Prime Time Replay:
Nancy Kress
on Beggars Ride
MsgId: *omni_visions(1)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:31:45 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Tonight at 10:00 PM, Eastern Time, our guest will be sf writer Nancy Kress. What follows is her entry from "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" by John Clute: (cont'd)
MsgId: *omni_visions(2)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:35:21 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Nancy Kress: US writer who began publishing sf with "The Earth Dwellers" for Gal in 1976, and whose first novels were fantasies like The Prince of Morning Bells (1981), a quest tale during which, surprisingly, the young princess involved ages into an old woman before the close, (cont'd)
MsgId: *omni_visions(3)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:37:13 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(...cont'd) and The Golden Grove (1984), which, again surprisingly, treats Greek myth with something of the iron darkness it merits. After a further fantasy novel, The White Pipes (1985), and an intermittently rewarding collection, Trinity and Other Stories (coll 1985), (cont'd...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(4)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:38:52 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(...cont'd) which includes the NEBULA-winning "Out of All Them Bright Stars" (1985), NK moved forthrightly into sf with her fourth novel, the slow-moving but cumulatively impressive AN ALIEN LIGHT (1988), set on a planet inhabited by two sets of irreconcilably opposed humans, the descendants of the people from a starship that crashed there centuries earlier after a battle with the ALIEN Ged. All knowledge of this history has been lost, and the Ged set up a huge technological honey-trap to entice humans inside for study, (cont'd...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(5)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:39:46 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(...cont'd) as they have found the territoriality and attendant aggressiveness of Homo sapiens baffling. What they learn from the two sets of stranded humans does not lead them to feel that they will win the war against a species whose savagery seems ultimately unopposable. Brain Rose (1990), just as impressively, presents an extremely grim NEAR-FUTURE Earth whose inhabitants are harassed by an AIDS-like disease which eats memory; (cont'd...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(6)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:40:46 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
MEDICINE), which is intended somehow to counter the dimming out of the world itself through a "genuine" return to the past. Beggars in Spain (1991), a novella, is set within a framework familiar to most sf readers: a group of specially bred children who need no sleep must band together to defend themselves against the jealousy and oppressive behaviour of normal humans. (cont'd...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(7)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:41:51 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(...cont'd) But within this frame NK embeds speculations about not only GENETIC ENGINEERING but also the ethical consequences of "superiority" (> SUPERMAN) in a world which demands an "ecology of help" to survive; (cont'd...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(8)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:42:45 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(...cont'd) the novella version won a NEBULA, and the full-length version, Beggars in Spain (1992) which expands the novella into an ironic saga set partly in space, is almost certainly her best work yet; with Beggars & Choosers (1994), the sequence has begun to acquire the scope -- and to encounter some of the difficulties of focus -- of genuine Future HISTORY. Her recent fiction -- much of which makes virtuoso use of sf devices, but from an angle of vision which gives the impression that the author deems them irremediably belated -- appears in The Aliens of Earth (coll 1993). There seem few subjects that NK, in an already fascinating career, will be unable to assimilate.
MsgId: *omni_visions(9)
Date: Thu Dec 12 20:46:55 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(That from John Clute's entry from "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" for Nancy Kress. Ms. Kress' third entry in her 'Beggar' series, "Beggar's Ride", has recently been published in hardcover by Tor Books. Our chat will begin at 10:00 PM, ET, and we will be opening the forum for your comments and questions about an hour into the event.
MsgId: *omni_visions(10)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:01:58 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
It is now 10:00 PM, where I am, in NYC. At 9:59 I finished reading the epilogue of Beggar's Ride, and I must say that my only regret was in having to rush through the end to be in time for this interview. The Beggar's Trilogy is most compelling--politicly, scientifically, and as literature. Thank you, Nancy.
MsgId: *omni_visions(11)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:02:38 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(pardon typos)
MsgId: *omni_visions(12)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:08:47 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Let me caution the audience that we may have some technical difficulties with this software (we hope to be switching to something more dynamic soon) so please bear with the response time.) Are you here yet, Nancy?
MsgId: *omni_visions(13)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:12:25 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Hi, this is Nancy Kress.
MsgId: *omni_visions(14)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:13:09 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Greetings! Glad you made it!
MsgId: *omni_visions(15)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:17:27 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Glad to be here.
MsgId: *omni_visions(16)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:18:42 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Great. I was wondering if you had any reaction to John Clute's bio that I posted (and if you could update usd with your latest book)?
MsgId: *omni_visions(17)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:21:12 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
I didn't see the Clute bio, but if it's the same one as in the SF Encyclopedia, I liked it very much. My latest book is BEGGAR'S RIDE, the conclusion of the trilogy that started with BEGGAR'S IN SPAIN.
MsgId: *omni_visions(18)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:22:58 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
The Clute bio is the first 8 messages of this chat, and we already mentioned Beggar's Ride. I was thinking of the book you'd told me about on the phone earlier tonight, which you just turned in.
MsgId: *omni_visions(19)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:26:55 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
It's called MAXIMUM LIGHT and it will be out from Tor in 1997, I hope. It concerns both worldwide falling sperm counts and tissue engineering, which is a very hot topic right now in medical circles.
MsgId: *omni_visions(20)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:28:06 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Is there actually a falling sperm count? (he asked in a high-pitched voice...)
MsgId: *omni_visions(21)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:29:57 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Several studies say there are, with sperm count as low as 50% of what it was in 1945. Other studies disagree. I'm going with the ones that make the better story.
MsgId: *omni_visions(22)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:31:39 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Yikes! That _is_ interesting, and something of which I was totally unaware. A good deal of your work shows a deep medical understanding. Do you have a formal medical background?
MsgId: *omni_visions(23)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:34:04 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
No. I have no scientific training whatsoever, and I deeply regret that. As a result, I have to research very hard and pick the brains of anyone who will hold still long enough. Microbiology fascinates me and if I had my life to do over again, I would have paid attention to it much sooner.
MsgId: *omni_visions(24)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:37:38 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
What did hold your attention in your studies? Your work is so well-researched between medicine, political science and plain ol' human nature that you write with the overview of someone who has done deep research in multiple disciplines. (whether or not you actually did the studies is irrelevant, IMHO, given the way your stories end up.
MsgId: *omni_visions(25)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:41:39 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Thank you. My work wasn't always concerned with political questions. That I address them now is due mostly to the influence of Bruce Sterling. We workshopped together every summer for several years with a large group of people and over time, I absorbed some of Bruce's intense interest in the political and economic underpinnings of any society. I owe him a debt.
MsgId: *omni_visions(26)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:47:17 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
That's fascinating--from afar (the reader's point of view) I never would have seen any correlation between your Work and Bruce's. (Although I guess _Green Days at Brunei_ does come to mind, now that I think of it.) Getting into the Beggar's trilogy, do you see any direct aspects of the society you created extant now? For example, are there Livers among us?
MsgId: *omni_visions(27)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:51:08 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
What I see now is a growing gap between the haves and the havenots in our society. And that, of course, is what the BEGGAR'S TRIOLOGY is all about. What do the haves owe the havenots? The triology came about partly to answer that question and partly because I personally need a lot of sleep and am very jealous of those who don't.
MsgId: *omni_visions(28)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:55:47 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I'm jealous of the time I give to sleep as well. A friend made an interesting comment about Beggars in Spain, in which she perceived that Leisha is sort of a Heinleinian hero--more capable to lead than most, but that in Herinlein, most everyone would accept the Sleepless as proper leaders, but that you point out that peopler are more likely to be angry and allow their prejudice to rule. Was any part or aspect of that in your mind? (Either in the novella or the trilogy?)
MsgId: *omni_visions(29)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:57:46 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Yes, of course. Heinlein had to sanguine a view of the world. We don't always get the most capable as our leaders. All you have to do is look at Congress.
MsgId: *omni_visions(30)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:57:56 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Yes, of course. Heinlein had to sanguine a view of the world. We don't always get the most capable as our leaders. All you have to do is look at Congress.
MsgId: *omni_visions(31)
Date: Thu Dec 12 22:59:42 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Politically speaking, is there a nancy Kreess utopia? What kind of political/economic system might appeal to you? (As far as I know, no one from HUAAC is logged in...:-)
MsgId: *omni_visions(32)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:00:20 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(again, pardon typos, particularly the ones which mangled your name)
MsgId: *omni_visions(33)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:03:37 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
I don't know. One of the reasons I write is to find out what I think by the mere act of exploring it through words. That's why I never know the endings of my novels before I begin. If I knew the end, I'd have no reason to write.
MsgId: *omni_visions(34)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:04:20 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
(Note to audience--since we started a few minutes late, we'll be waiting a bit before opening the chat to your participation.)
MsgId: *omni_visions(35)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:06:06 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
So does that mean that you're going through an act of discovery at the time you're creating?
MsgId: *omni_visions(36)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:08:26 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Very much so. I don't understand writers who are able to outline their entire book before they begin. I might envy them, but I don't understand. For me, the most exciting part comes when the character and the story get away from me and take off on their own.
MsgId: *omni_visions(37)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:13:36 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Sorry--I got thrown offline--I'm back now.
MsgId: *omni_visions(38)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:14:36 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
You had mentioned offline that you didn't know Beggars in Spain would become a trilogy. How did that come about-from novella to novel to trilogy?
MsgId: *omni_visions(39)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:17:19 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
After I finished the novella, the story didn't seem over to me. There was more to say. And this process just went on until I had committed trilogy. But now, I'm absolutely done with the sleepless.
MsgId: *omni_visions(40)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:19:49 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I would say more, but I don't want to give anything away about the end of the trilogy. Imust say though, that I could go on reading (or imagining) a lot more--especially about Leisha. She is one of the great characters in sf.
MsgId: *omni_visions(41)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:21:56 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Thank you. The truth is, I prefer writing novellas to novels. If I could make a living writing only novellas I would do that. But it's not possible.
MsgId: *omni_visions(42)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:22:03 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
There is something immensely beautiful about the havenots in your stories--Lizzie in Beggars and the narrator in Out of All Them Bright Stars. Have you known folk like this?
MsgId: *omni_visions(43)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:25:19 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
With regard to Out of All Them Bright Stars, the narrator is a waitress. I waitressed in a diner much like hers when I was in college and still have a feel for that life. It's not an easy one.
MsgId: *omni_visions(44)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:28:04 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I've been there as well... Getting back to a point you just made, it's too bad one can't make a living easily with shorter fiction. You mentioned you prefer novellas. How are they different from novels to you? (After this, we'll open the forum to audience questions and comments. Please wait for my signal before joining in)
MsgId: *omni_visions(45)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:30:23 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
I like novellas because they're long enough to permit more development of the world than you get in a short story, but unlike novels, they usually have only one plotline, which means it can be focussed on with more intensity. My favorite of my own work is mostly novellas.
MsgId: *omni_visions(46)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:32:24 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Any particular titles you'd care to share with us?
MsgId: *omni_visions(47)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:33:02 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Note to audience: We are now open to your questions and comments to Nancy Kress. Please sign your messages, and please be aware that this software will not allow you to post more than 8 lines of text at a time.
MsgId: *omni_visions(48)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:38:11 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
My favorite of my own novellas is probably DANCING ON AIR which lost a Hugo by 3 votes. Let me also say, Jim, that I would be astonished if there's any audience out there given the tortuously slow software on which we are chatting. Anybody sticking with this for the last 1-1/2 hours would have to be an incredibly dedicated fan of SF or a masochist.
MsgId: *omni_visions(49)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:38:30 EST 1996
From: guest At: 142.165.45.23
I would like to know how long after "Beggars & Chossers" is "Beggar's ride" set.
MsgId: *omni_visions(50)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:39:26 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I think we have both of those kind of folk out there... :-)
MsgId: *omni_visions(51)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:41:02 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Again, note to 'guest' we can't see your name or handle if you don';t sign your messages. An to Nancy--don't forget that these interviews are saved for posterity, and will be read by a great many people well after the fact.
MsgId: *omni_visions(52)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:41:11 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
I've written another book inbetween, but to the best of my recollection, BEGGAR'S RIDE opens 7 years after BEGGARS AND CHOOSERS END. Why?
MsgId: *omni_visions(53)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:42:25 EST 1996
From: Marilee At: 152.171.201.120
Or a host who uses this system all the time. :) Hi Jim, Hi Nancy. Nancy, I was the emcee the last time OMNI had you in conference -- I was OMNI Muse on AOL.
MsgId: *omni_visions(54)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:43:34 EST 1996
From: Marilee At: 152.171.201.120
In sort of an offshoot of OMNI hosts on AOL, we have the Other*Worlds*Cafe. In our message board, we're discussing transhumanism. Do you consider the Sleepless transhumans?
MsgId: *omni_visions(55)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:43:52 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Hi, Marilee.
MsgId: *omni_visions(56)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:44:07 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
I think there's an attraction to people when longer works span well over a normal lifetime. Beggars does this, as does Robinson's Mars trilogy (to name the two series that have impressed me the most since 1980).
MsgId: *omni_visions(57)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:45:08 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Is that the same as Bruce Sterling's concept of post-human?
MsgId: *omni_visions(58)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:46:20 EST 1996
From: Marilee At: 152.171.201.120
Sorta -- it's the inbetween stage -- the changing stage before posthuman.
MsgId: *omni_visions(59)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:47:30 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
I too am a big admirer of Kim Stanley Robinson. RED MARS is probably the best novel ever written about the colonization of Mars. I especially admire it because Stan doesn't have a scientific background either and had to research everything in there.
MsgId: *omni_visions(60)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:47:31 EST 1996
From: guest At: 142.165.45.23
Sorry this is my frist time at this site,uh how do i get a handle
MsgId: *omni_visions(61)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:48:17 EST 1996
From: Marilee At: 152.171.201.120
A lot of folks mention Vinge's AFutD as transhumanism, too. The change to a different form - eventually so different there's no understanding between humans and the posthumans.
MsgId: *omni_visions(62)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:49:06 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
My personal belief (and Nancy, please correct me with your definitive knowledge) is that while the donkeys and livers consider the sleepless not human, this is not true, and that the super-sleepless may be the most human characters left by the time the societies and people have evolved into who they are in Beggars and Choosers.
MsgId: *omni_visions(63)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:49:29 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Marilee, in that case, Sleepless are transhuman. They represent the next state in the evolution of our species which, unlike previous stages, is self-directed. Through genetic engineering I think we will indeed get there.
MsgId: *omni_visions(64)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:52:06 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
It depends on whether you're using "human" in a strictly biological or in a metaphorical sense. The super-sleepless still retain the full compliment of human desires and human frailties, including hubris.
MsgId: *omni_visions(65)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:52:08 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Guest, sorry to say there are no handles inthis (temporary) software. Just sign your messages. (Marilee is staff here)
MsgId: *omni_visions(66)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:54:22 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Nancy, I was thinking in a metaphorial sense, insofar as things like compassion and striving to push the envelope of the human experience are concerned. Miranda certainly shows that in Beggar's Ride, I believe.
MsgId: *omni_visions(67)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:54:27 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
Jim, thank you for all your good questions. It's midnight here and I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
MsgId: *omni_visions(68)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:54:51 EST 1996
From: EllenDatlow At: 152.169.60.139
Jim, there are handles, I believe but you have to come in with one.
MsgId: *omni_visions(69)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:54:59 EST 1996
From: Marilee At: 152.171.201.120
Night, Nancy! Thanks for coming!
MsgId: *omni_visions(70)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:55:02 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
To all, 5-minute warning.
MsgId: *omni_visions(71)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:56:00 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
OK, ignore my wrning. Thanks so much for being here (and putting up with the software. And thanks for your wonderful writing.
MsgId: *omni_visions(72)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:56:52 EST 1996
From: NancyKress At: 206.80.181.174
You're welcome and to all a good night.
MsgId: *omni_visions(74)
Date: Thu Dec 12 23:59:37 EST 1996
From: Jim_Freund At: 207.38.234.221
Good night to all, and thanks for coming.
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