Toni Weisskopf is a science fiction editor, and in 2006, she took over as the publisher of Baen Books after the passing of founder Jim Baen. Over the years, she has edited a number of anthologies, and in 1994, she won the Phoenix Award for excellence in Science Fiction.

Aberrant Dreams: I understand you were introduced to science fiction by your father. Do you remember some of the titles of the ones you feel laid the foundation for your successful career?
Toni Weisskopf: My dad, the astrophysicist Martin Weisskopf, is and was a big Andre Norton fan, so I consumed dozens of her adventures once I discovered science fiction (and you will note Baen publishes a lot of Andre Norton!). I found...

Michael Swanwick is an American science fiction author. His novel, Stations of the Tide, won the Nebula for best novel, and several of his shorter works have won such awards as the World Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Hugo Award, to name but a few.

Aberrant Dreams: You have stated before that Jack Vance was quite an inspiration to you, and he is often compared to the legendary Clark Ashton Smith. Are you familiar with CAS and does he fit into the "Swanwick Equation"?
Michael Swanwick: I've read a great deal of Clark Ashton Smith's work and admire it greatly.  And of course his lost continent of Zothique was the inspiration for Jack Vance's...

Greg Bear is a science fiction and fantasy author who has published more than thirty books professionally. To date, he has won two Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards for his fiction and is one of two authors to win a Nebula in every category. He has the singular honor of being married to Astrid Anderson Bear, whose father was the renowned science fiction author Poul Anderson. His most recent novel,Quantico, is a near-future examination of law enforcement, politics, and terror both domestic and religious. With each successive book that he completes, he continually earns his place among the greats, both contemporary and golden age, of the speculative fiction community.

Aberrant Dreams: You published your first...

Throughout her career, Wendy Webb has authored short stories, novels, and stage plays, edited anthologies, written non-fiction articles, gift books, and audio plays. She is also a writing instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

When she is not traveling to distant corners of the world for disaster relief—or just plain fun—Wendy Webb spends most of her time at home. There she keeps busy with stage directing gigs at a theatre in North Carolina, attending professional chef classes in the North Georgia Mountains, and attending the many festivals and arts programs available in and around Atlanta.

Aberrant Dreams: You are a lady of many talents, having written plays, essays, children’s books, novels, and short stories. Of all the things you have done so far, for what piece of work would you like people to remember you?
Wendy Webb: Let me first...

Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. He is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aero-engineering research). He worked as a teacher of mathematics, physics and, for several years, in information technology. He has been a fulltime author since 1995.

Baxter is the author of over 30 books, all published in the U. S. and U. K., and several in Germany, Japan, France, and other countries. His nonfiction includes the books Deep Future andOmegatropic.

Baxter is the winner of both the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a multiple nominee for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. He has been nominated for the Hugo award numerous times and his novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate...

Gerald W. Page received his first impressions of science fiction from various radio shows and comic books, such as Buck Rogers and Space Patrol on the air, and Planet comics and Captain Marvel at the newsstands. But he notes that his first really important influence from the realms of science fiction came from the Mickey Mouse story, The World of Tomorrow, which was published in the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip in 1944.

His first science fiction story, The Happy Man, was published by Analog in 1963, and after a few years in the armed forces, Gerald’s career as a writer firmly took root. Since that time, Gerald W. Page has kept himself quite busy in the field. In 1969 he, together with...

On September 8, 2005, two of our very own, Ernest G. Saylor and Joseph W. Dickerson, managed to arrange an exclusive interview with Alastair Reynolds, who currently resides in the Netherlands. Mr. Reynolds is an accomplished and leading edge science fiction writer with six novels under his belt. Much of his work has been nominated for various awards; however, his novelChasm City won the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel, and his novel Redemption Ark won a Chronicle Award for Best Novel. His seventh novel,Pushing Ice, is due to be released in the U. K. in late October. Presented below is the transcript from that interview. You can find out more about him at his official...

Rob Shelsky attended Southwestern College, University of Victoria, and San Diego State University. The author has lived in Australia, as well as Canada, and America, and has traveled widely elsewhere, especially to Mexico, England, and Europe. Rob has written many articles on writing, including, Medieval Hamlets, Villages, Towns, and Cities, for The Internet Review of Science Fiction, numerous articles for Alien Skin Magazine, Neometropolis, and for other publications. England's Midnight Street Magazine has his article, Brave New World--Sci-Fi as Message, in its current issue.

The short story, Implosion, came out two years ago at Alien Skin Magazine. Gateway SF...

Todd Lyles grew up in Columbiana, Alabama, and has been drawing since elementary school. Throughout his school career, Todd drew...a lot. He has tons of old school notebooks and failed exams with drawings on the backs of them: D&D characters, video game landscapes, that sort of thing. Early on, he taught himself 3-point perspective after playing Xaxxon and Battlezone.

Later, Todd attended Indian Springs School in Helena, Alabama for high school and, based solely on a pamphlet and phone interview, went to Marlboro College in Vermont. It was there that he was finally able to dedicate himself more fully to art. He eventually graduated with a BA in Visual Arts in 1994.

After that, he returned to the...

Eugie Foster calls home a mildly-haunted, fey-infested house in Metro Atlanta that she shares with her husband, Matthew, and her pet skunk, Hobkin. After receiving her Master’s degree in Psychology, she retired from academia and became a corporate computer drone. When her company asked her to leave the phantoms and fairies in the south and return to the dead-cold lands of the Midwest, she said "no" and decided to try her hand at being a professional writer. She writes fiction that ranges from children's folktales to science fiction to erotic horror.

Eugie is an active member of the SFWA, winner of the Phobos Award, Managing Editor of Tangent, and Submissions Editor for The Town Drunk...