Author Jeff VanderMeer

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, guest host Jordan Morris talks to Jeff VanderMeer about what inspires his writing.The NY Times Best-Selling author has a new book out that is a sort diversion from his norm. It's targeted toward a younger audience but keeps all of the wonder and fun of his previous works. His 2014 novel, "Annihilation" won the Nebula award and was turned into a 2018 film of the same name. Jordan chats with Jeff about how his writing process has evolved, what it's like collaborating on projects after being self-published and what it's like doing a book tour from home. Plus, we'll ask him about how his parents shaped the way he looks at the world.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:10.9	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Ford.
0:22.2	Jeff Vandermeer is a novelist and I think if I could sum up his works in a word, the word
0:27.1	might be Lush.
0:29.0	His books are usually surreal, sometimes scary, often he transforms nature itself, creating
0:34.7	new species, new histories, new mutations with visceral, sometimes magical descriptions.
0:40.8	If you know his work, you're probably most familiar with annihilation.
0:45.0	Part science fiction, part magic, realism, part horror, it's set in a wildlife refuge
0:50.3	in Northern Florida.
0:51.8	An alien presence has landed.
0:54.3	As it settles into the land, it creates profound disturbing changes in the plants, animals,
0:59.6	and humans that enter the territory.
1:02.0	He published the book in 2014.
1:04.1	Four years later, it was turned into the movie of the same name, directed by Alex Garland
1:08.4	and starring Natalie Portman and Gina Rodriguez.
1:11.6	His latest book is called A Peculiar Paral.
1:14.7	Like a lot of his work, it's fantastical and strange and kind of absurd.
1:18.0	It's also very funny.
1:19.9	Fans of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett or even Douglas Adams will feel at home with it.
1:24.3	Maybe that's you, maybe that's a young reader you know, it's definitely a book teenagers
1:27.7	can read as well.
1:28.7	Anyway, my friend Jordan Morris was lucky enough to get to interview him.
	...

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