Tim Pratt is a Hugo Award-winning SF and fantasy author, and has been a finalist for World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Stoker, Mythopoeic, and Nebula Awards, among others. He is the author of over twenty novels, most recently The Deep Woods and Heirs of Grace, and scores of short stories. His work has been reprinted in The Best American Short Stories, The Year's Best Fantasy, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and other nice places. Since 2001 he has worked for Locus, the magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field, where he currently serves as senior editor. He lives in Berkeley, CA with his wife and son.
Today he tells us about his Six Books!
1. What book are you currently reading?
I'm on not one but TWO award juries this year, so I am reading tons of things constantly, and it's great. Just now I'm reading
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, which has one of my favorite tropes: a character that no one can remember, so all interactions are forgotten as soon as they leave someone else's sight. Having that ability/curse gives you tremendous freedom, but it's also a lonely life. It's not an idea that's new to me (Claire North did it a few years back in
The Sudden Appearance of Hope, and the character Anonymous in
Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti has the same ability), but Schwab's prose is beautiful and the the character of Addie is super compelling (and has supernatural complications beyond forgettability too).
2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?
Benjamin Rosenbaum's debut novel
The Unraveling is out in early 2021, and I'm very excited about that. Ben and I were kinda in the same cohort coming up in the science fiction field, have had good conversations at innumerable conventions, and I've admired his short fiction forever and ever (I published him at least once in my 'zine Flytrap). I can't wait to see what he does at novel length.
3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to read again?
It's December, so it's time to do my annual re-read of Elizabeth Hand's magnificent novella
Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol. I look forward to it every year, and it always brings me to tears at least once.
4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about – either positively or negatively?
The first time I picked up
The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey I bounced off of it *hard*--I found the voice off-putting and couldn't sink into the story, so I put it down. People kept telling me how great it was, though, so I picked it up again, and for whatever reason, the second time, that decidedly idiosyncratic voice charmed me, and I fell right into the world of the book. The sequel is great too, and I'm looking forward to reading the third book.
5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?
Are All the Giants Dead? by Mary Norton was one of my favorite childhood books, and I read it to tatters, and drew my own versions of the Brian Froud illustrations. It's about a boy with a sort of magical nanny who goes traveling through the world of fairy tales, but it's *way* weirder than that, and that weirdness, the ragged edges and inexplicable things, make the story so much deeper and more rich. That's a spirit I try to carry forward in my own work.
6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?
Doors of Sleep, out from Angry Robot in January! It's a big weird wild multiverse adventure novel. The main character, Zax, has a peculiar sleep disorder: he finds himself in a new and unfamiliar universe every time he wakes up. That means his life is never dull, and it gets a lot harder when an old enemy Zax thought he left behind finds a way to pursue him through the multiverse. It's about the power of friendship and mad scientists who want to steal your blood and the joy of discovering a wildly new world every few pages.
Thanks, Tim!
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POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.
