Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She is the author of eight sf/f novels, including A Companion to Wolves with Sarah Monette. Her new novel is All the Windwracked Stars.

From Joe Sherry's interview with Bear at Adventures in Reading:

All the Windwracked Stars is the first volume of your new trilogy The Edda of Burdens and is scheduled to be published in November. I've seen you describe All the Windwracked Stars as "periApocalyptic Norse steampunk noir high fantasy", which has to be one of the most baffling yet fascinating descriptive labels ever to be slapped on a book. Can you expand upon that description a bit and talk about All the Windwracked Stars?

Bear: End of October, actually.

AtWS is a story which takes place after, during, and before the end of the world. In that order, yes.

It stars a valkyrie who has gotten herself shipwrecked in time, a kickboxing gigolo, a kitten with a whip, a two-headed iron horse, and a nihilistic wolf, and it's about all sorts of things--the differences--or lack thereof--between service and slavery being one of them.

Congratulations on the Hugo Award for your short story "Tideline". What does winning the award mean to you personally and what do you hope it will mean for you professionally?

Bear: Alas, I hate to disillusion you, but to take the second half of your question first--it's generally accepted in the industry that the only award that has any effect on sales whatsoever is the Best Novel Hugo, and that is a minuscule bump at best.

What it means to me personally is a little different. It's a wonderful, flattering vote of confidence from the readers and fans, and I could not be more pleased that the SFF community enjoyed "Tideline" and chose to tell me--and the world--about it. Also, it's been a wonderful opportunity for every single person I know even slightly to bust my ass from here to Texas and back. *g*

Read the complete Q & A.

Read excerpts from All the Windwracked Stars, and learn more about the author and her work at Elizabeth Bear's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: All the Windwracked Stars.

--Marshal Zeringue