The Dragon Page "Cover to Cover"
Conversations with Authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy
The archives of the seminal book talk show, and one of the oldest podcasts on the internet.
Interview: Bringing you Part 2 of the big interview with J. C. Hutchins! (Check out Part 1 first!)
J.C. discusses with Mike and Mike the discoveries he’s encountered during the process of bringing 7th Son to print, and the differences in attitudes and perceptions between the traditional and the independent media, and what both sides should be able to learn from each other to make things better for everyone.
Interview: The inestimable J. C. Hutchins returns to “Cover to Cover”, to talk about the final chapter of how 7th Son: Descent has finally made it to print and is in bookstores now.
Interview: Cherie Priest joins Mike and Mike to talk her latest book, Boneshaker. It’s steampunk during wartime, with zombies and airship pirates — how can you go wrong?
Interview: Tom Lloyd, author of the “Twilight Reign” series, joins Mike and Mike to talk about the latest book in the series, The Grave Thief.
Tom tells about how this story turned into 5 volumes, discovering the story along the way, and standing at the starting gate, staring at the mountain that is the start of a 200,000 word novel waiting to be written, and of course, the plethora of new story ideas that just won’t leave a writer be.
Interview: This week, Douglas Clegg joins us to chat about his latest book, Isis: A Tale of the Supernatural. The novella, beautifully illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne, tells a haunting tale of young Iris Catherine Villiers (who later becomes Isis Claviger) and her grief-stricken journey into the occult after her beloved brother’s death.
Interview: David Anthony Durham returns to the show to talk about his “Acacia” series, and the recently released second book in the series, The Other Lands.
David talks about using the second book as a bridge to the final book in the trilogy, and to explore part of the world that was only touched upon in the first book, and to explore depths in the characters affected by what they’re discovering about their history and responsibility for a dark secret.
Interview: Rob Sawyer joins to mainly talk about the differences between writing for television and film, and writing for novels and short stories.
His novel, FlashForward, was picked up as a TV series, premiering on ABC-TV on this week, and he talks about the differences in pacing, writing style and the different needs that have to be met with a screenplay as compared to what’s needed in a manuscript.
Interview: Alma Alexander joins us this week to talk about her YA series “Worldweavers”, and the third book in the trilogy, Worldweavers: Cybermage.
The series is set in the Pacific Northwest, and makes good use of the mystical environment and the Native American influences found there, and has a strong young female protagonist, Thea Winthrop. From the Trickster, to Grandmother Spider, to incorporating a magical twist on Nikola Tesla and the Internet, the tales of the students at the Wandless Academy might be of interest to tweens and teens looking for something beyond Hogwarts.
Interview: S. M. Stirling takes a break from his West Coast book tour to chat with Brian, Mike, Mike and Summer about The Sword of the Lady, the latest installment in his “Change” series. This series is one of Brian’s favorite reads, and we talk with Steve about his inspirations, his observations of the real world and real people and using them in his stories, using online tools in research (and being distracted by them), and much much more.
Interview: Jane Lindskold joins Mike, Summer and Mike to talk about Nine Gates, the latest installment in her “Breaking the Wall” series, and the follow-up to Thirteen Orphans (listen to that interview in Cover to Cover #339A), and about shaking up the expectations of readers by not giving them another variation of the typical quest adventure.
Mike Carey joins the guys this week to talk about Dead Men’s Boots, the latest installment in his Felix Castor series. He talks about how even though the initial three books in the series (since it was pitched as a threesome) were planned out ahead in detail, many threads and elements were introduced to take Felix’s story through six novels so far.
Interview: David Weber joins Michael and Michael to chat about his latest book, By Heresies Distresssed, the third volume in his Safehold series, following Off Armageddon Reef and By Schism Rent Asunder.
David talks about having to relearn how to craft his books after severely breaking his right wrist, and how learning and training the voice recognition software, and having to talk to create his manuscripts has changed how much he can work and also how he approaches writing his books (especially in terms of scheduling, planning and revising).
Interview: Michael and Michael chat with Marjorie M. Liu about her urban fantasy series “Hunter Kiss”, and the newest book, Darkness Calls. The inspiration for the heroine, Maxine Kiss, and the world and war she lives in came from the old SciFi Channel promo featuring the tattoos coming to dinner.
Marjorie is also writing comics, and she just finished up “NYX” and is now working on “Dark Wolverine” for Marvel Comics.
Interview: James Enge joins Michael and Michael this week to discuss his new book, Blood of Ambrose from Pyr. They chat about story outline and structure, intentional and circumstantial comedy and planning out multivolume series.
Chaos enters, hilarity ensues!
Interview: Mike and Mike talk with Stephen Baxter about his newest book Flood, a story which explores how people and society react when the water rises higher and faster than the modern world is currently prepared to deal with.
The discussion ranges from the science of climate change, the limits and extremes to what can and might happen in a radical environmental shift, and exploring how people would adapt to different scenarios, and more.
