Jim Nelson's Blog, page 20

Tasty review of Bridge Daughter at The Hungry Bookworm

The Hungry Bookworm posted a foodie review of Bridge Daughter earlier today. Hungry Bookworm combines book reviews and cooking in a rather delightful way, offering recipes that complement the book or its subject matter. Blogger dreammkatcher paired Bridge Daughter with Lemon Zucchini Pancakes, an apt choice considering the role pancakes (and flapjacks!) play throughout the novel:

A strong character, I found myself sympathizing with Hanna and rooting for her until the very end. The morning her...

Interview at Jim Jackson’s My Two Cents Worth

Author Jim Jackson has featured me on his blog today, answering questions about writing, inspiration, and Bridge Daughter. An excerpt:

I can’t fully explain where the idea for Bridge Daughter came from. One morning while preparing to write a chapter for another book I’m (still) working on, a strange thought struck me: What if we lived in a world where daughters are born as surrogates for their mothers, growing up to young teens and giving birth to the “real” child before dying. Rather than br...

Interview with Katie O’Rourke at Today’s Author

An interview with Katie O’Rourke went up this morning at Today’s Author. I discuss writing genre fiction and the connection between Bridge Daughter and cyberpunk:

One science fiction author who inspired Bridge Daughter in an oblique way was William Gibson, a writer I admire a great deal. His early cyberpunk novels were a blast of fresh air in the 1980s. I was especially drawn to their near-future feeling, the way their world did not seem wildly alien to the world we lived in back then, just m...

Bridge Daughter giveaway on Goodreads

Now on Goodreads, enter for a chance to win a paperback copy of Bridge Daughter!

It’s simplicity itself: Simply follow this link to Goodreads and press the “Enter Giveaway” button.

In order to enter the giveaway you’ll need to supply your shipping address. (I don’t receive your mailing address or email unless you win, in order to ship you the book!)

The entry deadline is August 1, so enter now!

Published July 23, 2016 by Jim Nelson.

Review of Bridge Daughter and interview with Jeanz Book Read ‘N’ Review

Sandra “Jeanz” of Jeanz Book Read ‘n’ Review has posted a wonderful review of Bridge Daughter. She also graciously interviewed me about the book, both its background and inspiration as well as the future of Bridge Daughter as a book series.

From her review:

Would I want to read another book in the series? Yesss! I would read the next book now if I could. In my opinion this book genuinely is a strong start to a potentially brilliant series. so I definitely want . . no need to read more.

Would...

Rewatching Slacker

Although I can’t imagine any of the characters in the film Slacker being terribly nostalgic about anything, it’s worth noting that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Richard Linklater’s now-classic gem. Sanctified in The Onion A.V. Club’s “New Cult Canon” and topping numerous critics’ “best indie film of all-time” rankings, Slacker is an odd addition to any best-of list. After all, this is a film seemingly about not giving a shit.

The most immediate impression on watching...

The absence of technology in literary fiction

Smartphones by Esther Vargas. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

One of my complaints about literary magazines—both the small lit mags of university English departments and the literary lions like New Yorker, Tin House, and so forth—is the peculiar absence of up-to-date technology in their fiction. Characters don’t send much email. People rarely text each other. Voicemail is about the most modern of the Information Age conveniences in contemporary literature, and even then, it’s usually summarized by the narrato...

Bridge Daughter now available as Kindle ebook and paperback

Kindle Scout Winner Bridge Daughter is now available from Kindle Press!

Early reviews for Bridge Daughter are already coming in:

“Hauntingly beautiful…a disturbing view of an alternate America where children bear their parents’ children for them.” – K. McCutchen, 4-star Amazon review

“I was invested in this story from the first page to the last.” – Lino Mascarucci, 5-star Amazon review

“I read it with tears rolling down my face. … The story will stick with you long after you’ve read the last...

Bridge Daughter now available for pre-order

Final release date: Tuesday, June 7th, 2016

Purchase your digital copy of Bridge Daughter now for $2.99 and have it automatically downloaded to your Kindle on June 7th.

A paperback edition will be available shortly after June 7th. (Keep watching my web site for details or sign up for my mailing list.)

If you nominated Bridge Daughter on Kindle Scout, you should have received an email from Amazon with information on how you can obtain your free early copy.

And thank you for the nomination! You...

Philip K. Dick on realism, consistency, and fiction

I recently dove into the so-far-superb Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (from Melville House, publisher of the increasingly-intriguing Last Interviews collection) and am enjoying every page. I’ve written before about my semi-tortuous negotiations with PKD’s novels, and am finding (some) justification for my issues in these interviews with him.

With PKD I remain hamstrung: he’s more of a speculative fiction (and philosophical) writer than the run-of-the-mill hard sci-...