Interview with Joe Abercrombie - The S&L Podcast #56

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Yay! Our interview with Joe Abercrombie is live!

http://www.swordandlaser.com/home/201...

Enjoy!

[David]

Ooo, tempting. Any spoilers, guys?

[Tamahome]

Wow, how did he get you to interview him?

[Colin]

No spoilers that i could tell. It was more on his craft. Some of the twitter questions were borderline spoilery, so if you don't want to know which characters make it to the end of the First Law trilogies or at least those who are implied to make it to the end, you should probably just skip the twitter questions at the end.

Otherwise, it was good interview!

[[deleted user]]

"poo based metaphors" the way he said that had me laughing for a good minute.

[Skip]

Tamahome wrote: "Wow, how did he get you to interview him?"

Veronica asked him last week.

Good interview, I can't wait until I have time to read again. I now have so many books to pick up.

[Tamahome]

I was trying to be funny and put it backwards, and failed.

[Skip]

In your defense, I am running on very little sleep, so I'm running high on the oblivious scale right now.

[David]

Hah. I guess I was a little gun shy. I should have just gone ahead and hear the 'no spoilers' part.

Thanks for the Twitter questions heads-up, Colin!

[Sean]

Ala wrote: ""poo based metaphors" the way he said that had me laughing for a good minute."

I thought he was going to bring up Moorcock's "Epic Pooh," essay in which he compared LotR to Winnie the Pooh.

[Tamahome]

I recall Dhalgren having a bathroom scene...

[Jonathan]

That the interview was spoiler-free was kind of disappointing, since I'm all caught up, but yeah, there's nothing there that you would avoid even if you've never read one page of his works.

There is one question that characterizes a character a way the reader might not quite understand, but considering that heroes and villains are really just a point of view in Abercrombie's books, it's easily dismissed.

[Ed]

Tamahome wrote: "I recall Dhalgren having a bathroom scene..."

Also, the chapter with the Kenosha Kid in Gravity's Rainbow. :-)

[Al]

Sean wrote: "Ala wrote: ""poo based metaphors" the way he said that had me laughing for a good minute."

I thought he was going to bring up Moorcock's "Epic Pooh," essay in which he compared LotR to Winnie the ..."

Apropos of one or the other --

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Pooh-Co...

[Al]

Ed wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I recall Dhalgren having a bathroom scene..."

Also, the chapter with the Kenosha Kid in Gravity's Rainbow. :-)"

And Slothrop chasing his harmonic down through the toilet into the sewers.

[Bob]

Nice interview, I keep hearing you guys talk about Joe Abercrombie and after the podcast I started reading The Blade Itself

Thank you!

[Tamahome]

I think one of Peter F. Hamilton's old psychic detective Greg Mandel books starts with a robot cockroach crawling into a toilet and up the pipes.

I should promise to finish Dhalgren and Gravity's Rainbow this year, but I probably won't. Where's the audio versions?

[Sandi]

I really liked the interview. Abercrombie's voice was nothing like I expected. I knew he was British, but I was expecting him to sound rougher. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought you were interviewing Jamie Oliver.

[terpkristin]

I too really enjoyed this interview. It was particularly fun to hear his thoughts on casting of Logan and Glotka.

Listening to what he said, he kind of thinks that people should read the trilogy first, then Best Served Cold, then The Heroes. Does that jive with what other S&L'ers think? I read the trilogy last year, and was thinking of doing a re-read this year, and including BCS and TH. If I were to do that, what order do y'all think would be "right"?

[Richard]

Nice interview, I listened to it after reading all the books. I never thought of Ray Stevenson from Rome for Logen, but that is perfect casting. Very interesting hearing about his influences. The little tidbits about the next standalone book were cool. I saw on his blog pictures of Red Dead Redemption, Unforgiven, etc., so I knew the theme was based on the cowboy/western mythos. That Logen might be in that book sounds great.

[[deleted user]]

His casting of Paul Bettany for Glokta isn't how I saw him, but now I can't unsee it.

[Larry]

Really liked the interview. Ray Stevenson is how I always saw Logen myself. It was spot on. I can see Paul Bettany as Glotka now.

I need to read the stand alones now...

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Just finished Best Served Cold, now onto The Heroes!

[Kate]

I didn't care for The Blade Itself but I must say Abercrombie's voice is hella sexy.

[Bob]

Just about a third of the way through The Blade Itself and enjoying. I'm very surprised because I've had a hard time finding fantasy books I really enjoy.

[[deleted user]]

Luckily for you, there's still 4 more books for you to read in that universe.

[aldenoneil]

Kate wrote: "I didn't care for The Blade Itself but I must say Abercrombie's voice is hella sexy."

Well, that's what counts.

[Basil]

Abercrombie's personality prompted me to add his trilogy to my To Read list.

Great interview TV!

[Tamahome]

Basil wrote: "Abercrombie's personality prompted me to add his trilogy to my To Read list.

Great interview TV!"

I've tried reading books because I liked an author on a podcast before. It doesn't always work out.

[[deleted user]]

go on...

[Tamahome]

Ala wrote: "go on..."

Like Guy Gavriel Kay says everything I agree with about strong characters and plots, but then when I tried one of his books (Tigana I think), it seemed like one run-on sentence. Or Kristine Kathryn Rusch wants to bring back fun sf stories like Star Trek and Star Wars, but I didn't feel Diving into the Wreck was like that.

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, that's why I pretty much ignore author interviews and all that.

I don't care what you think or how you look or what you sound like...just write me a good book and i'll give you my money.

[Jared]

Did the ladies control themselves in the podcast? I know they like Mr Abercrombie and his good looks. ;)

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Jared wrote: "Did the ladies control themselves in the podcast? I know they like Mr Abercrombie and his good looks. ;)"

Barely. He talked about his kids a lot in the pre-show though, so I took the hint. ;)

[Tamahome]

Don't worry. I hear those fantasy guys are polyamorous.

[Chris]

I started listening to "The First Law" trilogy because of this episode. I love it!

[Joshua]

My audible credit became available when this interview aired. I bought the blade itself and am totally engrossed. Already listened to Before They Are Hanged, now I'm waiting impatiently for my next credit.