Timothy C. Ward invited super-fan, Sarah Chorn, and the wonderful reviewer behind Bookworm Blues to interview Hugo Award winning author, Elizabeth Bear, who just recently finished her ETERNAL SKY trilogy. And the wonderful people at Tor are offering a giveaway of the entire trilogy to one winner with a mailing address in US or Canada. AISFP has added to the pool with a second winner getting their choice of any book in the trilogy as an ebook. Tim recently reviewed Range of Ghosts.
Eternal Sky Trilogy by Elizabeth Bear
Giveaway details:
Ends at 11:59 PM 5/5/14. To enter, sign up for our newsletter (This is the easiest way to get our podcasts as well as not miss out on our website content. There will be plenty more giveaways to our subscribers.)
Here are some of the discussion points:
What were some of the things she needed to have down before she started writing her stories?
“Abjure the Realm” at Coyote Wild (free!), her attempt to “take the piss out of Celtic Fantasy”
What kinds of goods are traded on the Silk Road (question by Paul Weimer).
Her Steampunk Western with Sewing Machine Mecas.
Her third Iskryne novel, An Apprentice to Elves. (sequel to Tempering of Men and Companion to Wolves)
How long it takes her to write a book.
Why she can’t follow advice on how to write a book. )39m mark
The burnouts she’s had.
What she does to get the work done on days when writing is not what she wants to do.
What challenges she faces as a female writer of science fiction and fantasy. (harder to get reviewed as a woman; overseas markets that are male-dominated…)
Expanding your reading horizon to different genders and nationalities.
Avoiding being pigeonholed as an author. *And her trick about creating unique plots. (Undertow, her Oceans Eleven meets Little Fuzzy, caper novel)
Tips to keeping your characters from being cliche.
“There’s a thing that really bugs me in a lot of fiction where characters are too consistent… predictable; the cryptic wizard is always cryptic; real people aren’t tidy like that; you can live with someone for forty years and they can still surprise you.” Elizabeth Bear (~56 min mark)
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Timothy C. Ward
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This was a great podcast. Thanks, Tim and Sarah! Elizabeth Bear’s work has been on my radar for a while, and I think her Eternal Sky series is just what this tired fantasy reader needs. Fans of this series ought to also check out K.V. Johansen’s silk road fantasy, Blackdog, which is a beautiful novel.
Thanks Jordan! K.V.’s The Leopard comes out in June, and I’m hoping to get her on the show and review it (is that one you’d like?).
Already got it and reading it.