IGMS Issue 21

by IGMS

  SCHWEITZER: Presumably you are your own first reader, and you write to please yourself first.

  McKILLIP: Yes, and I am my own first critic. I really try and criticize everything. I read like a critic and like a reader who is trying to love what she's reading. Then my agent gets a hold of it and tells me where I have gone wrong, or my husband reads it and he tells me it's boring. These things help.

  SCHWEITZER: Most of your fantasies have been ones in which you immerse the story in another world, as Tolkien does. But there's another approach, in whichthe fantasy intrudes into our world. Have you felt any inclination to do this sort of fantasy?

  McKILLIP: Only in the sense that I'd like to write more about the real world because had lots of words that I don't get to use in fantasy. I don't know, like coffee urn and deodorant and stuff like that. You can't say those things in an epic fantasy. Yeah, I would like to put fantasy in the real world. I just don't quite know in what fashion yet. I would love it to somehow . . . I don't know. That's tough for me. I'm still thinking about it. I haven't thought of it before.

  SCHWEITZER: You could write a fantasy in which you mention coffee urns and deodorant. It would be a very different kind of fantasy.

  McKILLIP: You can mention things like that in The War for the Oaks or something like that.

  SCHWEITZER: We have a standard post-Tolkien fantasy now, in which the setting is pre-industrial and rural, and that's why they don't have coffee urns in them. But why does this have to be so? Is there something inherent in a pre-industrial setting that makes epic fantasy happen? Why couldn't they have a steam engine in there?

  McKILLIP: They do these days. They have steampunk all over the place. To me that's fantasy too, and it's wonderful. [We are in the green room at the World Fantasy Convention. Voice from behind us: "Coffee to your left and teapot to your right."] That's something you can't hear in one of my fantasies, isn't it? I've forgotten the question . . .

  SCHWEITZER: Can we break out of the rules? Is our idea of what a fantasy is itself restrictive?

  McKILLIP: It is for me a little bit, because I have been writing this way for years and years, but not for other people. Charles de Lint has his modern cities, and Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads was an incredible fantasy. I am not sure what exactly it was, but it was amazing, and she ranged from Caribbean history to French history to modern times. People do anything they want in fantasy nowadays. They can use any language they want.

  SCHWEITZER: Presumably you could do anything you wanted.

  McKILLIP: Presumably. One would hope that I could change at my age.

  SCHWEITZER: Why not? I am reminded of something Picasso said when he was about 80. He was asked by an interviewer, "What are you doing now?" and he said, "I'm looking for a new style."

  McKILLIP: So am I.

  SCHWEITZER: Thank you, Patricia McKillip.

  Letter From The Editor

  Issue 21 - February 2011

  by Edmund R. Schubert

  Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

  * * *

  Welcome to IGMS Issue 21, the first issue of 2011. Personally, I'm going to go buy a bunch of lottery tickets with a lot 2s and 1s. Now, I'm not a financial advisor, and I don't play one on TV, but rather than buying lottery tickets, I'd have to say IGMS is actually a much better investment.

  Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system . . .

  First, our cover story: "Brutal Interlude" by Wayne Wightman. Reality TV was never so intrusive, never so scary, never so thoroughly put in its place. I dare you to look away, if you can.

  Next, fan-favorite Cat Rambo brings us "A Frame of Mother-of-Pearl," a fantasy tale about life and death, magic and family, and the way they can all come together to make life difficult.

  Then Steve Stewart makes his debut with "Go Home, and Be With Your Families," a tale of an alien civilization long gone and its powerful effect on one man here on earth.

  "The Devil's Rematch," by regular IGMS columnist Spencer Ellsworth, is a dark look at one small southern town, and how it doesn't take the Devil to bring out the worst in people, nor the best.

  Finally we have "Ratoncito's Last Tooth," an Orson Picks story (selected by Uncle Orson himself) about the life of strongest man in the world. It's a man's entire life in under 3,000 words and it will have you brushing and flossing for the rest of your life.

  Well, not quite "finally," because we also have an Orson Picks for our audio bonus this issue: "Breakout" is the tale of an astronomy professor who finds haven in the strangest of places. I forget who wrote it, but it's read beautifully by Stuart Jaffe, of "The Eclectic Review" podcast fame. Okay, I wrote it, but you shouldn't hold that against poor Stuart.

  Then in the interview department, Darrell Schweitzer is at it again, this time interviewing a personal favorite of mine, Patricia McKillip. Her Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy was my introduction to fantasy, but as Darrell's interview shows, she's done so much more than just that.

  What's that, you say? Despite my advice, you went and bought a lottery ticket anyway? Well, you got lucky this time: Subscribers voted for their favorite stories appearing in IGMS during 2010, and the winners of the First Annual InterGalactic Awards (who all get cash awards) aren't the only winners; all the winning stories are free for all to read for as long as issue 21 is live. Go and tell all your friends that the winners are:

  Stories

  1st place: "Trinity County, CA" by Peter S. Beagle

  2nd place: "Sister Jasmine Brings the Pain" by Von Carr

  3rd place (tie): "The American" by Bruce Worden

  "The Ghost of a Girl Who Never Lived" by Keffy Kehrli

  Interior Art

  1st place: "Wise Men" by Nick Greenwood

  2nd place: "Sister Jasmine Brings the Pain" by Nicole Cardiff

  3rd place: "The Vicksburg Dead" by Kevin Wasden

  Cover Art

  "The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola" by Julie Dillon

  Congratulations to all the winners, and many thanks to the many readers who voted for their favorites.

  Edmund R. Schubert

  Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

  P.S. As usual, we've collected essays from the authors in this issue and will post them on our blog (www.SideShowFreaks.blogspot.com). Feel free to drop by and catch The Story Behind The Stories, where the authors talk about the creation of their tales.

  For more from Orson Scott Card's

  InterGalactic Medicine Show visit:

  http://www.InterGalacticMedicineShow.com

  Copyright © 2011 Hatrack River Enterprises