"I reached the point where I was just kind of done with me."— Jeff Brown
Jeff Brown doesn't have the guru look. That's all good, he'd deny the guru label, and to an extent, it's not quite applicable. Still, he writes in the guru genre. You publish a book of spiritually oriented advice called 'Soulshaping,' and you've got to be ready for the kind of accolades that are two nudges south of stalking. It should surprise nobody however, that this Canadian ex-lawyer, whose first inspiration was a Canadian lawyer who advertised on TV, is a lot more down-to-earth than you’d expect.
Just as the grammatical implications of the similarities between the words "nuclear" and "unclear" should alarm us, the similarities between the words "warrior" and "worrier" should likewise amuse us. Brown calls himself a warrior spirit / archetype, but he was brought up in a fractious Jewish family environment, so there's a good deal of worrier in this warrior. That sort of neurotic, entertaining self-deprecation goes a long way when you’re dispensing life guidance in a book titled 'Soulshaping.'
I spoke with Brown in the back office of Gateways Books and Gifts about 40 minutes before the incense-laden air of the store induced a terrific coughing fit. Oh I'll cave, I probably would have had a coughing fit anyway and furthermore, if there's not some part of my soul responsible for my hack attacks, then it just isn't doing its job.
And Gateways is a superb book and gift store. It's got a huge, warm space with lots of books and all the accoutrements required by those embarking on a spiritual quest. If, as the Firesign Theatre suggests, there's a seeker born every minute, then they're in the right business.
I liked Brown's story, and his tone. He sets the pedestals aside and admits that whatever sort of solution you seek, you'd better include the real world. He's likes to make up words, like "enrealment," his take on enlightenment, since he found that getting close to reality didn't always involve sweetness and light. Not a surprise he was a lawyer.
01-28-10: Alan Beatts of Borderlands Books: Opening the Borderlands Café and the iPad
Borderlands' famous mascot Ripley the cat rests on the iMac.
Borderlands Books is one of the premiere bookstores in San Francisco, especially for genre fiction fans. If there's an author worth hearing coming through town, chances are you will them at Borderlands. Now, Borderlands has opened up a new café next door.
I gave Alan Beatts a call to find out just how hard this process was, since book stores have to be smart and innovative to stay in business these days. Beatts has a lot of luck on his side, most of it his making. He'd been a tenant in his building in San Francisco for a long time, he knew the owner, but still – we are talking about San Francisco, and the permitting process problems there are legendary. His story is great stuff, a fascianting tale of how booksellers are staying in business.
Of course, we also talked about the release of the iPad today, which may well prove to be rather apocalyptic so far as booksellers like Alan are concerned. He had some pretty strong thoughts about this, shocking almost. You can hear his vision of the present café and the future of bookselling by following this link to the MP3 audio file.
01-27-10: An Interview with Jeff Carlson at SF in SF on January 16, 2010
"The bad guys never consider themselves the bad guys"— Jeff Carlson
Some writers seem to be natural self-salesmen, and Jeff Carlson is a prime example. It's not that he's really trying to sell himself. It's that he doesn't have to. Carlson is just chock full of energy. He's the kind of guy who, if he wasn't a writer, would get told a lot — "You need to write a book, dude!"
Well, Carlson's taken care of that little non-problem by writing not one, not two, but three books, a nice taut trilogy in which he starts off by killing most of us. For a guy who deals out death like yesterday's newspapers (and today's, and tomorrow's for that matter), Carlson is irrepressibly cheerful in a way that is not cloying.
Carlson couldn't wait to pose in front of the Kung-Fu Panda, because that's as big deal in his house. He's got kids the right age, and to a certain extent he is still a kid that age himself. I think it's going to be hard for most listeners not to want to buy up his books when they hear this interview. His enthusiasm is, unsurprisingly for a guy who killed off humanity with a nano-tech plague, infectious. You can get infected by following this link the MP3 audio file.
01-26-10: An Interview with Nancy Etchemendy at SF in SF on January 16, 2010
"We told a lot of stories in the family." Nancy Etchemendy
I guess that quote can come as no surprise to readers. It is ever true that writers grow up in families that tell stories. Now, Nancy Etchemendy had a special talent and special circumstance; an easily-scared sister. That's a recipe not just for a writer, but a writer of horror fiction.
And accordingly, readers with good recent memories will note that Etchemendy's name has appeared on ballots for the Bram Stoker Award (which she won) and the "IHG" award, which she also won. I managed to sit down with Etchemendy at SF in SF when she appeared with Jeff Carlson, and to talk to her about her roots as a writer, as well as her inclinations to write both YA and horror fiction.
Jasper Fforde is relentlessly modest. That's not easy to pull off, but he manages to remain cheerful, sincere and most importantly of all, sort of goofy, even when he's discussing a dystopia that is happy, fluffy, well-dressed and terrifyingly stultifying.
His latest novel is 'Shades of Grey: The Road to High Vermillion Saffron,' and yes it is a distinct departure from the utterly original fantasy (?) — I'm not sure how you would pigeonhole books like 'The Eyre Affair.' Actually, I am sure. You'd point at them and say "That's by Jasper Fforde."
Fforde's latest, 'Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron,' is a distinct departure for him, in that it is quite clearly characterizable, even if it is not easily recognizable, as science fiction. Once you read it, you'll figure that out, but going in, if you go in as cold as I recommend, which means ignoring the jacket flap, it seems very much like a ... Jasper Fforde novel. It's got a sweet first-person narrator and a friendly, romantic tone, even though it is positively bursting with weirdness. Fforde told me in our interview that in his previous novels, he'd used a lot of public domain characters, and he felt that he'[d sort of, well – cheated. Most of his readers would say otherwise, but it is tough to fight the relentless modesty. And Fforde is just the sort who can pull off an oxymoron like "relentless modesty."
Ah, but he told me that when he decided to write 'Shades of Grey,' he want to do what he called, "some proper novelling," a phrase that shall henceforth enter this language just as is. We talked quite a bit about the dystopian nature of the novel, which, for a charming, funny and entertaining novel is counter-intuitive. But then, we are talking about – and with – Jasper Fforde.
Here's the layout of this podcast. You're going to get three readings, two of which Fforde introduces in his own inimitable manner, and the third just rolled out without fanfare. Then you're going to hear an interview that lasts just a snippet over an hour. Generally, in the past, I've split such interviews and come the end of the week, I may wish I'd split this one, but count today as your lucky day and follow this link to the MP3 audio file.
New to the Agony Column
07-30-10: Commentary : Subterranean Press and Robert R. McCammon Wake at 'The Wolf's Hour' : The Time Before Cheese
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books with Alan Cheus : Allegra Goodman, 'The Cookbook Collector,' Noam Shpancer's 'The Good Psychologist' and Elie Wiesel 'The Sonderberg Case'
07-28-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space 2 : En Route, RJ Frith and Peter F. Hamilton
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010: Q & A : "The people you deal with at the publishers ... if they last the end of the week, you're lucky."
07-27-10: Commentary : Rule Britannia, In Space : UK Space Opera Demonstrates Excess is Not Enough (Part one, the Arrived)
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Brian and Wendy Froud at SF in SF on Monday, July 19, 2010 : "Well, I thought if I do faeries then nobody's going to say that I've got it wrong."
07-26-10: Commentary : Brian and Wendy Froud Seek 'The Heart of Faerie Oracle' : Cards, Books and a New Perspective
07-20-10: Commentary : Adam Elenbaas is Caught by 'Fishers of Men' : The Gospel of an Ayahuasca Vision Quest
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, July 10, 2010 : Alan Cheuse and Peter S. Beagle : "There are certain phrases I'm leery of using; one's "the creative process" and the other is "inspiration." ” Peter S. Beagle "Habit is the best thing for you if you're trying to write prose." ” Alan Cheuse
07-19-10: Commentary : Phil Cousineau is the 'Wordcatcher' : A Selectionary for Curious Mind
07-09-10: Commentary : Harlan Ellison's 'Deathbird Stories' : Back from the Dead and Ready to Party
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Everything by Kevin Canty, The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, and Glorious by Bernice McFadden
07-07-10: Commentary : Kitchen Testing 'The New Vegetarian Epicure' and 'Get Cooking' : Lentil Power
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part Two : "'You should really write a cookbook,' and I thought, 'Yeah, that's a good idea...'"
07-06-10: Commentary : Anna Thomas Cooks Up 'Love Soup' : Recipes, Menus and Meals
Agony Column Podcast News Report : The Agony Column Live, June 26, 2010 : Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, Part One : Time to Get Cooking Because You Love Soup : "It makes a huge difference really, really, it does, to completely clean up when you're done."
07-05-10: Commentary : Abraham Verghese Will Not Be 'Cutting for Stone' : Stories of Spirit and Words of Comfort
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Abraham Verghese : "Literature has a wonderful ability to restore your imagination for the suffering of others."
07-02-10: Commentary : Sloane Crosley Asks 'How Did Get This Number' : Excellent Essays for the Short of Temper
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Live Interview With Sloane Crosley : We Did Not Mention the Title of Her Essay 'Fuck You, Columbus'
06-30-10: Commentary : Mark Charan Newton Enters 'City of Ruin' : Inspector Jeryd Rides Again
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Panel Discussion at SF in SF on June 12, 2010, with Seanan McGuire, Deborah Grabien and Terry Bisson : "Coke Black was just a horrible thing unleashed on an unsuspecting world."
06-29-10: Commentary : 'Twelve,' 'Thirteen,' Tongues of Serpents,' and 'The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack' : Historical SF & Horror Makes Rousing Summer Reading
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Seanan McGuire Interviewed at SF in SF, June 12, 2010 : "If I have my unbreakables, I can set my conditionals."
06-28-10: Commentary : Jennifer Egan Gets 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' : Revisiting the Novel Genre
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Jennifer Egan : "The characters and the action led the way... I was led into the future not so much because I was thinking, 'I want to write about the future,' but more because I wanted to re-visit this particular person."
06-23-10: Commentary : Adam Langer Corrals 'The Thieves of Manhattan' : Lies, Balderdash and the Absolute, Unvarnished Truth
06-21-10: Commentary : Linda Greenlaw is 'Seaworthy' : Back to the Grand Banks in Not-So-Grand Style
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Linda Greenlaw : "Well, I call him up and tell him I'm going to the Grand Banks and he pretty much signs himself right up."
06-17-10: Commentary : Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud Lives 'A Life on Paper' : Translating the Ineffable
06-15-10: Commentary : Donald R. Burleson Whispers 'Wait for the Thunder' : Stories for a Stormy Night
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : Lucyby Laurence Gonzalez, Spies of the Balkansby Alan Furst, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
06-14-10: Commentary : James P. Othmer Drinks the 'Holy Water' : Backing Into the Future
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2009 Interview with Juliet Schor : "...We need to move to much more open, collaborative, sharing knowledge systems."
06-10-10: Commentary : Brett Easton Ellis Peers Inside 'Imperial Bedrooms' : Panic After the Year Zero
06-09-10: Commentary : Dan Dion and Paul Provenza Free the '!Satiristas!' : Bleeding the Comedians
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Conversation with Paul Provenza and Dan Dion : "I was raised to respect the printed word so much, when I was in school, I couldn't highlight books..."
06-08-10: Commentary : China Miéville Unleashes 'Kraken' : Comedy of Tentacles
06-03-10: Commentary : Justin Cronin Enters 'The Passage' : A girl who saves the world
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Three Books With Alan Cheuse : The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer, The Passage by Justin Cronin
06-02-10: Commentary : 'Animythical Tales' by Sarah Totton and 'Metrophilias' by Brendan Connell : Better Seeds
06-01-10: Commentary : The Return of The Agony Column : Logic, License and Habit
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2010 Interview with Karl Marlantes : "..these are common human foibles and failings, it's just that they get magnified in a combat, war situation..."
