Awesome Interview News

One thing I've really enjoyed about 2015 has been talking with a bunch of writers at the top of their game. I genuinely get a kick out of chatting with guys as talented, engaging and passionate about what they do as the likes of Shane Abbess and John Scalzi.

Most recently I had a chat with Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C.Clarke award winning author Ann Leckie. It was just prior to the release of her new book Ancillary Mercy and I think I was almost as excited for the book's release as she was.

Ann can be unexpectedly hilarious though, and we took a couple of winding diversions in the interview which really surprised me. I think sometimes interviewees get sick of answering the same questions over and over, so if something a bit different pops up they really run with it. You can find the full interview in Aurealis #86.

Also, not sure I fully pimped my interview with Thoraiya Dyer. I think of it as her origin story, since it's a tale of the heartbreaking setbacks that have forged a future champion of Australian Fantasy. You can find that interview in Aurealis #84.

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I Decided to Make Money From Writing - And it's Working

I've always wanted to be a full-time writer, but I've never had a clear understanding of how to make enough money from my writing to survive. In fact I read an article on the ABC news website this morning stating that authors in Australia earn, on average, $11,000 to $13,000 per year , which sounds about right. I can't live on that. No one can. So my fears are clearly justified. Regardless, in 2017 I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to come up with a way to make enough money from writing that I could start to think about transitioning from my regular job to the coveted holy grail of full-time writer . I had this vague idea of combining two of my great passions, writing and gaming, to see what would come of it. I had no real understanding, at that point, of what I was getting myself into. The answer, of course, is interactive fiction. Interactive fiction - or digital gamebooks - are the modern version of Choose Your Own Adventure stories, which were among m...

Flies in the Soup: John Scalzi Part 2

Interview: John Scalzi Part 2 By Chris Large Interview first appeared in Aurealis #82. Welcome back John. At the moment your new book Lock In, [discussed in the last issue] is a standalone novel. Are you considering writing more in this world? Or is this it? No! I’d be happy to write more in this world if there was a desire from my publisher and from my audience. I don’t ever write anything but standalone novels. Old Man’s War was a standalone novel. I wrote that one book, right? And then it took off and my editor said, “You need to write another one,” and gave me some money. I said “Okay. I see how this works.” That’s how Old Man’s War became a series. Android’s Dream was supposed to be a series. I’d signed a contract for a second book but when I started writing it, it was terrible so I stopped doing that and wrote something else. So Lock In is currently a standalone book but if my publisher comes to me and says, “Yeah, I want you to write the second ...

Aurealis #74 - Out Now

Aurealis #74 is a great read, and of course, contains some thoughts from me on The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark . The blurb reads thus: In this issue we feature Imogen Cassidy’s ‘Soul Partner’, an urban fantasy gumshoe pastiche with some original touches, and Leife Shallcross’ creepy and engrossing ‘Music for an Ivory Violin’. Chris Large brings some thoughtful silliness* with his ‘When a Jedi Should Think Twice About Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight’ , and Stephen Higgins continues his SF’s Sacred Cows with Asimov's Foundation. *Read: awesomeness! BUY IT.

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