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Gordon
Van Gelder
09-04-09: F&SF 60 Years: The Interview Marathon, Part Three: Gordon Van Gelder, Ellen Klages, Gene Wolfe, Charles de Lint

And thus, we get to the nub of the matter. Gordon Van Gelder, the current editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, speaks to the 60-year legacy he did not just inherit — he bought the magazine. It was something of a revelation.

And not just Gordon Van Gelder, but Ellen Klages, one of those writers whose careers materialized in the pages of F&SF; Gene Wolfge, a legend in any evaluation of the written word and Charles de Lint, who provides the perspective of not just a fiction writer, but also as a critic for the magazine. This was a wonderful experience, and I send my thanks to all involved, particularly Tachyon Publications, Jacob and Rina Weisman, and again, to Jill Roberts. The final file can be fond at this link.



09-03-09: F&SF 60 Years: The Interview Marathon, Part Two: Jeffrey Ford, John Kessel and Delia Sherman

Setting up a series of interviews to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is easier said than done. In order to make this happen, in a single three-hour stretch, I was fortunate to have the help of Jill Roberts, of Tachyon Publications. Frankly, I was harried enough just trying to get through the three-hour stretch. Jill took care of all the details, the administrivia that is anything but trivial.

It's not easy to get together this sort of schedule set up. Eleven interviewees, spread across the nation make for a difficult maze. Time zones and daylight savings time start to seem pretty random once you get outside your own. My late morning is someone ele's late afternoon. But in the end, Jill did manage to get me set up with all the writers. And even if the questions are programmed, the responses certainly aren't. You can hear my interview with Jeffrey Ford, John Kessel and Delia Sherman by following this link to the MP3 audio file.



09-02-09: F&SF 60 Years: The Interview Marathon, Part One : Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Swanwick, and M. Rickert

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year. This is something that not just noteworthy in the genre. I suspect this may be the longest running fiction magazine period — if not, it's damn close. In any event, it is certainly worth celebrating.

How do you celebrate 60 years of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There's a book involved, but we'll get to that on Friday. Today, we're going to talk about my marathon interview schedule, wherein on a single day, I did eleven interviews? I'll have to count 'em as I podcast them. The format was simple; I called up a variety of writers who had been published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction over the years, and asked them a small slate of questions. If it sounds easy, it isn't. I've got just about an hour and half of audio, so you can hook up with the first part here. This part includes interviews with Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Swanwick, and M. Rickert.



Sam Farr
09-01-09: A Conversation with Congressman Sam Farr, (D-Carmel, CA) :

The Health Care Customer's Bill of Rights


"I'm for the single payer."
        —Congressman Sam Farr

It's pretty amazing what you can do in this country, if you set your mind to it.You can take a 40-minute drive from your home, drop in on your Congressman (or Congresswoman), and have a chat about health care reform.

Of course, I was a lucky guy in this regard. My Congressman is Sam Farr, a veteran of the contentious California legislature who has been in the United States House of Representatives since 1993. He makes himself available to citizens, in the usual town hall meetings and in other situations as well. While I was waiting in his office, I overheard calls from his constituents, who asked about home loans, and one who visited getting some forms signed. These were not the hoi polloi. They were average folks like myself.

Before I sat down to talk with Farr, I went through the document on his website that his very helpful DC minder pointed out, a section by section analysis of the
America's Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200) (link to full 1,000-page document, surprisingly fast). Given all that I've heard about the bill, this document was a real eye-opener. It is indeed, pretty much in plain language and relatively comprehensible. And when you read through it, you'll find that it is not a plan for socialist revolution, but rather a series of regulations for an industry that is currently under-regulated and understandably wishes to stay that way.

Congressman Farr broke it all down with me in simple language that revealed this to be a Health Care Customer's Bill of Rights. That's it in a nutshell. Farr is a smart man who is doing the right thing as a member of Congress. You can hear just how smart he is by following this link to the MP3 audio file of our conversation.



08-31-09: A 2009 Interview With Lev Grossman

"... it was all about reading to me; it was about that moment when you're sitting in your room and you open a book and suddenly, you're not in your room anymore."
        — Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is a tried and true reader. Not surprising, since he's the book reviewer for Time Magazine. But there are readers — and there are readers who take the act of reading seriously, deeply, immersively. Grossman is the latter, and he's a man who takes his fantasy literature seriously, seriously enough to write 'The Magicians,' a fantasy novel about fantasy literature; a ripping yarn with a meta-fictional backbeat. It's now a national bestseller. Congratulations!

Lev Grossman
I like a writer who takes his fantasy literature seriously, and Grossman had a lot to say about both the fantasy foreground and the metafictional backbeat when we talked in hotel room while he was here in San Francisco to promote the novel. If you get a chance to see him, do so. levgrossman.com He's an omnivorous reader who knows that the reading experience is much more powerful than is often presumed. He thinks about reading, and that made our conversation particularly rewarding.

Grossman also takes his fantasy fiction seriously, and we had a delightful conversation about C. S. Lewis and the Narnia books. And we also talked about his work for Time Magazine, where he managed to foist off George R. R. Martin and video games onto a corporate culture that approximated mainstream American culture circa 1972. I'll let Lev Grossman tell his own story, which you can hear by following this link to the MP3 audio file.



New to the Agony Column

04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 202: Kazuo Ishiguro : The Buried Giant

04-17-15: Commentary : Erik Larson Follows a 'Dead Wake' : Countdown to Destiny

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Erik Larson : " "...said to have been found in the arms of a dead German sailor..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 201: Erik Larson : Dead Wake

04-15-15: Commentary : Peter Bell Reflects 'A Certain Slant of Light' : Strange Stories of Modern Scholars

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Peter Bell : "...I looked up some of the old books..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 200: Peter Bell : Strange Epiphanies and A Certain Slant of Light

03-14-15: Commentary : Marc Goodman Foresees 'Future Crimes' : Exponential Potential

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It

03-01-15: Commentary : William Ury on Getting to Yes with Yourself: And Other Worthy Opponents : To the BATNA, Robin!

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William Ury : ...he proceeded to shout at me for approximately 30 minutes..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 198: William Ury : Getting to Yes with Yourself: And Other Worthy Opponents

02-22-15: Commentary : Jennifer Senior Experiences 'All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood' : Reading Fun for the Whole Fambly!

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jennifer Senior : "...it becomes a source of enormous tension once a baby comes along..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 197: Jennifer Senior : All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood

02-09-15: Commentary : Stewart O'Nan Looks 'West of Sunset' : Twilight of the Great

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Stewart O'Nan : "...we see him as a tragedian because is life is a tragedy..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 196: Stewart O'Nan : West of Sunset

02-04-15: Commentary : Armistead Maupin Maps 'The Days of Anna Madrigal' : Swiftly Flow the Years

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Armistead Maupin : "I could see what silliness was going on while it was happening..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 195: Armistead Maupin : The Days of Anna Madrigal

01-31-15: Commentary : Christine Carter's Path to 'The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work' : Neurohabits

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Christine Carter, Ph.D. : "...a real tipping point..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 194: Christine Carter, Ph.D. : The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work

01-23-15: Commentary : Jake Halpern Pushes 'Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld' : Non-Fiction 21st Century Noir

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Jake Halpern : "...he goes to Las Vegas to this debt-buyers' convention..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 193: Jake Halpern : Bad Paper: Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld

01-19-15: Commentary : David Shields and Caleb Powell Assert 'I Think You're Totally Wrong' : The Power to Bicker

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with David Shields and Caleb Powell : "I read no book reviews any more; the level of discussion is really pedestrian." David Shields "I'm just saying it's a conflict of interest!" Caleb Powell

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 192: David Shields and Caleb Powell : I Think You're Totally Wrong

01-17-15: Commentary : Charles Todd Expects 'A Fine Summer's Day' : We Interrupt This Program...

Commentary : Charles Todd Engages In 'A Test of Wills' : The Politics of Passion and Policing

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Charles and Caroline Todd : "...let them be themselves and sort it out..." Caroline Todd "...it's more on a personal level..." Charles Todd

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 191: Charles Todd : A Fine Summer's Day

01-13-15: Commentary : Rosalie Parker Unearths 'The Old Knowledge' : The New Old World

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker : "I thought I'd write something for fun.." Ray Russell "..there was a side of me of that was interested in the strangeness..." Ros Parker

01-12-15: Commentary : Richard Ford 'Let Me Be Frank with You' : The Default Years

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Richard Ford : "...most of our politicians are morons..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 190: Richard Ford : Let Me Be Frank with You

01-06-15: Commentary : Bessel van der Kolk 'The Body Keeps the Score' : Human Trauma

Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2014 Interview with Bessel van der Kolk : "...being able to see what happens in the brain really helps us to understand certain things..."

Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 189: Bessel van der Kolk : The Body Keeps the Score

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