What is Will McIntosh reading?

This weekend's featured contributor at Writers Read: Will McIntosh, author of Soft Apocalypse.

One book tagged in his entry:

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips.

I bought my first Tiptree, Jr. book when I was in seventh grade. The stories were too adult for me then, and there weren’t enough robots and dinosaurs in them. I vividly recall abandoning the paperback edition of Ten Thousand Light Years from Home on a window ledge at school. As an adult I tried her work again, and was better able to appreciate it. When I finish reading about her life, I’m going back to read more of her fiction. I think I’ll get even more out of it in the context of her fascinating, tragic life. Her mom took her into the jungles of Africa, for treks that lasted weeks at a time, when she was six! Julie Phillips tells...[read on]

Among the early praise for Soft Apocalypse:

"In this moving debut from Hugo-winner McIntosh, the prosperous world of 2023 ends not with a bang but with a crackle, the sound of genetically engineered bamboo growing overnight and destroying roads and buildings. Naïve college graduate Jasper struggles to trade charged batteries for food as his "tribe" wanders the Georgia countryside, dodging local cops and designer diseases. Settling in Savannah, they try to find some stability in a crumbling city beset by anarchist gangs and the "scientist-rebels" who release tailored organisms to hasten societal collapse. In the end, each member of the tribe must decide what to give up in order to survive. ...McIntosh strongly delineates his characters and makes Jasper's struggles very affecting. Though it may be soft, this apocalypse has plenty of sharp edges."
--Publishers Weekly

"Bottom line: If Soft Apocalypse isn't nominated for a Hugo or Nebula Award, I will eat the entire book page by page..."
--Paul Goat Allen

"Soft Apocalypse, while not perfect, is a great achievement for a debut. It took me by surprise early on and never let go. It’s a short, effective dystopian novel that should go down well with people who enjoyed the aforementioned Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd America by Robert Charles Wilson or even The Rift by Walter Jon Williams.... The real sadness of Soft Apocalypse is seeing normal people operating under the illusion that life will still go back to what it used to be. They try to hold down a job or complete a post-grad degree, and even though the world falls apart around them, the changes are too gradual for them to lose hope completely. It’s like watching rats in a maze, unaware that their paths are slowly being closed off around them and the maze is starting to catch fire at the edges. A soft apocalypse, indeed."
--Stefan Raets

Visit Will McIntosh's website.

My Book, The Movie: Soft Apocalypse.

Writers Read: Will McIntosh.

--Marshal Zeringue