SFF Chat

When I first began blogging, almost eight months ago, I quickly discovered that it's impossible to navigate the scifi and fantasy blogosphere without frequently running into mention of SciFiGuy. This blog is on everyone's blogroll and the variety of interesting content that SciFiGuy offers is often picked up on other blogs as well.

And so I was eager to interview the man behind the blog, Doug Knipe, to find out more about him personally as well as to pick up some tips on what it takes to build a successful book blog.


Hi Doug. Thanks so much for taking the time from your busy schedule to do this interview. Can you please start off by telling me a little bit about your blog, SciFiGuy, and what makes it unique?

I’ve have been a SFF reader most of my life, but in 2005 I “discovered” the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres and loved the contemporary take on hidden worlds and the supernatural. So I eventually decided to blog about what I was reading. It wasn’t by design, but what I think makes the blog unique is that I’m a male reviewer blogging about a genre where the readers (and writer’s for that matter) are dominantly female.


When did you start your blog and what led you to do so?

I started the blog in summer of 2008 partially in response to a long held desire to share my passion about SFF and also due to being re-energized by my excitement over Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance.

There is a lot of focus on book covers on your blog and I was wondering, as someone who until recently never paid too much attention to them, why the strong interest in book covers and what do you think makes a good book cover?

To me as a reader and book collector, books themselves have always represented an object of art in and of themselves. There is nothing finer that holding a well designed book, artwork, dust jacket, typography, illustrations etc. So cover art is very much integral to the whole package. It is after all the first impression. Artists imaginations can be the equal of the author’s and their interpretation of the story, characters or world-building can provide a lot of pleasure. I like covers to either evoke an emotional response or provide enough visual cues to allow for some pondering. On the most basic level the cover helps to identify the genre and attract a readers attention.


From the name of your blog I would assume that you would mostly be focusing on science fiction, but this does not seem to be the case. Was it your intention, when you began blogging, to build a primarily scifi blog?

I’ve been a serious reader and collector of SFF most of my life (view a Pictorial Guide to My SFF Library) and I originally intended to give significant coverage to straight SF and do UF reviews as well, but as the blog evolved I focused more on UF and PNR. I do still talk about it on the blog but it is not the main topic. Most UF and PNR readers are actually genre readers. If you were to ask the folks that come to my blog you would find they mostly all read some SFF. There is very little ghettoism. I’ve started a ‘From My Collection’ feature in my Urban Fantasy Weekend Report and am also having some guest reviewers cover SFF books I haven’t had time to read. I’m toying with the idea of a regular SciFi Sunday feature to keep my hand in.

You have so much interesting and varied content on your site, from author interviews and up-to-date book information to book reviews tidbits from other blogs, how do you manage to find the time to do all this, which I’m sure requires much research in addition to the writing itself? About how many hours a day do you put into your blog?

Well the blog is my second job/ avocation and labor of love. My evenings consist of a daily review of my Reader subscriptions of a wide assortment of blogs, writing up interview questions, prepping and responding to contests, commenting on other blogs (which I need to do more of) and actually reading books! Then there is composing reviews and lots of correspondence too. Altogether probably 3- 4 hours a day and more on weekends.


I’ve been noticing that your blog is listed on pretty much every book blog that I visit and I was wondering if you have any tips for new bloggers on how to get your blog noticed, as you have so successfully done.

Participation in the blogging community and developing good solid content are two of the key things. Blog about things that interest you and others. Visit other blogs and comment on their postings. Other commenter will follow you back to your blog to check you out. If you have something interesting to say on your blog some of them will stick around. Eventually your readership will grow. If they like what they see and they are a blogger, chances are they’ll link to you. Don’t ask for links unless you have developed a rapport with the blog owner – earn them, if you are patient, they will come.


What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t reading or blogging?

LOL. Not as much as I used to. Blogging is pretty consuming of my free time. Digital photography, genealogy research and movies pretty much fill up what time is left.

How did you first get interested in the speculative fiction genre?

I read all of the Tom Swift books when I was eight, but I think it was when I discovered science fiction via Ace Doubles (those back to back books with novella length stories) when I was eleven that launched my lifetime consuming interest in SFF.

Is there a particular subgenre that you like to read best?

Well right now it is UF/PNR but I still keep my hand in SFF with occasional ‘must-reads’.

As you mentioned earlier, it's rather unusual for a man to be blogging and writing about UF & PNR. So what is it about these books that draws you in particular?

UF and PNR delivers a similar level of creative world-building to mainstream SFF plus it has the benefit of being more character-driven which I am finding I prefer of late for leisure reading. Surprisingly I also find I really enjoy the relationship angles and the romance elements. Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharon Shinn and others do this very well in traditional fantasy.

What is your favorite part of running a book blog?

Definitely has to be the conversations and sense of community among the authors, readers and bloggers. Very much an extended family.

What is the biggest challenge in running a book blog?

Time. It is easy to become obsessive about blogging. There is always one more article to write, blog to visit or book to read. Finding balance is the challenge.

And the final question: If you could redesign any book cover, which one would it be and how would you change it?

Well rather than one cover it would be a series of covers. I would redesign the covers for The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. They just aren’t in keeping with the epic fantasy nature of the books. Style wise I would model them after recent covers done for the Malazan Empire books by Erikson and Esselmont.

Thanks again Doug for doing this interview. I really enjoyed getting to know you and learning more about your blog, SciFiGuy.

Koth is the new innkeeper in a small sleepy town that has seen better days. New dangers on the road have caused business to slow to a trickle and so the only customers the Wayside Inn sees these days are a the local residents who stop by for drinks in the evening.

Koth's days are spent tending to his inn, sweeping the floors and shining the counters, allowing himself to transform into his new role as innkeeper. But his student, Bast, is not willing to let Koth forget who he once was, despite Koth’s attempts to put his past behind him. And there is the occasional passerby who will see past the innkeeper facade and recognize Kvoth the Bloodless behind the counter.

One night, Koth stumbles into the Chronicler who has been tracking rumors of Koth’s new existence. He’s been trying to find Koth in order to record his story, to separate the truth from the myths that have built around him. Although at first reluctant, after much bargaining, Koth agrees.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

Kvoth’s narration begins with the story of his happy childhood as a traveling performer, slowly leading towards the events that brought him to become a student of sympathy (or magic) at the University. Occasionally the reader is brought back to the Wayside inn as Kvoth/Koth breaks off from the storytelling to tend to his customers or prepare a meal for his audience.

While I generally prefer stories that are currently taking place, as opposed to being told over in a story, this method works perfectly in The Name of The Wind as the occasional interruptions help provide some relief from the intensity of the narration. I also appreciated the reminder that Kvoth does survive the many challenges and tragedies he had to endure, to eventually tell his story. And even though most of the book is focused on the story Koth is telling, there are some interesting events that take place at the inn itself, which I assume will eventually tie into the story as well.

Many elements of the story will seem familiar to fantasy readers. A young boy forced to live in the street after being orphaned and eventually making his way towards becoming a magician and a hero. Rothfuss even pokes fun a bit with Kvoth’s own comments about typical story book events, as if telling the reader that he knows we’ve seen this before but things won’t turn out as we expect.

I knew the shape of stories. When a young couple comes to a river there is a definite shape to what will happen next. Denna would bath on the other side of he nearby fir tree, out of sight on a sandy bit of shore. . I would move off a discreet distance, out of sight, but within easy talking distance. Then…something would happen. She would slip and turn her ankle, or cut her foot on a sharp stone, and I’d be forced to rush over. And then…

But this was not a story of two young lovers meeting by the river. So I splashed some water on my face and changed into my clean shirt behind a tree. Denna dipper her head into the water to cool off…Then we sat on a stone, dandling our feet in the water and enjoying each others company as we rested.

Patrick Rothfuss does a magnificent job weaving together this story of a boy who becomes a legend. From the moment I began reading The Name of The Wind I was pulled into the story; the words forming vivid images in my head as clearly as if I were watching it performed in front of me. There is adventure, sorrow and magic as well as many memorable characters who became so real to me that I had a hard time letting them go after I finished the last page. The Name of the Wind is an amazing achievement for a debut author and a definite Must Read for any fan of fantasy literature.

Louis McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls has been sitting on my shelf, unread, for the past year. I had picked it up on my last trip to America, not realizing that it was a sequel to an earlier book, and so I put this book aside until I had a chance to read the first one, The Curse of Chalion. Now that I have finally read it, I only wish I had made more of an effort to do so sooner.

Although Paladin of Souls takes place in the same world as The Curse of Chalion, with some of the same characters, the story is independent of the earlier book, focusing on different individuals and a different plot line. In Chalion, Ista was introduced as the mentally unstable widow of the king. Although, as it turned out, the “madness” was really based on fact, and Ista recovered after the curse was removed, she continued to be treated by those close to her as though she might become unhinged at any moment. At the start of Paladin of Souls, Ista is put into the care of the castle warder, and all her ladies in waiting, where she is expected to spend the rest of her days in quiet solitude.

Frustrated by the suffocating ministrations of those around her, and desiring to escape, Ista suggests a pilgrimage to pray at the country’s holy sites. Although she has no real desire for a spiritual journey, it is the only acceptable excuse that Ista could think of that would allow her to get away. A motley crew is assorted for the pilgrimage and Ista leaves behind her home, with much relief.

Ista’s relief is short lived as during the journey she discovers that the gods are not quite as finished with her as she had hoped. She begins to be assailed by dreams of an injured man calling for her help, and she fears that the dreams be more then just dreams. When an attack by a raiding enemy party leads Ista to the very man who she has been dreaming about, she realizes that the gods have another mission for her, despite the fact that she had failed her previous one.

It is difficult to describe Paladin of Souls in only a few short paragraphs, particularly without giving too much away. This is a well told, fast paced story with plenty of adventure and excitement, and a bit of romance thrown in. Ista’s companions on her journey are all well developed characters that the reader will surely come to care for. My favorite was the country bred courier girl whom Ista had impulsively invited to become her lady-in-waiting for the excursion.

One of the things I found particularly interesting was Ms. Bujold’s atypical choices for a heroine, the 40 year old widowed mother of the queen. It was nice to have a heroine that was a little different then what you normally get in a quest adventure book.

There was just one part of the book that bothered me and that was when two brothers, after being separated from each other for a long while, are finally reunited. Despite the fact that the brothers had been very close and each thought the other to possibly be dead, when they were brought together the scene was very unemotional and matter-of-fact. I would have expected a bit more drama and emotion rather then the brief exchange of banter that took place. And then when Ista explained to the brothers the strange magical situation that they were in, they were so accepting of everything she said, despite the bizarreness of it, that I found it strange. I saw no real reason why the brothers should have so easily believed what Ista told them. It seemed out of character for these two strong independent men to so easily accept the wild tale that they were told with barely a protest. But these two issues are really just nit-picking on my part. I’m particularly sensitive to book characters who don’t behave as I have come to expect them to.

I would highly recommend Paladin of Souls to anyone looking for a good fantasy book, though I would suggest reading The Curse of Chalion first for a better understanding of the story. Just don’t wait a year to read it, like I did.

Congratulations to Audrey at Brizmus Blogs Books for winning the January Book Giveaway at my website, www.42scifi-fantasy.com. Audrey will get to select for herself any one book from my bookstore that she would like to receive.

This giveaway runs each month, beginning at the first of the month. To enter, just send me a book recommendation, which will be posted on my website's recommendation page. Click here for more information about this contest.

A couple of weeks ago, Jo Walton posted an interesting piece on the Tor blog about reading science fiction and the kind of skill-set required to really enjoy this genre.

She says that most science fiction readers have developed the skill of allowing the really complicated SF details to pass them by, while enjoying the rest of the story. People who can't enjoy SF because they get caught up in the mechanics of how everything is supposed to work, apparently never developed this skill set and therefore can't really enjoy reading these sort of books. She cites an example of a friend of her husband's who couldn't get through Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, because he couldn't understand how the tachyon drive would work. But an experienced SF reader would know that it doesn't matter how the tachyon drive works, it's the rest of the story that's important.

As someone who has avoided science fiction because all of the complicated scientific stuff they are usually full of, I'm now wondering if I've just been reading them in the wrong way. I've always assumed I wasn't scientifically minded enough to enjoy real science fiction, but if Walton is correct, then perhaps I'm not the only one who often doesn't understand every detail, and I just need to ignore them and move on.

But Walton also mentions how part of the fun of reading SF is having a new world unfold in your head. Personally, I find that if I don't understand all of the details of a world, then that world doesn't unfold properly for me. It's like watching a movie off a scratched dvd, where occasionally the picture will jump, making it difficult to really enjoy the movie.

So now I'm curious as to how other science fiction readers go about reading SF. Do you, like Walton, believe that not all the complicated details are really meant to be understood or do feel that you need to understand everything in order to enjoy the story?

You can read Jo Walton's post on reading science fiction, here

Although The Sword-Edged Blonde was published in 2007, I never heard of this book, or it’s author, Alex Bledsoe, until recently- when I seem to be running into reviews of this book everywhere. And since every review I read was full of praise for this fantasy detective novel, I soon ordered myself a copy so that I could find out for myself what all the fuss is about.

Private Eye Eddie LaCrosse is on a case to find a missing princess, but along the way he is intercepted with a message from an old friend who urgently needs his assistance. And so Eddie changes course and heads to Arentia, the city that he once called home, and which he had fled from twenty years ago.

Once in Arentia, Eddie is quickly ushered to the palace where his childhood friend, King Phil, is devastated over the recent murder of his baby, and the fact that his beloved queen is the main suspect. But King Phil doesn't believe that his wife really committed this crime, despite the seemingly indisputable evidence, and so he hires Eddie to discover the truth about what happened the night of the murder.

Eddie immediately takes on the case, but first insists on meeting with the queen herself. Upon confronting Queen Rhiannon, Eddie is shocked to be faced with a woman who he had once known, and whom he had seen die. Eddie soon finds himself setting out to uncover the truth about Queen Rhiannon, and in the process is forced to confront his own painful past and those events that led him to flee his home and abandon his friends.

The Sword-Edged Blonde is an interesting mix of genres; a detective novel with elements of fantasy which takes place in an medieval type setting. The character's names and speech are modern, but the technology is old fashioned and Eddie fights with a sword rather then a gun.

This was definitely a fun book to read, with plenty of action and adventure and lots of wonderful characters. I did find myself a bit thrown off by the modern names and language, which distracted me a little from the story, and some of the aspects of the mystery solving seemed pretty weak. I was also not particularly satisfied with the resolution to the mystery, which I felt was rather far-fetched and relied too much on the fantasy aspect of the book, which until then had been underplayed. The solution also revealed the participation of a character in a manner which I found wholly unbelievable, and which still bothers me when I think about it, days after finishing the book.

But these flaws didn't bother me enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story, particularly since I'm not much of a mystery reader anyways. I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in the world of Eddie LaCrosse and I look forward to picking up the next book in the series, Burn Me Deadly.