Will McIntosh is a Hugo award winner and Nebula finalist whose short stories have appeared in Asimov’s (where he won the 2010 Reader's Award for short story), Strange Horizons, and Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best of the Year, and others. His debut novel, Soft Apocalypse, was published by Night Shade Books in 2011, and his second novel, Hitchers, will be out in February, 2012. A New Yorker transplanted to the rural south, McIntosh is a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University. In 2008 he became the father of twins.Last month I asked him what he was reading. His reply:
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips.Visit Will McIntosh's website.I bought my first Tiptree, Jr. book when I was in seventh grade. The stories were too adult for me then, and there weren’t enough robots and dinosaurs in them. I vividly recall abandoning the paperback edition of Ten Thousand Light Years from Home on a window ledge at school. As an adult I tried her work again, and was better able to appreciate it. When I finish reading about her life, I’m going back to read more of her fiction. I think I’ll get even more out of it in the context of her fascinating, tragic life. Her mom took her into the jungles of Africa, for treks that lasted weeks at a time, when she was six! Julie Phillips tells Ms. Sheldon’s story well.
Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder.
I don't read many books on writing fiction. For some reason they disturb me. I'm not sure how to explain it; it's like I’m irrationally afraid that if I become too aware of the mechanics of the process, I won’t be able to write any more. This book isn’t disturbing me--it deals with the meat and potatoes level of story that I consciously focus on when I'm writing. It’s also interesting to learn how writing screenplays is in some ways very similar to writing novels, and in other ways totally different.The Games by Ted Kosmatka
I’ve just begun reading an advance copy of this debut novel by my friend Ted Kosmatka, and I’m loving it. It’s fast-paced, with great, vivid characters and a kick-ass premise. There’s a new Olympic event – a gladiator-style fight to the death. Each country genetically engineers its entrant, trying to create the toughest fighter it can (no human DNA is allowed). Evidently the U.S.’s newest entrant is more than its creators can handle. The book is being released in March.
My Book, The Movie: Soft Apocalypse.
--Marshal Zeringue
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