| SPIDER LEGS BARNES AND NOBLE ONLINE CHAT WITH PIERS ANTHONY AND CLIFFORD PICKOVER |
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On Thursday, 8th January, 1998, barnesandnoble.com hosted Piers Anthony and Clifford Pickover, authors of SPIDER LEGS This transcript is Copyright 1997, 1998 barnesandnoble.com inc. |
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 Barnes and Noble Site |
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 Moderator: Greetings!
How's Florida this evening?
Piers Anthony: Florida is wet. El Niņo is getting us. We've had record rain in the past month. John from New York: Clifford, KEYS TO INFINITY sounds great, and I love math. If I'm not a mathematical or philosophy genius, though, am I going to be able to understand the language of it? It looks really interesting.
Timothy from Colorado: Do you plan on doing any solo novels, Clifford? Did having someone else to write with ease the pressure of writing your first novel? CP: Hi, Tim. Yes, I have several solo science-fiction novels currently looking for publishers. And yes, I found working with Piers to be quite enlightening. I found Piers to be incredible at breathing life into the characters, making sure they had sufficient motivations for what they were doing, making them seem real.... It has been a real honor to work with him. Matt from New York: Piers, do you find it daunting to work with another author, or do you find it easier than working solo? PA: The writing is easy. The marketing is difficult. Because in most cases the other writers do the novel, and then I will go ahead and revise it, because I have more experience. My part is easy. Publishers don't generally like collaborations. We marketed it to five or six different ones who wouldn't even read it. Lucas Sanford from Arlington, VA: Do pycnogonids really exist? What a horrendous creature! Any chance SPIDER LEGS will become a movie? CP: Lucas, wonderful question! In our novel, giant sea spiders terrorize people on the Newfoundland shores. But the most important and exciting fact for you to remember is that pycnogonids, or sea spiders, are real. The large deep-sea Colossendeis is real! Pycnogonids are among the strangest creatures on earth. About 600 species are known. They are mostly small forms, not more than 10mm long, although some of the deep-sea forms can almost reach human size. Especially for BarnesandNoble chatters, I've added several real photos of pycnogonids to my Web page at http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/home.htm. Don't leave the chat to look, but I think you'd find it exciting to visit my page when the chat is finished. Just search for the phrase "sea spiders," and you'll be rewarded with something creepy. Lonnie from Pennsylvania: Piers, can you tell us about your novel VOLK? I've never read it, but I've heard about it. Where can I get it? PA: Only on the Internet. I couldn't sell that at all. It's a World War II novel, not fantasy. The best place to get it is www.xlibris.com or www.pulpless.com. You can download it, or Xlibris will print out a copy and mail you a bound copy. I'll say it's one of my better novels, but it's not fantasy. It has controversial material about World War II, but no publisher would touch it. I'd love to have people read it. Billy from Athens, GA: What was it like working with one of the greatest fantasy writers of all time? CP: Collaborating turned out to be quite easy and rewarding, and, oddly enough, choosing a title was one of the more difficult jobs. I had originally called the book Phantom, but Piers pointed out that this title had been used very often in the past. Before we finally arrived at SPIDER LEGS, we considered other titles: Legs, PycnoPhantom, Killer Legs, Pycnophbia, Spider Hunter, and even 20,000 Legs Under the Sea. One of the challenges was scientific. How could such a creature grow so large and still have the strength to move and get sufficient oxygen to its muscles? We give some detailed scientific recipes for creating the monsters, but I don't want to give too much away now. Stephanie from Alabama: Piers, I love the wordplay and puns in your novel. Who are your major influences? Are you a fan of Lewis Carroll? PA: I've been asked this before, and it's hard to answer. I really don't think I have any influences. Lewis Carroll is fun, but I don't think he influenced me. I'm my own ornery person, and I just do things my own way. Parker from Bloomington: Hello, Piers and Clifford! Reading over the description of the book, it sounds like it has an ecological or environmental bent to it. Did concern for the environment bring about this book? CP: Yes, the book does have an ecological and environmental theme. You can see that we have a concern for the environment. I hope readers enjoy the book and appreciate the unusual characters. To paraphrase one review I saw for the book, "It's an ecological thriller in the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' Peter Benchley's 'Jaws,' and even the 'Alien' series of movies. It has humor and horror, science and fantasy, tension and frivolity, absurdity and deadly seriousness. But mostly, it seems to be about love and a concern for humanity." Ryan Couture from Olathe, KS: Mr. Anthony, I am 13 years old, and I read your entire saga of the Incarnations of Immortality. I noticed that in the fifth book, BEING A GREEN MOTHER, he quotes the phrase "Demons Don't Dream," the title of the book in the Xanth series. I was wondering, Where do you come up with the cool titles for your books? PA: If I quoted that title, it was accidental, because I wrote BEING A GREEN MOTHER years before I wrote DEMONS DON'T DREAM. The answer to the question is that I collect titles. I like playing with words, and when I encounter something different or good or that intrigues me, I make a note of it. And then I use it when I can. On SPIDER LEGS, I must say, we had a lot of trouble coming up with that simple title. We struggled a long time to find something marketable. Paul from Morris Plains, NJ: What do you think about the current state of science fiction? Do you think this genre has changed a lot over the past decade? CP: Hi, Paul. I'm not sure if the genre had changed. Perhaps Piers has some ideas on that. My tastes are eclectic. In fact, if you go to my Web page after the chat, I list my top ten favorite books. PA: I'm not really competent to answer this question. I'm so busy doing my own thing, I don't read much of what is published. I'm a slow reader, and so except for what publishers send me for blurbing, I'm out of touch. I should decline to answer on the grounds that my answer would be incompetent. But I will say that new writers like Terry Goodkind impress me. Sally from Texas: What can we look forward to in the future of Xanth? PA: Well, the last one published was FAUN & GAMES. The next one is ZOMBIE LOVER. And the one after that is XONE OF CONTENTION. You will like the last one because it will relate to the Internet. It's where people can get to the land of Xanth through the Internet. Make the right connection, and you connect with somebody in Xanth. I'm editing it now, but to go into a description would get complicated. It will be a few years before that's in print. But ZOMBIE LOVER will come out in October 1998 in hardcover. It's where the zombies get stirred up. Franny from Cleveland, OH: I really enjoyed SPIDER LEGS. Clifford, will you be doing any more books with Piers Anthony? CP: Hi, Franny, glad you asked. Now, that's a question for Piers! Perhaps if this book sells 100,000 copies or gets made into a movie (which I hope it does, because it would be a great thriller), then Piers would consider it. What actors can you envision playing some of the characters in the book? Tim from Louisiana: Clifford, I really like SPIDER LEGS. Did you have a hard time making the transition from nonfiction to fiction? CP: Hi, Tim. I'm curious: Where did you find the book? How did you find out about it? In any case, glad you liked it. I find writing fiction is harder than nonfiction, and getting fiction published is harder than getting nonfiction published. With fiction you have to worry about dialogue, character motivation, and the like.... However, I love writing fiction. Many of my popular science books have a fictional element (such as CHAOS IN WONDERLAND or BLACK HOLES: A TRAVELER'S GUIDE), and I hope to publish more novels in the future. Emily from Tupelo, MS: I've been reading your Xanth novels since I was 10 (I'm 14), and my younger brother just started trying them. If children can enjoy the books you write for adults, have you ever considered writing a book or series of books for kids? PA: I've been asked that before. Not really. Sometimes I'll do a juvenile novel -- that seems to be my area, teenage to adult. I have considered doing a children's book. I was going to do one called "Tanglehair Tales" because both of my daughters have very long hair -- they can sit on their hair -- and it was always a pain to comb their hair. But I couldn't get a publisher for that one, and I gave up. That was about 15 years ago. Tom from New Jersey: Clifford, do you have any plans to return to writing nonfiction? CP: Tom, I have several nonfiction books coming out in 1998. One is STRANGE BRAINS AND GENIUS: THE SECRET LIVES OF ECCENTRIC SCIENTISTS, and another is TIME: A TRAVELER'S GUIDE. I also have THE SCIENCE OF ALIENS coming out at the end of the year.... I think many of you would find these fascinating. Daniel from Pittsburgh: Piers, your short stories are a kick. Do you have any new ones coming out or any new collections? PA: No. I've only had two collections of stories. I just don't write stories that much. I've written more novels than stories. I was a natural story writer, but I couldn't sell them. I only sold one out of four I wrote. So I went to novels, and I sell nine out of ten novels that I write. Sarah from Ballston Spa, NY: Hi, Mr. Pickover. How similar are you to Nathan? I couldn't help but notice the remark about longing to be a frustrated science fiction author! Have you written much science fiction that's not published yet? CP: Hi, Sarah. Ah, you're catching on. Fiction writers put lots of hidden jokes, self-references, and the like into their stories. I do have two or three unpublished science-fiction novels. Cross your fingers. Write back to me in a few months, and I'll tell you how it all worked out. Risa from New Jersey: Piers, I really loved your Incarnations of Immortality series. Are you planning any more books in that series? PA: No. Seven novels is it. It ended with God. I don't see where to go after God. God wound up being a woman, as you remember. I thought it might improve things. Shawn from Biloxi: Hi. Any advice for the aspiring writer? CP: My biggest advice is to write the book rather than think about writing the book. After that, give it to as many people you can for a critical reading. This will help improve your writing and increase your chances of success. James Tarby from Oak Park, IL: Hello Hello! Cliff, who are your literary influences? Aside from Piers Anthony, of course! CP: Hi, James. After the chat, go to my Web page and read the list of my favorite books. For example, I've enjoyed some of Heinlein's works -- such as his book JOB. I liked SHIBUMI by Trevanian. Dolly from Sacramento, CA: My son and I are great fans. I believe we have all of your books. I especially enjoyed Bio of a Space Tyrant. Any chance of a series like that coming back? PA: I was going to write a sixth novel in that series called THE IRON MAIDEN, but complicated relations with publishers prevented it from being published. Maybe someday I'll write it. I think fantasy really squeezed it out in terms of what I am writing. I'm a commercial writer, and fantasy gives me a lot more money. I'm not ashamed of being a commercial writer. If I didn't like fantasy, I wouldn't write it. But I like it, and it pays well. John from Los Angeles: Whose idea was the original concept for SPIDER LEGS? How exactly did you collaborate? Did you take turns writing? Discuss it together over the phone? CP: My fascination with pycnogonids peaked several years ago when I read about a 12-legged pycnogonid found near Antarctica, of all places. Its proboscis was much longer than the rest of its body. Here's how the collaboration started. I had just finished reading Piers's fantastic novel VIRTUAL MODE and decided to send him a draft of SPIDER LEGS. To set the stage, I mailed Piers my book COMPUTERS AND THE IMAGINATION, and I thought this would prepare him to receive further material from me. I waited a week or two and then sent him the draft of SPIDER LEGS. After some hesitation on Piers's part, it seemed like we soon had a meeting of the minds. What you read is the result after Piers considerably expanded and applied his creative talent to the original draft. PA: He wrote the first draft, I wrote the last one. We did it mainly by mail. There were a couple of chapters I wrote, and I wanted to make sure it didn't disrupt what he wrote, so we did consult with each other. I worked on finishing the romance between Nathan and Nathalie. He started the romance,but I went ahead and took it farther. Maurie from Kimberly, WI: With a common "fractal" background between the authors, can we expect any books from this new team with a mathe-magical bent? PA: If SPIDER LEGS is successful, we could do another. But if it's not, we couldn't get it published. There are other ideas -- we could do another if there's a market. Incidentally, I did do a book based on fractals called FRACTAL MODE. Tom from Baltimore: Clifford, do you consider yourself a political activist or very political when it comes to environmentalism? CP: No, I wouldn't consider myself an activist. Probably to be an activist you have to be aggressive, or at least bold. I think I'm a bit too quiet for that. Susan from New York: Do you have unpublished fiction that was written before SPIDER LEGS? Have you ever written short stories? CP: Yes, I have unpublished
fiction written before, during, and after! I have written short stories, but I much prefer
to concentrate on novel-length work. PA: Yes, I had two years of Latin and two years of German, but I was a dunce with languages. I almost flunked high school because of them. At one point I tried to learn Spanish. I only know one language -- that's English. I'm like an ogre -- I'm justifiably proud of my stupidity with languages. I have done a total of 26 collaborations -- some have been series. Some have been singletons. I did six novels with Roberto Fuentes and seven novels with Robert Margroff. So I've collaborated on series, and they've done all right. And there are several more collaborations coming down the pipeline. Paul from New York: Are there other genres you could see yourself writing in? Horror? Hard science fiction? CP: I could see myself writing in those genres, but it seems I enjoy writing adventures in parallel universes quite a bit. I do have a hard science fiction/horror novel in the works.... I lean towards the absurd, and you'll find a lot of quirkiness in the characters and setting for SPIDER LEGS. Amy from Dallas, TX: Will we see any more from the Mode series? PA: Apparently not. I loved that series, but there's no market and three novels seem to be it. Bill from California: Clifford, now that you've gotten a taste for writing fiction, are you eager to spend more time doing it? CP: The key is finding publishers who wish to publish you. If SPIDER LEGS is successful, then publishers will be more interested in publishing my novels, and I will spend more time doing it. Carrie from San Francisco: Clifford, are there other authors you would like to collaborate with? Any dream collaborations? CP: Hi, Carrie. Actually, I think most authors dream of doing solo works. One reason is that solo works usually sell better because readers think they are getting a unified vision. Of course, I wouldn't mind collaborating with any of the big names. Susan from Toronto: Clifford, how did you manage to hook up with Piers for writing SPIDER LEGS? CP: Hi, Susan. Take a look at how I answered another question on the subject. Believe it or not, we've never met one another. We communicate by writing letters to one another. If you read SPIDER LEGS, remember that they're real. That will make it creepy for you! Pycnogonids are carnivorous animals that suck out the juices of their prey. The sea spider's digestive system is so massive that it extends into the creature's legs. Sea spiders are more common in the cold Arctic and Antarctic seas than they are elsewhere, although they are found in all seas. Less is known about the deep-sea forms. Michelle from Arizona: Piers, you say that there are stories and novels that you write that don't sell or are not published. Why not start your own Web page with all your other writings on it, so all your fans can read all of your work? I'm sure it would be a great hit. PA: Well, there is a HiPiers Web page. The problem is I don't go online myself, so it's sort of by remote control. I don't see it on there -- if there are mistakes I don't know it. Maybe sometime I'll bite the bullet and learn how and have more of a presence. Many of those novels I wrote long before the Internet existed. They are not electronic -- they only exist in manuscript. It'd be a lot of work to get those on. Chandra from Hightstown, NJ: I've enjoyed reading your Mode series and am curious what the response has been from other people and how you knew so much about how a teenage girl thinks. PA: I've had a lot of mail from teenage girls, some of whom are depressive and have tried suicide, and I've paid attention. That's how I made Collene, the main character in Mode. Some of the words she speaks were spoken to me by those girls. When someone asks me, "How can you know my thoughts?" they always call out those quotes. I'm an old man -- I don't know what goes on in the minds of girls -- but I listen to them and use their words with their permission. The irony is, it had to be anonymous so their parents wouldn't know they are suicidal. Tim P. from Connecticut: Mr. Pickover, do you have a Web site? If so, what's the address? I'd love to see it. CP: Tim, yes, my Web site has over 140,000 visits! It lists all my books, and it has a lot of art, puzzles, animations, aliens, etc.: http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/home.htm. Rose from Sarasota,FL: If you hadn't noticed, I'm transferring questions from my friend David, who is on the phone. I got him into your books; his favorite series is the Xanth series, and mine is the Apprentice Adept series. But I've also read a reference to an unpublished story that you wrote entitled "Xanthe's Heart." Could you tell me more about the outline of this story? PA: I wrote it and never got it published. It was a story of a man who proposed to his girlfriend named Xanthe, but she wouldn't give him her heart, and then the car crashed, and then he wound up with her heart physically. That wasn't the way he wanted it, as a heart transplant. That one wasn't ever published. Lucas from Maine: Mr. Pickover, do you think people will go back and pick up your nonfiction books after reading SPIDER LEGS? Do you think if we enjoy SPIDER LEGS we would enjoy the nonfiction as well? They sound interesting. CP: Hi, Lucas. Yes, my science books are written for fairly general audiences. Many are loaded with beautiful computer graphics. All are meant to stretch your mind. Try a few. There's nothing quite like them. Emily from Tupelo, MS: Is there anywhere that you can find a copy of the Companions of Xanth game? I've been looking for it since DEMONS DON'T DREAM first came out, and I STILL haven't ever even seen it! PA: Yes. Go online at HiPiers. It's available only on computer disk. There are still some copies at HiPiers. It think it costs about $30 and about $5 for postage. Steve from New York City: Hello. How much research was needed for SPIDER LEGS? Someone needed a degree in marine biology to write about all those sea creatures! CP: Hi, Steve. I think I provided a lot of the information here. I have a Ph.D. from Yale University in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. I love strange creatures. I also have a 110-gallon fish tank at home. Provided lots of stimulation for the book. Again, go to my Web page -- I have a photo of a real pycnogonid, or sea spider, on my page. Georlene from Merritt Island, FL: Mr. Anthony, I have thoroughly enjoyed your books over the years and am especially partial to the Incantations of Immortality and the Apprentice Adept series. I was wondering if you had a personal favorite. PA: A favorite novel of my own isn't in a series. It's TATHAM MOUND. And the series is the Mode series, but I had to stop at three novels. Emily from Tupelo, MS: Do you have email addresses you're willing to give out? CP: You can reach me at: pickover@acm.org Moderator from barnesandnoble.com: Thank you for joining us tonight, Mr. Anthony and Mr. Pickover. Any final thoughts? PA: I have thoughts all the time, except when I'm asked a question like that. And then my mind goes blank. CP: To commemorate this BarnesandNoble chat, the first 100 people who read the book and then write to me, Cliff Pickover, in care of the book's publisher, will get a signed and numbered beautiful color fractal graphic with the enigmatic words "Spiders Never Dream." For confirmation, in your request letter, write the phrase "Barnes and Noble" and also the last word on page 29 of the book! If you have found this page through a search engine click below to open up the frames that will let you navigate the other pages in this section as well as the whole site. (Note, a new browser window will open up) No Rulz |
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Clifford Pickover: Hi, John. Thanks for your interest. Sure, I
think a general audience would appreciate my book KEYS TO INFINITY. In fact, the Irish
Times, of all places, reviewed the book and said it was "an enchanting journey,
revealing the beauty of patterns and numbers for artists and scientists alike. This is
mathematical tourism at its very best, a fine reminder that our universe is infinitely
stranger than we could ever, ever imagine." The book is meant to expand your mind
with such strange topics as stepladders to the moon, fractals, spiral earths, worm worlds,
and self-similar curlicues. Hope you enjoy the color pictures!