Hitchcock anthology. And she tells us how her desire to become a writer was first sparked by a collection of Clarion short stories.

Our conversation then turns to the subject of diversity, with Nalo reflecting on Caribbean voices in the stories she encountered growing up. She talks about representation in speculative fiction, and the importance of seeing herself (or the effect of the absence of people like her) in the sf she was reading. She then discusses how this affected her own writing and her choices of how she populates her stories.

Next, we talk about Nalo's experiences working with publishers and artists to get the look of her book covers — and specifically the characters on them — right. She then goes into detail about what this has been like recently in her role as a writer contributing to the expansion of Neil Gaiman's Sandman universe at DC-Vertigo Comics. This leads to an examination of what it's like to step into a world created by another author and to make parts of it her own.

From there we move back to a discussion of what it was like to move from the Caribbean to the US and Canada, and how that shaped Nalo's writing. Here, she also reflects on her time working at Bakka-Phoenix Books, Toronto's sf specialty bookstore. Nalo talks about meeting sf legend Judith Merril during her time in Toronto as well. We also discuss what it's like in her current role teaching sf writing at the University of California Riverside.

Our discussion wraps up with a look at what Nalo's working on for 2019, including more House of Whispers stories for the Sandman comics, and her new novel that's in progress, Blackheart Man.
Our interview took place in October 2018 at the Surrey International Writers' Conference.

You can learn more about Nalo Hopkinson and her stories on her website:
https://nalohopkinson.com/index.html


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 25 - Matthew Hughes

We're joined by author and editor Matthew Hughes in this episode. Matt talks about his first love in sf: Jack Vance's "The Dragon Masters", as well as Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton, along with his discovery of Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury and AE van Vogt. He also discusses some of the historical fiction novelists who influenced him, such as Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece and Rosemary Sutcliff.

Matt talks about being "a guy just passing through" as he shares stories from his early years, starting with an unstable home life where his father, trying to stay one step ahead of money problems, occasionally uprooted the family at a moment's notice — sometimes in the middle of the night to move half-way around the world. There's the story of his teenaged knife fight. And he tells us how taking LSD made him a nicer person.

We also hear about Matt's evolution as a writer, from the teenager writing stories, to the newspaper reporter and editor, to the go-to speechwriter for Canadian federal politicians, their provincial counterparts in BC, and business leaders as well. He talks about his first sale of a fictional story, "Fishface and the Leg", and how he developed his career writing crime stories, and science fiction and fantasy.

Matt also shares details of the new speculative fiction novel he's developing, about a man in his Jack-Vance-Dying-Earth-inspired world who wakes up with amnesia and finds himself on the road to a confrontation with wizards.

Our interview took place in October 2018 at the Vancouver Science Fiction, Fantasy and Games Convention (VCon).

You can learn more about Matthew Hughes and his stories on his website:
https://www.matthewhughes.org

To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!


Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 23 - Mark Barrowcliffe

Author Mark Barrowcliffe (also known under his pen names MD Lachlan and Mark Alder) joins us in this episode.

Mark tells us about his first loves in sf, including Alan Garner, Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea series, Tolkien, Moorcock, and Andre Norton. He talks about his enjoyment of Tolkien and Garner injecting mythology into their fantasy, and Moorcock's ability to challenge his readers by posing difficult questions.

When discussing his own writing, Mark reflects on the exhilaration of letting his characters tell their own story, and how this helps when writing characters that come from different backgrounds than his own. He also shares his thoughts on how his experiences practicing boxing, martial arts and fencing give him insight into the scariness of fighting, and how youthful experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs provided inspiration for writing the unreality of a werewolf's state of mind. And he talks about using the trappings of fantasy in storytelling without descending into escapism, and why it's important to refuse to impose modern sensibilities on characters from other periods in history.

We talk at length about his latest — and final — instalment in the Wolfsangel series, The Night Lies Bleeding. He discusses the difficulties of writing a story set partially in a Nazi concentration camp, his research into some of the prisoners who were kept there, and the story's exploration of the problems faced by characters who try to maintain a distance from the world, and who descend into evil.

We also chat about Mark's experiences with Dungeons & Dragons: from his teenaged years dealing with trolls both in and out of the game's quests, dressing for the part, his ruminations on that period of his life in his book The Elfish Gene, and returning to roleplaying years later.

And Mark gives us some hints about the latest story he's working on: a swashbuckling fantasy about a female fencer in the court of Versailles, inspired by the adventures of a real woman known for her duelling victories and romances.

Our interview took place in June 2018 via a Skype connection between Mark's home in Brighton, UK, and my studios in the Lair of bloginhood, currently located in a century-old, unused plantation irrigation tunnel in a mountain on Kauai.

You can find Mark's books under his various pen names at your local bookstore.

To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!

Let the Invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 19 - Spider Robinson

For the final episode of season 2 of Invaders From Planet 3 (posted on the final day of 2017) we're joined by author, editor, columnist, podcaster and musician Spider Robinson.

As we jump into our conversation, already in progress, Spider shares his thoughts about the loss of his wife and sometime collaborator, Jean; the passing of his daughter; and facing one's own mortality. He recounts his experience of dealing with a medical condition in his youth that caused his lungs to collapse frequently, the painful surgical procedure to cure it, and how listening to a Duke Ellington marathon on the radio got him through it.

On the science fiction front, Spider talks about his longstanding love for the works of Robert A. Heinlein, starting with Rocket Ship Galileo. He also mentions some of his other favourites, ranging from the classics to more recent fare, like James Alan Gardner's All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault.

He also discusses writers' block, and what Theodore Sturgeon once said about an extended break from writing.

My conversation with Spider took place in October 2016 at the Vancouver Science Fiction Convention.

Find out more about Spider Robinson on his website:
www.spiderrobinson.com

To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!


Let the invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 16 - Kelly Robson

In this episode, we're joined by author Kelly Robson. We talk about her first love in the genre, Star Wars — how it was big, exciting and sexy, but also an escape from family drama at home; and what it's like to look back on the movie now as an adult and a professional speculative fiction writer. We talk about other early sf pleasures, like the original Battlestar Galactica; books by Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and others; and the genre magazines of the 70s and 80s. Along the way, we also discuss the early superhero Zorro (and specifically the George Hamilton movie Zorro — The Gay Blade), and why you may have to read Heinlein before a certain age in order to enjoy his stories.

Turning to her own career, Kelly tells us how the Connie Willis story "Blued Moon" reprogrammed her brain and made her want to become a writer. She talks about the positive aspects of starting her career in middle age, and how, despite writing being a selfish line of work, she's still able to be happy as an author married to another author. We also talk about how growing up on a farm in a small town in rural Alberta has influenced her work.

As well, we discuss Kelly's unique suggestion to resolve the Sad/Rabid Puppies controversy that wracked the Hugo Awards in 2015 and 2016.

And Kelly tells us about some of her recent stories, including "A Human Stain" on Tor.com, and her contribution to the Kickstarter project NASTY — Fetish Erotica for a Good Cause.

Our interview took place in December 2016 via a Skype connection between Kelly's home in Toronto, and my studio in the Lair of bloginhood, located in the rafters of an abandoned whisky distillery in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find out more about Kelly Robson on her website:
kellyrobson.com

To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!


Let the invasion begin!

Invaders From Planet 3 - Ep 13 - Matt Ruff

Author Matt Ruff joins us in this episode, where he talks about how books like Bertrand R. Brinley's The Mad Scientists' Club made him fall in love with scientific thinking and science fictional ideas. He also tells us how being given a box of Robert A. Heinlein's adult books at the age of 9 got him thinking critically about stories, and how they could be written better. And he discusses other influences over the years, such as Stephen King, John Crowley's Little, Big, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.

Matt shares his thoughts on writing, including how to know when something is written well, crafting stories that are in conversation with the works of other authors, and why he doesn't like to go back over the same ground. We also talk about a trope he frequently explores in his stories: the challenges of dealing with power — getting on in a world where power imbalances exist.

This leads us into a discussion about Matt's latest work: his mosaic novel Lovecraft Country, about an African-American family in the 1950s dealing with the supernatural machinations of a Lovecraftian cult, as well as the day-to-day horrors of racism in the U.S. Matt talks about confronting the racism and sexism in Lovecraft's work. He also shares this thoughts about the importance of doing a good job on the writing, and of finding common ground, as a white author writing about African-Americans. And we talk about last week's announcement that Jordan Peele, Misha Green, and J.J. Abrams will be producing a Lovecraft Country series for HBO, and how he's okay with adaptations and letting TV writers play with his ideas.

Our interview took place in May 2017 at Matt's home in Seattle.

Find out more about Matt Ruff on his website:
bymattruff.com


To listen to Invaders From Planet 3, or subscribe, visit Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast and Spotify. Be sure to rate and review the show while you're there!



Let the invasion begin!