Posts Tagged ‘interviews’
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I recently had the opportunity to get to know Matt, from 52 Book Reviews, a little better. Father, scifi/fantasy fan, and all around cool guy, Matt is pretty new to the blogging community. This is his first year blogging, but he’s been on GoodReads for ages, and I think he has more Goodreads reviews up than the number of books I own. Matt has recently reviewed the newest short story collection from Saladin Ahmed, Wool by Hugh Howey, and has a very in-depth interview with Ken Scholes as well. have you bookmarked 52 Book Reviews yet? It’s cool, I’ll wait.
Here’s my interview with Matt:
LRR: your blog is fairly new, what made you decide to start blogging about books?
52BR: Obviously, I read a lot. I can’t think of a time when I haven’t had at least one or two books in process in the last ten years or so. What is not so obvious is that I have always dreamed of being a writer. After two abortive attempts at a novel, I decided to channel my need to write in a slightly different direction, and writing about books seemed the best fit. I already volunteer book recommendations to my family, friends, and strangers in the bookstore, so I thought why not do it online to a bigger audience of strangers. At least they won’t look at me funny, like some of the folks in the bookstore.
LRR: Your blog might be new, but you’ve got hundreds of books on Goodreads, going back years! I’m not on Goodreads, do you recommend it an online community that book bloggers should all be involved with?
52BR: To be honest, up until now I’ve only used Goodreads to keep a record of what I read. No one was more shocked than me to find out just how many books I’ve read. These days I’m posting my reviews on the site and have seen a small uptick in hits since then. But nothing beats networking with other bloggers in my experience.
LRR: What are your favorite genres to read and review?
BBAW Interview Swap!
Posted on: September 11, 2012
- In: BBAW
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Hi Everyone! This week is Bookblogger Appreciate Week! They do a ton of themed activities, but the one I mostly participate in is the blogger interview swap. Each blogger is randomly paired with another blogger, and you ask each other some fun questions, make some new friends, and the best part is that i get to discover a new blog that truly, I would have never found on my own. It’s like getting a random penpal. this is my third year doing Interview Swap, and I’m still in contact with the bloggers I was partnered with in previous years. How cool is that?
This year, I got lucky enough to get paired with Allison from On My Bookshelf. She runs the blog with her friend Holly, and they have all sorts of fun, reviewing novels of many genres, cookbooks, some crafty books, and children literature as tested by their young children. You might know Allison from the Stainless Steel Droppings R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) challenge a few years ago too. Make sure to visit On My Bookshelf for Allison’s interview with me. We talk e-books, vampires, and scifi in pop culture!
here’s my interview with the super-cool Allison:
You run On my Bookshelf with Holly. How did you two meet? How did you two decide to start a blog?
Holly’s husband and my husband went to high school together, so Holly and I met through them and found a mutual love (obsession) with books. Our book blog actually started as a book club with a few other members, but Holly and I were the only ones who always read the book, and eventually, the blog was born.
Reviewing memoirs is pretty much the same as reviewing fiction for me. I’m looking primarily at the story being told, and how successful the author is at telling that story. Even though memoirs are based on actual events, the art to choosing what to include, what light to cast, and what boring bits to skip is still the core for me. Cookbooks and craft books, on the other hand, are all about how well they convey instructions. Although I read these books for enjoyment and inspiration as well, I’m reviewing them first based on utility, then noting beauty and style.
The lovely Mieneke of A Fantastical Librarian interviewed me! see my goofy answers and a photo of my sagging and unorganized bookshelves.
While you’re over there, check out the rest of her wonderful blogger query articles, and learn about more folks in our vibrant community. Mieneke also has a great giveaway going right now for James Maxey’s HUSH. You can learn more about HUSH and GREATSHADOW here as well.
and since it seems to be turning into a link soup type of post, how many titles from the Fantasy Mistress Works list have you read?
I was gone for a few days, and someone started giving away some of my Very Good Books? As much as I love getting and receiving VeryGoodBooks, it’s also great to share them and pass them on when I’m done with them. Maybe I should do these long weekends out of town more often!
While I was gone, I devoured Madeline Ashby’s debut novel vN, which hits bookstore shelves in late July. I did truly devour it. I had planned to read it a little bit here, a little bit there, over coffee, enjoying my Mom’s garden, and nope. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. It was finished before I even got to my parents house. Alluring cover art and a fascinating premise of a future where self replicating humanoids live side by side with humans, marrying humans, being raised as human children, being told they are equal to humans, and well, sometimes not.
With nods to Bladerunner and AI, vN is what you should be reading if you’re canny on the uncanny valley. Suffice to say, I was thrilled when Ms. Ashby offered to answer a few questions for me. While you’re waiting for my review (it’ll post tomorrow if I can get my act together later today), let’s better get to know Madeline Ashby – Strategic Foresight Consultant, science fiction writer, lover of manga and anime, and the woman who proved you CAN do a masters degree on a science fictional topic. Twice.
L.R.R. You can find manga in any bookstore and anime on nearly any television station these days, but this wasn’t always the case. How did you get hooked on manga and anime? Where would you suggest someone new to those forms start?
M.A. I had friends in high school who were interested in anime. Specifically, someone who used the characters of Haruka and Michiru (Sailors Uranus and Neptune, respectively) on Sailor Moon to talk about her own sexuality. But she wasn’t the only one. I had friends who were into Evangelion and Utena and Fushigi Yuugi. I watched movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell with them. That pattern didn’t change in university or afterward. I still watch anime with friends.
If I were suggesting anime titles to anyone, I would ask them what genres they like in the first place. If they want science fiction with a side of deep characterization and pulse-pounding action, Cowboy Bebop. If they want a thoughtful slice-of-life dramedy with a side of tender romance, then Fruits Basket. If they want something totally surreal, then FLCL or Paranoia Agent. If they want something meta, something that comments on a genre from within that genre, then Madoka or Evangelion.
L.R.R. vN opens with a beautiful family scene between Amy and her parents; her vN mother Charlotte, and her human father Jack. They have a healthy normal family life. I realize this is a loaded question, but do you think this is a possible future for humanity – mixed couples of one human partner and one synthetic/humanoid partner?BBAW Interview Swap!
Posted on: September 13, 2011
- In: BBAW | interviews | Uncategorized
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If you’re a book blogger, know a book blogger, read a book blogger, or simply think that book blogs are cool, post this as your status. oh, wait, this isn’t facebook? 
but it’s still Book Blogger Appreciation Week!
My favorite book blogger appreciation week event (and actually, the only one I participate in) is the interview swap. It’s super fun and easy, you sign up, and they partner you up with another awesome blogger to chat with a bit. kinda like match.com, but for bloggers, and like, not romantic? My partner this year is the hilarious Alison from Piling on the Books. You can read her interview with me on her site, and while you’re over there, make sure to check out her Wizard of Oz blog posts. Alison is teh soopah cool. and i got to interview her!
It must be heaven working in a library, surrounded by all those books! How has being at the library affected how you blog and what books you read?
Oh my word, I have got to stop working at a library (not really!). I did a post about a month and a half ago about thirteen booksI had brought home from the library after cataloging them, and I’m just about ready to put up another one! That’s crazy but also good, because for a while I was only reading books that I had already read a review of, and I find it very exciting to delve into a book without someone else’s opinion coloring my view. It’s also fun to be the first person to read and persuade others to read an awesome book!
more with Alison, after the jump!
Random stuff for you
Posted on: December 14, 2010
I don’t have a review to post today. Yesterday the sun rose and set while I was at work, and it was fracking depressing. So, while I am bitching and whining about short winter days, here is some fun random stuff for you to enjoy.
I received a review copy of Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special from Pyr, and it looks totally uber-fun! Thanks Pyr!!
Go check out this trailer for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean. They are making another one? seriously? That was my first thought too!! then I realized that not only is this new flick free of Keira Knightly-ness, but it is based on the Tim Powers novel On Stranger Tides. And the trailer? looks pretty spiffy. I shall continue telling myself the third movie in the franchise never existed.
By the power of bloggers (I so wanted to say By the Power of Greyskull!!), TOR is taking over Facebook and the twittersphere. Tor.com Fantasy is run by Aiden Moher of A Dribble of Ink, and Tor.com Science Fiction is run by Mark Chitty of Walker of Worlds. You will need to be a FB’er or a tweeter to do this particular happy dance.
Kamvision interviews Lauren Beukes, one of my new favorite authors. Her Zoo City is a top contender for my top 10 reads of 2010. This book needs to be on your January shopping list.
there may be more random stuff tomorrow.
- In: BBAW | interviews
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Welcome to Book Bloggers Appreciation Week! I know a lot of blogs do contests and give aways and such, but honestly, I was just super excited to get to know another blogger, and gossip about things we like, coffee (also falling under the category of “things we like”) blogging, and books of course!
Celi.a runs The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia, and she is super cool blogger and lover of all things yummy. Read the interview below, then go visit her!
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Can you tell us a little about your blog?
My blog is me…wait, just kidding. It’s me on a good day, with lots of icing on top. So it is basically a book blog, and mostly a YA book blog at that…with a heavy side of sci-fi/fantasy fiction, a little bit of romance, tasty recipes, and sometimes embarrassing (wait, I mean funny) stories.
A blog is a labor of love. What made you decide to take the plunge?
I started the blog as a challenge to myself after a really rough Lenten season where I gave up coffee. I know, I know, not smart. REALLY not smart. It was mostly stories from day-to-day life back then, but it gradually it morphed into its current state of book-focusedness. I just made that word up. Don’t judge. Also, it’s kept me sane during a lot of crazy changes in the last year or two, so I’m going to keep it up for the foreseeable future.
I know you like short stories, what short story should I read, right now, to get me hooked on someone I’ve never heard of before?
Have you read Kelly Link? Anything by Kelly Link is amazing. All of the stories in her anthology Pretty Monsters will do. Seriously weird, though…be ready for that!
Best book you’ve read this year?
Totally cheating on this one. The three best books I’ve read this year: White Cat by Holly Black, Cold Magic by Kate Elliott, and Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. But keep in mind that I’m seriously behind on my reading, so I probably have several absolutely fantastic novels on my nightstand, and I don’t even know it.
I’ve been hearing a lot about this K.J. Parker character lately – as in possibly the best kept secret this side of Joe Abercrombie? Tom Holt interviews the publicity shy K.J. Parker here. Doubly fascinating for me, as I’ve just started reading Devices and Desires.
Why yes, I AM playing the pronoun game! Because honestly, I’m not sure if this author is a man or a woman.
Plenty more delicious fantabulousness in Subterranean’s latest issue, go check it out. . . they’ve got some Cory Doctorow!
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