# Grey, Jon Armstrong (Night Shade)
# Undertow, Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
# From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain, Minister Faust (Del Rey)
# Nova Swing, M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra)
# Gradisil, Adam Roberts (Pyr)
# Ally, Karen Traviss (Eos)
# Saturn Returns, Sean Williams (Ace)

I have not read a single one of those books due to the fact that graduate school requires that I actually like study and junk…

Even though this is not a “serious” literary award, it should be noted that both of my mentors (well, I call them my mentors, I suppose they might not like to be known as such…), James P Blaylock and Tim Powers are past Philip K. Dick winners.

OK, it’s officially Saturday, so this is going up late. Earlier in the day I had believed that there was some error in a plugin I was trying to utilize, but I have since realized that the error was, in fact, my own stupidity…

I am confident this surprises no one.

Anyway, this is the inaugural edition of Random Acts of Insightfulness, the Normality Restored interview series.

Our first guest is none other than James Blaylock, World Fantasy Award and Philip K Dick Award winner, as well as a someone I consider to be a personal mentor.

The entire interview is just over 45 minutes, and so I have chopped it into four easily digestible mp3 files.

Topics discussed include writing (of course), William Ashbless, Steam Punk, the usefulness of MFA programs, carpentry and Czech film directors.

Enjoy!

I’ll point out that my voice is much easier to hear in this interview because (again, stupidity) I had the mic facing me and not set in a neutral position…live and learn I suppose…

My hope is that this will turn into a somewhat regular feature. I have already confirmed installment number 2, but there has not, as yet, been a date set to conduct said installment, so stay tuned…

April 15th - 17th will bring the &Now Festival to the campus of Chapman University. What is &Now you ask? Well, official website of &Now 2008, how would you answer that question?

&NOW is a biannual gathering for authors and critics of contemporary, innovative literature and art, including fiction, poetry, e-writing, visually-driven writing, and other kinds of mixed and indeterminate genres.

Basically, writers, artists and critics will gather for three days and read, lecture, discuss, etc. If you happen to be in/around Orange CA, then you may want to take a look at the schedule of events.

Now as all Normalinauts know, Chapman is where I am currently pursuing two (semi-worthless) graduate degrees. For some reason (my guess is a mixture of apathy and obliviousness) I did not find out about said “festivities” until, literally, last night when I discovered that fully half of my current workshop class will be participating in readings over the course of the three days. Well, good for my classmates…bad for Kilian…

Now that I am informed about the whole “festival” I would like to highlight a few specific events. First off, James P Blaylock and Alicia Kozameh will be reading a on the 17th as part of a group entitled “Sexual Stealing; Skin; Fabulous; Exile/Home/Immortality.” I had the opportunity to hear Kozameh read last year and I highly recommend seeing her if you get a chance. And, of course, we are all aware that James Blaylock is considered a good friend of Normality Restored. In Blaylock’s own words, he will be reading a “short story that I wrote.” So, that’s a fairly glowing recommendation, I think. Also, David Antin will be the closing speaker on the final day of the event, for all you poetically minded out there.

And, as I mentioned, several Chapman students will be reading throughout the event. While I can’t speak to every student reading, I can suggest that, if you happen to attend, you might want to make a point of hearing Cruz Medina, and Daniel Schutz on the 15th, Ryan Wirick on the 16th, and Danielle Soucy, Nidzara Pecenkovic, and Jazmine Green on the 17th.

Of course, my inability to realize such an event was taking place at my very own school means that no one will be graced with a reading by yours truly. Though, even if I had submitted something for consideration, my guess is that I would have been told in no uncertain terms, “thanks but no!”