Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

Edward Willett's Home Page

[Cybling] Ed, good to see you today!
[Ed_Willett] Good to be seen!
[Cybling] Just a reminder...we're on laptops here so typos are required!
[Ed_Willett] I'll do the best I kan.
[Cybling] Ed, how's the convention been treating you so far! lol
* Kimmo grins
[Ed_Willett] It's been great. This is only my second Worldcon.
[Ed_Willett] I'm having a terrific time and have met lots
[Ed_Willett] of great people.
[Guest] 2James.willett
[Cybling] Saskatchewan! Our second or Candian!
[Guest] Ed, how are you doing?
[Ed_Willett] I'm doing well, enjoying meeting authors
[Ed_Willett] and editors and seeing Chicago.
[Ed_Willett] I've even sold a couple of copies
[Ed_Willett] of my books.
[Cybling] Ed, I've noticed that sometimes Canadian SF/Fantasy authors have a slightly different take on the genre. Is there a particular reason for this?
[Guest] That's good. Things are wet back home.
[Ed_Willett] I think it's because of the relationship
[Ed_Willett] between Canada and the U.S.
[Ed_Willett] Canadians are kind of on the outside looking in at the U.S.
[Ed_Willett] This gives them a slightly different take on the world than
[Ed_Willett] Americans, who see themselves very much at the centre.
[Cybling] Now you were born in Texas and moved up to Canada when you were young...do you maintain dual citizenship?
[Ed_Willett] I haven't gone that route yet, although I could.
[Ed_Willett] I'm currently a landed immigrant in Canada.
[Ed_Willett] To become a dual citizen all I have to do is take out Canadian citizzenship,
[Ed_Willett] but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
[Cybling] Ah! Interesting, though you spell like a canadian (and are doing a good at typoing like a chat guest, thank you, lol)
[Ed_Willett] I had to spell like a Canadian, since my wife is sitting here watching me
[Ed_Willett] and she's Canadian!
[Cybling] Ron, you wear a lot of hats...sf author, columnist, radio show host. How do you find the time for all these jobs?
[Cybling] Ed. Forgive me...I'm only on my 3rd cup of coffee.
[Cybling] Ed....where do you find all this time?
[Ed_Willett] That's OK. I write full time, which helps. Also, i write fast.
[Cybling] What type of radio show do you do Ed?
[Ed_Willett] I do a weekly spot on science for CBC Saskatchewan,
[Ed_Willett] The Afternoon Edition with Colin Grewar.
[Cybling] Oh...so we could listen to you show on the Web?
[Ed_Willett] I'm not sure if it's broadcast live on the Web or not. I know
[Ed_Willett] national programming is, but I'm not sure about regional.
[Ed_Willett] You could look up www.cbc.ca and follow the links to CBC Saskatchewan!
[Cybling] Cool!
[Cybling] Your column is about computers correct?
[Ed_Willett] Not exactly. My newspaper column is also a general science column.
[Cybling] Okay.
[Ed_Willett] However, i host a local TV call-in show about computers.
[Cybling] Ed, I see you specialize in novels for young adults.
[Cybling] Why did you choose this market?
[Ed_Willett] I started writing as a young person, and somehow as I grew up,
[Ed_Willett] my protagonists stayed the same age! So I kind of ended up
[Ed_Willett] in the young adult market by default. Also,
[Ed_Willett] I like writing shorter novels and I like to think I can maybe
[Ed_Willett] turn some young readers on to SF the same way writers like Heinlein
[Ed_Willett] and Norton turned me onto SF as a youngster.
[Cybling] I was going to ask you if you found the writing constraining, but I see that it's not. We had the founder of the Golden Duck Awards here this weekend to talk about her award...
[Cybling] a prize given out to authors who write for children and young adults.
[Cybling] Apparently there's a lot that has to be done to get SF books into the schools here in the US]
[Cybling] Is it as difficult to place your books in Schools in Canada?
[Ed_Willett] It doesn't seem to be. I've had lots of attention from local schools,
[Cybling] wonderful.
[Ed_Willett] done lots of school readings, etc. And my most recent book
[Ed_Willett] is currently up for a school-based award in Manitoba, a young readers' choice award.
[Cybling] Tell me about that book would you?
[Ed_Willett] It's called Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star. It's published by Roussan Publishers in Montreal.
[Ed_Willett] You can read a sample chapter of it at my web site, www.edwardwillett.com.
[Cybling] Ah Montreal! and thanks for the taste.
[Cybling] Say I was wanting to get my niece and my nephew hooked on SF. Which would you suggest I give your book to, and about how old should they be?
[Ed_Willett] It's marketed as a middle reader, for agest 10 to 12 or so, but I think it could be enjoyed
[Ed_Willett] by readers older than that--and maybe even younger.
[Cybling] I know that I enjoy picking up the occasional juvenille. They're usually...
[Cybling] more action packed than many of the books...
[Cybling] marketed to us adults.
[Ed_Willett] That's true. Young readers aren't likely to sit still for a lot of
[Ed_Willett] dull exposition. You have to get and keep things moving.
[Cybling] Ed, what date did you first decide that SF writing was something you must do, and how long between then and your first sale?
[Ed_Willett] I wrote my first short story at the age of 11. It was called Kastra Glazz, Hypership Test Pilot.
[Cybling] LOL! Wonderful title.
[Ed_Willett] I think I knew right then that I wanted to write SF. I didn't seel my first SF
[Ed_Willett] story until much, much later, although I sold my first short story
[Ed_Willett] when I was in my early 20s. It was some years after that
[Ed_Willett] before my first SF sale--but I was concenrating on novels, not shot stories.
[Cybling] And do you still occasionally submit short stories to magazines?
[Ed_Willett] Yes. My most recent short story appearance was in Artemis Magazine,
[Ed_Willett] which focuses on SF dealing with the moon. It's called Moon Baby.
[Ed_Willett] Our artist GOH Bob Eggelton illustrated it.
[Cybling] And which issue was that?
[Ed_Willett] The Summer 2000 issue.
[Cybling] Okay great...so it's probably still available on some magazine shelves...
[Ed_Willett] It probably is. The next edition is coming out soon. I don't have
[Ed_Willett] anything in that, but just today I've been thinking of a new
[Ed_Willett] story for Artemis, so maybe a couple of issues down the road...
[Cybling] and could be ordered from the magazines publisher.
[Cybling] Do you have anything short scheduled for publication anywhere else soon?
[Ed_Willett] Nothing SFnal. However, my weekly column for the newspaper
[Ed_Willett] this week will be an interview with Rob Sawyer.
[Ed_Willett] It will show up on my Web site before long.
[Cybling] Great! And we have your website linked from your Chicon Chat page.
[Ed_Willett] I'm happy to hear it.
[Cybling] Ed....is there a contingent of Canadian authors here at the convention and have you been networking at all?
[Ed_Willett] There are a number of Canadian authors here. Most notably,
[Ed_Willett] Cory Doctorow, winner of the John W. Campbell award, is Canadian.
[Cybling] Now I didn't know that...
[Ed_Willett] Second year in a row a Canadian has won it! Nalo Hopkinson
[Ed_Willett] won it last year, and she's also Canadian.
[Ed_Willett] there are several other Canadian writers around, and we
[Ed_Willett] have gotten together occasionally.
[Cybling] Great. YOu were on a panel on thursday about Writing For Children.
[Ed_Willett] Yes...
[Cybling] For the aspiring authors that are here and will be reading...
[Cybling] this log, is there any advice you can give about writing for the young-adult and children's market?
[Ed_Willett] Don't think that writing for the YA and children's market is an easy road
[Ed_Willett] to publication. You ahve to give this market your best writing
[Ed_Willett] just like you would any other. You need fresh language, fresh ideas
[Ed_Willett] and a real empathy for young people.
[Cybling] Kids won't stand to have a bunch of pap foisted off on them in other words...
[Cybling] they may be a lot less forgiving than their elders.
[Ed_Willett] Absolutely. Kids are very discerning.
[Cybling] You just came here from an autographing in the Concourse...
[Cybling] are there still a lot of fans lined up down there to get their books signed?
[Ed_Willett] It wasn't terribly busy, but there are still lots of fans around.
[Ed_Willett] Not surprisingly Bob Eggelton was getting most of the attention!
[Kimmo] Ed, for what it's worth, I think it's great that there are books available for older kids/young adults. I remember that the stuff I read at that age still has an impact on what I read today.list -20
[Cybling] LOL. WEll that's not that surprising. He's been a very busy guy this convention.
[Cybling] Folks...do we have any final questions for Ed before we let him run off the enjoy the rest of the convention.
[Cybling] Okay...thanks Ed for joining us online. Hope you have a great final day...when are you flying out for home?
[Ed_Willett] Actually, we're taking the train from here to Ontario on Thursday
[Ed_Willett] to continur our vacation.
[Cybling] Well you have a great time...we'll be looking for your radio show...
[Cybling] on CBC and hope to talk to you again soon!
[Ed_Willett] Thanks, it's been fun!
* Cybling shakes Ed's hand