Lucius Shepard
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.
Do I feel a generational distance? No more than I do from my own peers. I've never felt in spirit part of any group, whether determined by age or some other criteria. I don't hang out with the Gen Y crowd...or the older crowd...or the really old crowd. I don't enjoy the company of writers--I have a few friends who happen to be writers, some old, some young, but we don't relate to each other as writers. In a sense (he smiles) I share a bond with anyone who does not want to be included in a group.
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 can't really relate to this question because, I guess, I've never been passionate about the genre. I like the genre, and I'm grateful that it presented a way to support myself, but that's about it. I write what I feel like writing and sometimes it's genre, sometimes not. I reckon people are just as passionate as ever, it's just there are more things for them to be passionate about than there were in 1980. Video games, for one. More genre cinema. Comic books have proliferated. The awards process is so polluted by clique-voting and so on, it seems wrong to reach any conclusion based on awards trends. The locus awards always seemed to me the best indicator in that more people voted for them, but I don't know.
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.
Which fandom do you mean? I've found that fans are different everywhere I travel. There are less readers in American fandom, more gamers...but if you're talking about which things concern the readers, I think there's very little concern about space travel, A bombs, the moon, etc. Now it's global warming, globalization, and so forth. Though the concerns are materially different, I believe there's a template into which each generation slots new concerns that fill the same needs as the concerns of the previous generation filled for them, as far as giving them something to protest or be passionate about. As for writers in the genre, you csn't generalize. Some pander to the desire for escapism, some are terribly concerned about the vast problems facing us in the near future.
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.
The current state of science ficton--it seems to be breaking down, dissolving like Ben Rosenbaum's stuff. David Moles. Christopher Barzak. Tim Pratt. Kathy Sedia. Pablo Baciogalupi. Laird Baron. Nathan Balllingrud. I could toss out a lot more names. Actually, I read more of the newer writers because I'm curious about them. Certainly I recommend them to people.
Q-5.
Which of your works would you like to be read by Japanese readers?
A-5.
A Handbook of American Prayer, Viator, Trujillo (the collection) and the novel I'm working on.
Q-6.
What is your current work? Your next project?
A-6.
A novel, The End of Life As We Know it. I'm also finishing a novella collection, Five Autobiographies. I hope to do a non-fiction book about the filming of a movie in Australia and a big science fantasy novel set in South America.
