The readings and Q&A sessions Stan Robinson conducted in October in various Californian cities for the launch of The Lucky Strike are now finished.
Some of them were recorded:
First, the Agony Column had an extensive coverage of the October 17th event organized by SF in SF, complete with readings, panel discussion and interviews. Present were also Eric Simons, who also did a reading of his novel on following the footsteps of Charles Darwin (literally), and Terry Bisson, who hosted the reading and discussion panel that followed. Stan’s reading was actually a selection of passages from the Lucky Strike that give you a feeling of what it’s about.
In the excellent words or Rick Kleffel: “And with this reading from his novella, you get the best of both worlds. Robinson abridged his story while reading at SF in SF, off-the-cuff, so to speak, reading selections here and there that boil down the story and give a perfect verbal version of the much longer written version. What’s so nice is that when you listen to the reading, you can get the emotional and intellectual shock of Robinson’s story. You’ll feel the literal blast that he describes as he reads. But because Robinson has read a self-abridged version of his longer story, you can still go out, but the book and read the story to get the fully fleshed-out as well as the live reading audio experience. This is a very clever move on his part, and not just because he sells you a book. No, it’s much better than that. As a listener and a reader, you’ll get to experience the same set events from two equally powerful perspectives; the reading experience will enhance the audio and vice versa, but in a different manner. It’s a fascinating experiment for the writer and the reader.“
The reading of The Lucky Strike was followed by a reading of A Sensitive Dependance On Initial Conditions, which is also part of the recent Lucky Strike publication by PM Press (I have/had not read it until now and I found it nothing short of amazing).
Suitably enough, the two authors’ novels, one on Darwin and one on Galileo, fuelled the discussion that followed. The process of history, travelling (including a question on Escape From Kathmandu!) and writing. Robinson didn’t miss the opportunity to express his disbelief at the technological Singularity, something he sees as a bad recurring science fiction idea that as of lately has replaced the preceding fad, nanotechnology, in the minds of certain SF writers.
Links: the reading; the panel; the interview.
Second, the reading at Stan’s “favorite bookstore on this planet“: Moe’s Books, on October 22nd. The recording includes Terry Bisson’s reading from his parodic “The Left Left Behind“, a reading of “The Lucky Strike” similar to the above, and a reading of another of Robinson’s shorts, “Prometheus Unbound, At Last“!
Also, Shareable has posted an excerpt of the interview Terry Bisson conducted with Stan for the Lucky Strike publication.
Thanks to Ramsey from PM Press for the feedback (and, well, for making the books a reality in the first place!).
If you attended these or another of the readings and have feedback or interesting tidbits to share, feel free to comment below.
