Sean
asked
Jeff VanderMeer:
Even though they are very different books, I felt like your books have a lot in common with "House of Leaves" (the whole Lovecraftian uncertainty, the focus on protagonists who aren't fully aware of the world they're interacting with) and I just wondered if "Leaves" happened to be a book that influenced your thinking or if it's just serendipitous reading on my part.
Jeff VanderMeer
I love House of Leaves, but House of Leaves uses techniques and approaches and ideas that come from a host of other weird fiction written long before it. My influences and my point of view were set long before House of Leaves came out--I'd been a published writer for over a decade before that. So, I love the book but except for the stairs into nowhere in that one footnote, I don't think there's any real influence.
More Answered Questions
Luis Gallardo
asked
Jeff VanderMeer:
Hi. While I myself like to read your work in English, I find that I'm mostly unable to recommend it to all the people I would like to since most of my friends read only in Spanish. Given that the Southern Reach trilogy has been translated, are there any plans to translate the Ambergris books into Spanish in the near future?
Cristina
asked
Jeff VanderMeer:
One of the most difficult things, in my opinion, while writing a story is to give every character a distinctive voice. Often times all the characters sound almost the same. I thought that in "Shriek: An Afterword" (a wonderful book that I cherish) you create a fantastic setting to differenciate Janice and Ducan. In any given story, how do you make sure each character has a trademark voice?
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