Jayme Lynn Blaschke

Bison Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, is best known for reprinting lost or obscure science fiction and fantasy classics in their Frontiers of Imagination series. Their catalog includes long out of print works such as Gulliver of Mars by Edwin L. Arnold, Beyond Thirty by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Gladiator by Philip Wylie, The War in the Air by H. G. Wells and more. The books all feature introductions and/or afterwards by contemporary fantastical writers often with poor design and amateurish cover art.

Jayme Lynn Blaschke's Voices of Vision is an unusual addition to this line. Not only is this collection of Blaschke's interviews with contemporary science fiction and comic book professionals produced and marketed in of a line of fiction titles, but the design is above Bison's usual standards and while the cover image is disturbing and possibly inappropriate, it is well executed.

The book is divided into four sections: Vaster Than Empires, And More Slow: The Editors; A Source of Innocent Merriment: The Unique Voices in Speculative Fiction; World's Finest Comics: The Comic Book Creators; and I Am Legend: Masters of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Subjects include Gardner Dozois, Stanley Schmidt, Gordon Van Gelder, Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm), Charles de Lint, Elizabeth Moon, Neil Gaiman, Samuel R. Delany, Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, Jack Williamson, and others. The interviews run from seven to ten pages and originally appeared in a variety of publications including Interzone, The Science Fiction Chronicle, Black Gate, Sf Site, and Green Man Review.

Each interview is preceded by a brief introduction from Blaschke. The interviews often have unique quirks and associated stories associated. In these pieces Blaschke, laments the inherent problems with email interviews, mentions his love of the comic book character Green Arrow, and chronicles Harlan Ellison's generosity. His forewords offer a glimpse into the role of an interviewer in relation to the subject and eventual publication.

The single biggest flaw in Voices of Vision is the lack of a general introduction that would create a cohesiveness to the individual segments of the book. Who is Jayme Lynn Blaschke and why does he get access to all these cool people? The answers become apparent in his brief introductions before each piece, but an overall essay discussing these points would have been nice. Also, if Blaschke knows all these famous/talented people, why couldn't the publisher or writer find someone else to pen an introductory essay?

The other problem is with the interviews themselves. The quality of the interviews is uniformally excellent. Blaschke asks intelligent questions and receives interesting answers, which are edited nicely for maximum impact while keeping the distinct personality of the speaker. The flaw is in the timing of the interview. Some of these were conducted over a decade ago, so elements of the information discussed has changed. For example, Gardner Dozois said in his 1997 interview: “I'll stay [at Isaac Asimov's Magazine] as long as they want me.” He resigned as editor In 2004. There are little things like that throughout. The original interviews should stand unchanged as historical artifacts, but a brief essay after each interview or perhaps updating some facts would have been appreciated.… (mehr)