Ep47 Interview with Kirk A. Johnson

Oliver has a great time talking with Kirk A. Johnson about his new sword & soul story collection, The Obanaax and Other Tales of Heroes and Horrors.

We cover the afternoon movies which helped form Kirk's idea of what heroes should be, his own first collision with Conan and Frazetta, why martial arts films were such a big thing in the black community back in the day, is Robin Hood S&S?, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser in The Wire, the film Thief remade as S&S, S&S and the hard boiled crime genre, periods of great economic strife being ripe for S&S, the folly of trying to write a story that "isn't political", Kirk's first short fiction sale (to Milton Davis' firs Griots anthology) and his journey developing as a writer, Charles Saunder's Imaro, his first rejection and the importance of the feedback given within, what he's proudest of in how his craft has evolved since his first publication, Kirk's approach to using violence in his stories and necessary limits with gore, MONDO VIDEO, sword & sorcery as a genre of the body, "The Big Book of Sword & Sorcery Farts", a key scene in The Northman, Kirk's attitude on when to speak more plainly and when to turn the prose a brighter shade of purple, working people from life into your out there fantasy genre tales, the joys of being published with or having your work shared by authors you admire, the real life African cultures Kirk drew from in his worldbuilding, mixing invented language in with real ones, Jack Vance's "The Dragon Masters" and the importance of using context to help your reader absorb invented language without needing to check a glossary, the journey of writing his new book, "Spear & Fang", the animated series "Primal', Kirk's experience so far with self-publishing, tells us about BookBaby, self-promotion and how it can be difficult to ask people for help, contributing to the tradition of sword and sorcery, the importance of diverse representation in all media, how the art available to you - all of you/us - is so much wider and more colorful than we sometimes realize, realizing the demographic who enjoys something is much wider than you thought - or that gatekeepers are willing to acknowledge, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Black Panther, Korean Historical Dramas like Age of Heroes, Fela Kuti and "wonderfulment", Shaft and Blaxploitation in general, remixing Shakespeare and which Blaxploitation movie is the most Shakespearean, and more!

Buy the book!
Far Afield Press' site (on Facebook, and on Instagram)
Kirk on Twitter
The State of Black Science Fiction-NYC, a group Kirk is a member of which you too may wish to join.
Beef, Wine and Shenanigans - a fun podcast Kirk co-hosts!

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