The most beautiful word in the English language is:Read the complete interview.Boustrophedon. (Or, possibly the phrase, “paid in full.”)
What authors made you want to pick up a pen in the first place and why?
Gene Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer. It’s the first volume of his Book of the New Sun cycle, and I think it ought to be required reading for anyone who aspires to beauty in fiction.
Fight Club time: If you could fight one author (or critic), who would it be and why?
Ernest Hemingway, because he couldn’t hit back.
Jay Lake's 2008 novels are Escapement from Tor Books and Madness of Flowers from Night Shade Books; his short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Lake is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
--Marshal Zeringue