Interview – Dead Robots Society

As most of you know, when I do interviews, they’re normally texty. That’s what I do.

That said, I’m certainly not afraid of the sound of my own voice. Anyone who has caught me at a reading, seen me on panels at a convention, or had me as a teacher knows that I’m a talker.

So when the folks over a Dead Robots Society asked if they could do a podcast-type interview. I agreed. That said, I honestly have no idea how it turned out. We had the interview at about 2:00 in the afternoon, so I’d only been awake for maybe half an hour. That and a lack of coffee beforehand means that I didn’t really feel like I was bringing my A game with me. My wit, while servicable, was probably not scintilating.

But since it’s gone up, a few people have contacted me and said they liked it. More than that I can’t say. I haven’t listened to it, as the sound of my own voice played back to be makes me cringe.

Anyway, if you’re interested, here’s the link.

Later all,

pat

This entry was posted in InterviewsBy Pat18 Responses

18 Comments

  1. Micah Cowan
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 5:19 AM | Permalink

    I spent five minutes trying to find out where the actual friggin’ podcast was. Apparently, you gotta use the links on the right.

  2. Captain Joe
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 7:17 AM | Permalink

    Pat, you sound <>human<> in the podcast! Good grief and gravy, my whole mental image of you has been shaken to its very core.Gotta say, I was expecting you to be hurling lightning bolts with a deep thunderous voice.Still, your wit was pretty sharp. I don’t think you’re a one trick pony. Book two is going to kickass!

  3. Brian Igelchen
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 7:47 AM | Permalink

    Yay! Your voice! <3 I like this interview very much. It feels a lot deeper then when I do a one-minute readthrough of your interviews.

  4. Joseph
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 3:34 PM | Permalink

    Wow…I underestimated your voice. It sounds much better in the podcast then i believed it would.and I’m glad I’m not the only one that took forever just to find the podcast, I had to force my brother to help me find it…

  5. logankstewart
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 3:46 PM | Permalink

    This sounds just like something you would listen to on NPR. Pat, you could definitely be an NPR news correspondent. Sweet interview, man.

  6. Songwind Apogee
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 5:16 PM | Permalink

    I thought you might find it interesting that their site has been < HREF="http://safebrowsing.clients.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?client=Firefox&hl=en-US&site=http://deadrobotssociety.com/2008/05/18/patrick-rothfuss-interviewed-episode-33/" REL="nofollow">flagged as an attack site by Google.<>That said, congrats on the interview.

  7. matt
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 5:45 PM | Permalink

    I just gaffed off an hour of homework to listen to your podcast, and I gotta say… that was the best hour I’ve ever gaffed off.Thanks for the podcast opportunity, Pat.

  8. marky
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 5:50 PM | Permalink

    Great interview Pat.I picked up a copy of The Last Unicorn, Something wicked this way comes and Declare from Amazon. I guessed that if you write what I like to read, then the books you like must be worth a read. After you spoke so highly of Peter S Beagle in your interview I picked up The Last Unicorn. You are totally right about it. His writing is beautiful. The opening description of the unicorn totally hooks you. I feel quite disgusted however that the man shafted this kind of talent. I hope that your trilogy will get the profit it deserves and that future writers take heed of your words.

  9. Kanna
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 6:03 PM | Permalink

    Awesome interview, Pat. I almost gave up trying to listen because i couldn’t find the stupid link…You’re not the person to recomend The Last Unicorn, gotta go find a copy now.Nice hearing your voice.

  10. Justin Macumber
    Posted June 7, 2008 at 8:59 PM | Permalink

    Pat, we thank you so much for doing the show. We had a blast talking to you, and your novel was an amazing read. I just finished it a few days ago, and I cannot wait for the next one. You’ve renewed my love of fantasy. Thank you again.As for the episode, I’m sorry so many of you had trouble finding how to listen to it. I had assumed that having all of the episodes listed on the right of the page would be good, but apparently not good enough. I will try and put links in each blog entry that leads to where you can stream or download the show. Here is a link straight to the episode:http://deadrobotssociety.podhoster.com/index.php?sid=886&pid=6906Oh, and as for the attack site deal, I asked Graham (co-host and technomage for the show), and he said that apparantly that’s listing because we were hacked a little while ago. We got everything resolved, but that listing doesn’t go away over night. Trust me, we’re harmless as kitties.*shakes fist at hackers*

  11. Peri
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 2:31 AM | Permalink

    So Pat…In the interview you mentioned that T.S. Eliot wrote a lot of crap. Considering his status as a ‘classic poet’ I was wondering what the definition of crap was in this instance? Do you mean a lot of it was uninspired? Or unintelligible? Or is there some part of Eliot’s rep. as a writer that I am unaware of? Just curiosity getting the best of me again. Your interview was very well done. I love the way you speak; it’s the same way my favorite Lit. professor speaks. You have this fantastic pause where the listener can tell you are thinking hard about how you’re going to finish your sentence and if it’s going to make sense. It gives you a great verbal clarity that a lot of teachers lack.

  12. Angela
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 3:03 AM | Permalink

    First, I do not believe your beard received all of the pr it was due. Still, it was an awesome podcast. Second, I was unaware that The Last Unicorn was a book as well as the movie I loved as a kid. *face of shock and anguish at own lack of knowledge* I must go and find a copy after my 100th anniversary edition of Peter Pan comes in because that book is gonna break the bank with all of its fancy shmancy illustrations and whatnot.*Shakes fist at all of the greedy bastards who make books so expensive and then steal said money from deserving authors. Still, unwilling to die from book withdrawals, eventually toddles off to raid the couch for forgotten change and the random remotes lost through the ages.*

  13. roseneko
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 1:23 PM | Permalink

    Don’t feel bad about your voice – I think instinctively cringing at the sound of one’s own voice is a normal human thing. Hell, I cringe at the sound of my own voice, and I want to make a living inflicting it on other people. ;)

  14. littlejigman
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 4:47 PM | Permalink

    Great interview! Listening to it made my day. The writing advice was excellent–esp. the part about finding a myriad of ways to putz about during ones writing time without actually working on anything ‘real.’ I think Robin Hobb’s essay on the dangers of blogging and the internet, (robinhobb.com/rant.html) “Vampires of the Internet” falls in line with your advice. It’s always good to hear our literary icons sound a human and stressed about time as the rest of us schmucks. Thanks too about the agent advice–it’s something that I’d never seriously considered. Course…gotta finish that book first I suppose. Which is why I’m reading and commenting on blogs…

  15. Chro
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 8:06 PM | Permalink

    I think my favorite part of the podcast was when you asked, “Have you ever done improvisational comedy?” and “Have you ever DMed a Dungeons and Dragons game?”Mainly because I’m DMing a D&D game tonight, and I did Improv Comedy all through college.Good to know that I picked up the proper skillset!

  16. suziko
    Posted June 8, 2008 at 11:57 PM | Permalink

    I agree with all the people who say that you have a good voice. I was relieved to hear it. I had an experience, not too long ago, of hearing for the first time the voice of an author whom I really like (who shall remain nameless), and cringing at his high-pitched, nasally, lisp-y voice. I know it’s stupid to care, and I know it shouldn’t affect my opinion of the writer, but it did.

  17. Llyralei
    Posted June 9, 2008 at 10:16 PM | Permalink

    I absolutely adore your voice. And the interview. LOL the moment you mentioned Eliot I was on the edge of my seat. He’s my favourite poet, so when you said he wrote some crap, I bristled a little, but then you totally brightened my day by talking about Prufrock, which is my favourite poem. xDYou should definitely do more interviews like this. I loved hearing you speak some of the things you write, like “warm fuzzies”. It was so spectacular.

  18. Anonymous
    Posted August 7, 2008 at 4:28 PM | Permalink

    When I first came to this interview I gave up trying to find it. A few days ago I was re-reading old blog entries and found it since they actually put it an obvious location. In my opinion, Pat, you were wonderful but the interviewers were lacking. The whole thing felt very amateur. They interrupted each other too many times, stumbled over their questions, and for the record, interviewers should say things like, “I found your book recently” or “Your book was brought to me by a friend” not, “I’ve never heard of you until right now.” Way to make aspiring writers look like half-arsed clods Justin and Amanda.

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