Lovely Aliette de Bodard went deep, deep into the world of Acatl as she discussed the final novel in the Obsidian & Blood trilogy, Master of the House of Darts, with the Faster Times.

Aaand she made this lovely trailer for this latest Acatl novel too. Studio roll VT:

Aaaaaaaaand she’s running a really cool Aztec-themed competition on her blog. Check it out and win win win, as apparently they say!

Lovely Trent Jamieson talked all things Roil with the nice folks at Ranting Dragon.

Ahead of the concluding volume, King’s War, lovely Maurice Broaddus took a long, hard look at the extraordinary world of his Knights of Breton Court series for the Pudge Factor.

Lovely Lauren Beukes, modestly not mentioning much about her massive, massive new book deal (me and her mother, Mrs Harris, are so damn proud), was interviewed by Bruce Sterling. Yes, that Bruce Sterling.

Anne Lyle was lovely enough to share some advance secrets from her upcoming magical Elizabethan fantasy The Alchemist of Souls with Fran Terminielo.

The lovely KW Jeter was Guest of Honor at Steamcon III recently. Check out the pics and a great write up from Steampunk News. We think all our authors should get an official convention photo done with a girl with a boat on her head. No, just because.

And finally, no skateboarding puppies this week, but instead the lovely Lavie Tidhar gave great podcast for the Skiffy & Fanty Show in this discussion of his new novel Osama. It’s not by us, but it’s bloody great so fair dues and all that.

Out this month:

Dead Bad Things by Gary McMahon (UK only)
Roil by Trent Jamieson (worldwide)
The Crown of the Conqueror by Gav Thorpe (US/Canada)
Reality 36 by Guy Haley (US/Canada)

For those of you eagerly awaiting the conclusion to the Knights of Breton Court trilogy by Maurice Broaddus (the final volume, King’s War, is out in November), Maurice has crafted a novella set on the same streets (between books 1 and 2) and it is being published as a limited edition hardback by Delirium Books. This is Maurice in full-on horror mode (as opposed to the street-savvy urban fantasy of the novels). Pre-order yours here.

Talking of other people’s books – if you like steampunk, be sure to pick up a copy of The Immersion Book of Steampunk, which features tales from Angry Robot’s very own Lavie Tidhar and Aliette de Bodard.

Trent Jamieson will be having a book launch on September 15th (presented by Kylie Chan). More details from his blog, as it’s posted.

Lauren Beukes has a swanky new website over at
LaurenBeukes.com.

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Some Interviews:

Aliette de Bodard
Aliette, again
Adam Christopher
Lauren Beukes (podcast).
Lee Harris and Mur Lafferty

And it’s Angry Robot Week over at The Secret Lair!

And they’ve just published the results of their haiku competition!

The Secret Lair is a bit of a misnomer – it’s actually really easy to find – here, for example. Not much of a secret, really, but we don’t mind – we’d prefer you to be able to actually find it. Partly because it’s a great blog, and partly because this week they’re running an Angry Robot Week.

Every day this week you’ll find reviews, interviews and commentary on some of the things Angry Robot are up to. For example:

There’s a Haiku Contest, where you can win five cool Angry Robot books.

There’s a review of the classic Morlock Night (recently reprinted by Angry Robot).

There’s an overview of our Nano Editions (short stories by our authors).

And today there’s an interview with Empire State author, Adam Christopher.

Go visit them every day this week for further goodies.

Lauren will be joined by Joey HiFi (BSFA award-winning artist of the SA/UK editions of Zoo City), and will be speaking at the British Library’s Out of This World exhibition in London.

The event starts at 1.00pm, and by pre-ordering tickets (which are free), you can enter the draws to win Zoo City prizes, including a great Zoo City T-shirt, featuring Joey’s artwork. You don’t need a ticket to attend the event – just to be in with a chance to win the prizes.

Theme song courtesy of John Anealio – find more of his awesome/twisted science fiction-themed music at SciFi Songs.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS feed or via iTunes.

Direct download the podcast (MP3).

Theme song courtesy of John Anealio – find more of his awesome/twisted science fiction-themed music at SciFi Songs.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS feed or via iTunes.

Direct download the podcast (MP3).

But perhaps as much attention has been paid – by those who’ve seen the physical editions at least – to the fab cover from cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld. In the UK, trendy bookish types like us know him from his pithy cartoons on the letters page of The Guardian‘s Review section every Saturday. In the US and even further afield, though, I suspect he is known to just a few connoisseurs of small press cartoon work. So we tracked him down last Friday afternoon and fired a few questions at the fellow. This is what came back… (All images can be clicked for larger versions, in case you were wondering.)

Q: What do you call yourself – graphic artist, cartoonist, professional doodler, etc?
I say “cartoonist and illustrator”.

Q: How did you get into “all this”?
I drew a lot as a child, and when I realised that you could draw as a job I decided that was for me. I studied illustration at Edinburgh College of art and the Royal College and since graduating in 2001 I’ve been drawing full time.

Q: Do you do lots of sketches and throw all the bad ones around the room or do you chew your pencil for days and then nail it first off?
I sit and doodle in my sketchbook and try to play around quite a lot about with ideas before going on to make a picture. My technique is relatively time consuming and its not easy to change things once they’re drawn so I try to think it all through at the beginning.

Q: What’s your typical working day, if there is one?
I’m at my studio from about 8.30am till 4.30pm. I work best in the morning so that’s when I do most of my creative work and in the afternoons I do more research and admin and internet time-wasting.

Q: Is it really annoying, when people say it’s just scribbling and colouring in, and when will you get a proper job?
Well it’s not really a proper job, and much of it IS just scribbling and colouring in. I don’t deny that it’s a nice way to make a living. A more common misunderstanding is that people say “Oh you must have such FUN coming up with all these FUNNY ideas! You must be laughing all day long!” whereas I’m either wracking my brain for a good idea or meticulously editing the idea to make it as funny or interesting as possible.

Q: Do you think there should be more cartoon-style novel covers?
I don’t think THAT many novels really suit this style, but when it’s done right it can be really great: I’d like to see more great ones. Chris Ware’s cover for Candide was one of the first I saw and one of the best.

Q: What would you kill to illustrate?
Kurt Vonnegut’s books.

Q: Anything you really hate/struggle with drawing?
People. I’m continually seeking a way of drawing people which satisfies me and works for my ideas and stories. I’m slowly getting better but I’m not there yet. Robots are so much easier.

Q: You’ve got a really distinctive style – do you ever experiment with other techniques, formats or materials?
I mess around a bit with other things (brushes, colouring pens, collage, Lego) and I find it can be very helpful for generating and exploring ideas, but I tend to find that when it comes to finished work I’m happy with the simplicity of my usual pen on paper style.

Q: Just how obsessed with robots are you?
I wouldn’t like to say obsessed, but I find them almost endlessly interesting. There is tragedy in their place between sentient beings and disposable products. And as I said, they are much easier to draw than real people.

Q: Isn’t it great how many times you sneak SF/genre tropes into your Guardian Review cartoons? (Sorry, that’s more of a statement.)
Yeah. Sci-fi and genre fiction have much better visuals than literary fiction. I’ve attached a cartoon about this.

Q: Which means you must read widely too – who are your favourite authors, any genre?
Off the top of my head Kurt Vonnegut, PG Wodehouse, John le Carre, Magnus Mills, William Golding, Geoges Simenon.

Q: Who in your field deserves more acclaim?
Anders Nilson is an amazing artist, I’m very excited about his forthcoming 600-page epic Big Questions.

Q: What would you be if you didn’t do this?
If I couldn’t draw for a living, I’d like to write or animate. If I had to do something completely different I’d be a baker.

Q: And will we ever see the Bumper Complete Book of Collected Tom Gauld one day?
Yes, well sort of. I’m just finishing up a graphic novel and once that’s out of the way I’m going to figure out a way to collect much of my previous work in some way or other.

Massive thanks to Tom. See his work online at tomgauld.com. And look, he even made us a new Angry Robot logo. <3

Theme song courtesy of John Anealio – find more of his awesome/twisted science fiction-themed music at SciFi Songs.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS feed or via iTunes.

Direct download the podcast (MP3).