Wonderbook: Thanking the Contributors

In recent weeks, my Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction has won the British SF Association's award for nonfiction and been named a finalist for the Hugo Award and the Locus Award. Congrats also to the main art contributor, Jeremy Zerfoss, for being up for a Hugo with me for Wonderbook. A special shout-out to main text consultant, Matthew Cheney, too, and my wife Ann, whose help was amazing on this project. As well as Luis Rodrigues who designed the website and Gregory Bossert who created the trailer.It's been incredibly rewarding to see such great reader reaction to the book--it's being taught at more and more universities, including Brown. I'll be using it as a text to teach from at Yale, Shared Worlds (teen writing camp), and the Clarion workshop this summer, too. Thanks to readers for making this a title that's been hard for booksellers to keep in stock--and for engaging with the book's sense of humor in such a marvelous way. I've also been pleased with how much Wonderbook has caught on as a general creativity guide outside of creative writing, and as a source of inspiration across media.The main purpose of this post is to thank the dozens and dozens of text and art contributors to Wonderbook from all over the world. You're the ones who help make Wonderbook work for so many readers, and also make it a reflection of the richness and depth of science fiction and fantasy, not just the reflection of one person's perspective. So thank you--I've name-checked you below. Those readers who haven't encountered some of these writers before, I endorse them all whole-heartedly. You should seek them out.The accompanying Wonderbook website has a ton of content, too, all of which went up at the same time the book was published last October.MAIN TEXT CONTRIBUTORSThe main text, written by me, is about 90,000 words. The Appendix includes features on LARP and Games in the context of fiction by Karin Tidbeck and Will Hindmarch respectively, in addition to a 7,000-word exclusive interview on craft with George R. R. Martin.Here’s the full list of writers who have short essays (sidebar articles and spotlight features) interwoven into the layout. Most are original to Wonderbook.Joe AbercrombieLauren BeukesDesirina BoskovichMatthew CheneyDavid Anthony DurhamRikki DurcornetScott EagleKaren Joy FowlerNeil GaimanLev GrossmanUrsula K. Le GuinStant LitoreKaren LordNick MamatasNnedi OkoraforKim Stanley RobinsonPeter StraubCatherynne M. ValenteCharles YuI also conducted a lot of interviews for Wonderbook, and also used some material from interviews I’d done for other venues and quotes from conversations with writers who saw various parts of Wonderbook in a beta version. One advantage of the longish gestation period for the project is that I could discuss sections with various people and then change the text if I thought something had been left out or could be better expressed.So within the book you’ll find wisdom and experience from the following writers, listed below. Some interviews for the book, like ones with James Patrick Kelly, Stant Litore, and Leena Krohn, appear exclusively on the (in progress) Wonderbook website. (I also made use, with permission, of substantial material from lectures by Karin Lowachee, Nick Mamatas, and Ekaterina Sedia.)If someone has an asterisk by their name, Wonderbook interview Q&A that didn’t make the book is on or will probably be posted to the website.Tobias S. BuckellMatthew CheneyJohn ChuJohn Crowley*David Anthony Durham*Matt DenaultJunot DíazBrian Evenson*Jeffrey Ford*Lisa L. HannettWill HindmarchJennifer HsyuStephen Graham Jones*Caitlin R. Kiernan*David MaddenMichael MoorcockIan R. MacLeod*Kate MaruyamaCassandra N. RailseaThomas Ligotti*Johanna Sinisalo*Vandana Singh*Catherynne M. ValenteKali WallaceCharles Yu*In addition, many writers’ work is quoted from, including that of Amos Tutuola, Brian Evenson, Elizabeth Hand, Greer Gilman, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Lisa Tuttle, Premendra Mitra, and Lewis Carroll.DISRUPTION DRAGONSBasically, after there was a rough draft of the entire book in a near-final layout, I sent a PDF to various writers and asked them to create a “yes, but” statement for sections where they thought additional interrogation was needed or where they disagreed with the text in some way. This, to me, begins the necessary process for readers of thinking about what’s being read and reacting to it, not simply accepting what is put in front of them. So you’ll find very wise and useful Disruption Dragons in the page margins from:Nathan Ballingrud (x2)Kelly BarnhillMatt BellDesirina BoskovichAmal El-MohtarKij Johnson (x2)Brian Francis SlatterySofia SamatarKarin TidbeckREVISION LIZARDSFor the revision chapter, I thought I’d ask some writers about their specific experiences revising a particular novel. The results are capture on two pages of somewhat whimsical Revision Snakes, with their eyes showing the number of revisions. You’ll find accounts from:Daniel AbrahamAliette de BodardTobias S. BuckellJesse BullingtonJim HinesSimon IngsStephen Graham JonesRichard KadreyNicole Korner-StaceKarin LowacheeIan R. MacLeodJ.M. McDermittNene OrmesT. A. PrattKristine Kathryn RuschPatrick RothfussSofia SamatarPamela SargentDelia ShermanPeter StraubJeffrey ThomasLisa TuttleCarrie Vaughn***In addition to Jeremy Zerfoss’s original art and diagrams (about 150 individual pieces) and author photos for sidebar essays, the following artists and photographers are represented in Wonderbook. Many have multiple pieces in Wonderbook. If someone known only for their writing is listed, I’ve put the nature of their artistic contribution in brackets. If the art was commissioned specifically for Wonderbook, I’ve put an asterisk by the name. The artists are primarily from North America and the U.K., but also France, Finland, Spain, Serbia, and Poland, among others.ARTNinni Aalto*Joe Abercrombie [map]Hawk AlfredsonAeron AlfreyMo AliKristen AlvansonGregory Bossert*Michael Cisco [diagram]*R. S. ConnettMolly CrabappleJohn CoulthartJohn Crowley [writer’s journey diagram]*Leo and Diane DillonRikki Ducornet*Scott EagleStephen FabianJ.J. GrandvilleRichard A. KirkStant Litore [diagram]*Tomasz MaronskiIan MillerNnedi Okorafor [art/novel structure]Victo NgaiMatthew Revert*Óscar SanmartínEric SchallerDave SeniorWard ShelleyIvica Stevanovic*Ben TemplesmithJason ThompsonBen TolmanSam Van Olffen*Charles VessMyrtle Von Damitz III*PHOTOGRAPHYKyle Cassidy*Patrick ErikssonLeila GhobrilTessa Kum*Angel RodriguezJorge RoyanPaul D. StewartHenry SöderlundMariana Tavares*Ann VanderMeer*Robert K. VanderMeer*Corrie White