Comments on: Shriek: An Afterword–Genesis

By: Thursday Linkfest | petermball.com

Thursday Linkfest | petermball.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:49:23 +0000

[...] Vandermeer talks about the genesis of Shriek: An Afterword complete with scans of annotated manuscript pages; my inner fascination with how other people work [...]

By: Sir Tessa

Sir Tessa — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:57:24 +0000

Yep. Never thought I’d call 38C/100F a cool change. It was 110F for three days straight.

Brisbane doesn’t seem to be going to extremes, any more than it normally does.

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:10:40 +0000

Yeah–it’s kind of creepy. Temp back under 105?

By: Sir Tessa

Sir Tessa — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:49:17 +0000

This place is an excavation site, with amputated fiction bits and bits of desiccated story cocoon being dug up all over the place.

By: Alex Carnegie

Alex Carnegie — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:13:50 +0000

There seems to be somehow a huge sense of appropriateness to the way that the real life writing of the novel on a typewriter by you mirrors Duncan’s writing of his part of it in the backroom on his. Seems almost like “method writing” in one sense. I’ll have a look at this Sound Pilot thing, there’s something immesely satisfying about the clack of typewriter keys, similar to the way I miss older, clackier computer keyboards, and it somehow makes writing a more visceral experience.

“I suddenly saw Duncan’s father running across the lawn…and not making it to the other side.” It was to be one of the most powerful images in the novel in my opinion.

Re. “Dunny” indeed, it’s an Australian slang term for toilet! Although “Dunk” is what one does with biscuits in tea…

The Ligotti all-caps thing certainly adds to his mystique in a way, and I never realised the Ligotti/L. Gaudy connection until now!

By: J. T. Glover

J. T. Glover — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:08:33 +0000

Jeff, it’s a pleasure to read these posts. Being able to see what goes on behind the scenes is enjoyable and interesting. It also seems appropriate, if that’s the right word, for a writer who works with meta-narrative, experiments, etc.

I’m not sure whether the networked world has made association between writers better or worse. There’s something awesome about you corresponding with Thomas Ligotti, or David Foster Wallace corresponding with Thomas Pynchon, or Caitlin R. Kiernan sending her first novel to a batch of novelists to see if she could get an agent. These days I feel (more or less) free to comment on authors’ blogs, send e-mails if they have “contact” links on their websites, and all that, but it still doesn’t require that big first step. If an author’s got a significant web presence, it’s reasonable to assume they’ll respond to a polite inquiry, and more often than not that seems true.

Do you ever still typewrite? I have occasionally, but just about my favorite little piece of software is a program called Sound Pilot that has a variety of typewriter sound schemes. Each time you type, you get the sound of a Smith-Corona, or Morse, or whatever. With the volume high enough, it actually makes my desk shake, and somehow that tactile element makes the experience different.

By: Allen

Allen — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:33:00 +0000

As far as I am concerned I thought, before the book came out, that this was the one that was going to make or break your fame. It made it. You’re going to be in the books centuries from now!