Missions Unknown » Rick Klaw

SA CURRENT: Philip K. Dick’s Wife Interviewed

Mission Control — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:00:44 +0000

We’re a bit behind on passing these along, but last week’s issue of THE SAN ANTONIO CURRENT featured a Rick Klaw interview with the late Philip K. Dick’s wife, Anne R. Dick. For all PKD fans, it’s well worth your time if you missed it. In addition, Klaw offered a beginner’s guide to the author’s greatest works, complete with an unfortunate headline (not of his making, he claims) .

If you happen to be scrambling for last-minute holiday gifts for the sf nerd in your life, Anne Dick’s memoir SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK, 1928-1982 looks like must-have material for Dick fans. The Library of America hardcover PHILIP K. DICK: FOUR NOVELS OF THE 1960′s makes a great stocking stuffer (pictured left). And of course, you really can’t go wrong with the BLADE RUNNER (FIVE-DISC ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S EDITION DVD SET).

SA Current: Rick Klaw on Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch

Mission Control — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:17:15 +0000

Check out the San Antonio Current this week for Rick Klaw’s review of Finch, the latest novel from World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer. Finch is the third book in The Ambergris Cycle, although Klaw points out that it certainly stands on its own and the books could be read in any order.

World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer, in the anthology New Weird, defined the 21st century’s first major literary movement.

“New Weird is a type of urban … fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing … complex real-world models … that may combine elements of science fiction and fantasy. [It] has a visceral, in-the-moment quality that often uses elements of surreal or transgressive horror for its tone, style, and effects.”

As the subgenre’s standard-bearer, VanderMeer has created an intriguing vision that successfully incorporates the seemingly disparate elements of fantasy and gritty reality.

If you cannot find an analog copy of San Antonio’s alternative news weekly, you can read the article, The Fungus Among Us: VanderMeer’s Spore Noir Has Legs, online. While you’re there, take a read of Cynthia Hawkins’ interview with Jeff VanderMeer, Waiting to Inhale. VanderMeer discusses the soundtrack to the book by the band Murder by Death:

A dystopia laced with noir elements seems an unlikely match for a band whose influences span from rockabilly to Americana, but after reading Finch, the members of Murder by Death — Adam Turla, Sarah Balliet, Dagan Thogerson, and Matt Armstrong — were in.

“They spent five days in the studio,” VanderMeer said. “They picked out the parts that had the most dramatic potential and then the parts that contrasted the most totally.” The segments inspired the varied instrumental tracks the band sent back to VanderMeer, including faithful recreations of music described in the book, down to the trash-can lids the band used for drums.

Rick Klaw definitely has us wanting to delve into the noir and see what’s going on in Finch.

SA CURRENT & Rick Klaw on Lansdale & Joyce

Mission Control — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:29:44 +0000

THE BEST OF JOE R. LANSDALE, forthcoming early 2010 (Tachyon). Cover art by John Picacio.

This week’s SAN ANTONIO CURRENT features Rick Klaw‘s review of Graham Joyce’s latest book, HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH DEMONS:

William Heaney, head of the the UK’s National Organisation for Youth Advocacy, leads a troubled life. His wife left him for a celebrity pastry chef, his teenage son hates him, and his oldest daughter has moved back in with him — and brought along her boyfriend. Heaney can also see demons. In his latest novel, How to Make Friends With Demons, Graham Joyce brings these entities to vivid life for his readers, too.

Click here to read the rest of Klaw’s review.

Back in July, Klaw interviewed Joe R. Lansdale for the CURRENT. His blog features bonus, unpublished material from that interview. In fact, he had so much of it that he split it into two posts. It’s terrific stuff for Lansdale fans, and you’ll find it here and here.

SA CURRENT Interviews Lansdale

Mission Control — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:49:55 +0000

VANILLA RIDE: Joe R. Lansdale's latest Hap & Leonard novel

Looks like we’ve got Joe R. Lansdale news bookends this week. On Monday, we shared the SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS’ spotlight on Lansdale and today, we’ve got news that this week’s SAN ANTONIO CURRENT features Rick Klaw interviewing Mighty Joe. It’s a solid interview and discusses Joe’s new book VANILLA RIDE. Check it out.

(Update: And if you want the latest Lansdale news, it’s worth visiting his blog often.)