 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 
|
  |  LAST UPDATED: 24 October 2000
 VZSciFi Live Creator Event Transcript: Author Mary Gentle Part Two
Tuesday 27 June, 7.00am VZT (PST) 3.00pm GMT, Space City Conference Centre
HereÕs the second part of our transcript of the Mary Gentle event, held on 27June 2000. This has been edited slightly for spelling, with repetitions removed, and to add additional information where appropriate. Special thanks to Mary for going over it again for us! The event was moderated by Caretaker Cuz.
Caretaker Cuz: What one piece of advice do you have for budding writers?
Mary Gentle: You mean, apart from don't do it because I don't need the competition? :)
Caretaker Cuz: LOL
Mary Gentle: Write it, finish it, send it out... and don't give up!
Caretaker Cuz: It's hard to sell it if you don't send it out
Mary Gentle: Yes, and it's even harder staring at a blank screen sometimes.
Poof: Have you ever had any trouble with editors or others censoring your work, or trying to?
Mary Gentle: Yes... The earliest was in Golden Witchbreed. For some reason, the American editor did not want any fat people in it…
Poof: omg. That's a new one!
 Mary Gentle: -- and then the latest is Ash... the American cover of the first book... [The publishers] wouldn't put her scars on her face... But [Victor Gollancz] would on the UK version.
(Editor's note: Ash is being serialised over four books for the US market by Avon Eos, who I think are now HarperCollins Eos after the recent buy-out. A Secret History and Carthage Ascendant are already out; The Wild Machines follows in August, and Lost Burgundy in December, 2000.)
Caretaker Cuz: They had something against scars? Odd.
Linsue: <shaking head>
Mary Gentle: Yes, Sales and Marketing reckoned it would put people off buying the book.
Caretaker Cuz: Ahh... They don't give readers enough credit.
Mary Gentle: No. UK sales are going fine, so maybe they were wrong. You have to get through the publishing industry to get to the readers. I mean that publishers are affected by what they think people want -- and they judge by reviews; library reports; their own fears of what might be controversial. Readers are individual, each one knows what they want, and often it's something a publisher would be nervous about.
Fortunately, novels still have a much more liberal approach than, say, broadcast entertainment, so some 'challenging' stuff can be got out for the people who will like it. I guess 'cos if they don't like it, they don't have to read it!
Caretaker Cuz: Do you have a preference for short stories or novels?
Mary Gentle: I prefer novels, I have done few short stories; some stories appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. The novels come easier -- even long ones like Ash!
Linsue: Do the publishers try to influence the content of the book as well as it's presentation?
Mary Gentle: Sometimes they do... Ash was sold on a very short synopsis (one page!)... so they didn't know what was going to be in it... and by the time they found out, it was too late :)
Caretaker Cuz: haha
Linsue: LOL
Beverley: LOL
Caretaker Cuz: So they weren't pleased by parts of your story?
Mary Gentle: Lemme think... there are some dark and violent parts of Ash: A
Secret History that they liked when they saw what I wrote, but they might have objected in synopsis. For example, one thing is the way it is portrayed as a translation of a medieval manuscript and it is translated into genuine modern English, so they used genuine bad language! I can't repeat any of it here, don't want to be thrown off!
Linsue: hehe
Caretaker Cuz: lol
Mary Gentle: The combat scenes are pretty realistic and bloody... Nothing is sanitised.
Caretaker Cuz: Good.
Mary Gentle: -- And there is a sex scene, without giving too much away.
Linsue: Something for everyone LOL
Mary Gentle: Yes, a long book, there is something for everyone...
except for those with a nervous disposition. :)
Beverley: LOL
Linsue: Can't wait to get my hands on it!
Mary Gentle: Good, it was worth coming!
Caretaker Cuz: I'm adding it to my list too (not just for that sex scene either)
Caretaker Cuz: Can you tell us more about the origins of Ash?
Mary Gentle: It's got a lot of origins... it took five years to write. Part of it is wanting to do the fantasy medieval world they way it should have been, and partly wanting to explode some of the myths about women in combat. Because we tend to think of that as a fantasy thing, like Xena.
If you look in history there is a general opinion is that women didn't take part in combat, in any historical period, whereas, as soon as you actually look into history, every time you turn over a rock there's another woman in combat! All the women in Ash are based on women in similar roles in actual history. (More)
Mary Gentle Event Transcript Continued: Part One | Part Two | Part Three |
Links: SF Authors on the Web | VZSciFi Events Page | Buy a copy of Ash
|
|
|