Dec 1, 2008 01:25 PM
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Wed Feb 10
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Richard K. Morgan (author of Altered Carbon) did an interview with the StarShipSofa podcast, and it's pretty thought-provoking stuff. He explains why trying to write short stories before you write novels may be a waste of time, why noir SF has made a comeback, and why he doesn't mind being called a pornographer.
Commenters on Amazon often decry the sexual content in Morgan's future-noir books. But Morgan says sexuality is a key part of the noir recipe, and you can't leave it out or noir won't even make sense. And he's struck by the fact that so much of science fiction is full of repressed sexuality, that's front and center but never acknowledged. Says Morgan:
I do get comments on it, especially from American readers... Readers will say, "Oh, I really do like these books, but I don't like the way Morgan had to go off into semi-porn. That's not how I get my jollies." My response to that is always, "Oh right, so you get your jollies from watching your characters blow each other's heads off with high explosive rounds, or punch each other into a bloody pulp. That's you get off, but you don't get off on somebody having oral sex."...
And by and large, leaving aside the science fictional effects and exotic drugs and such, the sex that I write is the sex that I've had. I'm not trying to go overboard, but the sex is mostly based on my own experience with various interesting technological and chemical upgrades, if you like.
The whole interview is well worth listening to. It's over here. [StarShipSofa]
Send an email to Charlie Jane Anders, the author of this post, at charliejane@io9.com.
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