L.E. Modesitt, Jr., is the best-selling author of several fantasy and science fiction series, and a name you can’t get through any bookstore’s SFF section without encountering.  I am only familiar with his work on the Imager Portfolio.  From the first book it became one of my favorite fantasy series, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about the books with him.  While I did get some great insight into certain elements in the series, the discussion somehow veered off into cultural territory that I found even more fascinating.  Note on that:  I’m breaking from my usual interviewing presentation and leaving my responses intact, even when they are long, because I’m not sure his answers would make sense without my set-ups.  That being said, I hope you enjoy the perspective!

Elena Nola

Elena Nola is the imperial movie critic and the colder half of the Ladies of Ice and Fire.

Sharon Shinn is the author of nearly two dozen fantasy novels, including the bestselling Twelve Houses and Samaria series.  She has won the William C. Crawford Award for Outstanding New Fantasy Writer and was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Elena Nola

Elena Nola is the imperial movie critic and the colder half of the Ladies of Ice and Fire.

Mark Charan Newton is an urban fantasy author who’s currently two novels into his writing career and, judging by the sheer tonnage of critical acclaim which now includes a place in Library Journal’s top 5 best SF/F of 2010, is only just getting warmed up. For those of you already familiar with his work, Nights of Villjamur and City of Ruin, I suspect he needs no introduction…but I’m going to do it anyway.

Phillip Sobel

Phillip is an Existential Psychotherapist and Teacher by day and a writer, gamer and all round geek in the hours of darkness. He claims to be enjoying the creative process enormously and secretly harbours the hope of publishing a novel one day…

This one’s for those of you who like to know what goes on before the book falls off the bookstore shelf into your hands.  Lou Anders is the editorial director of Pyr books, as well as being the man behind many anthologies on a wide variety of topics.  Over the past week or so I’ve had the pleasure of picking his brain about how he chooses manuscripts, how he builds anthologies, what he sees as the current state of science fiction and fantasy, and more.  If you’re a young editor, or someone trying to break into the field as a writer, or just someone who’s curious about the publishing industry from an insider’s perspective, be sure to read this interview!

Elena Nola

Elena Nola is the imperial movie critic and the colder half of the Ladies of Ice and Fire.

Lynn Kurland is the author of the Nine Kingdoms romantic fantasy series, as well as a best-selling romance author.  For all my love of dark, bloodspurting, knights who say–er, frak–fantasy, I also love the lighter side of fairy-tale, love-story high fantasy, so this series fits right in to one of my reading sweet spots.  I enjoyed the chance to ask Lynn some questions about how this series came about, what’s been most different for her in switching between genres, how far the story might go, and more.  Keep reading to find out what she had to say!

Elena Nola

Elena Nola is the imperial movie critic and the colder half of the Ladies of Ice and Fire.

Shana Abé is a bestselling author normally found in the Romance section, but whose latest books are fantasy (or at least fairy tale) crossovers.  She’s also a personal favorite of mine–verify on our favorites page, if you doubt–and has just finished up her fabulous historical-fiction shapeshifter series that started with 2006’s The Smoke Thief and continued through five books to last month’s The Time Weaver.  I was beyond pleased when she agreed to an interview and completed my trifecta of conversations with my favorite writers.

Elena Nola

Elena Nola is the imperial movie critic and the colder half of the Ladies of Ice and Fire.

Our guest this week is Brent Weeks, author of The Night Angel Trilogy, recently published by Orbit Books.  Unless something changes in the next few weeks before the end of the year, The Way of Shadows will be my favorite book of the year. Not since Wes Unseld (NBA Players for the Bullets), in 1969, have I seen a rookie that has put together such a strong first showing.  Brent was a great fellow and even as I pull off an embarrassing interviewer faux pas and asked him pretty much the same question twice, and he answers them both, what a guy.  Now without further delay, let us all welcome Brent Weeks.

Damon Cap

One of the partners/admins here at the site. We do what we want.

My guest this week recently saw her debut novel Melusine released. A gifted short story writer who has forthcoming projects in an anthology by Ace in February titled The Queen of Winter with a story in the Melusine setting, and the sequel to Melusine, The Virtu scheduled for July of 2006.

I really enjoyed reading Melusine and I want to thank Ms. Monette for accepting my invitation as we talk Melusine, a passion for short stories, Tolkien, her future work and more.

Jay Tomio

protoculture hoarding, devil fruit eating, chilling in a house of leaves. Catch me @biglob

Today we present an interview with novelist Paul Kearney the author of series like Monarchies of God and Sea Beggars among other books. His most recent work is soon to be published by Solaris and entitled The Ten Thousand.

Damon Cap

One of the partners/admins here at the site. We do what we want.

I was finally able to get in touch with Irene, as she has a very busy schedule. This interview was all prompted from meeting Irene at last year’s New York Comic Con where I think I interrupted her lunch. Being the courteous person that I am, I figured I would let her finish lunch and track her down a bit later. That bit later took some stalking on my part and some annoying emails. I think Irene ended up finishing this interview just so I would not bother her anymore. All joking aside though I am very happy to introduce Irene Gallo, the Art director for Tor, Forge, and Starscape Books. I also want to thank Nicole Cardiff, one of my favorite young fantasy artists, who helped me with the questions for this interview.

Damon Cap

One of the partners/admins here at the site. We do what we want.

The Mirrored Heavens by debut author David J. Williams is described by Stephen Baxter as “Tom Clancy interfacing Bruce Sterling.”  Williams combines future technology and espionage with a richly imagined political climate, with action and mordant humor to spare. The main characters–the Razor (hacker) Claire Haskell and the Mech (assassin) Jason Marlowe hunt the terrorist group Autumn Rain through virtual and real worlds, not sure who to trust–even their own memories. The book is a rollercoaster ride, but Williams’ future is grimy and intense–this isn’t shiny new gadgets–and there is a serious exploration of the clash between the developing world and the first world.

Mr. Williams, fellow DC dweller and my occasional drinking buddy, graciously agreed to be interviewed for Boomtron.

Craig_Gidney

Author of SEA, SWALLOW ME (2008), BEREFT (2013) & SKINDEEPMAGIC (Summer 2014). Lammy Finalist, Moonbeam Bronze Award, Silver IPPY Award

Jim C. Hines began writing in the early 90s, while working on a degree in psychology from Michigan State University. For many years, he focused on short fiction. His work has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, Sword and Sorceress XXI, and over thirty other magazines and anthologies.

Maria

Maria is the author of a few short stories, including the anthology Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom. She enjoys reading, cooking, gardening and forums. Stop by her website, BearMountainBooks.com and say hello.

On November 10th (2007) best selling author Paul S. Kemp joined us live for a chat in our chat room. Kemp has written several books perhaps most notable those featuring the adventures of his creation, Erevis Cale, in the Forgotten Realms setting. He also wrote an installment of the R.A. Salvatore presented War of the Spider Queen series, Resurrection, bringing it to a conclusion.

Damon Cap

One of the partners/admins here at the site. We do what we want.

The extremely talented author James Rollin is with me today to talk about his latest Sigma Force novel, the 7th in the series, The Devil Colony. Was America originally supposed to have 14 instead of 13 colonies? Who is a largely forgotten Founding Father whom you probably have never heard about in school? Did the Lost Tribes of Israel make it to America and settle here? From the dark secret origins of the United States to cutting edge nanotechnology, the action-packed and suspenseful novel The Devil Colony might be the best Sigma Force book yet!

I intend to get to the bottom of this and find out the answers to these and even more Burning Questions by water boarding–er, I mean interviewing James Rollins. Will there be any broken bones? I can’t promise that, for legal reasons. You’ll just have to read the following interview to find out for yourselves!

Douglas Cobb

Professor Crazy here! I have obtained degrees from numerous colleges & universities both Major and Minor, with an emphasis on all of the Various & Sundry schools of Thought & Discipline.
I majored in Rhetoric at the University of Illinois, obtained a Master’s degree in English at Arizona State University In Tempe, AZ., and another Master’s in Secondary Education at UALR, in Little Rock, AR.
Then, there are the years I spent with the Swedish Bikini Team, touring throughout Europe…fond memories, those…especially that time in Amsterdam….