|
Steven Gould now has at least four novels to his credit. The librarians
love his work. So do the critics. He is married to another author, Laura J. Mixon.
Half the staff of the Collector Times are fans of his work. His first book Jumper
was published about ten years ago. It was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by
the American Library Association.
While attending a panel at AggieCon about fun Convention activities, I came to
realize just how many people Steven and I both knew. Back in the Seventies, I was
on the periphery of a group of Texans who were attempting to become Science Fiction
writers. In this group were a number of souls whose work eventually got published:
Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, Tom Reamy, Bud Saunders (listed as "Jake"
Saunders on the book he co-wrote with Howard), and of course, the infamous Joe
Pumilia. Lisa Tuttle was sometimes there too, but I didn't know her very well
(although she did slam one of my attempts at writing a short story). Steven
seems to have met every one of them. At some time in the distant past, we must
have been introduced and shook hands. Neither one of us seems to remember it.
Based on this flimsy excuse for a shared past, I was able to impose upon him
for an interview. Turns out he's a really nice guy with a lot of heart.
Paul:
You were the Chair at AggieCon 5, now here we are at AggieCon 34. How has AggieCon
changed since the old days?
Steven:
In some ways its changed a lot. In some ways it hasn't changed. They seem a little better
organized now than we were in those days. But it can vary wildly. Part of the problem with
the student-run convention is that they're always re-inventing the wheel. Even if they figured
it out five years back and they're really getting organized . . . then the people who are really
organized graduate, move away and people come in who have not learned from the previous
administration. In that way sometimes stuff happens over and over again the same way. But, on
the other hand, they seem to be more media-oriented than they used to be, that's for sure.
Paul:
You mentioned that Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop were back in Texas. Do
you know how the rest of the old gang are doing?
Steven:
I saw Joe and Dennis Pumilia at a party around Christmas. It was a party for Lisa Tuttle,
who was over visiting from Scotland. Joe looks great, he's very funny still.
Paul:
As a member of Cepheid Variable back during the 70s, its obvious that you've been reading
Science Fiction for a long time. How long have you been reading it?
Steven:
I read Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey when I was probably ten. I definately read SF in
High School. I sought out Science Fiction and Fantasy above all other types of reading.
Paul:
What inspired you to start writing Science Fiction of your own?
Steven:
Well, I was attending AggieCon 4 and Harlan Ellison and the entire
Turkey City crew, including Bruce Sterling, Lisa Tuttle, Joe Pumilia, a writer named
Larry Carrol who hasn't done much since then . . .
Paul:
Steven:
No, Tom Reamy had moved up to Kansas at that point, so he was not there. And essentially
Harlan Ellison and Keith Laumer did a Turkey City workshop at the convention. And you
could watch it. You couldn't say anything, but . . . And that whole process was
so fascinating to me that I sat down and started writing my first story. My first
completed story ever right there at a table while watching them do this workshop.
At that workshop Bruce Sterling was really kind of . . . well, I don't know if he was
intimidated . . . but he was acting kind of beligerant as a reaction to being the new guy.
And he had heard about Harlan and stuff. And Harlan gave him a critique of his story and
he said, "Well, who the *bleep* cares what you think?"
And Harlan turned to him and said, "Well, I'm really sorry you feel that way because
if you're really interested in making those changes, I wanted to buy your story for Last
Dangerous Visions." And kind of deflated Bruce.
I believe that Harlan funded Bruce's trip to Clarion [a writer's conference] after that. And
I also believe that Bruce is kind of grateful that that story has never been published. He hasn't
asked for it back from Harlan. That story is still not published.
Paul:
When you first started reading Science Fiction, who were your favorite authors?
Steven:
I really loved early Clark, and I liked Asimov, but I adored the Heinlein juveniles.
And if I imprinted, so to speak, on anything, it was those Heinlein juveniles. I have a
friend who gets pretty upset with folks calling that age group "juveniles" . . .
feels that its a perjorative term - but the one's I liked kind of fit it. Also I was reading
the later Heinlein, you know, the stuff that questions authority a little more, particularly
Stranger in a Strange Land. I read it at exactly at the right age to read that book.
Which really is 14. I mean, there were lots of college people who read that book and went
wild, but really, its a book for 14-year-olds because its the time of your life when you're
questioning religion, you're questioning authority, you're wondering about this sexual thing.
Its a perfect book for people who want to hear voiced some of the thoughts that creep into
their heads about this religion thing. They call it "Organized Religion," but it
doesn't seem too organized.
Paul:
Who are your favorite authors now? Who do you like to read for fun?
Steven:
For fun, I read Lois McMaster Bujold. I read outside the field a lot, though. I
always come back to Dorothy Sayers and the four Harriet Vane/Lord Peter Wimsey
mysteries: Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night,
and Busman's Honeymoon. I like historicals a lot. I read Regency Romances
sometimes. I'd like to write a Regency Romance, and I've tentatively started one,
but I don't know that I'd be able to publish it under my own name. Might have to
do that one under a pseudonym. The really good Regency Romances are essentially
femenist tracts, I think . . . even though they often have the happy ending.
[Laura J. Mixon, Steven's wife, interjected something at this point that we both
thought quite interesting, but the tape is unintelligible, my memory is fallable,
and my notes are incomplete. Sorry, Laura!]
Paul:
Most of the characters in your books appear to be young. But the novels, of course,
appeal to everyone. Did you set out to write juveniles, or is that just the way that
your publisher has marketed your work?
Steven:
The publisher has been very careful not to pigeon-hole me. Its been very nice
of them. What happened was that I definitely set out myself to write on the borderline
between adult and YA [Young Adult] because I thought, "There's plenty of books that
meant a lot to me . . . that I am able to go back and read without any trouble."
The afore-mentioned Heinlein Young Adults did not talk down to kids, but had young
characters. My first two books were both chosen by the American Library Association -
even though they were not marketed as YA - as "Best Books for Young Adults."
And as a consequence, that sort of steered me into a marketing thing (at least with my
first two books) towards YA. But, my fourth book Blind Waves was specifically
not a YA, and Helm certainly has a young character but its a little grimmer . . .
its a little more traditional SF. I'd like to go back in that direction and do stuff that
is more explicitly on the border between YA and Adult.
I just read A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. Lansdale, an excellent book, and arguably
on that line. I think a High-Schooler could read that book. Their parents might not like
that, but a High-Schooler would really enjoy it.
Paul:
You've written about Texas a lot. I've noticed that a lot of the biographical material
in the back of your books mentions New Mexico and other places. Where are you now? Are
you back in Texas?
Steven:
We've been back in Texas since October of 2001, right after 9/11. In fact, it was on 9/11
that they offered Laura the job, which was interesting, considering. We're not that happy
in [names a suburb of Houston], because it is literally the most generic place you might
imagine. The only thing that's distinctive about it are the mall-sized Baptist churches
that pop up every so often. But other than that every chain you ever saw. Your Benegins,
your various fast-food places, your various grocery stores, you various shopping malls.
Its just not that distinctive a place.
Paul:
You've written very realistically about flying, diving, martial arts . . . how many of these
skills do you actually have? Do you have a pilot's license, martial arts training, a sailboat?
Steven:
I do have a lot of martial arts ecperience. When I was 15 years old I started Shotokan
karate and I did that until I graduated from High School and a little after. But when I turned
40, I started akido and I did that for seven years, ending up with a second-degree black belt.
That's something that hasn't really been in my life for the last year and a bit and I really want
to get back into that.
As far as flying, I played an enormous amount of Microsoft Flight Simulator. But I did talk
to private pilots and I did read flight manuals and the FAA's guide to training, learning how to
fly. And I did my research on that and I had my stuff checked.
As far as sailing, yes, I have sailed. And I have been scuba diving since 1971, so I've done a
bunch of that. I have never operated a submarine, even though there's a submarine in
Blind Waves. Though my brother-in-law is an ex-submariner.
Paul:
You write about real-life issues: alcoholism, child abuse, dealing with friends who
"come out", etc. Do you write from your own experience, you friends experiences,
. . . or do you just have a good eye for the human experience?
Steven:
There's no doubt that my first novel was the most "psycho-theraputic" novel.
My father was a practicing alcoholic when I was growing up. After I left college, he
happens to have been in a self-help group. He's been in that group for over twenty
years so its fortunately not an issue anymore, but it was definitely an issue as I was
growing up and in High School. So, yes, I have a very definite knowledge of that one.
I have had friends who came out. I have a lot of gay friends, but they're friends first,
they just happen to be gay.
Paul:
What are you working on next and when can we expect to see it?
Steven:
Well, I'm working on the sequel to Jumper. Hopefully, its gonna be finished
within the month. I sincerely hope its gonna be finished within the month.
And then I have another book contracted after that - to TOR - although I haven't
actually started on that. I'm writing what I think will be a YA, I'm not quite
sure yet what the setting is going to be or what the issues are going to be. I've
just got vague ideas in my head currently.
Paul:
And the sequel to Jumper is coming out when?
Steven:
Well, I don't know. It depends on them. They can't really schedule a book that you
haven't turned in. It happened in the past, and look what's happened to people like
J. K. Rowling, where it ends up in a court case with her writing schedule. And so its
much better to just turn it in and then they say its going to out in X.
Paul:
Alright, well thank you, Steve.
Steven:
|
