March/April Blogs and Interviews

In which I provide a compendium of links to the guest blogs and interviews I did to promote the release of Eagle in Exile (on-sale date March 22, 2016), including Scalzi’s The Whatever, Mary Robinette’s My Favorite Bit, Tor.com, SF Signal, SFFWorld… Lots. Lots. Even more than this time last year, for Book One, Clash of Eagles. Growth is good.

2/17: SF Signal’s Mind Meld: The Secret Sauce of Alternate History. A dozen alt-hist authors, including moi, expound on what makes good alternate history, how we research and write, and which books we like.

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2016/02/mind-meld-secret-sauce-alternate-history/

2/22: I am interviewed by the great Paul Semel  about Eagle in Exile, research, what my coworkers at NASA think of all this, and… Romans in space?

Exclusive Interview: Eagle In Exile Author Alan Smale

3/15: What’s my favorite bit of Eagle in Exile? Mary Robinette Kowal knows…

My Favorite Bit: Alan Smale talks about EAGLE IN EXILE

3/18: My Dear Readers feature for Del Rey, featured on Suvudu.com. It’s all about maps. Because the map is the territory.

Dear Readers: A Letter from Alan Smale

3/17: Podcast: I am interviewed by The Week in Geek on Fox Sports 1280AM, down there at the Market of the Mud. I mean, New Orleans.

3/22: Podcast: I talk to the Functional Nerds about working for NASA, Eagle in Exile, singing high energy vocal music with The Chromatics, and much more:

Episode 267 – With Alan Smale

3/22: “Five Oddball Books about Time Travel by Brits”; my feature for Tor.com about those timey-wimey weirdos across the pond. Oh wait.

Five Oddball Time Travel Books Written by Brits

3/22: Here, I’m on John Scalzi’s “The Big Idea”, being more thoughtful than usual about the philosophy of What I Wrote. This turned out to be my vision statement for the whole trilogy. (But no real spoilers.)

The Big Idea: Alan Smale

3/31: In which I am interviewed by Sally Janin of The Qwillery about Eagle in Exile, my characters, the publishing biz, and dining with the dead. We had a lot of fun with this one.

http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2016/03/interview-with-alan-smale-author-of-the.html

4/1: Interviewed by Lauren Samer of Inverse about concepts and characters, inspiration, TV, and my writing-future.

https://www.inverse.com/article/13541-alan-smale-prefers-alternative-history-asking-the-prophet.

4/1: I talk with Andrea Johnson of SF Signal about short fiction vs. long, maps, The Chromatics, and the engines that will take us to Mars. “History is Cool!”

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2016/04/history-is-cool-an-interview-with-alan-smale-author-of-eagle-in-exile/

4/6: On the Campaign for the American Reader, I take the Page 69 Challenge. As with Book One, it’s surprising how pivotal Page 69 is in Eagle in Exile.

http://page69test.blogspot.com/2016/04/eagle-in-exile.html

4/13: And to round out this baker’s dozen of promo, I am interviewed by Matt Mitrovich of SFFWorld about Eagle in Exile, flying, great historical walls, and whether what-if writers can really enjoy the Superbowl.

Interview with Alan Smale

Woo-hoo! That was quite a Book Release Month…!

Sound and Vision 1 – Podcasts and TV

In which I provide links to two podcasts and a TV interview – with Fictional Frontiers, Scientific American, and Fast Forward TV respectively.

I doubt you’ve ever wondered what I look and sound like when discussing ancient Rome and ancient America, but, if you had, here are some links that would help you. My fun podcast interview with Sobaib Awan of Fictional Frontiers can be found at:

http://www.fictionalfrontiers.podcastpeople.com/posts/60295

Next up, I was interviewed by Steve Mirsky of Scientific American’s Science Talk for a podcast entitled “Mississippi Mound Builders Meet the 33rd Legion”, and this you can find at:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/mississippi-mound-builders-meet-the-33rd-legion/

Last but definitely not least, the good folks at Fast Forward TV interviewed me on camera as part of their excellent long-running series of interviews of science fiction and fantasy writers. Find me and many even more famous people on the main Fast Forward TV board, or jump straight to my interview on YouTube at the links below:

http://www.fast-forward.tv/ff-interviews-gallery

Thanks go to interviewer Tom Schaad and all the production team, but especially Mike Zipser and Kathi Overton, for this one.

I certainly had a great time giving these interviews. Hope you enjoy them too!

 

March Guest Blogs – A List

In which I provide links to the ten guest blogs and interviews I did on Other People’s Sites in March, including Paste Magazine, Tor.com, Suvudu, SFFWorld, MaryRobinetteKowal.com, Eating Authors, The Qwillery, and 2 Book Lovers. Wow. March was quite a month.

3/15: On 2 Book Lovers Reviews, In honor of the Ides of March, I and three other writers debate whether there’s better fodder for writing Roman fiction before or after Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon:

http://www.2bookloversreviews.com/ides-of-march-2015.html

3/16: Eating Authors: As part of his long-running series about writers and food, I describe my most memorable meal to Lawrence Schoen:

Eating Authors: Alan Smale

3/17: Dear Readers: On Del Rey’s Suvudu.com site I talk about my thoughts on the eve of Book Launch Day:

http://suvudu.com/2015/03/dear-readers-a-letter-from-alan-smale.html

3/17: My Favorite Bit: On Mary Robinette Kowal’s site, I describe my favorite bit in CLASH OF EAGLES (contains mild spoilers):

http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit-alan-smale-talks-about-clash-of-eagles/

3/17: SFFWORLD interviews me about my hero Gaius Marcellinus, research, alternate history in general, and writing this book in particular:

Alan Smale Interview

3/17: Decline and Rise Part One: In CLASH OF EAGLES the Roman Empire never fell. How? Why? In a guest essay on Suvudu.com, I argue that the Decline and Fall was by no means inevitable…

http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2015/03/guest-essayalan-smale-author-clash-of-eagles.html

3/20: Decline and Rise Part Two: The second part of my essay on why the western Roman Empire did not need to fall:

http://suvudu.com/2015/03/guest-essay-alan-smale-author-clash-of-eagles-part-two-of-two.html

3/20: I am interviewed on The Qwillery as part of the 2015 Debut Author Challenge:

http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2015/03/interview-with-alan-smale-author-of.html

3/25: Five Books that Twist History till it Begs for Mercy on Tor.com:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/03/five-books-that-twist-history-until-it-begs-for-mercy

3/31: Paste Magazine: Another interview? With moi

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/03/alan-smale-imagines-a-roman-invasion-of-north-amer.html

In closing, Paste Magazine was also nice enough to select CLASH as one of its “Ten of the Best New Books in March”. I confess I never in my life imagined my name would ever appear on a list that also included Kazuo Ishiguro and T.C. Boyle. That can’t be right…

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/03/10-of-the-best-new-books-in-march.html