A new R. Scott Bakker interview by a trio of bloggers, Part II

Some time ago, I posted the link to an interview that Pat, Adam and Larry took from Scott Bakker. Now it's time for the second part. It is a lot shorter, but plot-intensive, and I love it! You can read it here. My favorite part:

Is Aurang special amongst the Inchoroi in his ability to use Sorcery? Or were all Inchoroi, his brother included, amongst the Few?　

The Inchoroi only possessed the Tekne when they arrived in Eärwa. All of the Inchoroi are the products of successive Graftings, species-wide rewrites of their genotype, meant to enhance various abilities and capacities, such as the ability to elicit certain sexual responses from their victims (via pheromone locks), or the capacity to ‘tune sensations’ and so explore the vagaries and vicissitudes of carnal pleasure. The addition of anthropomorphic vocal apparatuses is perhaps the most famous of these enhancements.

The Grafting that produced Aurang and Aurax was also devised during the age-long C no-Inchoroi Wars, one of many failed attempts to biologically redesign themselves to overcome the Nonmen. But they had been outrun by their debauchery by this time, and had lost any comprehensive understanding of the Tekne. The Graftings had become a matter of guesswork, more likely to kill than enhance those who received them. The Inchoroi filled the Wells of the Aborted with their own in those days.

Aurang and Aurax are two of six who survived the attempt to Graft the ability to see the onta.

A new R. Scott Bakker interview by a trio of bloggers

Pat, Adam and Larry have done an interview with Scott Bakker, and the first part of it is up on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. My favorite part:

- Speaking of THE UNHOLY CONSULT, what can you tell us about the final volume of The Aspect-Emperor?

Completing it will certainly be a tremendous relief, simply because it’ll allow me to finally talk about so many things I’ve kept bottled up for so many years. I’m not sure whether The Second Apocalypse will be anything more than a cult success, commercially speaking, but when you live with a story as long as I have, it becomes a kind of yardstick, something almost religious in its demands. I am very, very happy with how the tale has come along–thanks, in large part, to some important lessons I learned along the way. My brother and I used to pine and daydream about this back in our D&D days, so to see it rendered, every bit as epic as we hoped, and as profound and lyrically beautiful as I could make it... well, that’s just way, way cool.
It feels scriptural, in my imagination at least.

Now, at the top of the sixth inning, the bases are loaded and I need to hit the ball out of the park. So what I want to say is that The Unholy Consult is where most of the burning questions will be revealed. I write books that many people love to hate: my hope is that after this latest set of reveals, the series will have earned their grudging respect as something genuinely unique and daring.

Most of the interview deals with things other than The Aspect-Emperor series, but it is still very interesting. Make sure to check it out.

Interview with Hal Duncan on Creative Writing Now

Following my post about Duncan's rules for new writers, here's a very interesting interview with him on a similar subject, from Creative Writing Now. I've always admired the quantities of not only coherent, but actually meaningful text Duncan is capable of producing in ridiculously short amounts of time, and this interview is no exception. Make sure to check it out!

Interview Questions for Bloggers

Found this over at Larry's blog, and thought I'd post it here. If you feel like answering the questions as well, feel free to post in the comments section.

1. Without giving anything away, what can you tell readers about your blog?

I am not sure what this blog is. I think it's way too young to tell yet. My hope is for it to become a diverse enough place that people with varying tastes could find enough to entertain them here. I have way too many hobbies to devote myself to any one of them, but I do my best to be at least half-way competent in each. Whether I manage, and whether this blog turns into what I hope, only time will tell.


2. What can you tell readers about your future themed review months? Are there any sequels in the works?

I can tell them that I like the idea, but I am not sure if I have the patience to do it. I am not the type of person who can dedicate himself to one thing for a long period. I can't even read a fantasy trilogy without reading something else in-between. But like I said, the idea is cool, and I will try to do it... at some point...


3. What do you feel is your strength as a blogger/reviewer?

Right now? In the diversity of the material I review, and the fact that I update the blog daily. In the future? Who knows?


4. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger you concerning your blogging/reviewing career?

I would tell myself to start blogging earlier, when I was a free spirit, and not now, when I have a ton of other responsibilities on my head...


5. What was the spark that generated the idea that drove you to start your blog/reviewing career?

My Olympian exhibitionism could not be contained any longer, and finally burst free. Also, I've been reviewing stuff for years, so it kind of seemed like the next logical step.


6. Were there any perceived conventions of blogging/reviewing that you wanted to twist or break when you set out to start blogging/reviewing?

Not as such, no.


7. In retrospect, is it safe to say that the online blogging/reviewing world wasn’t quite ready for your blog/review column? Blogging/reviewing was dominated by powerhouses such as Wil Wheaton, Dave Itzkoff, and Harriet Klausner at the time. Looking back, was your blog/review column too avante-garde in style and tone?

Uh, wut?


8. Many bloggers/reviewers don’t read within the blogging/reviewing field. Is it the case with you? If not, what bloggers/reviewers make you shake your head in admiration?

I do follow quite a few blogs, but I am not the type of person who shakes head in admiration. I'm way too narcissistic for that. I like Larry's OF Blog of the Fallen, as well as Jeff's Genre Reader.


9. Honestly, do you believe that bloggers/revieers will ever come to be recognized as veritable critics? Truth be told, in my opinion there has never been this many good blogs/online review columns as we have right now, and yet there is still very little respect (not to say none) associated with them.

Internet is not a good place to look for quality. Not because it's not present there, but because it's so hard to find it among the slush. For every blogger that should be recognized as a veritable critic (and yes, there are quite a few of those), there are a hundred, no - hundreds - that only waste bandwidth. I don't even know where I stand in this equation. Still, I believe that sooner or later (probably sooner, considering the speed with which IT evolves) bloggers will be recognized.


10. How would you like to be remembered as a blogger/reviewer? What is the legacy you’ll leave behind?

It's entirely too early to tell yet.


11. Do you ever worry that your blog articles/reviews are being misinterpreted? Ever ball up your fists, shoot steam from your ears and yell, “But you just don’t get it!” while reading a comment to a review? Even if they don’t get it, is that opinion still wrong?

If they disagree with me, then they are obviously wrong. However, I am yet to experience this in Roland's Codex. So far I've been sticking with reviews, but to be honest, I'm itching for a good flame, so I'd actually be happy for people to not "get" me.


12. If you take a reviewer like Adam Roberts, as his ramble-y, engaging reviews of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series and put them up against some of the reviews found on Amazon.com, you’re going to find people who appreciate one or the other. Many of those reviews on Amazon.com are written by what we’re calling ‘bad readers’, but there’s certainly an audience (a very large audience), who appreciate those ‘you’ll love this book if you loved ‘Book X’ or ‘Movie Y’. Are Roberts’ reviews objectively better? Would Joe Blow at the grocery store, who only chooses his novels solely on cover art think so?

I could honestly not care any less about Joe Blow and his choices in literature. I am not writing my reviews for him, and I don't read reviews written for him. The Amazon.com reviews have their merit, especially the critical ones, as a statistic that lets you see what kind of person dislikes certain book. However, I wouldn't call Roberts' ramblings about WoT "reviews" per se. They are hilarious, but I'd never read them if I was wondering whether I want to buy the books, and neither would they be particularly helpful in that regard. They are a fun read, an exercise in irony and generally awesome, but not what I look for in a "review". That said, I'd actually love to be able to write something like that, but I wouldn't do it for a book that I think needs proper reviewing.


13. Given the choice, would you take a paid review or column for an online or print publication, or a Book Blogger Appreciation Week award? Why, exactly?

I've always hated this "pick one" questions. I can't see why I shouldn't be able to want/have both. I'm a complete attention whore, so a paid review or column would be way too tempting for me to refuse, but a Book Blogger Appreciation Week award would sate the same hunger, wouldn't it?