Out of Order Interview #1: Max Gladstone

The second Eposic anthology is coming soon,  so we sat down to talk with one of its contributing authors, Max Gladstone. He has written for Book of Exodi and also several stories on his eponymous website. He is currently having his short story “Zach and the Thunderbird” published in Eposic’s upcoming Out of Order speculative fiction anthology.

Also, yes, I’m a new face. I’m Andrew Eidson, and I’m going to be a somewhat regular contributor to this blog. I will be helping out Eposic with social media and a bit of publicity for their various tomes and manuscripts.

Eposic: How did you find out about the Eposic anthologies?

Max: While I was in China I began to frequent ralan.com, which has a great section that lists anthology markets.  The Eposic anthologies struck me as an excellent idea: in the increasingly divided speculative fiction community, it seemed fresh to have an anthology united by theme rather than by sub-sub-genre (Not that I mind space noir vampire stories, for example, but a whole anthology of them might get repetitive).

M: “On Starlit Seas.”  This was part of my “screw it, write more interesting titles” phase.

M: I started off thinking that I would not submit to Out of Order, because it seemed difficult to tell a human story where the protagonists have different orientations in time.  Then I started to think: in my experience, some of the most interesting (not necessarily good) relationships I’ve known have been between people on different life trajectories.  One wants to be a high-powered lawyer, the other a hermit, and nevertheless they meet and maybe sleep with one another—crude example, maybe, but there it is. Different trajectories in time, different relationships in time, why not different orientations in time?

M: A short story of mine, “The Mask on the Island,” was published by On The Premises in late 2007, and another story, “Octopus Tanks,” was published on Space Westerns. 

Max: Let’s say I hope writing ends up as my career.  In the meantime, I am
happily employed from 9 to 5 while my wonderful fiancee works her butt
off in school.

M: I prefer to write good stuff, and try very hard to abstain from writing bad stuff.  Seriously though, I write broadly.  My work for Eposic has been almost magical realism, but I’ve written mystery, hard SF, horror, and fantasy—I’m shopping a fantasy novel around at the moment that I hope will do well.  I’ve also been known to write realistic fiction.  Writing is such an excellent pastime that it seems silly to limit oneself.

M: Not really.  The best stories always seem to have sprung on the world full-born, somehow transcending their authors; at the same time, it’s a pleasure to pick out signs of Roger Zelazny’s fencing experience and poetic tendencies, or of Steinbeck’s love of Salinas and its people.

M: I was born in MA and I have returned here, but I grew up in Tennessee; I can’t speak too much to Massachusetts audiences in general, but I’m lucky enough to live near an excellent speculative fiction bookstore / gaming shop called Pandemonium Books and Games; the staff there have been encouraging and a great source of recommendations.

M: Depends on the story.  ”Space Dream Vikings Invade Miami” is a solid summation of “On Starlit Seas;” “Guy drives his dead father’s Thunderbird to Chicago only to encounter an alluring woman driving the same car in the opposite direction” maybe approaches “Zach and the Thunderbird,” but then again it doesn’t quite.  ”It’s good!”

M: Just try to remember in what direction you’re moving.