Imagination and the Soul: Jeff VanderMeer Audio Clip from the Archives

Greetings from beyond the paywall! We have been posting new content monthly on our Patreon Archive Feed – scans of vintage Locus and audio clips from author interviews and more – and wanted to share a little of what that feed looks like by making some of our earlier posts public. Come check out this post on our Patreon with an audio clip of Jeff VanderMeer.

In addition to all the benefits of lower tiers, including a digital subscription and other perks, patrons pledging $15+ monthly have access to the Archive content (AKA the Secret History Feed). This includes monthly back issue posts, author interview audio clips, and complete access to the archive of past posts full of unique SF artifacts and ephemera like this audio clip.

Please consider becoming a patron, to see more great content like this and to support the magazine as we continue our shift to the donor support model.

From the Audio Archives: Jeff VanderMeer, 2002

Jeff VanderMeer is widely considered to be one of the foremost authors of contemporary weird fiction. His work is notable for its unique treatment of themes related to the environment and its future.

Locus’s founder Charles Brown interviewed him in our October 2002 issue, and we’ve selected some audio clips to share with you, in which VanderMeer talks about the power of the imagination and the reading of fiction.

“To me, imagination is probably the most visible manifestation…of a soul or something other from ourselves. So when we imagine things well… we’re in a sense doing something that to me is a little bit spiritual”

Please consider donating separately toward our digitization fund so that we can archive the rest of our microcassettes. We have to reach $5,500 to cover the expense. Thank you!