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You might remember our great interview with Stephen Graham Jones and also my recent book review of his newest collection, Bleed into Me. Well, seems I’m not alone in my admiration of this collection. I heard from a pretty reliable source that the collection has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner award. I’m trying to get [...]

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It’s 93 degrees, with high humidity that chokes like a punch in the throat. I sit in the car, sweating, unable to turn on the ignition, just needing to digest. Part of me wants to call every friend I know and another part of me wants to go mute, to withhold speech for days, just [...]

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The discussion of just getting started writing, don’t wait, don’t talk, just jump in, is a perfect segue into this week’s interview. I thought it might be interesting to talk to artists in other art forms and see how their lives, frustrations, and aspirations parallel those of authors. I’ve always been a guitar lunatic and [...]

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One day in the fall of 2004, I sent out four communications to different editors. Here’s what happened: –I mailed query letters and writing samples to the editor of a Midwestern university press and an editor at a university press on the west coast. In both cases, I followed the submission guidelines exactly and included [...]

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John here. I know this is dangerous, but I need some good authors. I’m now an editor/purchaser for APress and am looking for some good authors who can write about technology with a bit of fun. I am looking for two types of books: hobby/cool books – Robots, rockets, wireless junk, in-car computers… DIY stuff. [...]

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One of my favorite literary experiences was sitting in Off Square Books, as the darkness settled outside, and hearing George Saunders read Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz. I hadn’t read his collection, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, yet but everyone else raved about it and after the reading, I knew why. This story is undoubtedly one of [...]

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One of the problems with reading so much is, simply, that you read so much. It’s easy to fall into a rhythm where nothing is exciting, where the books you finish is kind of like munching on saltine crackers, no real taste exactly, no real excitement, just swallow it, take a sip of water, and [...]

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There’s nothing like talking to an old friend. Or maybe not a friend per se but someone who came from your same small town. Or someone who worked the same job you did. You reminisce about past experiences and you remind each other of the great things you’ve forgotten. Interviewing Cynthia Shearer was like sharing [...]

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I must admit a little bit of hero worship here. Years ago, when I first started trying to build a writing career, I heard the old bit of advice to look at my favorite authors and find who their editors and agents are. I don’t remember where I read that adage or if someone told [...]

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Earlier this year, Publishers Weekly mentioned five books that were contenders to the Da Vinci throne. One of those titles was The Third Translation by Matt Bondurant. There were a couple of things that caught my attention about this author and made him stand out in my mind from the usual marketing hyperbole. First, he [...]

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It is clear that God, or fate, or destiny, or whatever force you believe in has marked John McManus as a writer. His life is too full of serendipitous events, coincidences that defy logic, and having doors opened when he didn’t even know there was a portal there. In anyone else’s life, this would just [...]

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A veterinarian by trade, James Rollins has been writing adventure novels for several years now. Author of Subterranean, Amazonia, Ice Hunt, Sandstorm, Deep Fathom, and Excavation, Rollins left behind the vet business some years ago and now focuses on writing his bestselling novels. Most recently, he has attracted a lot of attention for his newest [...]

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I listed Pat Walsh as an editor because that’s his “day job.” But he’s also the author of a great how-to guide entitled 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might that hits the stores today. He also recently signed a deal for a second book with [...]

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Stephen Graham Jones is the rarest of creatures: a true artist who can discuss his craft without getting bogged down in the artistic bullshit. He knows the nuts-and-bolts of writing, and as a Ph.D. and current college professor, he also knows the highbrow aspects as well. Author of Fast Red Road: A Plainsong, The Bird [...]

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