Review: Conversations From the Edge: The Galaxy's Edge Interviews by Joy Ward

Conversations From the Edge: The Galaxy's Edge Interviews 

by Joy Ward (interviewer) 

Arc Manor 

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles 

Biographies & Memoirs , Sci Fi & Fantasy

Joy Ward is a veteran journalist and has been doing interviews for Galaxy’s Edge since the beginning. These are the interviews collected here: a long list of major science fiction and fantasy writers and editors (see below).

Ward's best ability is to get at the personal side of the authors, although she does manage to coax out good writing tips from some. Some of the interviews--if you've read about the authors before--will be familiar, George R. R. Martin, for instance. But some writers have evolved, so that the Kij Johnson I interviewed a decade and a half earlier differs from the Kij Johnson that Joy Ward interviewed.

Some interviews are touching simply because the writers are no longer with us: Jerry Pournelle and Gene Wolfe. The Pournelle interview gains new interest following the interview with his friend and collaborator, Larry Niven. Some older writers like Terry Brooks, Robert Silverberg, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Joe Haldeman seem to feel outside the field at present.

Speaking of Niven and Pournelle collaborations, a substantial number of writers discuss their collaborations: Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon, Eric Flint, and David Gerrold.

The most revealing interview is last one: David Drake. He shares a rather stunning, personal story that I was unfamiliar with, so my interest in his work is now piqued. Most readers, I suspect, will be writer wannabees, but Drake's intimate revelation makes me wonder if interviewees have been missing out on not making themselves as interesting as the work itself.

Some interviews have been expanded from the original publication. There is some redundancy in reintroducing the author: with new and original introductions. One introduction might prove sufficient.

Interviews include the following writers and editors and something of what you will find:

1. George R.R. Martin (turns a dead end into a superhighway)
2. Jerry Pournelle (his politics, his path to publication and collaborations with Niven)
3. Nancy Kress (her initial introduction to the field)
4. Joe Haldeman (tried to maintain involvement in several genres: poetry, literary, SF, adventure)
5. Peter S. Beagle (the importance being recognized)
6. Eric Flint (his politics, and his collaborations)
7. Mercedes Lackey (collaborations and indifference to art as opposed to craft)
8. Larry Dixon (collaborations and indifference to art as opposed to craft)
9. Gene Wolfe (how new writers don't pay attention to advice)
10. Jack McDevitt (the importance of SF & curiosity)
11. Greg Bear (his personal motivations)
12. David Gerrold (perhaps the most writerly--modeling stories, voice, showing/having reader experience the story as i
13. Kij Johnson (her interest in experimental structures and her tapping into flow)
14. Mike Resnick (his beginnings in pornography and interest in new writers)
15. Terry Brooks (the importance of putting in hard work) 
16. David Brin (the science in science fiction and the destruction of dystopias)
17. Catherine Asaro (women as lead characters)
18. David Weber (advantage of plot and character over style)
19. Robert Silverberg (the history of the field)
20. Toni Weisskopf (the importance of healthy discussion within the genre)
21. Lois McMaster Bujold (the importance of short fiction to selling novels, talk with editor generating Falling Free)
22. Robert J. Sawyer (the importance of research, dislike of endless series)
23. Harry Turtledove (read and write)
24. Connie Willis (importance of having good manners and of having m.s.s. out and comforting self when rejections come in that a better story is circulating)
25. Larry Niven (collaboration)
26. David Drake (how experience can feed one's muse)