J Haymanjrosehayman asked Scott Hawkins:

I loved your book. My main question is when is your next book being published. The last fantasy I liked this much was American Gods, have you published short stories?

Scott Hawkins Hi J,

Thanks for the question. I’m afraid that Library at Mount Char is the very first piece of fiction that I’ve ever published. I’m about halfway done writing a new book now (completely new—no librarians, not the same fictional universe), but I couldn’t do much more than guess as to when it might hit stores. Next year-ish, maybe? Some of that probably depends on how Mount Char does.

However, I’m working on a shawkins.net web site. Near the top of my to-do list is putting up a short story set in the Mount Char universe as a freebie for anyone who cares enough to swing by. I want to have that up by the book’s launch date of June 16. Having said that, I don’t write a lot of short fiction, so this hypothetical short story may well end up sucking. But it will definitely be free.

In the meantime, I took the liberty of looking over your Goodreads profile. It looks like you and I have pretty similar tastes (John Varley, Walter Jon Williams, Haldeman, Jeffrey Eugenides…) so I’ve got some recommendations. If you haven’t already, you might try The Orphan Master’s Son by a guy named Adam Johnson. It’s literary fiction that makes 1984 look like a cheery children’s book, but damn that guy can write. It may be the best book I ever read, period. I didn’t see any Warren Ellis in your list, but he’s reliably excellent if you’re in the mood for mind-bend-y comic books. You might start with Planetary or Global Frequency. Also, at the risk of being accused of nepotism (Weir has the same publisher/editor as me), I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir and it was friggin’ great. Give that one a shot next time you’re in the mood for hard s.f.

For my part, you’re the third person I’ve run into this week who raved about Hyperion. I may read that one next.

Anyway, I’m really tickled that you enjoyed the book. Sorry I don’t have more for you.

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