Fringe Fiction Unlimited discussion

Lately I've struggled through some Science Fiction books that didn't grab me right away, either because the character wasn't immediately appealing or the setting and tech was too dense to get into easily. Hollow World was clear right from the start and continued on in an H.G. Wells type of time travel story that became emotional and thought provoking as well. Here's my review.

Michael is an interesting example of Fringe Fiction. He tried traditional publishing for ten years, quit writing after nothing sold, then published his first book through a small press, indie published that and the next five books, then sold a nice deal to Orbit for the series and final book. This book didn't go to Orbit, mostly because it is Scifi and they didn't know what kind of audience it would have, but did get sold on a print only deal to Tachyon Publications (if you buy the print, they'll give you the ebook). Michael retained his ebook rights and has some clever plans on maximizing that option, including releasing a version with no swear words.

Just interesting all around. If anyone ends up reading this and wants to ask him a question, he's on my podcast, as well as everywhere else on the internet ;).

I read it a few weeks ago, and pretty much liked it—not so much for the SF as for the deeply human themes it tackled, in fact. And Pax was such a beautiful character, too.