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New England Science Fiction Association
February 4, 2015

Mini Interviews: Valerie Frankel, Steven Sawicki, and Marshall Ryan Maresca

Boskone draws participants from far and wide and this year’s convention is no different. From California to New York to Texas, take a peek at Mini Interviews from a few of our traveling friends.

Valerie Frankel

Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her Henry Potty parodies. She’s the author of over 20 books on pop culture since 2012, including From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend, Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey, Winning the Game of Thrones, Katniss the Cattail: A Guide to Names and Symbols in The Hunger Games, An Unexpected Parody, Teaching with Harry Potter, Joss Whedon’s Names, Sherlock: Every Canon Reference You May Have Missed in BBC’s Series 1-3, and Doctor Who – The What, Where, and How. Come explore her latest at VEFrankel.com. Check out Valerie’s blog, follow her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @valeriefrankel.

What is it that you enjoy most about Boskone?

I have never been to Boskone. However, I have been to Baycon, Loscon, and other local sf and f cons put on by the fan groups so everyone can discuss and celebrate the works out there, from classic to recent. They’re always a blast. I love chatting with both the famous authors and the fans who love the same things I do.

What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?

Oh WAAAAY too many. I’m writing two different Doctor Who guides (should be done any minute) and editing two different anthologies of essays on Joss Whedon. Plus I have an Outlander and Myth book that may come back from one publisher any minute, and another on themes in Whedon that may ALSO come back for a DIFFERENT publisher any minute. And I’m writing a presentation on Game of Thrones. And producing audio books of some of my more popular works. And distributing some new ebook samplers. As for challenges, keeping it all straight and making sure everyone gets their questions and requests dealt with. All this ends up feeling like a squash match—things fly at my head, I serve them back, they fly at my head again. So it goes…

From a fan perspective, what new book, film, TV show, or comic are you most looking forward to seeing/reading?

Avengers 2 is likely going to be a good one—everyone has high hopes from a great combination of writers, actors, and creators. Plus I need to write an Avengers book by then that’s been a long time formulating. Not so sure about Ant Man…we’re never getting a Black Widow film, are we?

Steven Sawicki

Steven Sawicki is a writer, reviewer, screenplay writer, producer, race car driver who has been professionally involved in SF and fantasy for more than 25 years. Visit Steven’s website or follow him on Twitter @Steven_Sawicki.

How would you describe your work to people who might be unfamiliar with you?

Most of my work deals with perceptions of reality.  i think we all see things a big differently. This comes out most in my Damn Aliens work–both the novellas and the reviews they do for Fantastic Stories fo the Imagination online.

From a fan perspective, what new book, film, TV show, or comic are you most looking forward to seeing/reading?

I’m really waiting for a hard science fiction book or movie.  I’d love to see Asimov’s Foundation done or something similar.

What are you looking forward to at Boskone?

Definitely the people who attend. It’s the only reason for going.

Marshall Ryan Maresca

Marshall Ryan Maresca is a fantasy and science-fiction writer, as well as a playwright, living in South Austin with his wife and son. His first two novels, The Thorn of Dentonhill and A Murder of Mages will be released by DAW Books in 2015. His work also appeared in Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction, in Rick Klaw’s anthology Rayguns Over Texas. He also has had several short plays produced and has worked as a stage actor, a theatrical director and an amateur chef. He is represented by Mike Kabongo of the Onyxhawke Agency. Visit Ryan’s website or follow him on Twitter @marshallmaresca.

What are you looking forward to at Boskone?

The big thing, for me personally, is this will be the first conference I’ll be attending after Thorn of Dentonhill is released. So that’s going to be a real thrill. Beyond that, Boskone has an incredible line-up of participants this year, and I’m quite excited to be a part of it.

What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?

Right now I’ve got quite a few things in different stages of development. The big thing I’m working on is the sequel to A Murder of Mages,which is giving me the opportunity to do macro-level worldbuilding on a micro scale. The city of Maradaine is very cosmopolitan, and it’s filled with cultural enclaves from different parts of the world. So the big challenge is showing how my protagonists navigate the complexities of these different cultures right up against each other, without it just becoming a Worldbuilding Travelogue.

How would you describe your work to people who might be unfamiliar with you?

Thorn of Dentonhill, and the follow-up novel A Murder of Mages, are both mixes of high fantasy and urban fantasy. They’ve got the deep, epic secondary worldbuilding of high fantasy with the street-level focus of urban. Thorn involves a magic student who becomes a vigilante to wage a one-man war against a drug lord, and Murder follows two constabulary inspectors as the work to solve a series of ritualized murders.