Episode 38: Live with Gary K. Wolfe!

That’s better! Technical difficulties behind us, Gary and a slightly hungover I jumped into the pod to discuss Carol Emshwiller, the right time to publish a book, optimistic SF, the death of SF and all sorts of other stuff. We hope you enjoy it, as always!

8 thoughts on “Episode 38: Live with Gary K. Wolfe!”

  1. You and Gary K. are incorrect in your assertion that everything worthwhile from the pulps – and from Astounding in particular – have been enshrined by Conklin, Derlith, Dikty et. al. Among all the filler, there are still a few worthwile and interesting works in those seventy year old sheets of decaying pulp that have never been reprinted. My choices are “Fog” by Willy Ley, “Fifty Million Monkeys” by Raymond F. Jones and “Success Story” by Juian Chain.

  2. Mark, many thanks for the pointers. In truth, I’ve read some of the pulps but am not in a position to go back and read through them issue by issue, so the information is very much appreciated, Jonathan

  3. I appreciate that this time around that you went ahead and named the names behind the blind items you and Gray brought up. So for the future, please don’t hesitate to hurt the feelings of your friends and collegues.

  4. Here is a question for you, Jonathan.

    I’ve noticed, in talking about your Larry Niven collection (a copy of which just arrived the other day, huzzah!) you have, a couple of times now, poked at the Niven collection volume N-Space for not being the collection you wanted it to be.

    I am curious as to why you never mention its sequel/companion piece Playgrounds of the Mind. Do you feel the same way about it?

  5. Hi Paul — I do feel the same way, and was pretty much equally disappointed with it when it was published. I totally accept that there are readers in the world who like miscellanies like N-Space and Playgrounds of the Mind, which incorporate short fiction with essays and novel excerpts etc. However, I’ve always felt as a reader a disappointment and frustration with those books because I felt they both failed to give us the best short fiction of Larry Niven (one of the most important bodies of short fiction in the history of the field) and filled the place of such a book on the bookshelves preventing someone else from publishing it. I was delighted when Larry, his agent and Subterranean gave me a chance to remedy this with The Best of Larry Niven, which I think is the book I, if no-one else, always wanted, felt the field needed, and believed Larry’s body of work deserved. I do note N Space and Playgrounds continue to be available, and have always been popular, but I still feel the way I always have and think the Best of is actually both a terrific and an important book. Best, Jonathan

  6. I see how this ties in with your discussion with Gary about the Essential Ellison and how that stops any more “Best of Ellison” collections coming out. N-Space/Playgrounds had done the same thing for Niven, until now.

    It seems, via amazon.com anyway, that N-Space is still (back) n print but Playgrounds is not. Hopefully The Best will have a long life (print and e-life).

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