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| photo: Lou Abercrombie | |
Emma Newman writes dark short stories and science fiction and urban fantasy novels. She won the British Fantasy Society Best Short Story Award 2015, and Between Two Thorns, the first book in her Split Worlds urban fantasy series, was shortlisted for the BFS Best Novel and Best Newcomer 2014 awards. Her first science fiction novel, Planetfall, was published by Roc in 2015. Newman is an audiobook narrator and also co-writes and hosts the Hugo-nominated podcast Tea and Jeopardy, which involves tea, cake, mild peril and singing chickens. Her hobbies include dressmaking and playing RPGs. She can be found as @emapocalyptic on Twitter. Book four of the Split Worlds series is A Little Knowledge (Diversion Books, August 2, 2016).
On your nightstand now:
I'm reading Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham and marveling at how many of the slang phrases mean nothing to me! Whilst that is a tad frustrating, it reminds me that there is evolution and fluidity in language, which is something that has always fascinated me. Another book is still on my nightstand (and shouldn't be, as I finished it a while ago and I really need to tidy up!) is Escapology by Ren Warom. I was lucky enough to get an ARC and I loved it. If you want some fast-paced, gritty and super imaginative cyberpunk, that's the one to look out for.
Favorite book when you were a child:
It was a book called Gods, Men and Monsters that contained retellings of the Greek myths. I adored Greek mythology and must have borrowed that from my school library at least a dozen times. It was a huge hardback and I remember how heavy it was!
Your top five authors:
Mary Doria Russell (because of depth of character development and sheer heartbreak of The Sparrow), Adrian Tchaikovsky (because of thrilling adventure and feminism of Guns of the Dawn), James Clavell (because of intricate politics mixed with old-fashioned adventure of ShÅgun), China Miéville (because of the insanely creative and intelligent Perdido Street Station and Embassytown) and Gail Carriger (because of the deliciously funny and light Parasol Protectorate series).
Book you've faked reading:
Ahhh, that would be Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I was about 16, I think, and obsessed with the TV show Quantum Leap. There's an episode in which Sam "leaps" into the body of an actor in the stage production of Man of la Mancha, and I loved it so much that I hunted down the novel it was based upon. Several people warned me it was dense and that I'd find it hard going, but I pushed through the first hundred or so pages with the diligence of a girl who did not want to be proved wrong. The bookmark moved through the book without any reading taking place after that, I am rather ashamed to admit.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky! I loved that book so much I read it in two sittings (and it's not short!). It has elements of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels, mixed with Jane Austenesque characters, against the backdrop of war, with a side order of fireball-wielding sorcerers. The lead character is simply wonderful.
Book you've bought for the cover:
We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen. It has the most beautiful cover, though I am embarrassed to say I haven't got round to reading it yet!
Book you hid from your parents:
I struggle to think of one; my parents were very relaxed about what I read. However, I remember a holiday we took once in a cottage with a shelf full of books for the renters to read. I can't remember how old I was, but definitely younger than 12, and I picked up Flowers in the Attic. Whilst some of it went over my head, I instinctively knew that was one to read in the early morning before the adults got up.
Book that changed your life:
I think many books have changed my life; the ones that have really captivated me have made me see people and places and situations from different points of view. However, there is one nonfiction title that definitely changed my life: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. My late best friend sent a copy to me about 15 years ago, after I had spent about a decade screwing my life up because I was too scared to write. It came with a note from her saying, "Didn't you used to write?" It helped me untangle myself and start writing again after I'd had success with a short story at age 17, which terrified me into not writing anything else! Without that book and that act of kindness on the part of my best friend, I have no idea whether I would be an author today.
Favorite line from a book:
"Can a magician kill a man by magic?" Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. "I suppose a magician might," he admitted, "but a gentleman never would."
That's from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke and I love the framing of magic within the manners of the era.
Five books you'll never part with:
Only five? Oh dear. Can we assume that the ones I listed along with my favourite authors are already accounted for?
A battered old copy of The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury. It's a short story collection and contains "A Sound of Thunder" which is my favourite short story. I read it once a year. I believe it is one of the most perfectly executed examples of a time travel story, and every time I read it, it still sends a shiver down my back.
A copy of Wuthering Heights filled with annotations I made whilst studying the text at A-level. I love that novel, more because of what it taught me about the craft of writing than for the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy (I think I was the only one in the class who didn't swoon over him).
A well-loved copy of Wild Swans by Jung Chang. The first time I read that, many, many years ago, I had no knowledge of the suffering caused by Mao's regime. It's a heartrending read.
A very beautiful hardback edition of The Lord of the Rings in one volume. That formed the entirety of one Easter holiday for me and the illustrations by Alan Lee are so beautiful.
Millennium by Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a satisfyingly huge tome that I gave as a gift to my late maternal grandfather. When he passed away some years ago, my family found it in his house with the Christmas present tag from me tucked inside, being used as a bookmark. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it, as the sight of the bookmark brought such grief. One day I will complete the book that he never had the chance to finish.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. Oh my, that book delighted and enthralled me. I have owned about five copies of that book over the past 20 years and there are two reasons I don't own one: one is that those five copies were all lent out to people I gushed to about the book and they were never returned, and two, because I am kind of scared to read it again, just in case it isn't as perfect as I recall!