And we’re happy to be one of those blogs, because Australian author Margo Lanagan<\/a><\/strong> is gracing our site today. To call her “highly-acclaimed” does not even seem to do her justice. Lanagan is one of the most original and fascinating voices in YA literature today. Her latest book (see our glowing co-review<\/a><\/strong> from just yesterday here at 7-Imp) is her third collection of speculative-fiction short stories, entitled Red Spikes<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, published in Australia by Allen & Unwin<\/a><\/strong> in October 2006. It will be published here in the U.S. by Knopf<\/a><\/strong> in October 2007. Stories from this collection have already been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the prestigious 2007 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award<\/a><\/strong> (or so we read here<\/a><\/strong>, but don’t quote us on that, since there is this post<\/a><\/strong> at Lanagan’s site). You can also read this post<\/a><\/strong> at Lanagan’s blog, which includes more exciting news about Red Spikes<\/em>. In our own review<\/strong><\/a>, Jules described what she thinks makes Langan’s writing stand out:<\/p>\n “What impressed me about all these stories and with her writing in general is her splendid power of observation… I don’t think a person could write this well without possessing that. Couple it with her command of the language (really, I wonder how long it takes her to so carefully construct these amazing stories?), and it’s like no writing I’ve read before. Lanagan is truly a singular and — dare I say (I risk seeming hyperbolic again) — extraordinary talent.”<\/em><\/p>\n Black Juice<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, Lanagan’s debut book here in North America (published in Australia in 2004 and by HarperCollins\/Eos<\/a><\/strong> in the U.S. in ’05), was named a 2006 Printz Honor Book<\/a><\/strong>, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults<\/a><\/strong>, and Best Collection in the Ditmar Awards<\/a><\/strong>; won two World Fantasy Awards<\/a><\/strong>; and received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards<\/a><\/strong> Prize for Young Adult Fiction, a Golden Aurealis Award<\/a><\/strong> for Best Young Adult Short Story, and a Bram Stoker Award<\/a><\/strong> nomination from the Horror Writers Association<\/a><\/strong>. School Library Journal<\/em> wrote about this short-story collection: “Every selection in this rich collection is strange and startling, a glimpse into weird, wondrous, and sometimes terrifying worlds . . . Lanagan uses beautiful, lyrical language to tell peculiar, disturbing tales . . . This book will satisfy readers hungry for intelligent, literary fantasies that effectively twist facets of our everyday world into something alien.” And Booklist<\/em> wrote, “{e}ach selection is carefully crafted and uses both familiar and inventive language to such intriguing effect that English teachers may want to incorporate the stories into classroom writing exercises.”<\/p>\n In a review<\/strong><\/a> of White Time<\/em> here at 7-Imp, Eisha praised her general style:<\/p>\n Like some of Bradbury’s work, Lanagan specializes in speculative fiction – “what if?” stories. Stories set in worlds that are almost just like ours, but with a little sci-fi twist, a supernatural tweak. And with her utterly original “what if” scenarios… Lanagan deftly explores the complex terrain of the human psyche.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n *{If that 2000 award date for White Time<\/em> confuses you, the Booklist<\/em> review stated that it was actually published abroad several years before Black Juice<\/em>}. <\/p>\n And, lucky for us all, Lanagan keeps us up-to-date on her writing at her blog, the aforementioned Among Amid While<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. Currently, Lanagan is working on a fantasy novel called Tender Morsels<\/em>, which will be published in Australia by Allen & Unwin, “probably in August 2008,” she states in this post<\/a><\/strong>. In fact, she shared<\/a><\/strong> at the blog that the novel is currently going through its final check before being sent to four different publishers and that this “feels like a cross between sending someone into a dark alley to be beaten up, and sending them into a brightly lit operating theatre where they will be carefully dismembered.” (We wish her luck in keeping herself occupied during that process! It can’t be easy) . . . <\/p>\n It’s truly an honor for us to have had the opportunity to interview Margo Lanagan on our humble little blog, and we thank her for taking the time to talk to us.<\/p>\n *And for more a little more Margo, don’t forget to check out Shaken and Stirred<\/strong><\/a> today – Gwenda is also featuring her for the One Shot World Tour.*<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Have you always wanted to be a writer, or was there an event or series of events that flipped the writer-switch on?<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Which writers have had the greatest influence on your work?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>Oh gee, recently, George Saunders<\/a><\/strong>, Michael Cunningham<\/a><\/strong>, and Holly Black<\/a><\/strong>, whose book Tithe<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is directly responsible for me allowing myself to have so much fun writing the novel I\u2019m writing. In the long-term, Alan Garner<\/a><\/strong>, William Mayne<\/a><\/strong> (yes, I know about the gaol term), Russell Hoban<\/a><\/strong>, Anne Tyler<\/a><\/strong>, Patricia Wrightson<\/a><\/strong>, Tove Jansson<\/a><\/strong> and . . . I could go on forever.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Only three of your works have been published in the U.S. so far. Can you tell us a little about the ones we’re missing?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>You\u2019re missing about ten teenage romances — no great loss. And three junior fiction titles (each with a fantasy element): Wildgame<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, The Tankermen<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and Walking Through Albert<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. And two YA novels: The Best Thing<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (teenage pregnancy and boxing) and Touching Earth Lightly<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (teenage murder and creativity). Also, two series fantasy novels, Treasure Hunters of Quentaris<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and The Singing Stones<\/em>, although no one in Australia has seen that last one either yet\u2014it\u2019s coming out in September. {Ed. Note<\/em>: See the Singing Stones<\/em> cover here<\/a><\/strong> at Lanagan’s blog}.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Please tell us about your decision to attend Clarion West<\/a><\/strong>, after you’d already become a published writer.<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>It was a cry for help! No, not really. I\u2019d decided several years earlier that I was going to write fantasy. Then I had laboured, yes, for about three years, on a huge, unwieldy, uncontrollable fantasy novel. I had dug myself a big hole and was floundering around in the mud at the bottom of it, hating the world. Then I saw the ad for Clarion West 1999 in one of the first Locus<\/em><\/strong><\/a> magazines I ever bought, and really, I applied because I wanted to run away from the novel, and short stories sounded so wonderfully, well, short! And manageable. And they were, and I published nothing but short stories for the next seven years! Oh, except for the Quentaris<\/a><\/strong><\/em> novel.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>When we interviewed Sonya Hartnett<\/a><\/strong>, she mentioned her struggle with the YA label imposed on much of her work by publishers and the “general scorn” that Australian children’s\/YA writers endure in their own country. Do you intentionally write for children and young adults, or is that more of a label that’s been applied to your writing by others? And how do you feel about the children’s\/YA writing industry in Australia — are writers for young readers treated with less respect, given less money, etc.?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>I don\u2019t think the “general scorn” is directed specifically at Australian children\u2019s and YA writers. I think any writer cops it here. Unless s\/he is also a sportsperson. *rolls eyes* Or a bestseller — the making of pots of money covers a multitude of sins! Sometimes I\u2019ve intentionally written for children and young adults, but nowadays I tend to write whatever coughs itself up from inside me, without worrying about who it\u2019s for. And if too much sex or darkness comes up, I publish it in an adult market (this has only happened for short stories so far) and otherwise it gets published for young adults.<\/p>\n The only time writers for young readers get less respect is at writers\u2019 festivals, when we tend to get hived off to school-age audiences and kept away from the adults generally, which gets annoying after a while. Otherwise, I think we\u2019re better distributed and better paid, certainly than adult literary-mainstream authors, because school libraries and parents tend to buy us, as well as the occasional teen! But Australia isn\u2019t the most child-friendly culture, I don\u2019t think (unless the child is a sportsperson *rolls eyes again* or, again, horribly rich), so anything associated with children tends to be rather looked down on generally, so we\u2019re part of that.<\/p>\n In the office environments I\u2019ve been working in for the last half-decade (manufacturing companies, insurance, banks, government departments etc.), if I\u2019ve chosen to reveal that I write books (which I\u2019ve generally found to be not a good idea), the usual reaction is that if I were writing for adults I\u2019d just be extremely odd, but if I\u2019m writing for children and teenagers, or writing speculative fiction, not only am I extremely odd, but (what a relief!) no adult should feel obliged to show any desire to find and read my books, although I may have helped them in the Christmas-gift stakes when it comes to nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n That\u2019s okay, though\u2014I\u2019ve been odd for a long time, and I\u2019m pretty used to it now.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Is there a difference in how your stories have been received in the U.S. vs. Australia?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>Yes, the U.S. has been much more openly enthusiastic. I never thought of my own country as so wet-blanketish, until I went to the U.S. and had librarians pour bucketfuls of praise on my head. Oh my, that was nice. And I thought, Hmm, aren\u2019t Australians restrained? <\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Since we’re sort of sharing you with Gwenda of Shaken & Stirred<\/a><\/strong><\/em> for this One Shot World Tour event, we’ll ask a Gwenda-like question: Tell us about your writing process (starting wherever you like: getting the idea, starting to write, under deadline, etc.). <\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>Have you got a spare hour or two? I can talk process-porn until the cows come home — and I loved reading about everyone\u2019s work habits in the Summer Blog Blast Tour, so keep asking, Gwenda!<\/p>\n I keep notebooks, where I collect bits of stuff that might be useful, also encouraging quotations. I write first drafts longhand, to avoid aggravating my RSI and becoming keyboard-dependent. This last novel I\u2019ve been writing, I tried to fool myself (because I would otherwise have been too intimidated) that it was just a whole bunch of linked short stories, so I worked on this \u2018collection\u2019 awhile before sitting down, admitting it was a novel, and working out which other \u2018short stories\u2019 (i.e. chapters) I needed to turn it into a complete novel. Now I\u2019m finishing those off, combing and combing through the word-processorscript, filling up all the white space and adding pages. I can neither compose nor edit on-screen – I need to see the full page I\u2019m working on, and the size of the pile of pages either side of it.<\/p>\n I work either at my kitchen table at home, or in my rented writing room, which is a couple of blocks from where I live. I can also write on trains, in libraries, in cafes, and underwater – no, I\u2019m still working on the underwater bit. I don\u2019t write every day; when I\u2019m \u2018full-time writing\u2019 (i.e. not doing any dayjob work) I\u2019ll write weekday mornings and up until 2 o\u2019clock, and try to do other stuff in the afternoons, like exercise, get out of the house, talk to other human beings, shop for dinner. Weeks can go by when I don\u2019t write, especially if there\u2019s a dayjob going, and I find that these fallow times are quite good for stopping me boring myself to sobs with my own ideas and habitual word choices. When I was writing the teen romances, I trained myself to write quite fast, though, so when I do sit down to write, I tend to get a lot down per session.<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>“Red Nose Day” started off as a post-it note saying \u2018Snipers picking off clowns\u2019, and I can\u2019t remember the circumstances in which I wrote that down, but I have to say, I thought the idea was a complete hoot, being a clown-hater from way back, and I have been told by fellow clown-haters that the world is a better place for someone having given the idea so much airtime. In the end, of course, it got quite serious, when the clowns\u2019 child abuse and its consequences came to light. I\u2019m assuming you\u2019re on the side of light and goodness, Eisha, and not on the side of the clowns? (Because if you\u2019re on the clowns\u2019 side, I\u2019m afraid we must never speak again.)<\/p>\n “Winkie” is really about my own night terrors when I was a child, of people looking in the window, of monsters menacing me, of people creeping into our house and staring at us as we slept, that kind of thing. So I would say I have lived with that scariness for quite a long time, and used it to feed into the atmosphere of that story. But both the clown fear and the night-monsters fear are old fears that my rational self is pretty much on top of, so although I can use the remembered feelings, I don\u2019t so much experience them these days.<\/p>\n And the satisfaction of putting together a story always outweighs the power of the material for me. Especially if it gives vent to a strong and usually unarticulated emotion, watching a story come into being is . . . well, really, it\u2019s the best fun you can have on your own, clothed or not. I really feel quite cheerful, sometimes even exhilarated, when I\u2019m writing dark stories. I\u2019m not sure what this says about me . . . <\/p>\n 7-Imp<\/strong>: You frequently choose to write stories from the point of view of animals (“Sweet Pippit,” “The Queen’s Notice,” “Monkey’s Paternoster”). What’s the appeal for you in writing these stories?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>Stretching my brain around how another creature might perceive the world; putting animals in stories that don\u2019t patronise them (well, I aim for them not to — some people might think just using animals in this way is patronising).<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>I never really thought of it in those terms — but since Colin Greenland wrote that, I keep noticing the POVs I tend to go for. I thought I was writing from viewpoints slightly to one side of the action, but yes, in fact the viewpoint is usually also slightly below the status level of the action, in whatever hierarchy is operating.<\/p>\n But no, I never set out consciously to write about the powerless and dispossessed. That makes me sound very committed and worthy, when in fact I\u2019m a flibbertigibbet and a taker-of-one-bite-out-of-chocolates. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>Why did you start a blog<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>It was a form of writing I could sneak in at the day job. I was reading (inhaling, would be a better word) a lot of blogs at the time (July 2005), and it seemed like a sensible thing to have a presence on the Internet, but better suited technically to my abilities than maintaining a website. And Justine Larbalestier<\/a><\/strong> nagged me. If you\u2019ve ever been nagged by Justine, you will know that\u2019s a powerful inducement.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>How does the blog support and\/or interfere with your writing?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>It doesn\u2019t interfere at all; I rarely use time I should be writing in, to update it. It supports it, mainly because it reduces the loneliness of the long-term writer; I love touring blogs and reading about how other writers are keeping wordcounts and solving problems and hating or loving what\u2019s coming out of them. Lately, I\u2019ve been on the home stretch with this novel, and I\u2019ve been blogging daily on my progress, or lack of. It\u2019s a nice, non-threatening form of accountability. The coolest thing about it is meeting someone whose blog you\u2019ve been reading for a while — instant conversation starter! I\u2019m always up for those.<\/p>\n Margo<\/strong> (pictured here at The Grand Canyon, May 2006<\/em>): A gloriously fat (for me) fantasy novel called Tender Morsels<\/em>. I\u2019ll be handing this in to Allen & Unwin<\/a><\/strong> at the end of the month. They tell me it will be out (in Australia; I don\u2019t know about the rest of the world) around August 2008. From here that seems like a long time, but when it happens, it will feel as if only three months have passed.<\/p>\n 7-Imp: <\/strong>What three living authors would you like to have over for coffee\/wine?<\/p>\n Margo: <\/strong>This question was too hard; I think I\u2019m going to have to just have a street party and invite everyone.<\/p>\n
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\nIn case you are new to Lanagan, here’s our Margo Lanagan 101. Yes, we would be happy to evangelize her books to new readers . . . <\/p>\n
Before Red Spikes<\/em>, Lanagan wrote a long list of children’s and YA fiction titles (which she addresses in the third question below), but only three have been published here in the States.<\/p>\n
White Time<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (published here in the U.S. by HarperCollins\/Eos<\/a><\/strong> in 2006), a collection of ten short stories, was also met with numerous favorable critical reviews. “Taut, vivid, original: another winner,” wrote The Horn Book<\/em>, and Booklist<\/em> wrote: “Further showcasing her mastery of the craft, each story underscores Lanagan’s talent for inspiring curiosity, disturbing sensibilities, and provoking thought.” Across The Pond, it was honored with the 2000* Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction<\/a><\/strong> (“The Queen’s Notice” won the Aurealis Best Young Adult Short Story Award) and more. <\/p>\n
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Margo: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t realise I was allowed to be a writer until my mid-twenties when I started being an editor, and editing all the other people who\u2019d become writers, and finding lots to fix. I\u2019d always written, and I\u2019d had some poetry published, but being a writer had looked, from the outside, a bit like being an astronaut, or being a movie star. I decided I wanted to write and publish novels, with the ultimate aim of making a living from that.<\/p>\n
the L.A. Times Book Prize ceremony}<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n7-Imp: <\/strong>I (Eisha) thought “Red Nose Day” from Black Juice<\/em><\/strong><\/a> was possibly the creepiest short story I’d ever read — until I read “Winkie” in Red Spikes<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (in bed, right before sleep. Really unfortunate.). What does it do to you as a writer, and a human being, to create these stories? Is it easy to shake off once you step away from the pencil\/keyboard, or do you really have to live with these characters for a while?<\/p>\n
7-Imp: <\/strong>This<\/a><\/strong> wonderful May ’07 review of Red Spikes<\/a><\/strong><\/em> at Strange Horizons<\/strong><\/em><\/a> states: “Even more than Ursula K. Le Guin’s, Lanagan’s stories prioritise the powerless, the empty-handed, the dispossessed. She earths her violent and uncompromising imaginings in tactile and particular detail: in worlds built from the bottom up, from the rock and mud. They are felt and smelt by characters who are closest to the ground: children, servants, peasants, and animals.” Do you consciously set out to write about the powerless and dispossessed? <\/p>\n
![\"Margo](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/margo1.jpg\")
7-Imp: <\/strong>What are you working on now?<\/p>\n