Patrick St-Denis has just posted an interview with me on his popular Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist blog. Subjects covered include Infoquake, MultiReal, Lou Anders and Pyr, my strengths as a storyteller, the John W. Campbell Award, cover art, websites and interactivity with readers, the trend of high-quality British SF, and whether SF will ever get proper literary recognition by snooty academics cowering up in their white towers.

But the best part of the whole thing is that Pat has seen fit, unprompted, to post this neat little Photoshopped poster that puts the full force and weight of Uncle Sam behind getting you to read Infoquake and MultiReal. And really, ain’t that how it should be?

Brief excerpt from the interview:

What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?
I feel like I’m very good at the worldbuilding aspect of things. Really, structure in general. The trilogy has layers and layers of metaphor in it, and I’m really quite proud of the way it all works together as an organic whole. My tendency is to wander off into history and background and structure, and sometimes I have to curb that impulse. If I had written The Lord of the Rings, it would have been three whole books of the Council of Elrond, and nobody would have read it.

Were there any perceived conventions of the science fiction genre which you wanted to twist or break when you set out to write Infoquake and its sequel?

Yes, I wanted to avoid the typical mindless action set-pieces that you find in a lot of bad SF, and bad novels in general. I really wanted to write an exciting novel about business. A lot of authors just use the business aspect as window dressing, and then quickly throw their characters into the same car chases and murder mysteries and gunfights. I wanted to write books that really are about the workplace, where the excitement revolves around product demos and marketing meetings and government hearings and that kind of thing. So that’s what I’ve tried to do.

Life moves fast, and this MultiReal promotion stuff is zipping by like an F-16. Here’s a passel of news about book stuff, which I’m just going to lump here behind bullet points for lack of any better idea.

• Chat with Me on LibraryThing: From now until next Friday, August 1, I’m participating in my own LibraryThing Author Chat. Which basically means that any LibraryThing member is free to post questions to the author in an open forum, and I’ll answer them. Somebody please log on and ask me something so I can prop up my frail, stunted ego.
• SFFWorld MultiReal Review: Rob Bedford of SFFWorld has given MultiReal what can only be called a rave review. Remember that this is the guy who called Infoquake “THE science fiction novel of the year, if not the past five years,” and said that “the genre might not be quite the same after this book.” So I’ve been looking forward to what Rob has to say. Excerpt:
  

  MultiReal is on par with the previous volume for Edelman’s ability to change the game a bit and still maintain what made Infoquake such a great novel; his growth as a writer is most evident in the characters themselves. If anything, MultiReal may be a bolder novel… MultiReal is also not a “treading water middle book” of a trilogy… it really drives home much of what Edelman was setting up in the first volume and leaves the reader eager for the next volume. David Louis Edelman has crafted another winner with MultiReal… I for one can’t wait to see where Edelman takes the conclusion of this [thus far] spectacular trilogy.

• Listen to My “Key to Publishing” on Audio: The popular podcasts Adventures in SciFi Publishing and I Should Be Writing are jointly holding a Keys to Publishing Contest. Not only will they be giving away copies of Infoquake and MultiReal, but they’ll also be giving away books by my buddies Tobias Buckell, Jay Lake, Sean Williams, and Kay Kenyon (as well as Brenda Cooper, whom I’ve not yet had the pleasure of meeting). As part of the contest, they asked the authors to contribute short audio pieces on the key to getting published. Here’s my contribution, on I Should Be Writing 94. The whole podcast is worth listening to, but for reference’ sake, the intro to the Keys to Publishing sections starts at 3:40, and my audio piece runs from 4:50 to 7:36.)
• Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist Contest Winners: Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has announced the winners of their MultiReal giveaway contest, which ended up being an Infoquake/MultiReal giveaway contest. (In case you’ve forgotten, Pat called Infoquake “one of the very best science fiction debuts I have ever read.” And he hasn’t reviewed MultiReal yet, so I’m very interested in making sure he’s happy. Can I FedEx you a pillow, Pat?)
• POD People Review: Chris Gerrib of POD People has reviewed MultiReal and given it a rating of 10 out of 10. Says Chris (a self-published SF author in his own right):
  

  MultiReal is a deep book, full of plots and counter-plots, with a stunning vision of the future. It manages what seems to be impossible, making the act of computer programming exciting, while reflecting on the nature of government and business. This is high science fiction at its finest.

  Which prompted this amusing reply from one baron_waste on the LiveJournal mirror of the article:

  In ten years, that book is going to be as embarrassingly dated as any 1950s “Atomic Mutant Vegetables Conquer the World” story. I mean, look at it. Maybe he won’t care — royalty checks are their own currency, in the literal sense of the word — but this ain’t exactly The City and the Stars you’re describing here.

  Fine, baron_waste. Not only do you pick on my book, but you make fun of the title for my next book, Atomic Mutant Vegetables Conquer the World. See if I care.

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, the fine SF review website that brought you the recent Infoquake giveaway — not to mention the fine SF review website that recently called said book “one of the very best science fiction debuts I have ever read” — is now giving away three copies of MultiReal. All you have to do to enter is go to the website and send an email to the guys running the giveaway contest.

But better yet — if you haven’t yet read book 1 of the Jump 225 Trilogy, Infoquake, Pyr will throw in a copy of that book as well. Go! Enter! Encourage these people to pay me lots of attention and thus encourage more sales.

And if that’s not excuse enough for me to dust off the ol’ Adobe Photoshop and stick a copy of MultiReal in a sleazy used car salesman’s hand, I don’t know what is.

Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist (and of the aforeblogged giveaway contest) has given my novel Infoquake the kind of rave review that every author wants to get. I can’t believe nobody paid the guy money for this. (Right? I mean, I didn’t pay him anything…)

Some excerpts:

David Louis Edelman’s Infoquake just might be one of the very best science fiction debuts I have ever read. The book deserves all the praise it has garnered, and then some! Only rarely will a debut author produce the sort of work which habitually comes from celebrated veterans…

Contrary to a majority of scifi yarns, its the characterization which carries Infoquake forward. Though Natch is a captivating character, the supporting cast is equally interesting, with characters such as Jara, Horvil and Quell. I’m really looking forward to learning more about each of them in the two sequels…

Ambitious, vast in scope, with a deftly executed plot and impeccable prose from start to finish, David Louis Edelman’s Infoquake is a fascinating read. 2006 was one of the best years in memory in terms of impressive speculative fiction debuts. Had I read it when it was originally released, Infoquake would have trumped Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora, Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon, Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth, and Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself.

He concludes by giving the book a solid 8 out of 10 and then makes a pitch for the imminently arriving sequel MultiReal as well.

“One of the very best science fiction debuts I have ever read”? Hah! Take that, Dune, Ender’s Game, and Neuromancer, not to mention Frankenstein. I’m crashing your party. Let’s hope you’re stocked up on Doritos.

I may be posting this too late… but I discovered the other day that Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is giving away five copies of the Solaris mass market paperback of Infoquake. Read the entry on the website for more information about how to enter. There’s no information about when the contest ends, so you’d better hustle over there if you’re hoping to win one.

Pat has promised a review of Infoquake in the coming days, but in the meantime he has this to say: “I’m more than halfway through the novel, and it’s a terrific read thus far! Edelman has been nominated for the second time for the John W. Campbell Award, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins it this year.” (Actually, it’s my first nomination for the Best New Writer Campbell, but who’s counting?)