’24? in 42′ with…Bob Byrne????
Jason Waltz kicked off season two of his 24? in 42 podcast interviews with your very own Monday morning columnist. The prior installment was with Malazan’s Ian C. Esslemont, so I’m in pretty good company here.
It should not surprise you that I was all over the place, covering Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Columbo, books on writing and screenwriting, Encyclopedia Brown, the Civil War, Tolkien, The Constitutional Convention of 1787, Lawrence Block, Steven Hockensmith, Norbert Davis, and much more.
Jason sends sixteen questions ahead of time, and mixes in eight ‘new’ ones that can be definite curveballs. He started things off with a knuckleball! (Last week’s post was on baseball- I’m still in the mood)
Here are two sample questions:
Who is the visual artist(s) that creates the artwork that most moves you?
Michael Whelan and Walter Velez (those terrific early Thieves World cover novels) are two of my favorite fantasy artists. Being a mystery guy, I LOVE some color paintings that Robert Fawcett did. Arthur Conan Doyle’s son Adrian (who waas a freeloading ass), co-wrote some Holmes stories. They’re not bad. All but the first appeared in Colliers’ illustrated by Fawcett. They are wonderful illustrations. Up there with the two great Holmes artists: Frederic Dorr Steele, and Sidney Paget. I find they capture Holmes.
How do you give depth to a character? Do you treat primary, secondary, and tertiary characters any differently?
I consciously try to catch myself using a secondary or tertiary character as an info dump. Even a small one (and I absolutely do that). If the only reason I find them around is to give some info, I rework them. Or, try to use someone already in the story. There’s no depth to an info dump character.
The depth of a half dozen characters in the first Max Latin story (Watch Me Kill You) is about as well done as any story I’ve read. I try to give some personality, without making it a cliché.
Jason and I had a lot of fun, and you can actually see the enthusiasm that I bring to my blogging here at Black Gate. Settle in and watch (or at least listen) to me wax/ramble on. The 42 (from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide) is the time target. Since I went over by about 35 minutes, I expanded on things a bit…
(42 is also Jackie Robinson’s number, and I talked about him for one question).
And for the record, since Jason called me out on camera: Ohio State defeated Texas in the CFP that night. In quite dramatic fashion, no less.
Click on over. I’m told I was a bit animated!
Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.
His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).
He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’
He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.
He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.
Just finished this, thanks for bringing it to our attention. I especially enjoyed the shout out to Katherine Kurtz (loved the books) and Casting Crowns and any number of “older fantasy” like “Thieve’s World”, Elric, and Malazan. Was really surprised that you haven’t read any Zelazny. To me, the first 5 Amber books are a must-read and short enough to not be a chore. I will have to look into the other interviews (especially John O’Neill). Thanks again.
I really like Kurtz’s first two trilogies – though they are a bit bleak.
That trilogy with King Javan’s Year was downright depressing. I haven’t re-read Kurtz much because of the bleakness. But for medieval fantasy, she’s probably the best I’ve ever read.
HUGE Casting Crowns fan. Saw them again last year and they’re as good as ever.
Just never felt compelled to try Zelazny, though I know it’s classic fantasy. I did have the Castle Amber TSR module, though.
I don’t devour modern fantasy like I did in the seventies and into the nineties, though I still do read some, like Jordan, Kemp, and Erikson.
I still go back and re-read Thieves World, or Glen Cook. And I’m digging into the HIstory of Middle Earth books throughout the years. And of course, REH is a regular for me.
Listened to this today. Great show, I really enjoyed it.
Also I haven’t read the Amber series either. I’ve just recently became aware that it’s like a Sword-and-Sorcery requirement. So I hope to remedy that this year.
Thanks. It was clearly a ton of fun to do.
Yeah – Elric, Lieber, etc. – that’s all the surface level stuff.
Apparently you have to read Zelazny to be part of the inner sword and sorcery circle.
🙂
I like Lyndon Hardy’s magic system in his Alodar the mage books. I hear a lot that the magic system in Amber is the standard for fantasy.
Some day I’ll likely get to it. Need to finish Malazan first. I don’t like the narrator for the 44 hour Malazan book I’m listening too. I don’t know if this is gonna work. May need to switch to my paperback.
I tried to tackle Malazan when it first came out. Made it through book three. I need descriptions. Otherwise, I can’t really lose myself into the story.