Last week I posted about classic SF writers in SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS! MARTIAN OCTOPODS!: INTERVIEWS WITH SCIENCE FICTION LEGENDS Edited by Richard Wolinsky (you can read my review here). This week, I’m posting about a more current group of Science Fiction writers like John Crowley, Samuel R. Delany, Karen Joy Fowler, Elizabeth Hand, Nano Hopkinson, James Patrick Kelly (no relation), John Kissel, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Lethem, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Norman Spinrad, and John Shirley.
The interviews with all these writers spark plenty of controversy and conversation. I was most interested in the revealing aspects of how many of these writers got started in their profession and what “propelled them on their artistic journeys.”
The Outspoken and the Incendiary also is a tribute to Terry Bisson, who died on January 10, 2024 (age 81 years) in Berkeley, CA. Bisson’s years of interviews produced a living chronicle of where SF was headed. If you’re a Science Fiction fan, you’ll find The Outspoken and the Incendiary both enlightening and entertaining. I learned a lot from this book! GRADE: A
Table of Contents
Foreword: Nisi Shawl — xi
Introduction: Jonathan Lethem — 1
Eleanor Arnason “At the Edge of the Future” — 3
Terry Bisson (interviewed by T. B. Calhoun) “Fried Green Tomatoes” — 23
Michael Blumlein “A Babe in the Woods” — 35
John Crowley “I Did Crash a Few Parties” — 45
Samuel R. Delany “Discourse in an Older Sense” — 57
Cory Doctorow “Look For the Lake” — 67
Meg Elison “Sprawling into the Unknown” –77
Karen Joy Fowler “More Exuberant Than is Strictly Tasteful” — 85
Eileen Gunn “I Did, and I Didn’t, and I Won’t” — 95
Elizabeth Hand “Flying Squirrels in the Rafters” — 103
Cara Hoffman “My Favorite Amphibian” — 117
Nalo Hopkinson “Correcting the Balance” — 127
James Patrick Kelly “Encounter with a Gadget Guy” — 149
John Kessel “I Planned to Be an Astronomer” — 161
Paul Krassner “Reflections of A Realist” — 171
Joe R. Lansdale “That’s How You Clean a Squirrel” — 183
Ursula K. Le Guin “A Lovely Art” — 193
Jonathan Lethem “Rooms Full of Old Books Are Immortal Enough for Me” — 201
Ken Macleod “Working the Wet End” — 211
Nick Mamatas “Put Your Twist in the Middle” — 221
Michael Moorcock “Get the Music Right” — 229
Paul Park “Punctuality, Basic Hygiene, Gun Safety” — 251
Gary Phillips “But I’m Gonna Put A Cat On You” — 259
Marge Piercy “Living Off the Grid” — 271
Rachel Pollack “Radical, Sacred, Hopefully Magical” — 281
Kim Stanley Robinson “A Real Joy to Be Had” — 289
Rudy Rucker “Load On the Miracles and Keep a Straight Face” — 311
Carter Scholz “Gear. Food. Rocks.” — 327
Nisi Shawl “The Fly in the Sugar Bowl” — 335
John Shirley “Pro Is for Professional” — 345
Vandana Singh “A Source of Immense Richness” — 359
Norman Spinrad “No Regrets, No Retreat, No Surrender” — 367
Afterword: Nalo Hopkinson — 375
Elegy: Rudy Rucker — 379
Elegy: Peter Coyote — 383
About the Authors — 387
