This week, in celebration of her upcoming Grand Master Award at the Nebulas, we travel back to 1998, with sci-fi novelist Connie Willis. Willis, who is the author of several award-winning novels, most recently Blackout and All Clear, tells us below what inspired her to write To Say Nothing of The Dog, one of her earliest and most celebrated works.

“When I was thirteen I read Robert A. Heinlein’s Have Space Suit, Will Travel, a science-fiction novel about a kid named Kip Russell who has a spaceship land on him and carry him and a little-girl genius named Peewee off on a wild adventure to the Moon, Pluto, the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, and parts west. So what does that have to do with To Say Nothing of the Dog, my time-travel novel set in Victorian England and a future Oxford?

Everything. Have Space Suit, Will Travel was where I first encountered Jerome K. Jerome’s comedy classic, Three Men in a Boat, the full title of which is Three Men in a Boat, To Say Nothing of the Dog. In the very first chapter of Have Space Suit, Kip is trying to talk his dad into letting him go to the Moon, and his father is paying no attention because he is reading the pineapple tin scene, so as soon as I’d finished reading Have Space Suit, I went to the library and checked out Three Men in a Boat. And fell absolutely in love with J, George, Harris, and of course, Montmorency the dog, who is in many ways the most intelligent and definitely the most sensible member of the group that sets off on a summer holiday rowing up the Thames.

I’d never encountered a book like it before, a story which had no plot, but you didn’t care because you were having such a good time getting lost in the Hampton Court Maze and battling swans and trying to open a pineapple tin without a can opener (with predictably disastrous results.) You didn’t care because you were too busy listening to J talk about the perils of packing and seasickness and taking a cheese home with you on a train. It, like Have Space Suit, instantly became one of my favorite books, and I’m still in love with it.

I was already in love with the Thames and Oxford through Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, and in love with England through everything else I’d read, from E.M. Forster to Agatha Christie and especially the Victorian writers–Dickens and Trollope and Charles Kingsley and Wilkie Collins.

I love the Victorian era, with its vicars and parasols and pussycats and potted palms and butlers and séances, and I adore the Victorians. They’re just so funny–so worried about appearances and so certain of all sorts of things that aren’t true, so clearly out of their depth and yet so deadly serious, like children playing at dress-up in their parents’ clothes.

They discovered evolution and wrote some of the greatest children’s literature ever and produced some of the most hideous art in the history of mankind–clawfooted furniture with rosettes and garlands and cherubs, and sculptures of Leda Fending off the Swan and stags at bay, and statuary incorporating scientists, knights in shining armor, eagles, beetles, lions, Biblical scenes, assorted foliage, Greek columns, castles, and elephants. (If you don’t believe me, go look at the chapel at Windsor Castle. Or the Albert Memorial. Legend has it that during World War II Londoners put up giant arrows directing the Luftwaffe to the Albert Memorial in the hope they’d bomb it to smithereens.)

The Victorians remind me a lot of us. And their time reminds me a lot of ours. People tend to think of the Victorian Age as calm and settled and boring–tea parties on the lawn, chambermaids, croquet–but in reality, their time was as unsettled and upsetting as ours. The Industrial Revolution was rampaging through their lives, and they had all sorts of strange new technologies-new trains and aniline dyes and telegraph lines–to contend with. Just like us.

No wonder I wanted to write about them. And about the three men in a boat (who I’d always hoped I would meet), and about a hapless hero a little like Kip and a girl a little like Peewee who’s more than a match for him. And about butlers and tea parties and boating on the Thames and croquet and jumble sales and swans and séances and appalling Victorian art. To say nothing of the dog.

I hope you have as much fun reading To Say Nothing of the Dog as I had writing it.”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our Twitter maven, Sarah Peed: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG, available now wherever books are sold.

TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG by Connie Willis, Excerpt

This week we enter a savagely terrifying arena in THE GAMES. Ted Kosmatka has created a world in which genetic mutations fight to the death, bringing fame and fortune to the scientists (and countries) who created them. But as with most scientific experimentations linked to power and recognition, someone goes to far. This exciting debut is a page-turner you don’t want to miss, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s DRS editor Mike Braff:

“We all know about the science of sport: advances in the technology of sport that enable athletes to compete at a higher level, made possible by scientific invention and experimentation. But what about the sport of science? What would happen if science were turned into a competition on the national scale?

This is the opening premise of Ted Kosmatka’s awesome debut, The Games. Set in a near future where extreme advances in genetic engineering and artificial intelligence have led to the creation of the Gladiator event, in which national teams pit their genetically engineered monstrosities against one-another in fights to the death. Barbaric, yes, but (as many in this fictional world would argue) the advances made by scientists involved in the Gladiator event are applied to health, agriculture, and a myriad other areas of human life.

But for the US team in The Games, the new gladiator is an anomaly. Instead of being pieced together from animal DNA, this particular organism was created from scratch: its very DNA was pieced together, nucleotide-by-nucleotide, by the most advanced supercomputer in order to create the ultimate warrior, one that would survive the competition by any means. As program director Dr. Silas Williams and xenobiologist Dr. Vidonia Joao race to figure out just what they are dealing with, the monster is growing at an alarming rate and showing worrisome signs of intelligence, enormous physical strength, and (worst of all) malice.

With frenetic action and inventive science, The Games is an absolutely stunning debut, and well worth a read: check out the first fifty pages for yourself!”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of THE GAMES, on sale March 13th!

THE GAMES by Ted Kosmatka

THE RUINED CITY is the highly anticipated second book in Paula Brandon’s Veiled Isles Trilogy. With an eclectic mix of magic, zombies, and romance, this series offers something for everyone, and the latest installment does not disappoint. DRS editor Anne Groell shares her own thoughts and a few rave reviews below:

“When I spoke to you last fall about Paula Brandon’s debut novel, THE TRAITOR’S DAUGHTER, I raved about how much I loved this book and this series—and none of that has changed. The second novel in the trilogy, THE RUINED CITY, is just as wonderful as the first, filled with humor, romance, and delicious moral complexity. But this time, instead of just listening to me rave, I thought it might be nice to show what the critics had to say.

How about: “Brandon’s debut, the first in a projected trilogy, is an impressively imaginative epic disguised as an unassuming romantic fantasy…While the revolutionary and romantic threads are engaging, it is Brandon’s multilayered narrative that makes this novel such an immersive reading experience. Rich world-building, relentless pacing, and some tantalizing subplots suggest that Brandon is an author to watch.” (Publishers Weekly on The Traitor’s Daughter)

Or: “This trilogy opener, with its lush backgrounds and detailed society, should appeal to fans of Jacqueline Carey and Melanie Rawn.” (Library Journal) And: “Readers who like epic, intrigue-filled fantasy, such as George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series…should enjoy Brandon’s.” (Booklist)

And, for THE RUINED CITY, Publishers Weekly adds: “[An] ambitiously creative story…Brandon’s character development is exceptional, as is her ability to interweave numerous story lines into a briskly paced narrative…Fantasy and romance fans looking for something unusual will find this amalgamation wildly entertaining.”

High praise and great company, indeed—and amply deserved. If you haven’t dipped in yet, I hope you will. I know you will enjoy it!”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of THE RUINED CITY by Paula Brandon, on sale February 28th!

THE RUINED CITY by Paula Brandon, Excerpt

For this week’s excerpt, we’ve cooked up something special. STAR WARS: RED HARVEST is centered around Hestizo Trace, a Jedi with a gift for plants. But little does she know that a rare plant she’s cultivating will be the last ingredient to a deadly virus that not only kills its victims, but reanimates them once they’re dead! Del Rey Spectra editor, Shelly Shapiro tells us more about Schreiber’s latest, terrifying Star Wars tale.

“Scary Star Wars? Well, why not? Darth Vader was pretty scary all by himself. And so many of us loved DEATH TROOPERS, so doing another Star Wars “horror” novel felt like a no-brainer. Joe Schreiber is an expert at scaring the pants off his readers, and once he proved he could do the same in the Star Wars universe, we asked him to do it again. This time, though, we decided to go in a slightly different direction. Instead of a story of zombies, desperate heroes and no Force users, we thought it would be fun to see how the zombie infection might affect Force users–from both the light and dark sides. That’s how RED HARVEST came about: a tale set in the long-ago days of the Old Republic, where Sith and Jedi both existed in relative abundance, trained in their separate academys, and kept the light vs. dark fight alive. Only now a plague has been unleashed among the students at a bastion of Sith learning, at the same time that the local dark lord’s insane ambitions bring an unsuspecting Jedi into the mix… If you like zombies, Jedi heroism against the odds, and Sith power set on having it all, grab a copy of STAR WARS:RED HARVEST, by Joe Schreiber.”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of STAR WARS: RED HARVEST, now in paperback!

STAR WARS: RED HARVEST by Joe Schreiber, Excerpt

This week’s excerpt comes from the latest installment of the Mass Effect series based on the BioWare video game of the same name. MASS EFFECT: DECEPTION brings back all your favorite characters from the game and series in an all new adventure where the universe is once again under attack by the Reapers.

The author had a blast writing this novel. As a long-time fan of the game, William Dietz was very excited when the opportunity to become an official part of the series presented itself. But let’s hear directly from him:

“One of the things that makes the MASS EFFECT universe so special is that it’s fully imagined. So when I was given the opportunity to write a MASS EFFECT novel I knew I would have more than a dozen different races, hundreds of planets, and a rich history to work with. And a ready-made cast too. Characters like David Anderson, Kahlee Sanders, Gillian Grayson, the Illusive Man, Kai Leng, and Aria T’Loak. Each of whom plays an important role in the struggle between good and evil that makes the MASS EFFECT universe so compelling. What more could an author ask for?”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of MASS EFFECT: DECEPTION, on sale January 31!

MASS EFFECT: DECEPTION by William C. Dietz, Excerpt

Today is the first of a few throwback weeks here on the 50 Page Fridays front, where we will examine a title from the rich Del Rey Spectra back catalogue. This week we’re offering a nice chunk of Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold!, the first book in Terry Brooks’s awesome Landover series.

So let’s get right to it. Here’s editor Betsy Mitchell:

“When the annual holiday gift catalogs start clogging up my mailbox, I can’t help but flash back to the first few pages of Terry Brooks’s Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold!, which begins in the Christmas season. You can’t help but feel sympathy for Chicago lawyer Ben Holiday, who is feeling anything but the holiday spirit. He hasn’t finished grieving for his wife, Annie, and unborn child, who died two years earlier in a car accident. When he receives a gift catalog that was a favorite of his wife’s, he can’t help but page through it in a melancholic fashion—and his eyes stop on an ad reading MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE! Tired of corporate life, tired of life without Annie, Ben decides to believe in the ad’s promise to “Escape into your dreams!”–but Landover is not the enchanted idyll he expected.

What Ben does find is adventure, magic, new friends and dangerous challenges. How would you handle a Magic Kingdom for sale? Click here to read the first 50 pages of Terry’s classic novel.”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, our “five-tools” editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra . Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra .

Again, please enjoy this extensive excerpt of Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold!, available now in eBook, paperback and in volume 1 of the Magic Kingdowm of Landover omnibus.

MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE–SOLD! by Terry Brooks, Excerpt

And be sure to check back on Monday, December 12, for details on how you can win a chance to read THE GATHERING STORM before anyone else!

The Katerina Trilogy, Vol. I: The Gathering Storm (Excerpt)

I know you all have been waiting for a treat of something for a week now so I’ll turn it over to DRS editor and all around cool guy Dave Pomerico (the twitter maven), who personally edited today’s title, STAR WARS: SHADOW GAMES. Here we go…

“Imagine having parents who are big nerds.  That was me and my brothers—and I say that my parents are nerds lovingly.  Because if they hadn’t been into science fiction and fantasy, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be where I am today: an associate editor at Del Rey Spectra.

More importantly, if they weren’t big nerds, they might not have gone to see a little film called Star Wars, and I wouldn’t have been introduced to one of the great loves of my life.

Like so many people who have been born in the past 40 years, Star Wars has helped define my life.  No, I don’t dress up like a Sith on Casual Fridays.  But the fact is, I could, and I don’t think I’d get strange looks (or, rather, stranger looks than I already receive—the son of big nerds is going to be a little weird).  Because, as luck would have it, that early exposure to science fiction and fantasy has turned into my livelihood.

How cool is that?

Even cooler, though, was when Shelly Shapiro—the editor in charge of the Del Rey Star Wars publishing program—asked if I wanted to work on my own Star Wars book.  I think I only hesitated out of shock.  Of course I want to edit it! my mind screamed.  When she asked me to lower my voice, I realized I had probably actually screamed it out loud.

What I ended up with was the manuscript for Shadow Games, by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you.  It’s got everything you love about Star Wars: adventure, action, Han Solo being Han Solo, the Millennium Falcon, the Empire.  But it’s also something new: a suspenseful thriller, in which every move has the threat of a deadly stalker looming.  It’s a great stand-alone novel, and if you’ve never read a Star Wars book, I couldn’t recommend this one highly enough.

And for those of you who have been reading the Star Wars books for the past 20 years (yes—it’s been 20 years!), I’m sure you’ll love the return of Dash Rendar and the skill and fun you’ve come to expect from a Michael Reaves book.

Below are the first 50 pages.  Enjoy!”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven and “five-tool” editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra . Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra . And join in on the Star Wars conversation at our Star Wars books Facebook page: Like us at www.facebookcom/starwarsbooks .

Again, please enjoy this extensive excerpt of Star Wars: Shadow Games available now in eBook and paperback.

STAR WARS: SHADOW GAMES by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, Excerpt

This week we’re featuring author Alan Dean Foster, a member of the DRS stable for quite some time and a fan favorite who’s produced excellently written tie-ins (the Aliens tie-ins are amazing) and original material.

Which leads us to the 2 books we are featuring today. The first is For Love of Mother-Not, Alan’s first book in his classic Pip & Flinx series and the other is The Human Blend, the first in Alan’s latest sci-fi series.

For more on both titles, here’s DRS editor Mike Braff:

“Pip and Flinx are two of the most iconic and well-loved characters in all of science-fiction and fantasy, and they got their start in For Love of Mother-Not.  Although this novel came out some years after the series had already started, it is an origin story of sorts, bringing us the earliest days of Philip Lynx (Flinx) and his winged-serpentine companion, Pip.  Purchased from slavers, the orphan Flinx is raised by Mother Mastiff on the planet of Moth.  When Mastiff is captured by a seedy group of scientists, Pip and Flinx must overcome huge obstacles to save her, and shed some light on Flinx’s empathetic powers.

The novel is an early look at a theme that Alan Dean Foster explores more fully in his current series, The Tipping Point Trilogy.  In the first book in this series, The Human Blend, we are introduced to a world of extreme “melding”, which is the surgical and genetic alteration of human structure and appearance for either aesthetic or occupational advantage.  Foster forces us to consider both the positive and negative aspects of science (specifically genetics) and its affect on the human population.  Unlike most SF, where science proves to be the savior, Foster treats the subject in a much more objective and neutral way: sometimes the thing we are relying on to save us is only bringing us closer to destruction.

So enjoy our 50 Page Friday excerpt of For Love of Mother-Not and then check out The Human Blend and the subsequent Body, Inc. for a dosage of awesome science-fiction that makes you think!”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, our “five-tools” editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra . Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra .

Again, please enjoy these extensive excerpts of Love of Mother-Not and The Human Blend, available in eBook and paperback (The Human Blend in paper back is on-sale 11/22).

That’s right – there are 2 – TWO excerpts below!

FOR LOVE OF MOTHER NOT by Alan Dean Foster, Excerpt

THE HUMAN BLEND by Alan Dean Foster, Excerpt

It seems like the hype for Bioware’s long awaited Star Wars MMORPG The Old Republic has been building, and building, and building. For a few years now. Thankfully, the wait will be over soon. One of the most highly anticipated games ever finally goes live on 12/20/2011. If you’re a Star Wars fan, Star Wars gamer, or both, you already know this.

But what you probably don’t know is what actually happened after the end of Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic games. As in all Star Wars lore, the story continued. And our book, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, tells that story. For more on the book, here’s Star Wars editor Shelly Shapiro:

“I’m a gamer, and I played–and loved–the two Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic videogames.  So I’ve been among the myriad fans who’ve been wondering what happened to the Jedi-turned-Sith-turned Jedi called Revan (though my Revan was female!).  I’m also excited about the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic mmorpg, and I’m happy to know that Revan is going to make an appearance in that game.  But in the meantime,  the waiting is almost over for those countless of us who are dying to know the rest of Revan’s story: It’s told in Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, by bestselling Star Wars author and Bioware writer Drew Karpyshyn.  Actually, my waiting is over–I’ve read the book!  And now you can read 50 pages of it, to tide you over while you wait just a few more days for the actual book.  Enjoy!”

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven and “five-tool” editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra . Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra . And join in on the Star Wars conversation at our Star Wars books Facebook page: Like us at www.facebookcom/starwarsbooks .

Again, please enjoy this extensive excerpt of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, available Tuesday, November 15, 2011 in eBook and hard cover.

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN by Drew Karpyshyn, Excerpt