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Stephen Leigh Janury 6, 2003 10 PM Eastern
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Stephen Leigh is the author of eighteen science fiction novels and several short stories, including several contributions to the Hugo-nominated WILD CARDS series, edited by George RR Martin. His most recent novels are HOLDER OF LIGHTNING (under the pseudonym S.L. Farrell, DAW Books, January 2003), THUNDER RIFT (written as "Matthew Farrell", Avon Eos, May 2001), DARK WATER'S EMBRACE (Avon Eos, March 1998), winner of the Spectrum Award, and the sequel to DWE, entitled SPEAKING STONES (Avon Eos, February 1999). HOLDER OF LIGHTNING is high fantasy set in a Celtic-tinged world; THUNDER RIFT is a first contact novel; DARK WATER'S EMBRACE concerns the politics of gender, sexuality, and reproduction; SPEAKING STONES examines issues of prejudice and cultural conflict. You can check out Stephen's bibliography and current works-in-progress on his website: http://www.farrellworlds.com. Like many writers, Stephen has diverse interests and work history. His college degree is in Fine Art, and art (drawing and watercolors, mostly, but recently computer-generated graphics) has long been an interest. He also made his living as a musician for several years - jazz-tinged rock 'n roll mostly, providing lead vocals and playing electric bass - and still plays out a few times a month. For a time, Stephen and a friend performed as a juggling/comedy duo called COSMOS & CHAOS at science fiction conventions and other venues. He has studied Aikido, an eternally challenging and interesting Japanese martial art, for over a decade now, and is a third degree black belt - far enough along to be a 'serious beginner.' He is married to his best friend and favorite first reader, Denise, and they have two children. Denise makes certain that Stephen's true to his characters and stories - she has a great 'ear' for characterization and plot, and is a fantastic editor and first reader. |
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HOST RL Astra: Hi Stephen! Stephen Leigh Hey, all! Hello! HOST RL Astra: Stephen, I really enjoyed the excerpt of Tundaer Rift from your web site :- HOST RL Astra: Geez. Thunder. JaniceMars: Excellent... great to see you online tonight Steven. Let's get things rolling why don't we. Stephen Leigh Fine -- go ahead -- and Astra, I LIKE "Tundaer" JaniceMars: LOL JaniceMars: Stephen, I was just reading your story on your website... A Rain of Pebbles - http://www.farrellworlds.com/pebbles.html JaniceMars: and was impressed by the number and amount of colors you use in your writing. Is there a reason you... JaniceMars: use more color descriptions? Stephen Leigh Well, my degree's in fine art... Stephen Leigh so I suppose there's a natural inclination... Stephen Leigh on my part to use color in description... Stephen Leigh On the other hand, I'm also shade blind... Stephen Leigh and don't really see colors that are very dark or very light... Stephen Leigh all that well (you should see my paintings!). HOST RL Astra: I speak alien fluently, LOL HOST RL Marz: LOL JaniceMars: That's interesting...never heard of shade blind before. Stephen Leigh It means that colors that are very light... Stephen Leigh or very dark tend to just go to shades of gray... Stephen Leigh for me. I also have a nephew who doesn't... Stephen Leigh see colors at all. JaniceMars: Interesting...kind of like color blindness... did you know that you had this when you majored in art in college? Stephen Leigh Yeah, I did -- I started out in Graphic Design... Stephen Leigh and very quickly found out I couldn't do the... Stephen Leigh color exercises that were expected of me. Stephen Leigh So I switched to Fine Art/Art Education. HOST RL Astra: The green crags/mountains on your front screen is outstanding. Stephen Leigh Thanks, Astra -- that was done in Bryce... Stephen Leigh which is a fantastic landscape generation program. JaniceMars: That's very interesting. Was that also one of the reasons you started writing fiction as well, or was that love of the word always there too? Stephen Leigh I've always written fiction, even when I was a kid... Stephen Leigh Thankfully, all those really old stories are lost. :-) JaniceMars: LOL... I don't know about that Stephen, I do enjoy your stories. Stephen Leigh That's good -- A RAIN OF PEBBLES is one of my favorites. JaniceMars: So, you started writing when you were a kid, and painting too I assume...was your love for music apparent then as well? Stephen Leigh I started playing guitar when I was, oh, nine or ten... Stephen Leigh but my dad always sang and played piano (badly)... JaniceMars: Stephen, a lot of us are hard pressed to finger paint our way out of a paper bag. Stephen Leigh For that matter, I can play piano badly too. JaniceMars: LOL JaniceMars: How do you account for this over-abundance of creativity? Stephen Leigh Finger painting in a paper bag is tough -- you can't see what you're doing. Stephen Leigh A lack of focus... JaniceMars: Lack of focus? Stephen Leigh No, kidding aside -- I'm just interested in lots.. Stephen Leigh of things and like to do them all.. Stephen Leigh There's just rarely enough time to do them all well. JaniceMars: Ah... I know that feeling. I'm just amazed that you manage to finish so many things, and finish them so well. Stephen Leigh Boy, if there was a 20 hour day, then you'd see LOTS! Stephen Leigh Oops -- should have been "30" HOST RL Astra: Um, insert smart remark: we have a 24 hour day now :-D ::: running ::: Stephen Leigh Tundae! JaniceMars: I could use about 48, lol! Stephen you write in both the short story format and in the novel format... do you also write in the intermediate lengths? Stephen Leigh Most of my writing's been novel length in the last decade... Stephen Leigh Even the 'short' work's been fairly long... Stephen Leigh especially the stuff I did for George Martin's WILD CARDS series... Stephen Leigh some of those stories were actually short novel length. Stephen Leigh But I just recently sold a REALLY short story... JaniceMars: Really...title? Stephen Leigh to Mike Resnick for an anthology -- about five pages! JaniceMars: Hmmm...double spaced, 25 lines per page, 10 words per line? Stephen Leigh Yep! Short! JaniceMars: That *is* short. Though you know... JaniceMars: A Rain of Pebbles - http://www.farrellworlds.com/pebbles.html JaniceMars: is a fairly short story, but it's absolutely packed with color and feelings and sights and smells and sounds. Stephen Leigh It's a totally different thing to write a novel... Stephen Leigh as opposed to a short story... Stephen Leigh It's a marathon versus a sprint. Stephen Leigh I tend to 'see' the landscape of my stories... Stephen Leigh pretty clearly, so I try to give that image to the reader. Astra: why the different names? For different kinds of writing? Stephen Leigh I knew that would come up... Stephen Leigh I went to the "Farrell" pseudonym because... Stephen Leigh my last publisher believed that the audience... Stephen Leigh for science fiction wouldn't 'follow' an author... Stephen Leigh over to fantasy. Now, I'm not certain _I_.. Stephen Leigh believe that, but they did. But we parted ways... Stephen Leigh and the Farrell name was on the manuscript anyway and so I left it there... HOST RL Astra: --- is snoopy! JaniceMars: Okay, so the two Farrell names do primarily fantasy while you keep the Leigh name doing SF? Stephen Leigh Right now, the plan is for "Matthew Farrell" to do SF... Stephen Leigh while S.L. Farrell does fantasy... Stephen Leigh in the meantime, I'm also working on a pretty mainstream... Stephen Leigh novel and THAT (assuming I ever finish it)... Stephen Leigh will get the "Stephen Leigh" name... JaniceMars: Excellent! SpleenVent: How Many books published,what genre? Stephen Leigh SpleenVent -- let's see... a total of nineteen books or so published... Stephen Leigh the vast majority of which are science fiction... Stephen Leigh though I might call them science fantasy... Stephen Leigh since I don't focus on technology much. JDipale: I still haven't figured out all of Dean Koontz pen names. Gets very confusing! Stephen Leigh One (THE ABRAXAS MARVEL CIRCUS) is a flat-out... Stephen Leigh urban fantasy. JaniceMars: Okay...that's something I've never been able to see clearly in my head...what IS urban fantasy and how does it... JaniceMars: differ from other types of fantasy? Stephen Leigh Urban fantasy, as I'd define it, anyway... Stephen Leigh takes place in the here and now... Stephen Leigh Elves and Unicorns in NYC kinda thing. JaniceMars: Oh, okay...so you take the basic fantasy elements we're familar with and transpose them on... JaniceMars: todays techno world? Stephen Leigh Yep -- ABRAXAS exorcised lots of demons... HOST RL Astra: Thudaer Rift ... I mean Thunder ... is now on my to-buy list! JaniceMars: demons? Stephen Leigh from my rock and roll days. It was a lot of fun to write. SpleenVent: has he ever signed the wrong penname at a book signing? Stephen Leigh Head over to amazon and you too can buy Thudaer Rift! JaniceMars: LOLOLOL. It would probaly be better to search under THUNDER Rift, though. Stephen Leigh SpleenVent -- not yet, though I've had to... Stephen Leigh keep my concentration a few times. I'm... Stephen Leigh worried about "SL Farrell" -- I have to... Stephen Leigh come up with a new signature for that! JaniceMars: LOL KNITEMARE87: Sounnds very interesting, i have enver read anything like that JaniceMars: We haven't talked yet about the influence of your music on your writing. Stephen Leigh ABRAXAS, unfortunately, is long out of print... Stephen Leigh You'd have to search the used bookstores. JaniceMars: Now you say "rock and roll" days as if your participation in public music performance is past. HOST RL Astra: Well, Stephen will remember me if I ever meet him at a con to sign that book, LOL Stephen Leigh Nah, I still play music a few times a month... JaniceMars: But it's no longer Rock and Roll? Stephen Leigh the band is still composed of the same guys... Stephen Leigh I played with back then, except we're heavier and have less hair... Stephen Leigh We call ourselves "Toast" -- cuz that's... Stephen Leigh what you do with old and stale things. JaniceMars: tsk tsk tsk, lolol JaniceMars: I saw on your website that you've moved to jazz? Is that correct? Stephen Leigh Not really -- the stuff we like to play tends... Stephen Leigh to be in the cracks between rock and jazz, though. JaniceMars: I'm going to pre-empt Astra here and ask a couple of questions about conventions. JDipale: Is www.abebooks.com still around? I gots lots of O-O-P books there JaniceMars: Does your band ever perform at conventions, and 2. about how many conventions do you attend a year? Stephen Leigh 1. No, the band doesn't perform at conventions ... Stephen Leigh Hey, I have to have SOME secrets!... JaniceMars: LOL Stephen Leigh As to the second question, we hit a lot less... Stephen Leigh cons than we used to -- maybe four or five... Stephen Leigh a year. Midwestcon. Windy. Confusion. Worldcon... Stephen Leigh Rivercon, when it was still around... Stephen Leigh Any suggestion for new good ones? JaniceMars: Okay... so if Astra would like to get her copy of Thunder autographed she might be able to do so at TorCon? Stephen Leigh Absolutely! I'll sign it S.L. Farrell... Stephen Leigh or maybe just a random name. JaniceMars: Superb...okay...one more general question .... KNITEMARE87: Ask him where he gets his inspiration . Stephen Leigh (Steve sits at the typewriter in stunned... Stephen Leigh quiet for a few seconds...) Um... Stephen Leigh Inspiration? Is that necessary in a writer? JaniceMars: LOLOL...I'm sorry Steve. JaniceMars: You don't wait for inspiration to hit then. You consider writing a craft that you work at, correct? Stephen Leigh Seriously... I do a lot of reading -- non-fiction, mostly... Stephen Leigh and wait for the Muse to go "Hey Dumba**! Look! That's... Stephen Leigh really interesting! Why don't you write about that?" JaniceMars: Cool. Stephen Leigh You're right, though, Janice -- I DO believe you... Stephen Leigh have to write every day. Writing's gotta be a.. Stephen Leigh habit (a bad one, but hey!) -- and it's... Stephen Leigh easy to fall out of the habit of writing if... Stephen Leigh you don't apply butt to chair each and every day. JaniceMars: Okay...I want to ask you some pointed questions about your current book...HOLDER OF LIGHTNING (under the pseudonym S.L. Farrell, DAW Books, January 2003). JaniceMars: That's on the shelves now, right? Stephen Leigh Ouch! pointed questions! JaniceMars: lol Stephen Leigh Yes, HOL's on the shelves now, or should be in the... Stephen Leigh next week or so -- it's a January release in hardcover... Stephen Leigh from DAW books. *BLATANT PLEA FROM WRITER*... Stephen Leigh GO BUY IT!! HOST RL Astra: LOL Steve JaniceMars: LOL Yes sir. JaniceMars: Now, since you've written this as S. L. Farrel we can take that to mean that it's a fantasy novel? Stephen Leigh Yes -- the story's set in a mythical Ireland... Stephen Leigh and concerns a young woman (Jenna) who comes... Stephen Leigh across a magical stone that heralds... Stephen Leigh the return of magic to their world. JaniceMars: Ireland? What time period, and any particular reason for Ireland as a location? Stephen Leigh It's not a real Ireland -- but it's very obviously... Stephen Leigh 'Ireland-like', and the time period is... Stephen Leigh medieval. Why Ireland? Lots of Irish... Stephen Leigh ancestors in my background, and I went over there... Stephen Leigh a few years back and fell in love with the land... Stephen Leigh I felt immediately at home. BLR WIZ: How do you research your books? Do you have to visit the location or a similar location near you? JaniceMars: You say you visited Ireland, have you based other books on other trips? HOST RL Astra: Ireland. Pubs. Beer. What other reasons are there? :- E cat s: Sheep : Stephen Leigh Research... I _love_ research (truly!)... HOST RL Astra: LOL JaniceMars: LOL Stephen Leigh I'll go to similar place, yes -- or I'll set stories... Stephen Leigh in places that I've visited. I read a lot of history... Stephen Leigh as well, and that gets in there. HOST RL Astra: o/` Oh, Stevie-boy .... o/~ sorry JDipale: LOL T83BIRD: Astra, it is said that there is a spot in Ireland where if one sits all night, in the morning one will be dead, mad, or a poet. Stephen Leigh Ireland = sheep, yes! We once hit a traffic jam that was nothing but sheep. And the Guinness is good there! JaniceMars: Can I ask what local was the basis for A Rain of Pebbles? OldWolfGaidin: Sounds like an Irish pub to me, T-bird :-) HOST RL Astra: What if you're mad already, T? T83BIRD: Nope, OWG. This one is an outside location. It could make you madder, Astra. Stephen Leigh Aren't mad and poet synonyms? Stephen Leigh Huh... Most of RAIN OF PEBBLES was me thinking of... Stephen Leigh the Southwest and what I've seen of it... Stephen Leigh But mostly RAIN OF PEBBLES was me using... Stephen Leigh some of the fencing I was studying at the time. JaniceMars: I was just struck by the mental image of dust and the heat via the sweat on the inhabitants that you described so vividly. Stephen Leigh I'm one of those people who sweat at the thought of exercise. JaniceMars: LOLOL...I find that difficult to believe Steve. JaniceMars: Aren't you a black belt in Aikido (sp?) Stephen Leigh I was just promoted to 3rd degree black belt... T83BIRD: Not always, Stephen. Robert Graves was a fine Welsh poet, but he was also a fiction writer and an exceptionally scrupulous scholar. Stephen Leigh in aikido, yes. And I sweat a LOT on the mat... JaniceMars: I'm cluesless, there are different levels? Stephen Leigh The black belt ranks in aikido go up to 8th (I think...) Stephen Leigh There are several ranks below black belt, too, of course. JaniceMars: Okay... in RAIN OF PEBBLES you use fencing a great deal as you were studying it at the time...which of your books employs aikido as part of the plot? Stephen Leigh ALIEN TONGUE, for one -- both of the main... Stephen Leigh characters are aikidoists. And the aliens... Stephen Leigh in THUNDER RIFT (oops, I mean TUNDAER)... Stephen Leigh use aikido, but I don't call it that. JaniceMars: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Cool...and ALIEN TONGUE was under the Leigh name and thus SF? Stephen Leigh Oh! JaniceMars: Yes? Stephen Leigh And so do the aliens in DARK WATER'S EMBRACE. JaniceMars: Excellent thanks. Do you use any physical activity as part of the plot in your new book HOLDER OF LIGHTNING ? Stephen Leigh Yes, ALIEN TONGUE is straight SF. T83BIRD: Alas, the only connection I can claim with the Emerald Isle is that the emerald is my birthstone. PMSallume: Coolies! I only like Ireland from the perspective of being in CA... JaniceMars: Sorry...don't mean to be treading all over your toes and slapping you with several questions at once. :::BLUSHES::: Stephen Leigh No, the people in HOLDER are all couch potatoes... Stephen Leigh (that's a joke...) Stephen Leigh though potatoes do go well with Ireland, don't 'cha think? Stephen Leigh Actually, they do use swordplay a fair amount, which is something... Stephen Leigh I've studied a bit. HOST RL Astra: Use Tundaer in your next book, and I'll consider myself immortalized, LOL JaniceMars: Yes indeed potatoes do. Funny, all this talk of Ireland, you'd think the "gh" in your name would have given me a clue. Stephen Leigh Astra -- that'll be EASY! Consider it done! Stephen Leigh Actually, Janice, I think "Leigh" is.. Stephen Leigh actually English. The Irish folk in my... Stephen Leigh background had names like Mullin and Kelly... Stephen Leigh and Coen and, yes, Farrell. HOST RL Astra: Ever fenced with Elizabeth Moon and her gang of Musketeers? Stephen Leigh Astra -- Nope. And my fencing skills... Stephen Leigh are probably long gone. I'd be impaled... Stephen Leigh in a moment! JaniceMars: But you used swordplay in your new book, HOLDER OF LIGHTNING, a different type of sword? Stephen Leigh The swordplay there is the more typical... Stephen Leigh one-hand sword. HOST RL Marz: Okay...time for last questions over here... I have a couple of more and then Stephen is going to have to get back to writing/painting/playing. JaniceMars: Okay...HOLDER OF LIGHTNING is called HIGH Fantasy. Does that mean it isn't set in Present Day Ireland? Stephen Leigh No, the false Ireland in which it's set is... Stephen Leigh decidedly medieval. JaniceMars: Okay...HOLDER OF LIGHTNING is out now, and folks can also read your short stories... JaniceMars: A Rain of Pebbles - http://www.farrellworlds.com/pebbles.html JaniceMars: Evening Shadow JaniceMars: http://www.farrellworlds.com/evening.html JaniceMars: Do you have anything else coming out soon that we should be looking for Stephen? Stephen Leigh I'll have stories in "Men Writing SF As Women"... Stephen Leigh edited by Mike Resnick (DAW Books)... Stephen Leigh sometime in mid-2003, and a story in HOST RL Astra: And clips of novels! JaniceMars: Men writing SF as Women? I don't understand. How did Resnick call for those stories...what were the perimeters? Stephen Leigh "I, Alien", also edited by Mike and also a DAW book. Stephen Leigh The parameter was that the male authors... Stephen Leigh had to use a female protagonist/point of view... Stephen Leigh There's a companion volume, titled, not Stephen Leigh surprisingly, "Women Writing SF As Men." JaniceMars: LOL...so when you wrote for this anthology, did you change your style in any way? Stephen Leigh Nope -- almost all of my recent novels have... HOST RL Astra: Trying to fool us in reverse, like Tiptree. Stephen Leigh had a female protagonist. So I just wrote as usual. T83BIRD: Maybe not, Astra. Some writers may actually want to experience another viewpoint vicariously. JaniceMars: Okay...here's a question from me on the Fantasy SF thing. JaniceMars: You mentioned that your publisher believed that you should have a differnt name when you published fantasy.... JaniceMars: but what I'm curious about is do you mentally shift gears when you write fantasy? Stephen Leigh I really don't, Janice... As I said before... Stephen Leigh the science fiction I write doesn't focus... Stephen Leigh on the technology anyway, but on the people and the cultures... Stephen Leigh So writing fantasy isn't all that different... SciFiDog: Stephen, dear... do you chat often? what kinds of cyberchat do you frequent? Stephen Leigh You still have to build a world and people it with... Stephen Leigh interesting characters. Stephen Leigh Do I chat often? No, rarely, I'm afraid. JaniceMars: E cat s: When did you find you could give up your day job? Stephen Leigh It was more that my day job gave up me... Stephen Leigh But I still 'work' -- I teach Creative Writing as... Stephen Leigh an adjunct instructor at a local university. JaniceMars: When you say work I'm assuming you mean something with a paycheck with income tax taken out. JaniceMars: You don't consider your music gigs as "work"? Stephen Leigh Yep -- they do pay me, thankfully. g: Stephen Leigh Music gigs are FUN!!!! -- plus, the clubs... SciFiDog: Ack Stephen 'people it with'? What about trolls, elves, and such? ;- SciFiDog: PC in Fantasy! LOLOL Stephen Leigh still pay what they paid twenty years ago... JaniceMars: That's a shame, but it seems to be par for the course in academia. More than one professor I know is now 'part time'. No more tenure tracks. E cat s: Yes. I didn't say work....Aha... thanks Stephen Leigh Elves, trolls, and such are just the 'aliens', SciFiDog. :-) BLR WIZ: Some things never change. Araiused: No raise at all? SciFiDog: :-D BLR! OldWolfGaidin: Do you consider it a good fantasy if it has Elves in it? I'm not going to ask about farm animals. :-) Stephen Leigh You're right, Janice -- most university teachers are part-time now -- like me. SciFiDog: local means where? geographically. on earth Stephen Leigh I consider it a good fantasy if the elves die a quick, fast death in the first chapter, OldWolf. JaniceMars: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL JaniceMars: Hopefully on the end of a foil. Stephen Leigh SciFiDog -- local means Cincinnati. SciFiDog: woah!! LOL JaniceMars: Stephen, you mention that under the name Stephen Leigh you're working on a mainstream novel? JaniceMars: Can you tell us a little about it? Stephen Leigh I'm working on a mainstream-ish novel... Stephen Leigh that has some fantasy elements, but they're... Araiused: Pause for thought : Stephen Leigh pretty well buried. Maybe "magic realism"?... Stephen Leigh I've been working on it off and on for a few years now... Stephen Leigh and probably will be for a while... Stephen Leigh It's my "when I'm doing nothing else" project. JaniceMars: So it's definately a back burner book? SciFiDog: Paws for thought. The sicfidog charity. ;- Araiused: Then, Sleigh, do you like the fantasy of Gormenghast? Stephen Leigh Definitely. Though I like it. It takes place in the present time. Stephen Leigh Araiused: I loved Gormenghast! Stephen Leigh Though not the last book of the trilogy... Stephen Leigh only the first two. JaniceMars: Will you be publishing anything else under the Leigh name or will all your future books be under one of the Farrell names? Stephen Leigh Most likely, future books will be under "Farrell."... Stephen Leigh There are two more books that will follow... Stephen Leigh HOLDER OF LIGHTNING, each taking place... Stephen Leigh a generation later -- different protagonists, with... Stephen Leigh some returning characters. JaniceMars: some returning characters...so Holder is the first in a trilogy. And you intend to hold it to three books? Araiused: Hey, Sleigh, we share a common purpose : Araiused: Then, what about Mythago Wood? JaniceMars: Yes...Ara is intrested in Mytahgo Wood? Stephen Leigh I'm afraid I'm not that familiar with Mythago Wood. JaniceMars: Then we'll have to ask Ara to elucidate... OldWolfGaidin: Did you deliberately choose to do generational books for the sequels to Holder of Lighting? Stephen Leigh OldWolf -- yeah, I didn't want to do the... Stephen Leigh 'typical' trilogy, but something where... Stephen Leigh the books at least stood a chance of standing alone. Araiused: Robert Holdstock -urban fantasy JaniceMars: Interesting...what is the actual time between the books hitting the shelves, any idea? Stephen Leigh MAGE OF CLOUDS should be out in hardcover in... Stephen Leigh January of 2004 (and at the same time... Stephen Leigh HOLDER OF LIGHTNING will be released... Stephen Leigh in paperback.) HEIR OF STONE will follow... Stephen Leigh in January of 2005. I've finished the... Stephen Leigh manuscript for MAGE and am currently... Stephen Leigh working on HEIR. JaniceMars: Can we get a taste of Holder of Lightning anywhere? Do you have excerpts of it up on your site? Stephen Leigh The first chapter's up on the site. Go to... OldWolfGaidin: !Thank you Stephen Leigh http://www.farrellworlds.com/Holder.html ... Stephen Leigh and you'll find the link. JaniceMars: Excellent...the excerpt is about the same length as the short stories you have online or longer? Stephen Leigh Probably about the same. Don't know exactly. JaniceMars: Thanks...and a final question here. Araiused: Q: what about science fantasy? JaniceMars: Perhaps we should ask Ara, what about, what about? Stephen Leigh Do you mean a definition, Araiused? Stephen Leigh I'll assume that's what Ara was after... Stephen Leigh I suppose what I mean by 'science fantasy' is that... Stephen Leigh the technology isn't a central part of the story... OldWolfGaidin: !185,700 words long?! ack Stephen Leigh I'm more interested in the characters... Stephen Leigh and the cultures. Stephen Leigh OldWolf. Yep. And each one of them golden. g: JaniceMars: Ah I see, so your science fiction doesn't fall under the heading of HARD sf as espoused by the Heinlein/Asimov crew of new writers...but falls... JaniceMars: under the same sort of style as stories one would be more likely to find in Fantasy & SF? Stephen Leigh Or in Asimov's, perhaps. I like LeGuin... Araiused: Science in the form of alchemy : Stephen Leigh and Tepper and Martin... that type of thing. Stephen Leigh Ara: LOL! And yes. JaniceMars: I want to thank you very much for joining us tonight Stephen and thanks for letting us know more about your books and what to look for in the future. Stephen Leigh I had a great time being here -- thanks for having me! Stephen Leigh Nite, all! T83BIRD: Thanks, Stephen. Araiused: Thank you, Stephen! BLR WIZ: Thanks for the chat Stephen. Stop back any time... OldWolfGaidin: Thank you, Mr. Leigh SciFiDog: thank you Stephen! JaniceMars: Thank you very very very much. T83BIRD: Nite Stephen and thanks. Stephen Leigh You're very very very welcome. |
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JanCyberC Stephen good to have you here tonight. Stephen Leigh Thanks, Jan -- and just a quick update on the bio. DARK WATER'S EMBRACE won the Spectrum Award, tied for first place. JanCyberC Oh excellent! Congratulations! JanCyberC ACTION applauds Sleigh Stephen Leigh Thanks!@ (Steve blushes appropriately) JanCyberC Any other updates? Stephen Leigh Let's see... I turned in SILENCE, another novel with AVON EOS, at the end of the year. I'm still waiting to hear from Jennifer Brehl, my editor, whether or not we'll need to do any rewrite on that. And I've started another novel, tentatively titled MATTHEW'S WORLD. Jackel Have you always wanted to be a professional writer? Stephen Leigh Some days I +still+ want to be one [g]... JanCyberC LOL Stephen Leigh But yes. I've been writing stories since I was, oh, eleven or so. Jackel So that do you do during the day? Stephen Leigh Nah, at this point I can't do it full-time and live in the manner in which I prefer to be accustomed. I write evenings and weekends, and finish about a novel a year. JanCyberC That's quite a feat considering everything else you do Steve. Stephen Leigh I'm working on inventing the 30 hour day. [g] Jackel Where do you get your ideas for your storie? Stephen Leigh A lot of reading... and a warped mind... I don't know, Jackel -- there are ideas all around us all the time -- the problem's not so much finding ideas as figuring out which one to write. JanCyberC Thanks Steve...okay...here's the "Comment and question".... 1) Why didn't ya start a half hour ago when I was here! :) 2) Which of your books (other than the one you're working on now) is your favorite? -- Ron Collins Stephen Leigh Hmmm... (hey, Hi, Ron!)... I think DARK WATER'S EMBRACE my still be my favorite though SPEAKING STONES and ALIEN TONGUE I also like a lot and then there's the ABRAXAS MARVEL CIRCUS, which is simply a fun romp. The one's I don't like are the ones no one will ever see, because they're buried in a drawer somewhere. JanCyberC LOL...it sounds like you really enjoy your writing. Stephen Leigh I'm just you're typical egotist [g] JanCyberC Actually, Steve, when I met you at WindyCon you seemed to be one of the more down-to-earth fellows. To you attribute at least the appearance of well-balanced-psych to anything else in your life? Stephen Leigh Denise, who is my wife and partner and absolute best friend is the one who keeps me sane and centered. It's her doing. Jackel Were did you meet Denise? Stephen Leigh I almost hate to admit this, but we were high school sweethearts... Jackel AH BG1818 That's sweet. JanCyberC I agree. Stephen Leigh I met Denise at (gulp) a bowling alley. Now (Steve hurried to say), I +don't+ normally frequent bowling alleys, but that's where I first met her. We dated through college and then married. I recommend marrying a friend! BG1818 We all do crazy things when we are young. dreamer so do you pronounce the "ph" Stephen ....as "f" or "v"...? Stephen Leigh Pronounce it as "Steven." And pronounce the "Leigh" as "Lay" dreamer why? Stephen Leigh Don't know, Dreamer -- you'd have to ask my parents... dreamer do you have a theory why ph should be pronounced v???? Stephen Leigh Actually I'm told that our last name was originally "LAY" and a teacher told my grandfather (when he was young) that it should be "leigh" and he changed it. My great-grandfather's tombstone has "Lay" on it. dreamer Oh...I just mean the ph/v thing Stephen Leigh No idea, Dreamer -- that's the way it was pronounced to me. But I'll answer to anything, pretty much, including "Hey, You!" [g] dreamer [g] Jackel what part of Ireland does your family come from? JanCyberC You know Steve, I would have sworn that you would have blamed your apparent balance on your Martial Arts Training. Do you feel that Aikido has had any influence on your writing? Stephen Leigh Okay, two questions... Stephen Leigh My family comes from Roscommon County in Ireland -- and we went over and visited some of the relatives last summer, which was a fascinating trip. As to Jan's question -- well, Aikido's helped the mental balance some also. But all told, Denise is the bigger influence. JanCyberC Thanks Steve! tlk Good thing I didn't wait til later to read journals. :) Stephen Leigh Wow, you talk about your ancestors and everyone shuts up. [g] JanCyberC Stephen...a couple of your latest books...deal with a world in which the sexuality of the beings is sometimes confusing and dissimilar in some respects to that with which we're familiar. What made you choose to use this as a central point in your novels? Stephen Leigh Hmmm... the kernel of DWE and SPEAKING STONES comes from one of those random, late night discussions friends sometimes have where someone (and I honestly don't remember who) said "What would it be like if there were three sexes?" A few days later, I found that the questions was still nagging at the back of my brain. I'd peripherally had a 'third sex' alien in CRYSTAL MEMORY, though it wasn't at all important to the plot (the 3rd sex, that is). So I started thinking about it seriously. Once you start trying to figure out why there would NEED to be a thrid sex, all sorts of possibilities come cascading out, and I just went from there. JanCyberC Steve, do you have any opinions on why serious discussion of gender classification seems to be avoided in SF as a rule? Stephen Leigh I think there IS some serious discussion of gender issues not necessarily on a regular basis, but certainly often enough that the Tiptree award has several nominations every year. I find gender issues fascinating myself, which was why I truly enjoyed writing DWE. But for the most part, yes, I think science fiction tends to be male-centric, with generally male protagonists and viewpoints. JanCyberC Thanks Steve. Jackel what do you do on your freetime other then writing? Stephen Leigh Free time? What's free time?... [g] JanCyberC 8^D Stephen Leigh Honestly, between the 'real ' job (Sales Manager for Kelly Services), and Writing and playing in the band, and doing aikido, and having a family life there isn't much of my time that isn't doing one or the other of those things. tlk Steve, any ideas on why the high crossover rate between sf/f writers and musicians? Stephen Leigh Huh, y'know, that's a good question. I do know quite a few musicians among the writers. And I don't have a good answer to that one, other than to speculate that it may just be crossover from art to art. Most artists I know (of any sort), dabble in other fields. Though Stephen Jay Gould (the science writer) once noted that there were a lot of musicians in the science fields as well. Maybe because music is at least partially mathematical??? tlk I've noticed it most in sf/f -- far more than in romance or mainstream. JanCyberC That's an understatement where you're concerned..."dabble in other fields"...if http://www.sff.net/people/sleigh/Stuff.html is any indication you're quite a good illustrator as well. Any plans to use some of your illustrations as covers for your novels? Stephen Leigh Thanks, Jan. My degree's in Fine Art. For what it's worth. I don't do as much of that any more as I would like. If I could =really= find that 30 hour day, I'd do some painting, too. Techyo Do you work music into your writing? Stephen Leigh The ABRAXAS MARVEL CIRCUS exorcised a lot of demons from my rock and roll... Techyo LOL I'd imagine so based on the title. Stephen Leigh ... days -- for instance, once having my hair burnt off when a flash pot went off too close to me on stage (can you say Michael Jackson?)... and I try to make sure that my characters have music in their lives -- either listening to it or playing it -- just like "real" people [g] Techyo Any relation to the ABRAXAS showcase? [g] Great show BTW Stephen Leigh No, ABRAXAS was from the old Gnostic word which is the root for "Abracadabra." An ancient magic word. If you read the novel, you'll see why it fits. Techyo Cool will do. Jackel do you ever combine your SF into your music? Starlit Doesn't that generally-male character viewpoint of most sf reflect the fact that most sf writers are male? Less so than previously, but still Stephen Leigh OK, I agree that part of the "male domination" is due to the largely male group of writers. But why do male writers HAVE to write about male characters? Hey, we write about =aliens= after all. [g] Surely we could manager females? I've deliberately chosen to use female protagonists in several books just because it's so 'common' to do it the other way. In fact, I was flattered when a couple people sent me e-mail after DWE came out, asking if I was actually a female (and gay) writer. That meant I'd done my job well. Starlit I suspect that male "reluctance" can be attributed to the culture in which they're living Stephen Leigh I think -- to some degree -- that's it's 'easier' to write a male character when you're male yourself. I'll admit that I tend to hand my manuscripts to Denise when I'm a little unsure and say "Hey, would a woman really think this way?" JanCyberC Steve, I was wondering if you're seeing any movement in your creative endeavors...that is moving away from performance/graphic arts and towards writing and martial arts....or is it the other way around? Stephen Leigh Jan -- no I was once a full-time musician and at the same time, I'd just gotten my degree in fine art/art education. I didn't go the teaching route, and tried to 'make it' in music and at the same time was writing stories. The stories started to sell the band was breaking up (as bands do) and so I moved more heavily toward the writing. For a time I was studying Aikido three or four nights a week, but that's a different kind of release than writing. I see myself mostly as a writer now. JanCyberC Thank you very much. I was just wondering if were part of the natural aging process...though I think you're actually younger than many of us. Stephen Leigh I'm 48, so you can all make your own calculations.... tlk (had to grab the reading glasses to see the tiny java print) Stephen Leigh I think you're right to some degree, Jan. But inside I'm still 25 [g] JanCyberC LOL, tlk. Stephen Leigh Bifocals for me, TLK! JanCyberC Same here....though I think we're all probably contemporaries here. What instrument do you play in the band, Steve? Stephen Leigh Which instrument do I play? Bass, and I do about half the singing chores. tlk I just got my first pair of bifocals a few months ago -- but tonight I'm getting by with contacts and reading glasses. :) Stephen Leigh I did that, too, TLK -- just couldn't stand the thought of wearing reading... Stephen Leigh glasses over contacts. JanCyberC Danka. Steve you mentioned earlier that you just handed in SILENCE. Can you tell us a little about this book, and when we can expect it on the shelves? Stephen Leigh SILENCE is a first contact book, with a fairly complicated biological structure for the aliens, who depend on hearing the way we depend on sight. And then there's another 'race' that are totally blind, and sing. And it seems that what we thought were the 'most sentient' aliens weren't at the core, it's a story about communication, and language, and song. You may see it on the shelves late this year, but maybe early 2001 is a better bet. (Steve starts to hum "also Sprach Zarathustra"). JanCyberC LOLOL...thanks Steve. tlk "Yes, Hal." tlk :) JanCyberC Where is Dave when you need to throw him out the pod bay door. Sorry. Stephen Leigh LOL JanCyberC Do we visit THEM, or do they visit US? Stephen Leigh A portal is opened up out near Jupiter, and when we go through, we find these creatures on a world there though they claim to know nothing about the wormhole, who made it or why. JanCyberC Wonderful. I *do* enjoy humans as the adventurers. Most of your work is about discovery and the examination of what is alien and what is not. Is there a particular reason for this? Some early influence? Stephen Leigh I think that a lot of science fiction serves as a metaphor for self-discovery. I look at the world around us and wonder how the hell we could ever manage to communicate with something truly alien when we have such a damned hard time communicating with ourselves. Plus, less philosophically, I just enjoy putting worlds and cultures together. As I said, Language and culture and societal conflict have always been fascinating to me. I love history, too -- and this way I get to set up the pieces exactly the way I want them. JanCyberC Excellent. I wanted to ask a question or two about world building, tonight as well. Do you visualize your world first in a graphic sort of way before you begin building, or do you start with a story and build the world around it? Stephen Leigh Yes. ... JanCyberC LOL 8^D Stephen Leigh Both ways. I tend to be fairly visual, and I do "see" my world which is why it's always fascinating to me to see illustrations of my stories by someone else -- just to see how differently that person viewed the same image presented by the words. But the world-building is usually being done concurrently with the writing. I might do a bit of background first but once I have enough to feel comfortable in the world, I'll start writing and then the world-building works off the story and visa versa. JanCyberC You've mentioned on your website that you love detail and a lot of work that you do on your stories is left out. Where do you keep it all and any plans on using it in future novels? Stephen Leigh I do generally have a LOT more detail about the world than ever gets in the story. But the detail's for -me-, so I can 'see' the world I'm describing. All writing has one thing in common with poetry -- the most important words are the ones you leave out. di Do you find yourself sometimes lost in the detail, and overlooking the larger issues? Stephen Leigh DI, that's probably best answered by a critic... di LOL Stephen Leigh I don't -think- I get lost in the detail, but some readers might disagree [g]. My fiction's certainly not one of those "rocketing all the way from page one with non-stop action..." type of writing. My pace is slower, and I do LOOK at things, so maybe I can get lost at times. JanCyberC I have one last question about your writing. I see you started with short stories and moved on to novels. Is this still the best way for a young author to break into the market? Stephen Leigh I think so, Jan. One thing the sf/fantasy market has is several viable markets for short fiction and that's a plus for a new writer. When I started out, I didn't have the patience or the discipline to write something novel-length. Writing short stories allowed me to hone my craft, to sell a few things and have a TON of things rejected before I attempted something on the scale of a novel. It's certainly not the ONLY way to go about breaking in, but it was right for me and I suspect it's right for most. JanCyberC Okay...thanks...Steve are you planning on Chicon this year? Stephen Leigh Definitely! See you there? JanCyberC Yes, I'll be there. tlk Thanks, Steve! Stephen Leigh You're welcome, TLK! JanCyberC Thank you so much for coming out tonight Steve. Stephen Leigh Thanks! I enjoyed it! |
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