My wife left a message on my phone Tuesday morning saying, "You've got to listen to MPR, there's this author and he's talking about fantasy books and they're listing all the same authors you read!"
Unfortunately, I was in a meeting and light years from being able to listen to the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) Midmorning broadcast with Kerr Miller. If you missed it too, here's your chance to listen to Kerri interview Lev Grossman.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/08/16/midmorning2/
Lev Grossman is both an author and a book critic. His latest book is The Magician King, and you can read more about Lev on his blog.
I loved this interview. Not only was Lev entertaining (it might be an interview to Lev and Kerri, but it's still entertainment to the rest of us) but he also said some very interesting things about science fiction and fantasy, things that rang true for me as I'm working on my books.
Some of my favorite quotes from this interview include: "Fiction is the place where the mind can play..." and "These [fantasy] books are about dealing with reality..." and "... fantasy isn't escapism, it's a new, fresh way of looking at old problems... certainly fantasy engages really well with social questions and political questions... it is a good tool for people to use to grapple with this kind of social disorder."
The interview also contains many fine suggestions for sf/fantasy books, including Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & MR. Norell" which I am now reading - how is that I am only hearing about this book now?
Interesting author, great interview. Check it out!
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