Prime Time Replay:
Michael Marshall Smith
on Spares
MsgId: *omni_visions(10)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:04:35 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.20
Now. The formal beginning. Good evening (or morning, depending), everyone, and welcome to another international edition of Omni Visions. My guest, Michael Marshall Smith, is in London. Producer Ellen is in New York, and I'm in Denver. All of us with different time zones. But we will make do. Michael Marshall Smith is a remarkable writer whose debut novel was 1994's "Only Forward," followed two years later by "Spares." The latter was recently published in the U.S. by Bantam. Michael is a veteran of both short fiction and novel writing, as well as writing for television and feature films. His fans include such as Clive Barker ("...shocking, moving and surreal. Violent, Outrageous and witty..." That last refers to "Only Forward.") Michael, at last a question. Is there any movement at present on publishing your first novel in the States?
MsgId: *omni_visions(13)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:06:19 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Okay: I'm now formally with the programme. To your question, yes there is. Two weeks ago Bantam bought the novel, following some interest from another publisher.
MsgId: *omni_visions(14)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:07:28 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.20
Here's a side message to all of you watching in. Michael and I'll be talking one-to-one for a while. But then Producer Ellen will open up the chat and everyone who cares to can ask questions. So be ready...
MsgId: *omni_visions(15)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:08:02 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
At the moment I don't know exactly when they intend to publisher. As those who have read it may be aware, "ONLY FORWARD" is a little more self-evidently 'science fiction' than "SPARES."
MsgId: *omni_visions(16)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:10:20 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.20
I understand that you were once a BBC comedy writer, an apellation held in great esteem over here (nobody in the US would admit to being a comedy writer for the Fox Network, but the BBC, now that's another story). I've seen a fair about of wry humor in your prose, often underlying fairly grim (or at least serious) subject matter. Is this a conscious technique?
MsgId: *omni_visions(17)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:12:32 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Actually, for a long time after I started writing prose I didn't use much humour - almost as a reaction to having spent so much time doing so. Then when I started writing "ONLY FORWARD" it just crept back in. I like humour, like trying to see the funny side of bleak things. There generally is one, and it's as much a part of the truth as the dark bits.
MsgId: *omni_visions(18)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:14:15 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.20
Back in the BBC days, what sort of projects were you working on? Anything that might have crossed the Atlantic?
MsgId: *omni_visions(19)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:15:36 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Sadly not. Me and three other guys I met at college had a radio show called 'And now, In Colour'. It was described as a 'cult hit', which probably meant our parents and three other people listened in. I also did some writing for a few other TV shows, but only short skits.We did three series of the radio shows, then a couple of pilots for TV. We never actually got an answer on the second one, and that was four years ago... we're assuming the answer's 'no'. By that stage we were all just about ready to concentrate on other things anyway, and I'd started to write short stories.
MsgId: *omni_visions(22)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:21:16 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.20
Sometimes I'm a late starter, trying to figure out who's doing what in interesting fiction. I'm afraid the first sample of your work I encountered was "More Tomorrow" in the Steve Jones/David Sutton anthology, "DARK TERRORS." That's an absolute knock-out of a tale. I was enormously impressed as well by the astute (it seemed to me) analysis of how people relate to computers, and what sorts of human personalities relate well to cybernetics. Then I was told that, at the time, you were not all that hands-on knowledgeable about computers. True? If so, like early William Gibson, were you using native talent and empathic ability to hit this area of our culture so dead on?
MsgId: *omni_visions(23)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:24:08 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Thank you. Actually, no that's not true. When it comes to Macintosh computers, I know what I'm doing - up to a point. I supported myself as a graphic designer on a Mac for five years, back in the days when no-one realised how easy it was and you could charge stupid sums for ten minutes' work. Though it is true that I don't know anything about the insides of a computer. I had to install some RAM for my Dad the other day, and I was effectively waving a dead chicken at the motherboard and burning insense.I guess one of the things which prompted me to write the story was seeing how many people were genuinely a little scared of the box of tricks which now sat on the corner of every desk. When you add the world of the internet on top of that, it seemed to me there was potential for much weirdness...
MsgId: *omni_visions(26)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:29:05 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Ah well, another modern myth shot to hell. I'll stick my neck out again. I've allowed myself to be convinced that you're working on a mini-series version of Clive Barker's "WEAVEWORLD" for Showtime and BBC. True? If so, how's that project coming?
MsgId: *omni_visions(27)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:29:52 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Ha. That, Ed, is one of the longest and most convoluted stories I know. Basically - and I'm going to have to be circumspect here - there was a long haitus last year while a number of personal differences were resolved between the production companies involved. The unfortunate upshot was that by the time came round to start the second draft, I was pushing into the deadline for my next book.I have completed first drafts of all eight hours: whether I will be doing the second draft depends on a number of factors outside my control. Clive is obviously very keen that the project get back on course as soon as possible, and so it's possible another writer my do the next draft. I have the book to finish, and also a second draft of a movie I wrote earlier in the year.
As you can imagine, dramatising "Weaveworld" is a hell of an undertaking. I hope it comes off - wouldn't it make a great mini-series? The people at Showtime are very behind the project, and show a real understanding of it.
Anyway - what's this 'allowed myself to be convinced' thing. It's true, dammit. I've got the scars to prove it.
MsgId: *omni_visions(32)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:37:39 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Indeed, I'll hope quite strongly that the project comes about. Eight hours seems about right for the scope of epic fantasy. Just out of curiosity, what would you advise some starry-eyed tyro coming up to you with am ambition to write for the tube or big screen? Any difference between what you'd initially say, and then later, upon reflection?
MsgId: *omni_visions(33)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:38:43 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
It did help me discover that writing screenplays is very different when someone's sitting there waiting for the drafts. At one stage there were nine different opinions on every script I did. My advice would be: make sure you really, really want to do it. The thing about writing novels is that you finish one, it gets published, and it's there on the shelf. It's yours, and it's real. You can write as many scripts, or as many *drafts* of a script as you like, but it doesn't mean it will ever see the light of day. And so the long days wear on, and summer turns to autumn, and life fades to grey.Also, be very aware of the difference between the disciplines. Prose is about *telling* people things; screenwriting is about *showing* them. You have to rethink your story from the inside out to cater for this difference. Sometimes, I think, stories are born for one medium or the other, and it ain't no use trying to make them fit the wrong one. Also - and I could go on all night - GET AN AGENT. Probably in no other field of writing is an agent so important - not least because sometimes you need a buffer between you and them.
But... the rethink advice is 'go for it'. It's fun, and at least it gets you out of the house. Also it pays well, and who knows, there's always a chance something might work out. Stranger things have happened. Probably. Hey, more advice (though why anyone should listen to mine remains to be seen): learn how to format scripts properly. Little things do matter, especially when you're dealing wth people who are drowning in submissions.
MsgId: *omni_visions(38)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:44:54 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
One of the attractive qualities about your work is that while most of it seems to be--more or less--sf, dark fantasy, or the horrific, you steer away well from that historic burden of stereotype and cliche that most of rest of us have to grapple with. So what's your literary background like? Did you grow up with this sort of material? And do you feel like you're part of the "club"?
MsgId: *omni_visions(40)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:48:29 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
My literary background is kind of vague. As a kid I read traditional sf - Clarke, Asimov - and also fell in love with Ray Bradybury. I read a few Philip K Dick. Then I stopped reading sf altogether, and read literary fiction for a while. Then I discovered horror, and read that for a while. Then I discovered crime, and launched into that. I guess I like all of the styles about equal, and so try to write books in which they're *all* represented.
MsgId: *omni_visions(41)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:50:46 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
So who do you read these days who really knows you out?
MsgId: *omni_visions(42)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:51:24 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Possibly one of the reasons why some of the stuff doesn't read like it sits in - say - an sf tradition is that I simply haven't read enough sf. I have no idea what cutting edge sf is about: ditto crime, horror and just about everything else. I dip into them every now and then; and I have a tendency to re-read stuff over and over and over again. I'm primarily attracted to 'voice' writers, and almost read a book the first time to get the plot over with. Then I can concentrate on how they're telling it. I like that kind of added value in prose. Let's face it, compared to other ways of having a good time - television, movies, going to a bar - reading is actually relatively hard. So there's value in making it as easy and enjoyable as possible, I think: and you can do that in any genre.I guess the big guy for me at the moment is James Ellroy. I just think he's extraordinary. To be able to punch people in the face with prose that transparent, and yet still pull off endings to books like "BLACK DALIA" and "THE BIG NOWHERE," is unbelievable. I'll always read the new Stephen King, because it's always worth it. I always love finding a new Jim Thompson I haven't seen before. Plus I loved the Greg Egan collection I read recently, though it did make my head explode. Also Jonathan Letham. What I've read of his stuff is superb.
MsgId: *omni_visions(44)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:56:17 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Have you read Ellroy's latest, the nonfiction one about his mother's murder? Just the hum of background power is amazing. And speaking of potential head-exploding collections... Is a story collection of your own anywhere in sight?
MsgId: *omni_visions(47)
Date: Thu Jul 3 22:58:37 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
I have read that book, and it is great. Actually, I've just re-read all of his, ending on "AMERICAN TABLOID." For me, the whole JFK business is now solved.We're getting out of synch here - has your connection speeded up? A collection of my stuff? I'd love to. I came into writing through short fiction, and still think that in our genres it often packs the hardest punch. I will be doing a collection for HarperCollins in the UK in, er: well it will be the book after the book after this one. In the States, I don't know.
Ha ha - sneaked one in there. The thing is, my short fiction and long fiction are rather different. Don't know why. Same sensibility, but I've only ever written about four short stories - out of say thirty - set in the future.
MsgId: *omni_visions(49)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:01:33 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
The great thing about certain Unified Conspiracy Field Theories is that they're never quite wrapped up... Today, for example, the press carried bemused accounts of how innocuous (we thought) former President Gerald Ford made a significant textual emendation or two on the Warren Report.
MsgId: *omni_visions(51)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:02:47 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Gerald Ford? Yeah - but could he chew gum at the same time?Sorry, but of a pause there: just be joined by two cats who've realised a human is still up and they might as well sit on his lap. And as you can see they've had a bad effect on my typing.
MsgId: *omni_visions(54)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:05:42 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Well...the President was chewing a gum eraser. Hurrying onward... You make it sound is if you've got quite an ambitious queu of books lined up. Is the third novel on the horizon? Horror? SF? Slipstream?
MsgId: *omni_visions(55)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:07:26 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
The third novel is how I'm currently spending my days. It's in a similar mold to "SPARES," but set nearer to the present day... actually, it's more like a cross between the first two novels. A bit less dark than "SPARES" - though there's still time to slip something in there if it comes to me - and developing some of the ideas in "ONLY FORWARD."It's even possible that the novel after that may be set in the present day. Who knows: I seem to have very little control over what I come up with, almost like I'm channeling something. I just wish the spirit guide spoke more quickly, was a hell of a lot more reliable, and could spell.
My plan for the rest of the year is to finish "ONE OF US," do the second draft on the movie, and then maybe spend the rest of the year writing an original screenplay. A lot of the screenwriting I've done has been adaptations: I'd like to dredge something up that was purely my own - for better or worse. Can't blame anyone else if it's dreadful.
MsgId: *omni_visions(57)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:10:32 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Call this a bit of a station break... This is Omni Visions; the guest tonight is British novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer Michael Marshall Smith. I'm going to ask my producer, Ellen, if she'll now open up the chat so that any watchers inclined to ask questions may do so. Just remember--you've gotta leave the chat, then rejoin to participate. And remember to sign your message. Thanks.
MsgId: *omni_visions(60)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:13:14 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
Hi Michael. me again. I of course, have noticed that yes, indeed most of you short fiction is dark and could be considered horror and is usually set in the present while your two novels (and Ed, I meant to correct you that "Spares" is out from Bantam in the US) are both futuristic (albeit, dark). Is this a conscious creative dichotomy?
MsgId: *omni_visions(59)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:12:29 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
You mentioned the two cats joining you. I've got my own office cat peering over the edge of a cardboard box full of excelsior paper up above the computer. I saw a note somewhere in an old bio to the effect that you weren't allowed to keep a cat. Things have changed?
MsgId: *omni_visions(61)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:14:19 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Thankfully, yes. We now have two beautiful Burmillas, which we've had for two years. They spend just about all day both sleeping on my lap, which means (a) I can sit in a half lotus position indefinitely, and (b) they've probably got a better idea of what I'm typing than I have.Hi Ellen - no, there's no conscious decision. It just seems that the shorts come out present day, and the novels are set in the future. I guess one of the things I love about sf is the freedom it gives you to just make stuff up, to toy with worlds and ideas. When something's set in the present day you are obviously so much more contrained by either sticking to reality, or diverging from it in certain set ways.
I'm sure you'll agree that a lot of the genre boundaries are pretty thin, and I'd like to see them getting thinner. I think the genre people should gang up on the literary people and hit them with everything we've got.
MsgId: *omni_visions(64)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:19:00 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
It seems to me "Spares" has come out at the perfect time what with Dolly the cloned sheep. Has the current nature of the novel attracted interest? Have you been approached by news organizations at all to talk about the subject? I certainly appreciate the obliteration of genre boundaries.
MsgId: *omni_visions(66)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:20:02 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Well, maybe yes, but-- Ellen, you may have some intelligence about this or can correct me. I was told earlier today that HarperCollins has just decided to cancel 100 book contracts as a cost-cutting expedient, and that most will come from nonfiction and literary fiction lists. Genre stuff appears realtively safe.
MsgId: *omni_visions(67)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:21:00 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Yep - good old Dolly. There has been a certain amount of that over here. I did a kind of 'video diary from the future' for six episodes of a BBC tv discussion programme called Futurewatch - basically setting up scenarios for them to consider. Also I did a *live* ten minute breakfast news thing at a disturbingly early time in the morning, which scared the living **** out of me.Ed - that's probably not least because it's the genre books which are actually making the money... though they may no get the kudos or the prestige.
Um, I'm a little late with "ONE OF US"...
MsgId: *omni_visions(69)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:22:41 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
Interesting you should bring that up, Ed. I was having lunch with a HarperCollins editor yesterday and questioned him about that. He said that many of the cancelled books were quite late. But yes, only about 6 were from the sf division. I think Silbersack has made the Prism line quite healthy and he's very good at marketing.
MsgId: *omni_visions(71)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:25:31 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Oops. You're probably okay, Michael. If you haven't received a newspaper-wrapped fish or a severed horse's head on your pillow, you're probably just fine.
MsgId: *omni_visions(72)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:25:40 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
But you're not with HarperCollins, so don't worry too much. How late _are_ you?
MsgId: *omni_visions(73)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:27:29 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Christ - I wondered what that thing in the bed was. Actually, not too late. Only a couple of months. It's now heading for a May 98 pub date over here.
MsgId: *omni_visions(75)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:29:29 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 205.218.86.35
Hello Michael & all--Even with the novels, you've thrown some short fiction out there. Such as those in "LETHAL KISSES" (the title: yeecchh.) & "The Mammoth Book of Dracula." So, were these stories of a few years' vintage, or recent? Any other appearances upcoming? -bil
MsgId: *omni_visions(77)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:31:25 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
{Please don't blame me for the title of _Lethal Kisses_--the publisher changed it as the antho was about to go into production).
MsgId: *omni_visions(78)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:31:57 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Hi Bil - the story in "Dracula" is very recent; the story in "KISSES" is a couple of years old. Other upcoming presentations include a story in Steve Jone's "DARK TERRORS 3," and some reprints. Also there's another story in another upcoming Steve anthology, the name of which escapes me.
MsgId: *omni_visions(76)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:29:48 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Michael, somewhat earlier you mentioned a few years as a graphic designer. Music, the other arts, are these now purely recreational, or do you find them impinging on what you do on the page?
MsgId: *omni_visions(79)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:33:53 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Ed - sadly the other arts remain hobbies at the moment, though I did design the UK cover for "SPARES." They make a good break from writing sometimes though, for those times when you think 'Words? Who needs 'em? Let the little bastards spell themslves for a while.'I must say I'm looking forward to getting back to some short story writing later in the year: I just never seem to get round to it when I'm bludgeoning a novel into being.
And Ed, I should perhaps point out that 'Graphic Designer' could more accurately be termed 'Guy who knew how to use a Mac early on, without any training in design whatsoever'. That's the problem these days: all the damned designers can use computers as well.
MsgId: *omni_visions(81)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:36:29 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
How does that novel process go? Enormous spring? Careful increments? Adrenaline and coffee?
MsgId: *omni_visions(84)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:39:08 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Ed - the novel process goes one of two ways. A day of 300 hard-fought words, lots of staring out of the window: or a day of 4000 words. I know people who plan out their books very carefully before they start. I can't seem to face that. I like the journey of discovery: that's what makes writing fun for me. On the other hand, having some idea of where I was going might do away with the 200-word days...
MsgId: *omni_visions(83)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:38:25 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 205.218.86.35
Ahh. Ellen, don't sweat the title of "KISSES." You needn't apologize for an antho who's contents are that good, and varied. The MMS & Lamsley alone are worth the price.And, Michael a crass question of commerce: How do you justify doing short work these days? I know what it pays, even for those in the upper levels, and it can't compete with a novel's pay. Bil again.
MsgId: *omni_visions(85)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:40:58 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Bil - I justify doing short stories because I love doing them. They're the only type of writing I find no effort at all. An atmosphere, half and idea, maybe the ending or the beginning - and up to 10,000 words to make something of it. There's stuff you can do in shorts that you can't even touch in novels, strangely.Hmm - just re-read that: did I say 'no effort at all'? Not quite true.
One of the things I like about short stories is that you don't have to push an idea: make it link up with too many others, or get too worried about complex plots. You can just try to find a simple way of floating the idea out there, by itself...
MsgId: *omni_visions(88)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:43:56 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
As we start to run out the clock... Michael, where do you see your writing ten years from now? Twenty? Still in the fiction of the fantastic, however obliquely? Perhaps increasingly in realistic mainstream? Maybe exclusively for the screen? What do you think?
MsgId: *omni_visions(91)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:46:17 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
I thnk I'll always be writing somewhere in the middle. I hope I'll be doing both screen and prose writing, but if I have to choose, I'll take the prose. My books my edge closer to the present day, but if I ever write one that doesn't have something a little weird in it, something that isn't quite right, then it will go straight in the trash. It was the genres that made me want to write in the first place: we can do all the mainstream stuff, and then have the freedom to effectively explore what the hell else we like as well. The best of both worlds. I love it.
MsgId: *omni_visions(89)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:44:25 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
I have to say that I, personally and professionally, hope you never give up the short story because I think you write some of the best being written today. Not to let it swell your head. You construct complete worlds in each & every story I've read of yours has the type of resonance that I try to explain to writing students and would be writers is crucial to great fiction writing. Story and characters and events that leave a residue after the story ends.oops. That para got garbled but I think ou get the idea.
MsgId: *omni_visions(92)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:47:37 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Thank you Ellen - and while my primarily job remains that of providing two cats with somewhere warm and reasonably comfortable to sleep, the head will stay standard-sized...And what the hell is mainstream, anyway? Genre without the good bits?
MsgId: *omni_visions(93)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:48:09 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Earlier I asked about advice to the screenwriting aspirant, and your answer was spot on. What about the prose fiction kid (of any age) who's looking for direction?
MsgId: *omni_visions(95)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:49:40 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Advice for prose aspirants? Write lots. Find a couple of good friends to share stuff with, and don't take yourself too seriously. Find a couple of fantastic editors who'll read your stuff. Also, and this is the big one, be fantastically lucky.Also: write what you can. Don't try a novel before you're confident, or you'll just waste a whole lot of time you could have spent writing twenty short stories and getting better at what you do. Writing novels isn't the be-all-and-end-all. Just getting some stuff down on the page, and making it better, is the place to start. Also, ignore the advice of people like me. What the hell do they know?
MsgId: *omni_visions(96)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:51:22 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Ellen, Bil, anything either of you want to end on? Our guest is closing in on five in the morning (local time).
MsgId: *omni_visions(98)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:52:35 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
I can't believe it. Seeing dawn sober. Cloudy as hell, of course.
MsgId: *omni_visions(99)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:52:47 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
Just say hi to the kitties and to Paula, and write me an erotic fantasy as soon as you finish the novel (or as a break). And get some sleep.
MsgId: *omni_visions(100)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:53:53 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Will do, Ellen.
MsgId: *omni_visions(102)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:54:44 EDT 1997
From: guest At: 205.218.86.35
Add. Hmm. Just that I agree with Ellen re Michael's short fiction. He's become one of a group of three or four (Ellison & Simmons & Ed Gorman are the others) whose work I'll track down, no matter how obscure the venue.Thanks, and keep the prose coming.
MsgId: *omni_visions(103)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:55:38 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Thanks Bil. And thank you Ed for the questions. I hope at least some of the answers weren't nonsense.
MsgId: *omni_visions(106)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:57:50 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Okay, then. We'll wrap on time and let Michael get some rest. Or write another 200-4,000 words on the novel. (I know which I'D prefer) At any rate, I want to thank Michael Marshall Smith very, very much for spending these past two hours with Omni Visions. Now I've got some more data for my essay for the U.S. limited edition of "SPARES" which I've been stalling on. So all of you, if you haven't read Michael, pick up "SPARES" from Bantam and anticipate Bantam's U.S. edition of "ONLY FORWARD." And search out the splendid short stories. Thanks to all. Join Jim Freund in one week for an interview with Kirsten Burket, and me in two weeks for a conversation with Suzy McKee Charnas. Good night, all.
MsgId: *omni_visions(107)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:58:53 EDT 1997
From: Michael_Marshall_Smith At: 158.152.33.217
Thanks very much everyone. I had fun. Hope to see you guys soon... Michael.
MsgId: *omni_visions(108)
Date: Thu Jul 3 23:59:17 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
It's Kirsten Bakis author of "THE LIVES OF THE MONSTER DOGS." I think I must have had her name spelled wrong on one of my emails to you.
MsgId: *omni_visions(109)
Date: Fri Jul 4 00:00:48 EDT 1997
From: ed_bryant_mod At: 204.133.96.21
Hey, you're right. I'm either highly credulous or functionally illiterate, or possibly both. But in any case, it's one hell of a weird and interesting novel.
MsgId: *omni_visions(110)
Date: Fri Jul 4 00:03:21 EDT 1997
From: EllenDatlow At: 38.26.27.141
I'm reading it too, and it's good. Good night, Ed. Thank YOU.
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