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As mentioned previously in this space, director Christopher Nolan had a Live Community Screening event last night via BD-Live, in which he fielded questions from fans about The Dark Knight.  When I checked in, the BD-Live network was much slower than my previous try, presumably due to heavy traffic, though I got very worried when I selected the event and it showed only two attendees!  No worries: there were plenty of questions to last the whole time.  While the movie was playing--in BD, because it was in high definition with the shifting aspect ratios--the questions and Nolan's responses appeared in text at the top.  Some directly addressed what was going on on-screen at the time, while others were more general about Nolan or the movie.  I found it annoying that we couldn't ask questions directly in the event: we had to submit them via computer or web-enabled phone.  Despite some pauses for technical (or biological) reasons, the event seemed to go well.  I collected a handful of questions and Nolan's responses (re-created to the best of my ability; there might be some errors or truncations) to give you a flavor of what it was like.  --David

• Do you write on software or type? c_nolan: I used to use a typewriter but now use screen writing software

• Were the Hong Kong scenes shot in Hong Kong? c_nolan: The interiors were shot in London, the lobby in Hong Kong

• Was the tanker plane real? c_nolan: It was a real plane, enhanced with computer graphics

• Who are your favorite directors? c_nolan: Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malik

• Are you your own worst critic? c_nolan: No, Rex Reed has that honor

• What was your favorite scene in the movie, either from a visual standpoint or an emotional one? c_nolan: The end of the film was always the most important for me…

• Did Christian Bale do all of his own fighting? c_nolan: Christian did all of his own fighting in the film. The suit gave him more mobility than in Batman Begins.

• Who thought up Alfred's military past? c_nolan: It was not in the script; it is something Michael came up with to explain his own character [though he later said his brother came up with the jungle anecdote].

• How involved are you with the BD creation? Would you film a scene knowing it might not make the final cut but would be an interesting extra on the DVD/BD? c_nolan: I am very involved with the home video versions of my films but believe that the theatrical cut should be authoritative.

• Do you draw your own storyboards? c_nolan: I do my own doodles, which I rarely if ever show to people. When I do storyboards, I hire professionals. But I prefer to go without story boards.

• Peanut butter: Crunchy or smooth? c_nolan:  Crunchy.

• Thank you for hiring Michael Anthony Hall! He is an excellent actor! c_nolan: It was a pleasure to work with Anthony Michael Hall. He is a talented actor. Thank you for the question, Anthony Michael Hall's mother.

It's Friday. It's LOLpet time.

see more puppies

--Spanno

Two series in similar formats have been vaguely mirroring each other for the past couple of years: Ivan Brunetti's An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories, now in its second volume, and The Best American Comics, now in its third volume. Both anthologies collect the best of North American comics and graphic novel excerpts. Brunetti's anthology does this by sifting through the last ten to twenty years (mostly) and publishing the idiosyncratic results. The Best American Comics, with guest editor Lynda Barry and new series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, provides a snapshot of the previous year in comics.

Thus, one can expect that Brunetti will provide a kind of "classic" experience, both wide and deep, while The Best American Comics is held hostage to the quality of the comics produced during the year under review. At the same time, though, BAC has the flexibility created by using a guest editor, meaning that the definition of what constitutes a great comic will change every year.

Some reviews of these volumes, and their predecessors, have misunderstood the nature of the respective projects, usually "siding" with the Brunetti. But the sampling process and the intent is so different that it's fairer to say that both projects accomplish admirably what they set out to do. What I find especially fascinating about these books is that they acknowledge without fanfare that it is important to both preserve the history of this artform and to catalog its rich variations going forward. Having both projects available to readers and academics from prominent publishers is an important step in the evolution and codification of an art form that is now often eclipsing movies and novels as the relevant form of storytelling in the 21st Century.

Both An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories and The Best American Comics make compelling holiday gifts, either separately or in tandem. The highlights of Brunetti's book include contributions by Richard Sala, Chris Ware, Robert Crumb, Renee French, and Art Spiegelman. The Best American Comics 2008 features Alison Bechdel, Matt Groenig, and Gene Luen Yang, among others. Barry's introduction is in the form of a comic, and is, like everything she does, brilliant.

If either volume has a limitation, it's that both ignore the superhero genre and other "commercial" material, along with a focus mostly on realism rather than surrealism or fantasy. (To be fair, BAC has a note indicating they tried to reprint a section from Paul Pope's Batman: Year 100, but could not get permission from DC.) I would also submit that someone needs to consider the herculean task of doing a Best Comics of the Year volume, including material from all over the world.

But, in the meantime, these two anthologies provide a fascinating glimpse into the vibrant, lively world of comics in North America.

The news arrived late today of the death at age 95 of Mark Felt, the former #2 man at the FBI who was revealed a few years ago to have been "Deep Throat," Bob Woodward's legendary source for his Watergate reporting. It's only fitting to link to the Washington Post obituary, co-credited to Woodward himself, although the New York Times obit is actually more enlightening. My tribute to Felt is actually more of a confession: a confession of what a complete Watergate nerd I am. (One measure of it: I'm apparently one of the few people who actually read The Secret Man, Woodward's quick-turnaround fill-in-the-blanks book about his relationship with Felt.) I've confessed it here before actually, but never to quite this extent.

Have you heard about those kids in Mississippi who were so obsessed with Raiders of the Lost Ark they spent seven years doing a shot-for-shot remake with their friends? (Want to get more meta? Scott Rudin is making a movie--scripted by Dan Clowes!--of those kids making their movie of the movie.) Well, I celebrated the unmasking of Deep Throat in 2005 by doing my own little remake: I dragged a couple of friends across D.C. and Northern Virginia to reenact some of my favorite scenes from that perfect little movie, All the President's Men. True, those kids spent seven years recreating every shot in the movie, while I just spent most of a day redoing a few stills. But they were children, which makes it all sweet and heroic, while I was a grown-up, home for my 20th high school reunion, which is closer to pathetic.

The catalyst for the whole escapade was that Woodward had finally revealed the true location of the parking garage where he met Deep Throat, which turns out to be right in downtown Rosslyn, Va., across the Potomac from D.C. So with an iconic shot of Hal Holbrooke in hand, we ventured over the Key Bridge for the photo I'll share with you today:

My Photoshop matching skills could use some work, but I can at least say that my friend Lee (thanks, Lee!), unlike Holbrooke,  was standing in the real garage... --Tom

P.S. What we didn't know was the actual parking spot where they met: Spot 32D, at least according to this obsessive site. But we were more interested in matching the movie still anyway, and doesn't everybody still think Deep Throat looked more like Hal Holbrooke than Mark Felt, with those funny, gigantic glasses, anyway?

The AMC Matador is a particular favorite of mine--I have both sung its praises and defended its honor from those who would impugn it.

After the most recent Matador post, reader Gary Thoreson dropped me an e-mail describing his Matador. It's the prettiest Matador I've ever seen, bar none, and the story behind the car is truly touching.

Here's Gary's story:

Submitted by Gary Thoreson

It was Feb. 19, 1999 in Abbotsford, B.C., and my Dad, Edwin Alberta Thoreson, became the proud owner of a 1974 Oleg Cassini Matador. The past owner, according to the transfer papers, was a man by the name of Henry Edge. The transfer papers had also stated the car was white in color. I believe this was the original color, but since then it had undergone a complete color change and was now green. The original gold vinyl top had been repainted white, but the front grille and base color for the hub caps were still gold--that didn't match too well with the green.

Although Dad received many offers to sell the car, he worked on it whenever he could and had visions of someday restoring the car. In 2003 Dad's legs weakened from age, making it very hard to get around, and after a serious fall the family decided to move him to a home where he could be taken care of. We brought him back to the house numerous times to check on the house, and his first concern was always checking on his old Matador. I remember him being very angry once when someone had stolen the rare "Oleg Cassini" emblems from the front fenders.

On Jan. 10 2005, Dad passed away peacefully, after joking with a nurse about where she was planning to put a flu shot. As the oldest son, and having seen the hidden beauty in the Matador that my Dad had seen, I decided to have the car moved to Calgary to try to make my Dad's dream come true. I am an Automotive teacher at Bishop Grandin High School in Calgary, which was convenient--I was able to utilize the school's resources and the student's help to work on the car.

The car was stripped and sent out for minor body repair and another complete color change. Both my Dad and I were lovers of blue cars, and so I decided to paint the bottom blue and leave the original vinyl top white. I later learned that this shade of blue was one of the original colors offered for Matadors in 1974. We removed the engine and rebuilt it in the school, we serviced the differential, and sent the transmission out for a rebuild.

When the car returned from the body shop, the underside was undercoated and drive line installed. We installed new carpets, reupholstered seats, and a new dash pad. To modernize the car and still keep it original the AM radio was left in the car, fully operational, and a hidden Pioneer deck was installed under the dash with subs and amp secured in the trunk. The "X Package" stripe kit was installed (it was still available from Sweden) and the final touch was gluing on the missing "Oleg Cassini" emblems purchased online.

After two years of hard work, Dad's dream had become a reality. We commemorated the moment by putting on a special front plate that states "BEWARE THE MATADOR--This one's for you, Dad."

The car has traveled to car shows all over Canada. She has seen rain storms, snow storms, and one major hail storm in Red Deer. Other than one other Matador at the Chestermere show, I have not seen another Matador, but one comment seems to come up often--"Hey look at this! A Matador! I haven’t seen one of these for years!" The funniest part is that most people have owned one.

The Matador wasn't as sporty as the Javelin; it was primarily a family car. For my family, it is just that. I go to most shows alone, but I feel that my Dad is with me for every mile we travel. I would like to thank my sisters, Linda and Lila, my brothers Larry and Danny, all the members of the AMCA, and all the contributors for all their donations and encouragement.

--Gary Thoreson

Taking up my Washington list from yesterday as a gauntlet I hadn't even realized I had thrown, State by State editor Matt Weiland sent me this note, putting my adopted home against the list he submitted a few weeks back for Minnesota:

Good list, pal. I can't resist going head-to-head... All winners selected with honor and without bias, selections based on Literary Value in general and Personal Significance in my life:

Carver WHERE I’M CALLING FROM v Lewis MAIN STREET: draw
Wolff THIS BOY’S LIFE v Fitzgerald GREAT GATSBY: Minnesota
McCarthy MEMOIRS OF A CATHOLIC GIRLHOOD v Rolvaag GIANTS IN THE EARTH: Washington
Burns BLACK HOLE v Powers COLLECTED STORIES: Washington
Larson FAR SIDE v Schulz PEANUTS: Minnesota
Herbert DUNE v Berryman DREAM SONGS: draw
Stephenson CRYPTONOMICON v Pirsig ZEN…: Washington
Hugo MAKING CERTAIN v Keillor WE ARE STILL MARRIED: Minnesota
Alexie ABSOLUTELY TRUE… v O’Brien THE THINGS…: Minnesota
Rule STRANGER v Dylan CHRONICLES: Minnesota
Bouton BALL FOUR v [no entry]: Washington

Final score: Washington 4, Minnesota 5

Victory! Not that I'm boasting...

Ah, even with that gimme at the end, what I thought was a solid Washington lineup went down hard. And the worst of it is I can't even complain about his judgments. Oh, you might get the refs to go the other way on Carver v. Lewis or Hugo v. Keillor, but that's nitpicking. My best chance would be an appeal to the board of governors arguing that Gatsby, the Great Long Island Novel, doesn't belong in Minnesota at all, which would free up one of my strongest grapplers, Toby Wolff, to fight a lesser foe.

Matt graciously suggested I try putting my list in chronological order, as his was, to see if I got better matchups, but all I'll say is, well, that made things worse (plus I got a headache trying to compare Ball Four to Giants in the Earth...). The end result is: I'm looking for somebody else to pick on, somebody my own size. Missouri, with its 11 votes, same as Washington? No way I'm taking on Mark Twain, The Wasteland, and The Corrections. Maybe Indiana... --Tom

Years ago, Sufjan Stevens vowed he would make a new Christmas album every year. The merry indie rocker kept his word and went on to release the first five volumes in one fabulous box set collection called Songs About Christmas. Although Sufjan reportedly has no plans to release his 2008 volume of songs, he has posted all kinds of interactive holiday fun to his web site. Go here to play Christmas dress-up with Sufjan, check out previously released tracks, and play a holiday-themed video game.   

Reinvigorate your own holiday spirit by singing along to Sufjan's “Put the Lights on the Tree”

Here's a salute to the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who passed away today at the age of 76.  The widow of Gene Roddenberry appeared on every incarnation of Star Trek, and if you don't think of her as Nurse Chapel from the original series, she's probably the "Voice of the Computer," which is what she recorded for the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie.  Read more at /film or watch the fan tribute below.  --David

Toy Whimsy is excited to welcome back Contributing Blogger Bree Norlander!  Here's her interesting way to make the Holidays more interesting (and green.) -- E. Christian Moore

By now I'm sure you've heard that traditional wrapping paper taxes the environment. Wrapping paper made from trees and adorned with dyes and metals is not recyclable nor forest-friendly. But if the gift recipients are anything like my daughter, they love to gaze dreamily at fancy packages until the moment arrives when they can find out what's inside. If old grocery sacks and Sunday comics don't fit the bill, I've come across just the thing: Furoshiki. Japan's Ministry of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, explains:

"I've created what you might call a "mottainai furoshiki". The Japanese word mottainai means it's a shame for something to go to waste without having made use of its potential in full. The furoshiki is made of a fiber manufactured from recycled PET bottles, and has a birds-and-flowers motif drawn by Itoh Jakuchu, a painter of the mid-Edo era.

"The Japanese wrapping cloth known as the furoshiki is said to have been first used in the Muromachi Period (1392-1573), when people spread it out in place of a bath mat or wrapped one's clothes with it.

"The furoshiki is so handy that you can wrap almost anything in it regardless of size or shape with a little ingenuity by simply folding it in a right way. It's much better than Plastic bags you receive at supermarkets or wrapping paper, since it's highly resistant, reusable and multipurpose. In fact, it's one of the symbols of traditional Japanese culture, and puts an accent on taking care of things and avoiding wastes.

"It would be wonderful if the furoshiki, as a symbol of traditional Japanese culture, could provide an opportunity for us to reconsider the possibilities of a sound-material cycle society. As my sincere wish, I would like to disseminate the culture of the furoshiki to the entire world."

The wrapping techniques are simple and fun. With this technique you are giving two gifts in one. Young children will delight in finding a gift wrapped in a play silk or a dress-up cape. Older children will appreciate the novelty of a gift wrapped in a scarf, bandana, or even a sporting team's flag. Children will retain their excitement in gazing at the beautifully wrapped gift, and you can appreciate the environmentally friendly wrapping. I know I'll be trying my hand at furoshiki this holiday season!

-Bree Norlander

It's December. Snow has turned downtown Seattle into a deserted winter wonderland, and those of us transplanted from cooler climbs are settling in for a day of reminiscing and storytelling.

There's something about the first snow fly that signals the official start of the holiday season and brings out the giddy five year old in me; and, there's something about feeling five that gives me permission to break out the paste and craft scissors.

This simple craft project requires nearly no supplies and is just as fun to make as a kid as an adult. Today, kids (young and old, alike), we'll be making pomanders. A 'pomander' is, essentially, something that you hang to make things smell nice. You can customize them simply and easily by changing up the ribbon or string you use to hang them, or using different fruits. An additional benefit: They make awesome gifts! You don't even have to wrap it, just slip it in a nice satchel and voila—instant wrapping.

Orange and Clove Pomander

Ingredients:

1 orange
Dried whole cloves
Decorative ribbon or string

Instructions:

1. When selecting an orange (or other fruit) try to find one that doesn't have a thick skin. Fruit where the skin and fruit are easily separated (e.g. clementines) are less desirable mostly for aesthetic reasons.

2. Wash off fruit.

3. Center your length of string at the top of the fruit, wrap around to the bottom, and then, crossing the strings to lock them, give the fruit a half turn and wrap the ribbon back up to the top of the fruit. Tie off.

4. Take a dried clove an press it, stem first, into the fruit—avoiding the ribbon, and puncturing the skin—until the bud is resting on the rind. Place the next clove close to the first and repeat.

5. Continue this process until the fruit is covered with cloves.

6. Spiff up your pomander with different ribbons, bows, and other accessories.

7. Hang and enjoy the scent of fresh citrus and clove.

Tips:

1. Place fresh fruit some place warm until it dries, then the pomander can continue to be used indefinitely. You can even toss one in your sock drawer to make it smell nice and keep moths away.

2. Experiment with different fruits for varying scents.

--Amanda Luthy

Are you having trouble getting enough dead cow in your life? Plus, are you at a loss for what to get for the man in your life this holiday season? Well now you can take care of both of those problems right at the very same time. If you thought the "Whopper Virgins" campaign from Burger King was laying it on thick, you ain't seen nothing yet. Hot ticket in today's news is that Burger King is now marketing a scent for men called Flame, and it smells like, wait for it...., flame-broiled burger. Are you asking, "What's BK thinkin?" Well, here's what they're thinking: "The WHOPPER sandwich is America's favorite burger. Flame by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat."  Ah, finally. The intersection of seduction and charred flesh. I knew we'd arrive sooner or later. If this doesn't top the list of stocking suffers, I don't know what does. And if it's not enough to look at the grimace-inducing print ad, or to smell the fragrance, you can hear a Barry-White-like voice layin on a little love and urging you to "Spray..." at BK's site, Fire Meets Desire.  Keep spraying. The romantic montage is worth it.

-- Sweet B

I don’t know about you, but it’s snowing outside my window, and the temperature is sliding down the thermometer at a rapid pace--which makes me want a grilled cheese at the least, and a gooey veggie-and-cheese panini if at all possible. The plus of the panini is that you can use one of the many handy panini makers out there (my favorite is the DeLonghi Retro Panini Grill, which I use constantly, no matter what season) and not even dirty up a pan. And, thanks to Tiffany Collins' new book, 200 Best Panini Recipes (Robert Rose), you can make many panini’s in a row without ever having the same one. The following recipe is taken from that book, and will take the edge off any chilly day (especially when paired with some tomato soup).

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/4 cup goat cheese, softened
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
4 slices sourdough bread (1/2-inch thick slices)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup slice drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat panini grill to high.

2. In a bowl, combine goat cheese, ricotta and Italian seasoning.

3. Brush one side of each slice of bread with oil. Place two slices on a work surface, oiled side down, and evenly layer with goat cheese mixture, spinach, tomatoes and Parmesan. Sprinkle with pepper. Cover with top halves, oiled side up, and press gently to pack.

4. Place sandwiches in grill, close the top plate and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Tips from Tiffany: Store spinach in a plastic bag and refrigerate for no more than 3 days. Spinach has a tendency to be gritty, so make sure to rinse it thoroughly before using. Thoroughly drain the sun-dried tomatoes to ensure that the bread doesn’t get soggy.

--A.J. Rathbun

Seattle is in the midst of a rare snow storm and my family is enjoying a rare snow day together.  There is music on, Christmas cookies and artisan bread are being concocted, and at some point, we are going to have to bundle up and head out into the snowy madness. (as a side note, I moved away from the midwest because I hated the winters but every now and then, snow is comforting and novel.  It would be better if Seattle had snow removal, but hey, we can deal with it for a few days...any more than that and I might go a little stir crazy and hike my way to the office. Anyone have some cross country skis I could borrow?)
So all this snow had me thinking of snow toys.  Everyone knows that a cardboard box makes a great sled (at least for a couple of hours) but there are some really creative toys for playing in the snow.

1. Sno-Paint Sno-Art Kit - This is a creative way to get your kids to spend some time outside on a snowy day.  You can mold the snow into fun shapes and then color them with the crayons. 

2. The Kettler Kid Tractor and Cat Snow Plow Attachment - Got a big driveway that needs to be shoveled quite a bit?  Well, but the little ones to work with this tractor and the snow plow attachment.

3. Flexible Flyer Snowball Maker and  the Snofling snow ball throwing stick - why just make a snow ball with your hands and then throw it when you can shape them perfectly with the snow ball maker and then fling them even further with the Snowfling?

4. Flexible Flyer Snow Block Maker - Snow fort building is made easier with this handy square mold.

5. Sevylor Inflatable Igloo Playcenter - You don't even need to build a fort when you have this Igloo in your backyard.

Along with all these toys, we have sleds of all types - whether you are old school or modern, we have tons of sleds to chose from.

Happy Snow Day, we're headed out to play!

Just a PS...We are in from playing and I have to say that the No-Snow Snuggler is just the best snow playing coat ever (it is mittens built into to an under-layer jacket that is just BRILLIANT!).  Check them out here- my daughter just played for a good hour and is VERY warm and dry. 

--Laura McMullan

Our love for Flight of the Conchords is well documented, so you can imagine how excited we were to discover that Funny or Die is streaming the first episode of their HBO show's second season two weeks before you can see it anywhere else. Head over here to watch it, or catch it embedded after the jump.

-- Jeff Reguilon

Maybe this post is a little premature since the inevitable "Best, worst, weirdest of 2008" are little more than a week and a half away, but here goes.

Now, I know that once a device gains a sufficient install base the sobering reality is that the flood gates open up to accessories galore. The iPod is of course iconic and the iPhone has certainly made its impact on the market this year and will only continue to pick up steam in 2009, but really, an iPod/iPhone breathalyzer? All accessories have their uses and most will seem, if only to their target audience, to have worth, but who is the target audience here? problem drinkers who are also loyal Apple customers? Granted, the iBreath also serves as a FM Tuner--hopefully not while driving under the influence--and although it is designed to draw power from a user's iPod or iPhone, it can be powered by an included 12-volt cigarette adapter, so the product is not necessarily attached to Apple. The real weird thing though is the advertising online seller davidsteele.com employs. According to their product page the iBreath is: "This season's must-have accessory, that celebrities are clamoring for," and "Makes a great gift." Yeah, kind of like a gym membership or a brand new scale for your wife is a great gift. Also, nothing addresses the seriousness of keeping it safe behind the wheel like a soundtrack full of beats. There's just a little too much fun in the video below, but then again Gizmodo seems to like it. No tongue and cheek at all here I'm sure. Anyway, if this somehow fits into the lifestyle of someone on your list, freedom from DUIs/roadway carnage, but with club beats are only $79 away.

--Tom Milnes

Holly Phillips burst onto the science fiction/fantasy scene with perfectly realized, emotionally complex short fiction. Now she has a new novel out from Del Rey, The Engine's Child. Library Journal said of the novel, "This richly complex tale...deftly encapsulates an entire culture's frictions and fractures in the loyalties of one young woman. Moth seeks to climb out of the Tidal slums where she'd been abandoned without betraying her Tidal friends, her secret mother, her lover, or her bond with the invisible powers of her world. Beneath the surface of a seemingly stable, if compressed, island civilization, connections and tensions link the Society of Doors, an outlaw organization looking to return to the heaven of the past; Lady Vashmarna's scientific idealists seeking to expand limited resources; a ruler clinging to the failing status quo, and the Tidal have-nots coping with an explosive brew of fear, faith, and rumor. Sharp-edged personalities and complicated personal relationship among the characters prevent Phillips's tale from degenerating into allegory. Her lush prose and dark fantasy cityscape will appeal to fans of China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and Sarah Monette's Melusine, but her manipulative, scarred, sexual, unapologetic antiheroine recalls Elizabeth Bear or Melissa Scott."

I've had the pleasure of meeting Phillips, who is thoughtful and witty, and whose writing style is lush in the best possible way. I interviewed her recently about The Engine's Child, her first book from a major publisher.

Amazon.com: This is your first novel, after a critically acclaimed short story collection. Do you have a preferred form? What challenges did you face in writing the novel?
Holly Phillips: Heh. It's actually my second novel, but I'm not surprised by the error. The Burning Girl (Prime Books, 2006) vanished pretty much without a trace, the sole exception being the cloud-chamber neutrino-blip of the British Fantasy Award (very) Long List. I can't complain, though, as BG was a very first-novelish sort of first (published) novel. I'm much happier with The Engine's Child, not least because I feel that this is the first novel I've written that really comes to grip with the long form. And it is my first big-market novel, published by Del Rey.

I do still write short fiction, though not as much as during the short story explosion that resulted in In The Palace of Repose. I think that if I were forced to choose between them, I would go with the long form; there's just so much more freedom to dig deep into characters and ideas. But I love short stories. They provide instant gratification, in the sense of one cookie now rather than a 500-page manuscript several months down the road, and they also give me a place to play, prime the pump of my imagination, try out new techniques, polish my craft... Maybe it's more like a bag of cookies now.

But it is hard to switch between the long and the short forms. Not that I've ever been good at writing short short stories, mind you. But I think the rough drafts of my novels tend to suffer from density and a lack of clarity, because I'm always trying to cram in all the detail and nuance I can into a small space--which might make for a richer short story, but it can get a little wearisome over the course of a novel. So my rewrites are usually about paring down and opening up, cutting away some of the underbrush and letting in the light.

Amazon.com: What was the most fun you had in writing the novel?
Holly Phillips: Definitely my main character, Moth. I went into the novel wanting more than anything to write an active character--someone who doesn't just respond to events, but sets them in motion -- so Moth is feisty, scheming, manipulative, reckless, and prone to wounded surprise when things blow up in her face. She's also been described as an "antiheroine," which to me points out the interesting convention in traditional fantasy, that it's the villain, not the hero, who usually gets to overturn the status quo. Moth is all about change--but I think she's one of the good guys, nevertheless. And boy, was she ever a joy to write.

Amazon.com: Could you describe your writing process--when, where, with what?
Holly Phillips: It seems to change with every project, but I always start with a lot of noodling in my notebooks. Some ideas suffer a slow evolution over the course of months, even years, but I think The Engine's Child was one of the faster ones. I spun out some basic ideas, sat down and wrote a hundred pages, decided it was all wrong and went back to the notebook in an effort to lose the cliches, and then finally blasted through the rough draft in about 10 weeks. So I mess around with pen and paper at the ideas stage, compose a rough draft on the computer (mostly my MacBook these days), print out and scribble copiously, revise on the computer...

I use a lot of paper because I find working with the physical manuscript--scribbling stuff out, doing boxes and arrows, writing in the margins--helps me keep track of what I'm doing over the course of the whole thing. I also write the odd scene in my notebook, usually when I'm working out one of the hard bits. And I mostly work in the morning to early afternoon. When I'm fully engaged with a novel project I might write 20 hours a week--say, 5 days/week at 4 hours/day--but I'm not a 2,000 words every day kind of writer. I have high output periods and fallow periods when I'm reading a lot and noodling various ideas.

Amazon.com: What most surprised you about reactions to the short story collection?
Holly Phillips: That it got any at all. Seriously, this was a collection of mostly original (i.e. frequently rejected) stories from a no-name writer. The peak of my ambition was to get a decent review in Publisher's Weekly, something I could build on for future novel submissions. I got that review and was happy, and then out of nowhere came all this attention, reviews and buzz and even award nominations. Whoa. Took me completely by surprise.

Amazon.com: Has your own perception of your work changed after having encountered reader reactions to it?
Holly Phillips: After the initial excitement (and I mean I was excited by just realizing that actual strangers, not related to me, were reading my work) it really messed with my head. I've always struggled in a very uncomfortable double-think mental space, where I've thought I'm (a) brilliant and (b) lousy pretty much simultaneously. So all the accolades--maybe especially because they were about stories that I was so over, downright sick of, by the time they were in print--drove me into this terrible place of second-guessing every writing decision I made. Basically, I had this idea that if people thought these stories were so great, and I knew that these stories were just my apprentice work, then everything I wrote from then on had to be absolutely brilliant.

In the long run (and I mean in 5 years) I might reap some benefit from that, since it made me think long and hard about what good writing means, about the effects I want to achieve and the techniques I need to develop to achieve them--but right now I'm still struggling to overcome this dreadful self-consciousness when I sit down to write something new. I call it the curse of ambition, because darn it, I really do want to be a good writer some day.

Amazon.com: Can you tell us something about the novel that might not be obvious from reading it?
Holly Phillips: Okay, I had to laugh. The maybe not obvious thing was that I thought I was writing a fairly traditional, conventional fantasy novel. In fact, I was really happy at the thought that *finally* I'd written something easy to categorize. Oh, sure, I tried to be literary in my approach, but I thought, you know, beautiful language and depth of characterization would be the icing on the cake. But then my agent started to get rejection comments like "too literary for our fantasy list and too fantasy for our literary list" and "gorgeous book, too unusual, don't see a place for it in our list," and I realized I had, once again, missed the mark. To be honest, I'm still not sure why The Engine's Child's not the fantasy novel next door--but then, I've always loved Gormenghast way, way more than Lord of the Rings, so what do I know?

Amazon.com: What are you currently working on?
Holly Phillips: I am working on a Canadian literary novel... Hmm. I'm working on a contemporary fantasy novel...uh...supernatural suspense novel... Anyway, it's called Magpie Keep and I don't know what it is yet. It's about twin brothers who grew up reading books and playing games of make-believe until the Big Trauma happened, and one brother went (apparently) crazy. Now they're all grown up and the sane twin has come home to the family farm in rural British Columbia, supposedly to take care of his brother while their caretaking mother is away in France. But he finds that his brother isn't conforming to his expectations of craziness, and then things start to get weird, and, you know, stuff happens.

So there are magpies, and a tuxedo cat named Steve, and I think it's going to be a terrific book, but I always do when I'm at the beginning of something. I can say that it surprised me a bit, how extremely happy I was to come back to the real-world slipstream end of things. Plus, a lot of it is about books and reading, imagination and creativity, which are subjects very dear to me for obvious reasons. And for the first time ever I'm setting my fiction in my native ground of the mountainous interior of British Columbia, so I'm loving playing this game of make-believe in a real place--especially since it's a place I miss, now that I've moved away. A homecoming, and a book about coming home.