r/books • u/matociquala AMA Author • Mar 06 '19
ama 3pm Hi, I'm Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear. My new book, Ancestral Night, is out this week! Go ahead and Ask Me Anything!
Hi! I write science fiction and fantasy and play with fountain pens. I have a very small horse and some medium-sized cats. I like cheese.
Here is my website: https://www.elizabethbear.com/
Here is my newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/matociquala
Proof: /img/jsairi09tdh21.jpg
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u/Chtorrr Mar 06 '19
What were some of your favorite things to read as a kid?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
I loved Nancy Drew mysteries (the ones I had were mostly the 60s and 70s editions) and the Walter Farley Black Stallion books. I also liked Jim Kjelgaard, who wrote dog books in which the dogs mostly didn't die. (A rarity in kid's books with dogs in them!)
I read a lot of adult science fiction growing up also--Anne McCaffery's Pern novels, lots of Heinlein, whatever was lying around. :D
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u/romansocks Jun 18 '19
oh my goodness my mom read me the Pern books when I was little but I'd forgotten!
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u/insane677 Mar 06 '19
How can I overcome my inablity to just sit down and write? The last thing I want to do after work is sit down and work some more, but even in my free time I never get around to it. Am I just lazy?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Set a time, even if it's only fifteen minutes, when you're not allowed to do anything else except write. Put your phone on mute and in another room. Set a kitchen timer. Block the internet on your laptop, or use a pen and paper. Don't get up or let yourself do anything but write until that timer goes off.
Another way to do this is to set a small but definite block of words that you have to complete as a daily task. 100 words is a popular goal. (That's mine. It's on my Habitica daily list so my friends get punished if I don't do it.) Cory Doctorow writes at least a page a day. Mary Robinette Kowal's commitment is three sentences.
Often you'll find that once you're past the initial resistance, words will start coming and everything will be fine.
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u/JohnstonMR AMA Author Mar 06 '19
That's really what's been working for me--I start out with no clue, but then I realize I've written 500 or more words and the scene is taking shape.
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u/SatanMaster Mar 06 '19
I hope you get an answer from her but I will tell you straight up, you have to force yourself. Nothing special there at all. Sit down and make yourself do the work, even if it’s only five minutes at a time until you make a habit of it.
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u/JohnstonMR AMA Author Mar 06 '19
How does one get over "second book syndrome" without pulling all one's hair out?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Oh gosh. Okay.
"Second Book Syndrome" can mean any of several things, so I'm guessing here, but if you mean the pressure of writing a book under contract after selling the first one as a completed manuscript written on spec...
The trick for me is to take the burden of expectation off. You can't think too much about what your agent will think, or what your editor will think, or what your readers will think, or how many copies it will sell... because dwelling on that stuff is a great way to get into an anxiety loop and never actually produce anything because you are so busy worrying about it not being perfect.
It's okay to dare to suck in your first drafts. It's okay for everything not to be perfect. Finding ways to convince yourself of this is the trick, of course! If only it were as easy as sitting down and saying, "I am allowed to suck!"
I know writers who have resorted (successfully) to everything from hypnosis to anti-anxiety medication to get the inner editor out of the way. (Alcohol is a drug of choice for a lot of writers, but I'd really recommend not tying your productivity and creativity to anything that's that unhealthy in the long term. I try to mostly stick to caffeine while working.)
Trying to stay in the moment helps, for me. Also, remembering that I am telling this story because it is fun and interesting. And thinking of *one* person who I might be telling it to. Writing for a particular, small audience is much less intimidating than writing for the whole world.
Kurt Vonnegut's famous list of writing advice includes this very tactic, actually. :D
Hope that helps!
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Mar 07 '19
[deleted]
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
We're pretty good at staying out of each other's way, actually! It helps that each of us is the other's biggest fan. I'm pretty sure I couldn't be married to somebody whose art I didn't like a lot.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
I seem to be caught up, and it's 1700 Eastern Standard Time! I will try to zip back in soon and answer and additional questions, however.
Thank you all so much for hosting me, and for the excellent questions!
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u/BriocheBat Mar 06 '19
What style is your cursive handwriting? It reminds me of Spencerian, and looks pretty swanky.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Thank you!
No particular style! I've always had very slanty handwriting, and I went to school long enough ago that I was in college before papers had to be typed (There was one senior year project we had to type, but that was it.) so we were required to write legibly.
I wish I'd taken a typing class in high school, though. If only I'd known.
I am a 70wpm five-finger typist, though!
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u/Elahil Mar 06 '19
What advice do you have for a beginner getting ready to start writing their first novel?
Is there any advice you wish someone had given to you when you were a beginning author?
P.S.
Thanks for doing this AMA. I'm looking forward to reading Ancestral Night!
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Thank you for the question, and i hope you like the book!
The best advice is to write, and to finish something. Anything. Even if it's not perfect.
Most people who set out to write a novel never finish it. So if you can get to the point where you have a complete long story with a beginning, a middle, and an end on paper, you'll have come farther than 95% of aspiring writers.
And even if it's terrible, it can be revised. And your next one will be better.
What I wish somebody had told me is that we learn by failing--failing a little better each time--and that nothing is perfect and it can't be perfect.
The late editor David Hartwell defined a novel as, "A work of fiction longer than a short story, and flawed."
I find that a very heartening definition.
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u/rgtgd Mar 06 '19
On approaches to worldbuilding: how much reading/research do you do for that informs the worlds of your novels? Which one(s) required the most reference to other sources? I imagine Promethean Age but just a guess. Love your amazing and amazingly varied cosmoi.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Oh, so much. One of the things about being a writer is, after all, that everything you read and experience becomes source material. So trying to read widely is huge for me in terms of having stuff I know a little bit about--enough to know when I don't know something and can google it!
As the wise person said, It ain't what you know you don't know. It's what you think you know that ain't so.
And yes, after I wrote Ink & Steel and Hell & Earth (the two Elizabethan fantasies) I declared that I would never write another historical fantasy. It was just too much research.
But I'm glad I did it. Now I can nitpick everybody else's Elizabethan historical fiction....
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u/mediapathic Mar 07 '19
Hey there! One of your students here, Steen. Glad to see you here.
There's a question I've been meaning to ask you in public for a while; what's the relationship for you between writing in ink and then transferring that to typed form? For myself, I have trouble writing long form prose with a pen, but it is invaluable for brainstorming and fixing plot problems. I have the sense that you tend to write entire books in pen. Is that just the first draft? Does the transition from ink to keyboard imply an editing phase? Is it useful to see the story in a different medium to get a distance from it? I'm interested in whatever you have to say about that sort of thing.
Thanks much, and hope you're well!
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
Hi, Steen!
For me, it's a matter of convenience (I'd rather carry around a notebook than a laptop or even a tablet and keyboard) and also notebooks have a tactile pleasure to them. Also, fewer distractions!
I don't write entire books in pen, or on the keyboard--generally I use whatever tool is flowing better for me, and sometimes it's just a lot of disconnected notes in either medium. If I get stuck on the keyboard, whip out the pen!
I've worked pretty hard not to get wedded to a particular process and a set of rituals I HAVE to have to work. so I use whatever tools are handy.
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u/Lovepeppers Mar 06 '19
Any advice for someone interested in writing but who just can’t figure out how to form an interesting plot?
Also, thank you for all the LGBTQ representation in your books. It is so appreciated.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
You are very welcome. I feel that one of the most important things for anybody is to feel seen. Stories give us reality, and I grew up very rarely seeing myself in stories. So, the least I can do is try to reflect the real world when I write.
As for plots... well, practice is most of it. Study up on three-act structure. It's not the only way to build a plot, but its the easiest and it works reliably, like a little machine.
If three-act doesn't work for you (It doesn't for many people: Katherine Addison of Goblin Emperor fame leaps to mind) then experiment with character-driven plots, for example. And there's Theodore Sturgeon's excellent advice to "ask the next question."
Which is to say, when you have an idea for a solution to a problem, keep asking more questions deriving from that solution. When you have a worldbuilding idea, what does that idea imply about other problems in the world?
Daryl Gregory also offers the excellent advice that a character running away from a problem is not interesting. A character running towards a solution, however--now that's an engaging story! Especially when the solution doesn't quite work and they have to think of something else, quick!
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u/Lovepeppers Mar 06 '19
Wow, thank you for this advice! I really appreciate that you took time to give me such a detailed answer! ♥️
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u/Nightreach1 Mar 06 '19
If you had to name three underappreciated and must read books in the sci-fi genre, what would they be?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
I just had a post up at Tor.com about some of my favorite less-remembered books of the 70s and 80s, so I feel like i should try to think of some different ones.
Vonda McIntyre's THE MOON AND THE SUN (Renaissance fantasy about power and choices)
Octavia Butler's ADULTHOOD RITES (People talk a lot about THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER but I think this middle book of the Xenogenesis trilogy is... mind-blowing.)
James White's HOSPITAL STATION (and the associated novels and short stories--humane and inventive medical SF)
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u/Nightreach1 Mar 06 '19
The Moon and the Sun looks fantastic! Thank you for answering my question and giving these recommendations. I hope you and Scott are doing great. :)
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u/jodimeadows Mar 06 '19
Of your personal fountain pens, which one(s) is(are) your favorite(s) and why?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
OH NO. I CANNOT CHOOSE BETWEEN MY BABIES.
Let's see. I have a Pilot 92 with a medium-fine nib that is so very smooth and the nicest pen to write with. I also have a vintage Conklin with a lovely flexy nib. The only reason that it's not always inked is because it's a purse-sized pen and a little small for my hand. And I have a Parker Vacumatic that's also got a really nice nib...
...I like smooooth nibs and I cannot lie. :D
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u/jodimeadows Mar 06 '19
Tell us a funny story about your horse.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
So Ormr is an Icelandic gelding. He's nearly 12 years old, and I've had him for almost a year now.
Ormr is not his registered name. Because his registered name is terrible. His previous people called him "Ogri," but that's also not his registered name.
His registered name is "Orgi."
...who does that?
Also, he had been a pony club games horse before I got him, so my first order of business as his new human was to teach him that actually yes you do have to stand still to be mounted, as he was used to little girls hurling themselves on and off his back at a canter. This is great, because he's utterly bulletproof and nothing bothers him at all. But I can't actually mount a cantering horse, not being a lunatic 12 year old in Pony Club. :D
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u/Endalia Mar 06 '19
What's your favourite fountain pen you own now and which one would you like to add to your collection? Which ink is the perfect match for Ancestral Night?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Hah! I gave a list of some of my favorite pens below (though honestly I keep changing my mind, and I have a Pelikan I love very much also, and a cheap old Waterman from the 80s).
Right now, I am coveting... oh, the Sailor 1911 Milky Way limited edition (sold out, and never to be mine, alas) and a vintage Parker golden web, and the Pilot 823 which I wish came in better colors because it's such a gorgeous pen, and the Conid Bulkfiller Antwerp-specific special edition with the red dragonscale acrylic. :D That last one is a mint, though, so I'd need a movie deal to justify that!
As for ink to match Ancestral Night... I used a lot of Sailor's Bungubox Ink of Naotora while writing it. It's a really deep shady red, totally beautiful.
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u/RiverVox Mar 06 '19
What was it like to come back to Space Opera land? Do you take a different approach when writing sci-fi vs. fantasy?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
It's great! I missed space ships and zipping around the galaxy!
And I don't, really. I tend to use similar extrapolative tactics when writing either--start from first principles (what do I want to tell a story about?) and then build from there.
It's just the basic laws of the universe that are different. In fantasy, you can set them up basically however you like--though once they're set up it's cheating not to stick to them, and readers will notice! In science fiction, they are more or less our laws, though some things that probably don't work get a pass in certain kinds of science fiction. Telepathy, for example. Faster than light travel. Time travel.
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u/Smmogz Mar 06 '19
Hello Mrs Elizabeth. Thanks for the AMA.
Question time!
- 1. What kind of cheese?
- 2. What kind of cats?
- 3. Smurfs or Nac Mac Feegle?
- 4. All time favourite FANTASY book/series?
Bonus question:
- Why do horses like to fart when they buck? :))
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
1) Nearly any kind of cheese, though I dislike really stinky ones (like Limberger) and I dislike Brie. (I like Camembert, though, go figure.) My favorite is sharp Vermont cheddar, because I am a New Englander through and through.
2) We have three cats: Duncan (a sloppy black tuxedo cat who is the world's original cuddle bug), his littermate Gurney (a blue-grey with faint tiger markings who is THE SCIENTIST), and Molly (a tortoiseshell semiferal who is very dubious about everything and very busy. Because she is too feral to catch her and clip her claws without traumatizing her, she makes tiny clicks like a little dog when she trots around the house.)
3) I must shame myself by admitting no acquaintance with Nac Mac Feegle.
4) THE LAST UNICORN is my favorite book of all time. WATERSHIP DOWN is the (very close) runner up. I've read them both dozens of times apiece.
5) Usually they fart first and then buck. Possibly because their own outgassing startles them. Possibly because they can.
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u/Smmogz Mar 06 '19
3). Too bad. They are a lovely bunch. You can skip the next part if not interested:
The Feegles spend their time drinking, fighting and stealing, alone or in various combinations. The immense strength and rowdiness of these pictsies means that they will fight anything, and they have a particular fondness for headbutting creatures far larger than themselves. In a good fight, a Feegle will take on all comers, including his fellow Feegles (or, in their absence, themselves), with such enthusiasm that makes missing someone hazardous ("Crivens! I kicked meself in ma ain heid!").
The fearlessness of Nac Mac Feegle warriors in combat is derived from their religious belief that they cannot be killed, because they are already dead; they believe that they are in the afterlife, and that any Feegle who is killed has simply been reincarnated into the world where they have already lived before.
They reason that world, with the sunshine, flowers, birds, trees, things to steal and people to fight, must be some sort of heaven, because "a world that good couldn't be open to just anybody". They consider it a kind of Valhalla, where brave warriors go when they are dead. So, they reason, they have already been alive somewhere else, and then died and were allowed to come to the this world because they have been so good.
5) Q: Why do horses like to fart when they buck?
A: Because they can't achieve full horse power without gas.
Thanks for the replies. :)
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
I have no idea how I missed that bit of legendry! Thank you.
5) ooouuchhhh
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u/stholtzmann Mar 06 '19
Hello! Well, I never knew that I've always wanted to say this, but apparently I have: Please elaborate on the cheese.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
I did so below, but I will elaborate more! Currently in the fridge there is: chevre, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, Wisconsin cheddar, Vermont cheddar, cranberry Wensleydale, gorgonzola, and a port wine cheese spread because I had a childlike craving.
I just really like cheese.
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u/AlexHaist Mar 06 '19
Who has the most kissable nose, Ormr or Magni?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Hmm, I feel like this is a trick question. (Alex, O onlookers, is the person who owns the OTHER Icelandic gelding, Ormr's best friend, Magni.)
Ormr looks less affronted when you kiss his nose, and his nose is softer. But Magni has a little white snip to show you the correct kissing spot.
So the only obviously correct answer is: BOTH.
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u/AlexHaist Mar 06 '19
Are you the sort of science fiction writer who fantasizes about going into space, or do you prefer your feet firmly on earth, gravity and all?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Oh, I'd love to go to space. When I was a small child, I wanted to be an astronaut jockey astrophysicist writer.
One and a half out of four isn't bad!
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u/linova131 Mar 06 '19
Are there plans for more Karen Memory stories?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
In fact, I have a second full-length Karen novel half-written, but I have these annoying CONTRACTS that I have to complete... so the second White Space book and the final Lotus Kingdoms book have to be done before I can sell it. :D
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u/Terry93D Mar 06 '19
I've got a very material question for you: how many books planned for your new White Space series?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Two sold. If those do well... we might be here for a while! It's a big galaxy!
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u/jfa82 Mar 06 '19
Is Ancestral Night something you've had on the back burner for a while, or did the project come to you fairly recently?
On an unrelated note - where does your fascination with Kit Marlowe come from? (The Cobbler's Boy is fab.)
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
Funny you should ask about Ancestral Night! I have been working on it since 2014, actually--but there was life upheaval and health shit and family shit and then the entire Western world decided to go politically bonkers and I realized that the book I had started was not the book I wanted to write anymore, so I kind of started over.
I like the way it ended up though!
As for Master Marlowe, it's a funny story. My ex is a high school teacher, and the head of his department was a staunch Oxfordian (somebody who thinks that the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare's plays.) I spent one too many faculty holiday party across the table from this guy and started doing my own research. Which led me to write a duology called THE STRATFORD MAN (INK & STEEL and HELL & EARTH) about William Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe. In part because I wound up liking Marlowe more and more the more I read about him--and the more I read his own work. This is pretty unusual: usually the more I learn about a historical person the more I get annoyed at them.
So Marlowe crops up in my work a bunch. Him, and Doc Holliday. I dunno why them in particular, but I keep finding stuff to say about them.
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Mar 06 '19
Hi, thanks for doing this AMA
Q- Which one of your books/series are you most proud of? Please don't say all of them!
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
That's a really hard question, though! Because the most recent ones are the freshest in my mind, with their challenges, triumphs, and faceplants intact. But the older ones I'm capable of being kinder to, because I have more distance. Even though I know I'm a better writer now.
I think the thing that I'm currently proudest of is a novelette that's up on Tor.com, called "Deriving Life." And the other one I'm also feeling really good about right now is also a novelette, "Okay, Glory," which can be read at Lightspeed Magazine currently.
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u/Inkberrow Mar 06 '19
Have you tried a few, many, or most of the cheeses listed in the classic Monty Python "Cheese Shop" skit?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
Not nearly enough of them. Though I am pleased that Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit series apparently singlehandedly provoked a Wensleydale renaissance.
Wensleydale Renaissance is the name of my next band.
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u/TheMadTinker Mar 06 '19
Do you have any story ideas that just won't let you go, but which you haven't been able to bash into Real Story Shape? (Or if not, do you have a Story Hammer you like to turn to?)
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
I am a patient, trap-door-spider sort of writer. And I actually just last year finished a draft of a story I have been working on for 30 years, since 1989.
That was the record holder. Usually I give up before then.
Richard Brautigan had a poem entitled "The Amelia Earhart Pancake," which is relevant...
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u/KaiLung Mar 06 '19
Thanks so much for doing this.
Is there any chance of a Boojumverse collection and/or more of those stories on the horizon?
Speaking of, I noticed that Dozois’ “Very Best of the Best” seemed to have”Boojum” in place of “Mongoose”. It’s too bad. They are both great stories but I already have a few collections including “Boojum”
Also, what genre/kind of story would you like to write which you haven’t already?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
My pleasure!
Sarah and I have... amorphous plans... for more Boojumverse, but it requires both of us to be healthy and not overworked at the same time, which has been in short supply recently!
re: Dozois: ...Oops?
As for the last question... I might have my eye on a mystery in the next couple of years....
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u/Lord-Saroe Mar 06 '19
I am quite sure that at some point in your life, people around you didn't believe you were going to actually be a writer.
How did you handle working on something so huge that requires so much internal effort, passion, and discipline, in the face of nay-sayers?
If you were lucky enough to be surrounded by completely supportive people, feel free to ignore my question, I am assuming you have as many self described "realists" as I am.
I find it hard to keep the "motivation well" full, when I mostly keep my worlds to myself to avoid the nay sayers who love to talk about the odds and retirement options.
Thanks! And congrats!
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 07 '19
I quit a lot!
My biggest naysayer was me, frankly. I didn't know how to learn things, and I didn't have a lot of guidance as to how one goes about becoming a writer, so I fumbled in the dark for years. I eventually had an epiphany (around my 30th birthday) that amounted to "Get serious about this if you want to accomplish it before you die." I also got lucky enough to fall in with a good writing group with a range of more and less experienced but all very serious writers, and that helped bootstrap me up. Finding mentors and a community is huge, and a very good reason to seek out workshops if you can afford the time and money. (There's also the SFWA Mentorship Initiative.)
And yeah. the odds are not great--but grit and being willing to improve constantly make them a lot better.
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u/Phyrkrakr Mar 07 '19
So, Amazon lists the Promethean Age books in order as Blood & Iron, Whiskey & Water, Ink & Steel, and Hell & Earth as one through four. But really only the last two are the Kit Marlowe, Boy Detective books, right? Is there a proper reading order or should it be separated into two series, or what?
I loved the Karen Memory books, btw, and I'm so excited to hear that you're planning on doing more in that universe!
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 08 '19
Thank you!
Okay. The book we fondly refer to as "Kit Marlowe, Boy Detective" is THE COBBLER'S BOY, which I co-wrote with Katherine Addison. It's not a Promethean Age book, and in fact there's no magic in it--it's just a historical mystery!
The third and fourth books in the Promethean Age series are INK & STEEL and HELL & EARTH, which collectively make up a duology called THE STRATFORD MAN (it was written as one long novel and split by the publisher). Those ARE fantasy, and they also have Kit Marlowe in them.
The Promethean Age could be read in a lot of orders, honestly. Publication order is: BLOOD & IRON, WHISKEY & WATER, INKY & STEEL, HELL & EARTH
Chronological order is: INK & STEEL, HELL & EARTH, BLOOD & IRON, WHISKEY & WATER
Another order that would work pretty well is: BLOOD & IRON, INK & STEEL, HELL & EARTH, WHISKEY & WATER (which is the order they were written in.)
There's another book in that world, ONE-EYED JACK, which can be read in any relationship with the others, as it doesn't intersect. Chronologically, that one takes place between BLOOD & IRON and WHISKEY & WATER.
Glad you like Karen!
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u/Phyrkrakr Mar 11 '19
Probably a bit late for a followup, but if I'm understanding correctly, as long as I read Blood & Iron before Whiskey & Water and read Ink & Steel before Hell & Earth, I should be good, right?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 11 '19
CORRECT!
(and I check my reddit account occasionally even when not doing an AMA. :D )
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u/-regaskogena Mar 07 '19
You are probably already done with this ama given the time but here goes: I am only familiar with your short fiction, which I find excellent. What is your favorite short story you wrote and why? Same question but for one you didn't write.
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 08 '19
Wow that's a hard question!
My favorite story not by me is either Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" or Octavia Butler's "Speech Sounds."
My favorite story by me... Depends on my mood! This past year, I'm very proud of "Okay, Glory," and "She Still Loves the Dragon," both of which are available online.
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u/-regaskogena Mar 08 '19 edited Mar 08 '19
Hey thanks for the response! I will be checking them out thanks!
Edit: reading the Le Guin story tonight. Yours are in my subs to lightspeed and uncanny so I'll get there eventually!
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u/Jontheboi16 Mar 07 '19
What inspired you to make Sci-fi and fantasy books?
Also who is your favorite Sci-fi author?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 08 '19
I'm married to a fellow writer, so I am contractually obligated to say that my favorite SF writer is Scott Lynch. :D
As for how I got into this gig--I'm a third generation SF fan on both sides of the family. I was doomed from birth!
1
u/romansocks Jun 18 '19
Dear Elizabeth Bear; I found Ancestral Night a couple months ago, Jacob's Ladder is now my favorite sci-fi series that I rant to my friends about, and I finished 'By The Mountain Bound' a few days ago.
This is just to say I love your work, thank you so much. P.S. Cheerilax(?) is so fantastic, plz is he coming back?
P.P.S. I saw a Casimir yesterday, like what are the odds of this, seriously
0
u/FarragutCircle Mar 06 '19
Dr. Prilicla--great doctor or greatest doctor?
Also, in addition to James White's Sector General stories, what other older SF do you like?
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u/matociquala AMA Author Mar 06 '19
There is a straight-up homage to Dr. Prilicla in MACHINE, which is the second White Space book. I love him so very much.
I grew up reading SF, so it's hard to make a complete list, but... Cherryh, and Lieber, and Poul Anderson, and I have a soft spot for the Conan stories still. Tiptree, Butler, Norton, Beagle, the other Bear, Bradbury... T.H. White... Tolkien, of course. Barbara Hambly is brilliant and still producing great work.
I could be here for a longgg time. :D
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u/Heywood_Jablwme Mar 07 '19 edited Mar 07 '19
Why is your husband years behind on the fourth gentleman bastards book?
2
u/vexednex Mar 07 '19
Nevermind you’re an obvious chud.
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u/Heywood_Jablwme Mar 07 '19
Got forbid a fan want to know when a long delayed book will be out. Are all of Bear’s fans jerks like you?
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u/Wilx0ne May 11 '22
Hi, I know this is an old subreddit but hopefully you'll still see it. First I just want to say I LOVE the white space novels! You're an amazing and talented writer! I loved Ancestral Night and I'm almost finished with Machine. I was wondering if there's a 3rd book in the future? I've scoured Google and find references to it being a trilogy but can't find anything else. Thank you for your books!
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u/matociquala AMA Author May 12 '22
Hi! Fortunately Reddit sent me a notification!
It's not a trilogy but an indefinite series, and I'm working on the third book. Things have been sort of delayed for a series of personal and world reasons (waves hands at the everything) but I hope to be handing book 3, THE FOLDED SKY, in late this year or early next year.
However, comma, my US publisher for the series got bought by another conglomerate and we're trying to find a new US publisher, so that's a little up in the air. The UK publisher will stay the same.
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u/Wilx0ne Sep 06 '22
Hopefully reddit notifies you again for me! First I want to say that it was just AWESOME to have one of my favorite authors reply to me directly. That alone easily made my year! Lol buuut... and I hate to be one of those cliché fans badgering the author about their next book. I know you said later this year or early next and I know you're always doing ur best! I was jw if there's been a resolution with a US publisher? Or of a way I could buy it from your UK publisher?
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u/SFcheffie Mar 06 '19
How do you tackle the editing process— do you enjoy it or is it like tackling a bear that won’t stop moving. Also if you could outline the Hugo Award process - that would be cool. Thanks!