GWYNETH JONES WALKS THE PLANK

Somehow the "walks the plank" part of these interviews has taken on additional gravitas since announcing the pirate anthology...



Our victim today is the charming and incisive Gwyneth Jones, whose Rainbow Bridge is now out in the U.K. from Gollancz. It's the conclusion to the Bold as Love saga, description as follows:

It's the final curtain call for Fiorinda, the flame-haired rock princess, Guinevere to Ax Preston's King Arthur and Sage Pender's Sir Lancelot. Together, the Triumvirate have fought to save their Britain, and America - indeed, the whole world - from the depradations of a collapsed economy and environmental meltdown. Together they have fought the evil magic of Fiorinda's wizard father; they have explored the depths and heights of of ultimate consciousness, the fusion between mind and the world. And they have discovered a love that goes back centuries, and lives. But is all this enough to save a world that has fallen apart at the seams, a world that has given itself over to the dark side?

Jones has received tons of praise for Bold as Love and her other work. She is the winner of two World Fantasy Awards, a BSFA short story award, the Children of the Night Award from the Dracula Society, the Arthur C. Clarke award 2001 for Bold As Love,the PK Dick award in 2004 for Life, and is a co-winner of the Tiptree award. She lives in Brighton, England with her husband and son, a Tonkinese cat called Ginger and her son Frank.

I am especially fond of the fact that she has a Hedgehog Log. I think that says a lot about a person's character. I have met her exactly once--in Blackpool during EasterCon, during a non-reading that broke out in a mazey backroom. She had a certain presence and assuredness about her, and she said the most unexpected things--about frogs screaming, for instance. A little anecdote that I asked if I could use in something. She graciously agreed, and I proceeded to hoard the detail for more than a year before it finally lent itself to a story called "Errata".

Now she has kindly taken time from her busy schedule to participate in the dreaded five (or six) questions.

Jeff

Walking the Plank



Why should readers pick up your book as opposed to, say, just about anybody else's book?For their own selfish pleasure. Or possibly the very tempting discount on Amazon used and new.

Does your book have any socially redeeming qualities? If so, what are they?
You could pick up an uplifting and righteous attitude to the energy-audit concept. Also, it tells you exactly how to make Wind Turbines invisible (it's done by cloning), which would be a fine thing.

Does your book have any medicinal or mental health value to readers?
Fresh air and healthy physical exercise are strongly plugged

Assume your book has been filed under "Ages 8 to 12" in the children's section, perhaps by mistake, perhaps not. How horrified do you imagine a child would be after reading your book, and why? How many years of therapy would the child take to recover from the experience?
a) I think if the putative child could read the book, they'd thoroughly enjoy it. I write on the never-give-an-inch-principle: if you find you have to stray from transparent simplicity, think very carefully about what you're doing. Of course sometimes you DO have to stray, for your own selfish pleasure; but adult readers probably skip all those bits, anyway.

b) they would never recover. Their neuronal architecture would be permanently altered

Why don't you write more about cute stuff?
Because I have put all that stuff in my blog.

Are you absolutely sure that frogs can scream?
You are kidding, aren't you? 2,470,000 google hits can't be wrong, and besides, try this link.

If no one buys your book and you are unable to continue publishing your fiction due to the intense vilification that occurs in the media, what line of work will you go into?
I would be the Catcher In The Rye.