[Rocket Sheep]

I have Balzac's War in mine. I thought that was a great read hot on the tail of Veniss Underground. I liked knowing more than the characters.

I had to review the book for a mag, so I don't know if I should discuss very much until after the mag publishes my review. Not that most people here will get to read it anyway.

I think being around a lot of hot new writers here downunder, it made less of an impact on me than say readers who only read published American writers. It was great to see Tor going for a blend of genres tho... they told us they hated that... which was immensely disappointing cause Aussies love to genre blend and we hate the size of the Aussie market.

So, inspirational to see something new out there doing well in a big market.

[JeffVan]

It's natural to feel an affinity for the writers from your native country, of course. You're clued in to their cultural influences more, for one thing.

Speaking of Aussie writers, K.J. Bishop is a great one--and a great friend of mine. I also like Margo Lanagan, although I think she's getting a bit overhyped in the U.S at the moment. Which is okay--happens to the best of us--but creates an unrealistic expectation with reviewers, and could backfire on her a bit (just from a PR point of view). Kim Westwood is a short story writer I think will blossom in the next few years. Also, Anna Tambour is an amazing writer who has a novel out this year. Geoffrey Maloney remains a favorite of mine, too. It does seem, though, that the recent explosion of Aussie speculative fiction writers consists most of women. I wonder why that is...or if I'm mistaken.

"Balzac's War" is in the Tor UK mass market paperback edition. I made the decision to offer that to Tor UK for the mass market paperback edition because it's one of my favorite pieces from my US/Canada short story collection Secret Life, which doesn't have much distribution in the British Commonwealth. I wanted to get it a wider audience.

Jeff

[Erfael]

Hi Jeff,

I won't repost "The Compleat Saga of Erfael Trys to Acquire His Very Own Copy of Veniss Undergroud" here, as it's already in the February voting thread, but I will mention that I am on backorder from Barnes and Noble and have been for weeks, no good prospects at Amazon getting it in a reasonable time, my local indie store said that they basically can't get it in any sort of reasonable time and may have to charge more than cover price for it ,and have never seen one of your books at a brick and mortar store here in the US.

I have read the short version of City of Saints etc. and loved it. I have been trying to get Veniss nominated and voted for here in the forum along with Eventine and a few others for some time now so as to encourage me to get a copy (limited budget for books). So now the time has finally come and I find myself without a book. (brace yourself....this all leads to something.)

By all reports, your books are great, as was my experience with City of Saints etc. So why is it they're so darned hard to come by? Why can I walk into a store and get 12 feet of Robert Jordan, 10 feet of Eddings, 3 miles of Wizards of the Coast, and not one Vandermeer?

I know the simple answer (the industry answer that KatG would give), but I'm interested in your take on the industry and what you think about that situation.

BTW, really, really, really looking forward to reading the book, should it ever arrive.

[JeffVan]

If you want to do a trade, I'll send you Veniss for something I need from Australia. Email me if interested.

The short and long of it is that although I've been a published professional writer for over 15 years, it wasn't until 2003 that I got a contract with a major publisher. All of my books before that came out from independent presses. So, in the eyes of most readers worldwide, especially outside of the U.S., and in the eyes of booksellers, I'm a newbie.

What I am finding is that the book is available in most chain bookstores, and that many, many independents and some individual chain stores have gone out of their way to feature my work. It's unlikely that I'll ever be as popular as a Robert Jordan because I'm not the kind of writer who is interested in (1) repeating myself or (2) writing for the marketplace. This doesn't mean I don't respect my readers, but the thing I've learned over the last 15 years is that if you're true to yourself as a writer, and to your vision, that readers respect that more, and it also means more when you do become successful, than if you tried to write what you think the marketplace wants.

I'm trying to do my bit by traveling as much as possible to meet readers, talk to bookstore managers, etc. In fact, I've accepted an invite to teach and participate in the Brisbane Writers Festival in Sept-Oct. I'll be flying into Cairns to do a workshop there, then over to Brisbane, and end up in Sydney, where I hope to do some bookstore signings and readings.

Jeff

[JeffVan]

I'm sorry--for some reason since one of the moderators is in Australia, I just thought this was mostly Aussies. You're talking about US brick-and-mortar stores.

My first book from a large publisher in the US hasn't come out yet--Bantam Books has picked up Veniss Underground and City of Saints for release in late 2005 and 2006. Tor Books has bought the new novel. So soon they will be available everywhere in the US in brick-and-mortar stores. And the fake disease guide I co-edited will be out in the US from Bantam in April.

My nonfiction collection is in every Barnes & Noble in the US, although it's selling briskly and each store probably only took two copies, so...

Jeff

[Erfael]

I'm really glad to hear that you've been picked up for wider distribution in the US. I'll step out for now until I get a copy so all the lucky bastards who have copies can talk about the book and not the industry. I'll be back when I've read it, ready to discuss away.

[Nimea]

Sorry, still not really something to contribute, but a question:
Is it right that you sold both Veniss Underground and City to two German publishers? I think I read that somewhere in the Locus mag some time ago. Any publication date? Anything to say about it at all?

Mmh, this is really quite off-topic . . . so, maybe if you want to answer that, send me a PM? :o

Will come back when I have finished reading. :)

[JeffVan]

It might be off-topic in a way, but since people won't be really ready to discuss Veniss for awhile...

Veniss has sold to Piper in Germany. City of Saints to Klett-Cotta. And I hope to be able to officially announce good news re my new novel, Shriek, and the German market soon. I've been in close contact with the German translator of City, Erik Simon, for many months. He is doing a meticulous and wonderful job, and they will be publishing the book replicating the look-and-feel of the Pan Macmillan hardcover exactly.

Jeff

[Rocket Sheep]

Funny you should mention Kim Westwood... I spent six weeks working with her and other new writers with fresh styles, Claire McKenna, Paul Haines, Brendan Duffy, James Cain (James and Haines taught me not to flinch at squelching body parts - lucky for you), and other new writers who are equally wonderful but with more classical styles.

Look out for those names in the trenches tho. They may be up your alley readingwise. Haines and Duffy both won Aurealis Awards recently. McKenna and Haines are doing more collaborative work since the success of Warchalking.

Yes, lots of speculative fiction writers downunder are women. You know what they say about Aussie girls. We aren't about to let the boys have all the fun. Look down at the official Author threads. When we were wondering who to invite... I could only think of Australian women. The other mods from other countries only managed one female name.

I liked "burbling saditude". I've been dropping it into casual conversations all over.

I'm so off-topic so I'll try to get back on with a question for Jeff. How do you feel about Veniss Underground being discussed in the Fantasy section? To me it felt more of a sf/horror blend. We say Andre Norton is a sf writer and there are similar fantasy elements in Veniss Underground to her work.

[JeffVan]

Veniss was up for fantasy and horror awards--World Fantasy, etc.--not so much the SF awards. I've always thought of my far future stories as a blend of fantasy and horror as much as SF. Which is to say, I'm not all that interested in the science behind the future, just the effects. You'll recall the famous statement made about Jack Vance's work--that if you write about a period far enough in the future, it begins to look like fantasy.

But you can certainly read it as SF if you like. It's a versatile book. :)

Andre Norton? Never read her.

Jeff