Christopher Barzak
Q-1.
Do you think a certain generation gap really exists, or, if not exactly a gap, do you feel some kind of distance between veterans who started their careers before 1960s and the younger generation Y in our genre, at least?
A-1.
I'm not sure if there's a generation gap in the sense that Generation Y writers are not reading the literature that came before their own. I do understand what Elizabeth Bear means when she says that at a certain point a professional writer begins reading mostly the work of their peers. But I find that statement to be limiting, and I don't think it's true of all professional SF writers. It's a generalization. I tend to read outside of SF much more than within SF publishing these days, for instance. And the SF that I do read is often from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. I haven't been interested in as much from pre-sixties, but I also haven't been interested in much of the SF that has been published in the 2000s either. So I can't necessarily say that I have a gap with the pre-60s authors without saying perhaps that I'm also perhaps a bit distant from much of what's being published at this very moment. Why am I attracted to the 60-90s? I think I liked the movement towards SF literature that was questioning social structures along with stylistic play, which seems to have been occurring more regularly in those decades. And if perhaps that's a mistaken generalization of my own--if someone were to say, for example, that writers from pre-60s were also questioning social structures and playing with stylistic features in their writing--well, then, maybe the generation gap does exist.
Q-2.
Do you think the general atmosphere for the genre is less passionate now than, say, thirty years ago? I know there are fewer voters for the Hugo, and even those voters usually vote for their favorite works now, rather than the ones we can boast about as the representative masterpieces of the genre that particular year, as cornerstones of SF history.
A-2.
I do think the population of readers, if we look at the population of voters for the Hugo award, has perhaps been in decline. However, I'm not sure if that's an indication of waning readership in SF so much as a waning membership in the World Science Fiction convention. So perhaps there is a decline in fandom, but not in the passionate reading of SF. And with the advent of the online fandom communities in existence now, there are perhaps fewer reasons for fans to gather together at conventions.
Q-3.
Has fandom changed? Or is it writers who have changed? What are the things that concern them most? They used to be the moon, rockets, a-bombs, wars, urbanization, etc.
A-3.
I'm not sure if fandom has changed, because I was never a part of fandom. My only experience with it has been at conventions I attend, and even then it seems that "fans" gather with other fans rather than with writers, and writers gather with writers, outside of panels, readings, etc. Have writers changed? It depends on the sort of writer you're looking at, really. Some writers are still concerned with space travel, colonization, a-bombs, wars, urbanization, social issues. Others are interested in prose style, narrative structure, etc. There is a certain kind of writer who is interested in all of these things, but they seem to be a rare breed these days.
Q-4.
What do you think about the current state of SF? How do you like recent works by the newer generation of writers? Who is your favorite among them, or writers to watch? Can you recommend them to your personal friends who have never read our genre?
A-4.
I grew up interested more in SF short story writers than novelists, and right now there seems to be less and less markets for short stories, and the larger markets that do exist seem to be publishing a sort of old-fashioned, traditional SF, rather than the interesting experiments of the 60s-90s, so I've grown less interested in SF short fiction in general in the past ten years. With novels, it seems the majority of books published is still formulaic series books, which also don't hold my interest very much. But as for those newer writers who have captured my attention, I'd note Brian Francis Slattery, Alan DeNiro, Kelly Link, M. Rickert, China Mieville, and Theodora Goss. There are a host of other writers who have captured my attention with SF-oriented writing, but who are often published outside of traditional SF publishing houses, and, because of that, are unknown to many SF readers who don't venture beyond the SF shelves in bookstores. But the writers I've named are ones that I feel I can recommend to friends who don't generally read "SF". Strangely enough, the majority of these are short story writers rather than novelists.
Q-5.
Which of your works would you like to be read by Japanese readers?
A-5.
I would like my second novel, The Love We Share Without Knowing, to be read by Japanese readers. I wrote the book while I lived in Japan between 2004-2006, and it's set in Japan, with a host of both Japanese and American characters.
Q-6.
What is your current work? Your next project?
A-6.
My next project is a novel entitled Wonders of the Invisible World. It's a sort of meditation on history, memory, dreams, war, and capitalist exploitation.
