Ask the Author: A.A. Attanasio
Answered Questions (8)
A.A. Attanasio
I'm sincerely moved - and glad to know you've restored yourself on a spirited path. Wonder, unchallengeable in its beauty and intimacy, escapes the haunting darkness sending us into the future. That my book opened into wonder for you during a dark passage is a supreme honor for a storyteller. Thank you for finding me and letting me know.
A.A. Attanasio
I'm heartened to know you enjoyed my take on King Arthur's parents. >The Dragon and the Unicorn< was my first foray into Roman Britain, a bygone realm of pastoral beauty that we still remember in our nursery rhymes.
>The Mask of the Sorcerer< meets us in an astutely observed fantasy domain with such vivid mythic contours (including an underworld journey!) that my memory of it remains lucid though I read it last century.
My favorite book? After a lifetime (I'm 73), I'm still enthralled with a collection of short stories I first encountered as a young teen, Lord Dunsany's >The Gods of Pegāna.< If it's unfamiliar, you can find it online at Project Gutenberg. Every time I crack open that book, the peculiar charm of those otherworldly tales enfolds me like a narcotic dream.
>The Mask of the Sorcerer< meets us in an astutely observed fantasy domain with such vivid mythic contours (including an underworld journey!) that my memory of it remains lucid though I read it last century.
My favorite book? After a lifetime (I'm 73), I'm still enthralled with a collection of short stories I first encountered as a young teen, Lord Dunsany's >The Gods of Pegāna.< If it's unfamiliar, you can find it online at Project Gutenberg. Every time I crack open that book, the peculiar charm of those otherworldly tales enfolds me like a narcotic dream.
A.A. Attanasio
There are two hardcover editions of The Last Legends of Earth, Asra. The Easton edition has a leather cover with an abstract design. And the Grafton edition is a pastoral landscape with Tryl towers in the background. Memory is a creative act, and I do admire your cover art vision for this story. During a change in publishers, the book disappeared for a while, but it should be back now on Amazon in Kindle edition.
A.A. Attanasio
Thank you for the compliment! Alas, I'm not sure which of my fiction series you mean. If you contact the Spanish publisher of the series, you can probably find out more about why the second book lacks a translator. Again, thanks for finding merit in my work - and for letting me know! :)
A.A. Attanasio
Solis is a novel set on Mars a millennium from now. Centuries, a science fiction saga I published several years later, details the 'history of the future' that led to the tech culture dramatized in Solis. As for future works about Mars and our human destiny beyond Earth, that is a journey already underway in my heart - and my mind is hurrying to catch up!
A.A. Attanasio
Joshua, I'm grateful that you find merit in my writing style. Some readers get annoyed with metaphor in fiction. For me, poetry adds to the narrative an ineffable dimension, a mood or atmosphere very like the inexpressible feelings we experience in our daily lives. Tips for writing lyrically? Enter into the scene you're composing with a synesthetic attitude. Ask how a fragrance might sound - or a texture look. No need to worry about copying style, because your associations will be personal. Dramatic action and character development have only a few literary variations, but verbal imagination is unique! I applaud you for seeking your lyric voice.
A.A. Attanasio
That would be a short story by Patricia Anthony, who published “For No Reason” in Asimov’s magazine, September 1990. I published one short story in that magazine, January 1994, “Remains of Adam,” about a cryogenically preserved human brain from our time waking up one thousand years later – on Mars.
A.A. Attanasio
It’s really gratifying to know that my work has held up for you over the years, Brian! Your comments fathom a depth of satisfaction in me where ambition finally rests. And, more than that, I’m uplifted to hear that my art has contributed to a life of intentional wonder! Wonder inspires poetic engagement with the cold mystery of existence, and to pull it off requires inventiveness and a lot of heart. That makes your warm appraisal of my fiction all the more meaningful to me. Yes, I did fall off the sf/f map at the turn of the millennium: A large corporation purchased my publisher in the late ‘90s and let go of their mid-list authors, including me. I haven’t found a publisher since willing to issue my unconventional novels; so, I’m self-publishing my creative efforts as e-books. That’s been a steep learning curve for me. Simply making available the titles from my backlist has taken several years. Presently, I do have three major, new projects in development: Negative Zero (sf), Dragon Dolorous (fantasy) and Reluctant Mirror (paranormal). I’m also discovering Goodreads as an effective venue for disenfranchised authors! I’m looking forward to spending more time here, connecting with responsive readers like yourself, who make me feel that all the hours I spend with my imaginary characters away from real people is worth those erasures.
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