Comments on: Black Gate Interviews James L. Sutter, Part Three

By: periklis

periklis — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:26:54 +0000

I got my copy directly from the publisher (http://www.blacklibrary.com/Warhammer-40000/Space-Marine.html) and although it’s a bit costly, it’s probably the best Print on Demand quality I’ve read.
Also, if you manage to get a hold of an omnibus copy of the “Draco” books, you’ll find an interesting introduction from Watson (this time he reveals his intentions about those books, “baroque” if I recall…) and two inter-linked short stories. You’re spot-on with “weird & inventive”. I was reminded of Watson’s first book (”The Embedding” ‘73 - http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/ian-watson/embedding.htm) about language, consiousness & first contact. It’s a meeting of styles, between A. Clark’s Hard SF and the New Wave writers’.

By: Bill Ward

Bill Ward — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:11:16 +0000

I have yet to get a hold of ‘Space Marine,’ I just have the mass market reprints of the three Draco novels. Watson is wonderfully weird and inventive, and now I really want to track down Space Marine if it’s a part of the ‘Starship Troopers’ dialog (there are so many books written in response or homage to it).

By: periklis

periklis — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:29:43 +0000

I’ve taken a break halfway through reading “The Inquisition War” omnibus (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?63918).
In his introduction for the new PoD printing of “Space Marine”, Watson admits doing a (very clever & entertaining) pastiche of Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”. Maybe the same applies to his short ” Warped Stars”, this time I think, for van Vogt’s “Slan”…

By: Bill Ward

Bill Ward — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:06:25 +0000

By strange coincidence, I’m also currently reading Watson’s 40k novels. They’re really fun, doubly so because he gets away with so many ‘big idea’ things that just aren’t done any more.

By: periklis

periklis — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:01:51 +0000

Great interview!
I remember polishing my (almost non-existent) english with “Indiana Jones and the White Witch”, “Dragons of Autumn Twilight” and “Curse of the Azure Bonds”, before discovering Gibson, Howard and the classics of genre fiction (another word which shouldn’t “seem too lowbrow”).
Also the Warhammer tie-in books are a good example of how a good editor, brings great writers on board (I was recently reading Ian Watson’s Warhammer 40K novels)…