Interview and review of A MAN NAMED BASKERVILLE at FanFiAddict

A Man Named Baskerville by Jim Nelson

The final stop of the A Man Named Baskerville tour is at FanFiAddict, where they’ve graciously published an interview and book review.

The 8 out of 10 review by Victoria Gross is wonderful and offers a lot of grist to consider:

Having a villain as a protagonist is a bold choice. I found myself almost rooting for Baskerville as he continued to make questionable choice after choice. I was still in his corner after LITERALLY MURDERING PEOPLE. I don’t know what that says about me as a person, but it definitely cements the fact that Nelson is a damn good writer. It also posits Sherlock as a kind of dimwit (and if you love Benedict Cumberbatch as I do, it was hard to swallow—at first) which is certainly an interesting take on the famed sleuth. His deductive reasoning had holes and it wasn’t something I was used to seeing in representations of the character. I found it as almost a Wizard of Oz moment, the proverbial pulling back of the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is only a man.

In the interview with Justin Gross, I discuss the making of Baskerville and what led me to write it in the first place. One example:

Were there any specific challenges with writing A Man Named Baskerville? Or, did you find anything to be easier?

The most significant challenge was writing in the style of the nineteenth-century British, as well as researching language, technology, and history, so as to be true to the time and place. As the book is told in Rodger Baskerville’s voice, I didn’t have to imitate Arthur Conan Doyle, but I did use The Hound of the Baskervilles as a primary source for so many things, including diction. I also did a considerable amount of research into more esoteric topics, especially the British peerage system and the baronet title, subjects very important to Rodger.

Was anything easier here than my other books? Actually, it was the character of Rodger that made one thing easier: He’s an audacious fellow, and quite confident. In my other books, the main character would often have to think through doing something outrageous or daring. Not Rodger! He’s the kind of person who barrels into a situation and bluffs his way out of it. That made for some fun chapters.

Thank you Victoria and Justin!

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Interview at Queen’s Book Asylum

In My Memory Locked by Jim Nelson

Over at Queen’s Book Asylum is a new interview discussing my cyber-noir thriller In My Memory Locked.

A sampling of the discussion:

What draws you to science fiction?
I’m drawn to the “what-if” element of science fiction. Storytelling is a kind of controlled experiment, a chance to live another life or in another time without the use of exotic technologies. Novels are rather like the Myst linking books transporting you to another age. J. Hillis Miller calls books “portable dreamweavers,” and speculative fiction is perhaps the purest distillation of that idea. That’s why I turn to science fiction time and again.

And:

While taking inspiration from those giants of the genre, how does your book both honor and freshen up cyber-noir?

In most mystery novels, the detective is not deeply involved in the mystery he’s solving. For In My Memory Locked, Naroy is absolutely at the center of the crime—and he’s not sure why. He’s even uncertain he’s not the perpetrator. I couldn’t tell the kind of detective story I wanted to tell without science fiction.

The discussion also touches on my Bridge Daughter series, the differences between San Francisco and Tokyo, and how we’re already living in a cyberpunk world, even if we don’t have quarter-inch stereo jacks in our heads.

Read the full interview here. Thanks to Arina at Queen’s Book Asylum for having me!

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Interview with Reading and Writing Podcast

Posted this week is my interview with Jeff Rutherford at the Reading and Writing Podcast.

During our talk, I discuss my cyber-noir mystery In My Memory Locked, as well as a little on my Bridge Daughter series. It was a great time with Jeff, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Check out the interview at podpage.com or YouTube.

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Interview with Sarah Meckler at GSMC Book Review

Recently I spoke again with Sarah Meckler of the GSMC Book Review podcast. It has been a couple of years since we last spoke, which was shortly after the release of Hagar’s Mother.

It was a pleasure to catch up with Sarah. Since then, I’ve published In My Memory Locked, which we discussed at some length, and Stranger Son, which we also touched on.

If you’d like to hear the full interview, you can download the episode at Apple Podcasts or listen to it on YouTube. I heartily recommend subscribing to Sarah’s ongoing podcast series, where she interviews a wide variety of writers and genres.

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Interview with Sarah Meckler of GSMC Book Review

Sarah Meckler of GSMC Book Review recently interviewed me for their podcast. We discussed Bridge Daughter, its sequel Hagar’s Mother, and some of the background behind both books.

One (pleasantly) unexpected curveball: She also asked me what’s up with Edward Teller Dreams of Barbecuing People and how a book with that kind of title might tie in with my other work. What can I say? That’s my sense of humor.

You can listen to the interview here. It’s also on iTunes and YouTube if that’s easier for you:

It was great talking with Sarah—she was a wonderful host and made me feel comfortable from start to finish. I hope you enjoy the interview as well!

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Interview at Jim Jackson’s My Two Cents Worth

Bridge Daughter by Jim NelsonAuthor Jim Jackson has featured me on his blog today, answering questions about writing, inspiration, and Bridge Daughter. An excerpt:

I can’t fully explain where the idea for Bridge Daughter came from. One morning while preparing to write a chapter for another book I’m (still) working on, a strange thought struck me: What if we lived in a world where daughters are born as surrogates for their mothers, growing up to young teens and giving birth to the “real” child before dying. Rather than brushing aside this strange notion, I asked myself some questions how a world like this would look. These questions became the kernel for Bridge Daughter.

Check out the full interview as well as Jim Jackson’s web site and books.

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Interview with Katie O’Rourke at Today’s Author

Bridge Daughter by Jim NelsonAn interview with Katie O’Rourke went up this morning at Today’s Author. I discuss writing genre fiction and the connection between Bridge Daughter and cyberpunk:

One science fiction author who inspired Bridge Daughter in an oblique way was William Gibson, a writer I admire a great deal. His early cyberpunk novels were a blast of fresh air in the 1980s. I was especially drawn to their near-future feeling, the way their world did not seem wildly alien to the world we lived in back then, just more gritty and claustrophobic. His world was the 1980s fast-forwarded instead of a new world invented from the top down. That partially inspired me to set Bridge Daughter in a world almost exactly as our own, save for the biological difference.

Read the entire interview at Today’s Author, and check out Katie O’Rourke’s web site and books on Amazon, including her Kindle Scout winner Finding Charlie.