Interviews
Entry updated 4 March 2024. Tagged: Theme.
Much information about the History of SF has been recorded in author, artist, editor and film-maker interviews, which have been a feature of Fanzines since the earliest days and have later appeared in SF Magazines, Semiprozines and especially Media Magazines. Interviewers of note who have published multiple collections of conversations with authors include Jeffrey M Elliot, Charles Platt – whose Dream Makers collections are particularly illuminating – and Darrell Schweitzer, as detailed under further reading below.
Publications that ran or still run many useful interviews include Albedo One; Algernon, Algol/Starship, The Alien Critic, American Fantasy, Challenging Destiny, Cinefantastique, Cinefex, Cinemacabre, Comics Scene, The Edge, Eidolon, Fantastic Films, Future Life, Hub Magazine, Interzone, Janus/Aurora, The Leading Edge, Lightspeed, Locus, Moebius Trip, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Omni, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Psychotronic Video, Science Fiction Eye, Science Fiction Review, SFX, Shoreline of Infinity, Starlog, Talebones, Thrust, Vector and Weird Tales.
The remit of the Science Fiction Oral History Association (which see) includes the preservation of recorded interviews. The see also list below links to entries in this encyclopedia whose bibliographical Checklists include one or more books, magazines or fanzines featuring interviews with the entry subject. [DRL]
see also: Kathy Acker; Michael Andre-Driussi; Isaac Asimov; J G Ballard; Robert Bloch; Roberto Bolaño; Ray Bradbury; William S Burroughs; Tim Burton; Octavia Butler; James Cameron; John Clute; Edmund Cooper; Roger Corman; David Cronenberg; Samuel R Delany; Philip K Dick; Gardner Dozois; Chris Foss; John Frankenheimer; Terry Gilliam; Jean Giraud; Stuart Gordon [2]; Edward Gorey; Andrea Hairston; John Harris; Robert A Heinlein; Robert P Holdstock; Julian Jaynes; Stephen King; Stanley Kubrick; Fritz Lang; Ursula K Le Guin; Murray Leinster; H P Lovecraft and his circle; Yumi Matsuo; Michael Moorcock; Chris Moore; Sam Moskowitz; John Picacio; John Schoenherr; Ridley Scott; Robert Silverberg; E E Smith; Steven Spielberg; Tang Fei; Walter Tevis; Sheree Renée Thomas; Charles Vess; William T Vollmann; Kurt Vonnegut Jr; Ron Walotsky; H G Wells; Orson Welles; David Wingrove.
further reading
interview collections
series
SF Voices (Schweitzer)
Interviews conducted by Darrell Schweitzer.
- SF Voices (Baltimore, Maryland: T-T Graphics, 1976) [nonfiction: anth: SF Voices: pb/]
- SF Voices: Interviews with Science Fiction Masters (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2009) [nonfiction: anth: vt of the above: SF Voices: pb/]
- Science Fiction Voices #1: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1979) [nonfiction: anth: chap: SF Voices: hb/Judy Cloyd]
- Science Fiction Voices #5: Interviews with American Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1982) [nonfiction: anth: chap: SF Voices: hb/Judy Cloyd]
SF Voices (Elliott)
Interviews conducted by Jeffrey M Elliot.
- Science Fiction Voices #2: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1979) [coll: chap: SF Voices: hb/nonpictorial]
- Science Fiction Voices #3: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1980) [coll: chap: SF Voices: hb/nonpictorial]
- Science Fiction Voices #4: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1982) [coll: chap: SF Voices: hb/nonpictorial]
- Science Fiction Voices #4: Interviews with Modern Science Fiction Masters (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/Borgo Press, 2009) [nonfiction: vt of the above: pb/]
- Pulp Voices or Science Fiction Voices #6: Interviews With Pulp Magazine Writers and Editors (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1983) [coll: chap: SF Voices: hb/nonpictorial]
Dream Makers
Interviews conducted by Charles Platt.
- Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction (New York: Berkley Books, 1980) [nonfiction: coll: Dream Makers: pb/]
- Who Writes Science Fiction? (Manchester, England: Savoy Books, 1980) [nonfiction: coll: rev vt of the above: Dream Makers: pb/Derek Twiss]
- Dream Makers, Volume II: The Uncommon Men & Women Who Write Science Fiction (New York: Berkley Books, 1983) [nonfiction: coll: Dream Makers: pb/]
- Dream Makers: SF and Fantasy Writers at Work (London: Xanadu, 1986) [nonfiction: omni of the above plus the revised version of Dream Makers above: Dream Makers: pb/Video Graffiti]
- Dream Makers: The Stairway Press Collected Edition (Mount Vernon, Washington: The Stairway Press, 2014) [nonfiction: omni containing 24 profiles from the above two: pb/]
Speaking of Horror
Interviews conducted by Darrell Schweitzer.
- Speaking of Horror: Interviews with Writers of the Supernatural (San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 1994) [nonfiction: anth: chap: Speaking of Horror: pb/]
- Speaking of Horror II: Interviews with 18 Masters of Horror! (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2015) [nonfiction: anth: Speaking of Horror: pb/]
Speaking of the Fantastic
Interviews conducted by Darrell Schweitzer.
- Speaking of the Fantastic: Interviews with Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2002) [nonfiction: anth: Speaking of the Fantastic: pb/]
- Speaking of the Fantastic II: Interviews with Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Wildside Press, 2004) [nonfiction: anth: Speaking of the Fantastic: pb/]
- Speaking of the Fantastic III: Interviews with Science Fiction Writers (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2012) [nonfiction: anth: Speaking of the Fantastic: pb/Angela Harburn]
- Speaking of the Fantastic IV (Cabin John, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2018) [nonfiction: anth: Speaking of the Fantastic: pb/]
individual interview collections
- George Plimpton, editor. Paris Review interview in Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Third Series (New York: Viking Compass, 1968) [nonfiction: anth: includes William S Burroughs: pb/]
- Paul Walker. Speaking of Science Fiction: The Paul Walker Interviews (Oradell, New Jersey: Luna Publications, 1978) [nonfiction: coll: illus/Dave Ludwig: hb/Peter Dickenson]
- Alan Burns and Charles Sugnet. The Imagination on Trial: British and American Writers Discuss Their Working Methods (London: Allison and Busby, 1981) [nonfiction: anth: interviews: hb/R B Kitaj]
- Damien Broderick. Other Spacetimes: Interviews with Speculative Fiction Writers (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/San Bernardino, California: The Borgo Press, 2016) with Van Ikin [nonfiction: pb/Anders Sandberg]
- Larry McCaffery. Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews with Contemporary American Science Fiction Writers (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1990) [nonfiction: coll: hb/]
- Edo van Belkom. Northern Dreamers: Interviews with Famous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers (Kingston, Ontario: Quarry Press, 1998) [nonfiction: coll: pb/Susan Hannah]
- Philip Martin. The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest (Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing, 2001) [nonfiction: coll: including interviews: pb/Greg and Tim Hildebrandt]
- A Guide to Fantasy Literature: Thoughts on Stories of Wonder and Enchantment (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Crickhollow Books, 2009) [nonfiction: coll: rev vt of the above: pb/Gustaf Tenggren]
- David Langford. Crosstalk: Interviews Conducted by David Langford (Reading, Berkshire: Ansible Editions, 2015) [nonfiction: coll: pb/L A Vaught]
- George Zebrowski. Talks with the Masters (Cabin John, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2018) [nonfiction: coll: interviews: pb/]
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