Month: December 2006

..(BOOM! CRASH!)

S.M. Stirling

We are oh so very bouncy bouncy happy over the opportunity to have sf, alternate history and fantasy author Steve Stirling join us at GAFilk this year. Steve has been including filk music in his national best-selling books for many years. The character of Juniper Mackenzie is patterned closely on the singer/songwriter Heather Alexander, and many of her fine songs appear in all three of the “Dies the Fire” stories. Stirling’s adventurous, conflict-driven novels often describe military situations and militaristic cultures and explore societies with cultural values significantly different from modern western views. One of his recurring topics is the influence of the culture on an individual’s outlook and values, and the different constructions of morality. The “Dies the Fire” saga picks up 22 years following the “Change” of the world as we know it in the soon to be released “The Sunrise Lands.” Steve’ most recent release is the sf novel “The Sky People” in the Lords of Creation Series. He’s a prolific storyteller with over 21 short stories and novellas, as well as 62 novels spread out over the following series:

The Draka Series
The Island in the Sea of Time Series
The General Raj Whitehall Series (with David Drake)
The Fifth Millenium Series (with Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein) The
Peshawar Lancers
Conquistador
The Dies the Fire Series
The Lords of Creation Series
Codominium World/Empire of Man Universe (with Jerry Pournelle, Judith Tarr, Harry Turtledove, Susan Shwartz)
Flight Engineer Series (with James Doohan)
Man/Kzin War Series (with Larry Nivan, Jerry Pournelle and Dean Ing)
“The Lament” in Magic: The Gathering: Tapestries
Babylon 5: Book 6: Betrayals
T2: Infiltrator
T2: Rising Storm
T2: The Future War
The Ship Who Sang Universe (with Anne McCaffrey)
The Rose Sea (with Holly Lisle)
The Riftwar Collaboration (with Raymond Feist)

Not only does Steve appreciate, listen to, and promote filk music in his work, he’s willing to consider any songs written in his “Dies the Fire” universe for inclusion in the upcoming “Sunrise Lands” books. There’s even been some discussion of putting actual tunes in the backs of the books. Now THAT should make some filkers’ ears perk right up.

Steve is an amenable fellow who has had a longstanding friendship with GAFilk’s other filk-friendly author, Tanya Huff. We’re hoping to talk him into reading from some of his upcoming publications. We’re also very happy to welcome Steve’s wife Jan to GAFilk this year and we’re looking forward to a great time.