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FEATURES ARCHIVE

Some of the non-fiction in infinity plus is closely related to specific stories or extracts, the rest stands alone in its own right. All are listed below in alphabetical order (by author); the most recent features are also listed in our main Non-fiction section. A separate series of essays introduces neglected authors and works.

  • Forrest Aguirre
    • KJ Bishop interviewed
      Forrest Aguirre talks to the author of the highly-acclaimed The Etched City, a unique mixture of wild west attitude, surreal motifs, and decadent splendor.
      -- added: December 2004 --
    • An interview with Scott Thomas
      Forrest Aguirre talks to a writer of vivid and moving fiction which dips its toes in many genres about sibling dynamics, the publication of his first collection, Cobwebs and Whispers, and where the dark stuff comes from.
      -- added: September 2001 --
  • Lou Anders
    • John Grant interviewed
      Lou Anders talks to John Grant, who as a Hugo-award winning writer weaves characters, gods and images through all of his novels and stories, and as an editor at Paper Tiger oversees the world's leading line of fantasy art books.
      -- added: November 2002 --
    • New Directions: Decoding the Imagination of Charles Stross
      Lou Anders talks to a mind-bogglingly talented science fiction and fantasy author for whom 2002 has been an exciting year.
      -- added: July 2002 --
  • Mike Ashley
    • Son of Space Opera: an extract from History of the Science Fiction Magazine
      The start of the phenomenon of Star Trek and the relationship between the visual media and sf magazines.
      -- added: December 2002 --
  • Duncan Barford
    • An Interview with Andrew Hook
      To mark the publication of his second story collection, acclaimed independent press author Andrew Hook talks to Duncan Barford about his writing and about running the successful small publishing house Elastic Press.
      -- added: June 2005 --
  • Chris Butler
    • An Interview with Lauren Halkon
      Author of first novel, Night Seekers, Lauren Halkon talks about extremes, genre and the creative process.
      -- added: November 2002 --
    • An Interview with Sarah Singleton
      Author of The Crow Maiden and Century talks to Chris Butler about influences, horses and the crossover between children's and adult fiction.
      -- added: June 2005 --
  • Matthew Cheney
    • Holly Phillips interviewed
      How to choose the stories for a collection, the literalisation of metaphor, and the nature of ideas ... Holly Phillips tells all.
      -- added: February 2005 --
  • Gabriel Chouinard
    • An Interview with China Miéville
      Gabriel Chouinard talks to an author at the vanguard of a new breed of fantasy writers - authors who approach fantastic literature with a mix of surreal artistic vision and gritty realism.
      -- added: November 2001 --
  • Brian Clegg
    • A Brief History of Infinity
      An extract from a book which takes us on a tour of that borderland between the extremely large and the ultimate, from Archimedes counting the grains of sand that would fill the universe to the latest theories on the physical reality of the infinite.
      -- added: December 2003 --
  • Michael Colbert
  • Peter Crowther
    • An Interview with Tim Lebbon
      One of the brightest new stars in dark literature, author of the award-winning novella White, Tim Lebbon talks to Peter Crowther.
      -- added: November 2000 --

  • David Curl
    • Rope Tricks: Science Fiction after Socialism
      If mainstream SF has usually subscribed to the socialist view of history, or to one of its analogues, what will happen to the genre in a post-socialist world?
      -- added: January 2000 --

  • Iain Emsley
    • An interview with Gwyneth Jones
      Iain Emsley talks to Clarke Award-winning author, Gwyneth Jones, about the Bold as Love sequence, the nature and state of genre fiction, dumbing down, and more.
      -- added: December 2003 --
  • Karen D Fishler
    • Kay Kenyon interviewed
      Kay Kenyon tells Karen Fishler about her approach, the four-book series she's developing, and the things she considers most important in writing.
      -- added: September 2005 --
    • Bright of the Sky: An Interview with Kay Kenyon
      Kay Kenyon tells Karen D Fishler about world-building and the thinking behind her new series The Entire and the Rose.
      -- added: April 2007 --
  • Jeffrey Ford
    • An Interview with Jeff VanderMeer
      Jeff Ford talks to one of our more idiosyncratic and gifted writers about Ambergris, one of the most remarkable Fantastic locales in the history of the genre.
      -- added: March 2002 --
    • An Interview with Richard Bowes
      Jeffrey Ford talks to World Fantasy and Lambda Award winner Richard Bowes about New York City, antique toys and a life in speculative fiction.
      -- added: June 2002 --
  • Ros Freese
    • Q&A with Ken Wisman
      Ken Wisman talks to Ros Freese about Jung, Beethoven, Bosch and psychedelics.
      -- added: September 2004 --
  • Gregory Frost
    • An Interview with Karen Traviss
      Author of the highly-acclaimed City of Pearl, Karen Traviss talks about stupidity, sleep deprivation and the business of writing.
      -- added: March 2006 --
  • David Garnett
    • The New World's New Worlds
      The summer of 1997 saw publication of what may be the last ever New Worlds. Read David Garnett's editorial (far more than a mere introduction...) and find out about the book's contents.
      -- added: August 1997 --

  • Nick Gifford
    • Sean Wright interviewed
      Highly collectible author Sean Wright talks to Nick Gifford about the ups and downs of going it alone.
      -- added: November 2005 --

     

  • Barbara Godwin
    • Brian Stableford interviewed
      Marking publication of his hundredth book, Brian Stableford talks to his former student about achievements to date and what lies ahead.
      -- added: September 2006 --

     

  • John Grant
    • Gulliver Unravels: Generic Fantasy and the Loss of Subversion
      How to cut a path through huge areas of weedy, pestiferous scrub in the forest that is commercially described as fantasy without dismissing a large section of the genre readership? That was John Grant's challenge when he wrote the entry on genre fantasy for the Encyclopedia of Fantasy.
      -- added: February 2001 --
    • Notes on The Dragons of Manhattan
      John Grant on the background to his serialised-as-it's-written novel, The Dragons of Manhattan. Brave man...
      -- added: September 2003 --
  • David A Hardy and Patrick Moore
  • Edwina Harvey
    • Connecting with Bob Eggleton
      Edwina Harvey talks to Bob Eggleton, a square peg who eventually found a perfect niche in the world of SF art and winner of the 2003 Hugo Award for best artist.
      -- added: September 2003 --
  • Philip Harbottle
    • Phil High - Literary Craftsman
      Philip Harbottle talks to, and about, a stalwart of British SF, now experiencing something of a renaissance.
      -- added: July 2004 --
  • Tom Hunter
    • Jeff VanderMeer interviewed
      Creator of the extraordinary city of Ambergris, Jeff VanderMeer talks about weightlifting, added value, and the novel he never thought he'd finish.
      -- added: April 2006 --
  • infinity plus
  • Vanda Ivanovic
    • Tamar Yellin interviewed
      Tamar Yellin talks about alienation and normality, belonging and humour, and the importance of a writer's desire.
      -- added: April 2006 --
  • John Jarrold
    • Neal Asher interviewed by John Jarrold
      Neal Asher talks about his apprenticeship as a writer, the origins of his Polity universe and the awesome scale of Earth's prehistory.
      -- added: January 2005--
    • Ian R MacLeod interviewed by John Jarrold
      Ian R MacLeod on breaking down the genre distinctions, that brief time when Hawkwind were cool, and always wanting something more than the supposedly real world.
      -- added: September 2004 --
  • Gwyneth Jones
    • Kit Reed interviewed by Gwyneth Jones
      Gwyneth Jones talks to Kit Reed, an author whose pen is tipped with curare (according to Brian Aldiss), an ambiguous chronicler of the psychology of US womanhood.
      -- added: June 2004 --
    • Peace Demos
      Peace demos? Whatever makes you think I'd be having anything to do with peace demos?
      -- added: March 2003 --

    • Two Thousand Words
      A short, gritty history of a small, seedy rock venue -- the factual background behind the short story Bold As Love.
      -- added: February 1999 --
  • John Kessel
    • An Interview with Gregory Frost
      Greg Frost tells John Kessel about the hidden themes in his fiction, and stops just short of foaming at the mouth and falling over.
      -- added: November 2005 --
  • David Langford
    • A Gadget Too Far
      More on the New Worlds theme, here's a critical essay first published in a Gollancz volume from the series, by multiple Hugo winner David Langford.
      -- added: September 1997 --
    • On Who Put Back the Clock? by "EHB"
      The mysterious Victorian author 'EHB' - David Langford's choice of neglected SF author.
      -- added: December 1998 --

  • Philip Madden
    • Ian Watson interviewed
      Ian Watson talks to Philip Madden about the current fantasy boom, the influence of sf, and the way his mind works.
      -- added: May 2004 --
  • Geoffrey Maloney and Maxine McArthur
  • Paul McAuley
  • John Meaney
    • The Real Molly Brown interviewed
      A former actress, stand-up comedienne and armed guard, award-winning SF author Molly Brown talks about her work. (For the interviewer's safety, the interview was conducted by email.)
      -- added: June 2001 --
  • Kilian Melloy
    • An interview with Michael Bishop
      Kilian Melloy talks to Michael Bishop about his new collection and its attendant concerns, among them religious faith, art, and a smattering of rock and roll.
      -- added: June 2003 --
    • Gary Braver interviewed
      Kilian Melloy talks to master of medical techno-horror Gary Braver, aka Gary Goshgarian, about the key to eternal life and the dangers of interfering with nature.
      -- added: March 2003 --
    • Jack Dann interviewed by Kilian Melloy
      Jack Dann talks to Kilian Melloy about his short stories, the thematic connections between his novels and life as the quintessential outsider.
      -- added: September 2004 --
    • An interview with Kristine Kathryn Rusch
      Kilian Melloy talks to the multi-pen-named Kristine Kathryn Rusch, winner of awards in each of the genres in which she writes.
      -- added: August 2003 --
    • An Interview with George Zebrowski
      Kilian Melloy talks to George Zebrowski about putting together his new collection, Swift Thoughts, literature with sharp teeth and our place in the big, bad universe.
      -- added: April 2002 --
  • Stan Nicholls
    • John Jarrold in conversation
      A major player in genre publishing talks to Stan Nicholls about the state of sf, fantasy and horror, and his new role in the field.
      -- added: December 2004 --

     

  • Abigail Nussbaum
    • The Arthur C Clarke Shortlist 2007
      "...therein lies the loopy charm of this award, which seems to have been created, first and foremost, to get people talking."
      -- added: June 2007 --
  • Marianne Plumridge
    • Courage to Fly
      ...and the courage to go where no-one has before.
      -- added: November 2004 --
  • David Pringle
    • Apologies to Ishi
      Jean Hegland's beautifully written debut novel, Into the Forest, prompts David Pringle to look at a sub-genre which has long fascinated him, namely "California sf".
      -- added: July 1998 --

  • Kit Reed
    • Keith Brooke interviewed
      Kit Reed talks to Keith Brooke about mad biology, scaring children and the writing life.
      -- added: February 2006 --
    • Geoff Ryman interviewed by Kit Reed
      Two conversations in Wesleyan University's StoryMOO cyberspace between Geoff Ryman and Kit Reed. They talk of Air and the Mundane movement and much else besides.
      -- added: August 2004 --
  • Adam Roberts
    • The Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist, 2002: Paul McAuley, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Connie Willis, Justina Robson, Peter F Hamilton, Gwyneth Jones
      Adam Roberts discusses the panel's usual argument-provoking shortlist for the one award that has, if anything, grown in stature and repute in the last few years.
      -- added: March 2002 --
    • The Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist, 2003: David Brin, M John Harrison, China Miéville, Elizabeth Moon, Christopher Priest, Kim Stanley Robinson
      Adam Roberts looks at "the strongest Clarke shortlist there has been in a long time ... the six books up for British SF's most prestigious award in 2003 are all of them extraordinary works of fiction."
      -- added: February 2003 --
    • The Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist, 2004: Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, William Gibson, Gwyneth Jones, Neal Stephenson, Tricia Sullivan
      "The Clarke award is Britain's most important, and most prestigious SF award ... but the committee has this year come up with a rather wayward shortlist."
      -- added: March 2004 --
    • The Arthur C Clarke Shortlist 2005: Ian McDonald, China Miéville, David Mitchell, Richard Morgan, Audrey Niffenegger and Neal Stephenson
      " There is a danger that this year's list, commendably populist though it is, does not quite avoid the drift towards the middlebrow."
      -- added: February 2005 --
    • The Arthur C Clarke Shortlist 2006: Kazuo Ishiguro, Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, Geoff Ryman, Charles Stross, Liz Williams
      "This year's Clarke shortlist is a good list, not least in the sense that no obviously standout SF title published in the UK in 2005 has been omitted ... but I find myself wondering: how many of them are doing anything conceptually, formally, tonally new?"
      -- added: March 2006 --
  • Darrell Schweitzer
    • The Story of a Revision
      The story behind a story which evolved in strange new directions and underwent far more revision than usual. A Servant of Satan is available elsewhere on this site.
      -- added: May 2001 --
  • Simeon Shoul
    • An interview with Paul Kearney
      Paul Kearney tells Simeon Shoul about military tribalism and straining at the leash of fantasy.
      -- added: July 2003 --
  • Alison Sinclair

  • Sarah Singleton
    • An Interview with John Kaiine
      Sarah Singleton talks to artist, photographer, writer and one-time gravedigger John Kaiine about childhood, art and false limbs.
      -- added: March 2005 --
  • Jeremy Smith
    • The Absence of God: Ted Chiang interviewed
      Jeremy Smith talks to Ted Chiang, a highly-praised author who, despite having yet to write a novel, has won nearly every major science fiction award.
      -- added: April 2003 --
  • Sue Thomas
    • The [+]Net[+] of Desire
      An essay connecting Clarke-Award-shortlisted novel Correspondence with Sue's recent novel The [+]Net[+] of Desire: the interaction between the mind and cyberspace, and the difficulties of communicating what goes on in virtuality.
      -- added: July 1999 --

  • John Toon
    • Stephen Palmer interviewed
      Author of environmentally-aware African cyberpunk, among other things, Stephen Palmer talks to John Toon.
      -- added: February 2004 --
  • Claire Weaver
    • Jon Courtenay Grimwood interviewed
      Award-winning English science fiction author Jon Courtenay Grimwood talks about his tenth novel, End of the World Blues.
      -- added: August 2006 --

     

  • Neil Williamson
    • An Interview with Michael Cobley
      Author of the gritty fantasy adventure, Shadowkings, a widely praised debut novel, talks to Neil Williamson.
      -- added: August 2002 --
    • A Good Ten Year Old
      In every corner of the globe SF is played with a local style, cheered on in a different argot - some names to look out for in Scottish SF.
      -- added: July 2005 --
    • Michael Cobley, Gary Gibson and Hal Duncan interviewed
      Neil Williamson talks to three Scottish writers establishing their credentials at the 2005 Worldcon who honed their skills in Glasgow's long-lived genre workshop, the Glasgow SF Writers' Circle.
      -- added: July 2005 -
  • Jack Womack

 

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