Emily Perkins’ new novel The Forrests made a more noticeable impression on me than any new book I’ve read in 20 years; in fact, by the end of it I was buzzing as though I’d taken a drug. I had to go back over the last 30 pages and immediately reread them because the effect was so powerful. An interview with Perkins has been on the cards (or the books) since The Good Word became required viewing for writers and book lovers, a show that will be sorely missed when the station is closed down in June (boo!). (Photo: Patricia Phelan)

John Sundman is author and publisher of the cyber-nano-biopunk novels Acts of the Apostles, Cheap Complex Devices, and The Pains. After Sundman blogged about selling his books at the hacker convention DEFCON, science fiction author Bruce Sterling described him as “the future of printed fiction”. Sundman lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Dave Pell, the founder of delivereads – curated content delivered to your Kindle – is an internet early adopter who’s stuck with it, in spite (or perhaps because) of having blown cash and time on more than 50 startups, including: Corrigo, Dealbase, GrubHub, Liftopia, Marin Software, SendMe, Three Rings and Trazzler. He also tweets and blogs on Tweetage Wasteland. His posts are syndicated on NPR, Gizmodo, Forbes and Huffington Post. delivereads sends articles from the likes of GQ, Esquire, the New Yorker and the Boston Globe direct to your Kindle – the most satisfying place to read an article apart from on paper.

Steven Pressfield says inspiration comes from the Muse. I no longer believe in angels or muses, but I do believe writers tap into the collective consciousness, and having now read Pressfield’s motivational books I’m willing to suspend my disbelief. I’m not the first writer to confirm his methods succeed – what we have in common is that we’ve sat down and are writing. It’s that simple, so far. As revered screenplay instructor Robert McKee says: “When inspiration touches talent, she gives birth to truth and beauty. And when Steven Pressfield was writing The War of Art, she had her hands all over him.”

Lisa Dierbeck is the author of two novels, The Autobiography of Jenny X and One Pill Makes You Smaller, a New York Times Notable Book. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Dierbeck has contributed to the Boston Globe, Glamour, New York Observer, New York Times Book Review, People and O, The Oprah Magazine. The Washington Post Book World has described her as “An undeniably talented writer”, and the Los Angeles Times as “passionate, observant, and funny.”

New Zealand writer Chad Taylor (this photograph by John Hagen) has been described as “the Nick Cave of New Zealand literature”. ‘Departure Lounge’ has been called his best book to date. His previous novels are ‘Pack of Lies’, ‘Heaven’, ‘Shirker’ and ‘Electric’.

“Over the years, publishers have become increasingly slow to react and less likely to accept unsolicited work. Where once I was able to sell a story to multiple small press markets simultaneously, these days publishers increasingly demand exclusivity in return for not very much.” Tim Jones’s interview with Chris Bell, from the Books in the Trees blog, 15 July 2010.

“We usually believe gossip about ourselves to have been inspired by a level of malice far greater [or more critical] than the malice we ourselves feel in relation to the last person we gossiped about, a person whose habits we could mock without this in any way altering our affection for them.” So wrote Alain de Botton in How Proust Can Change Your Life.

Liz Calder’s reputation as a publisher is without equal. Not only did she launch the Harry Potter series in 1997 (after becoming co-founder of Bloomsbury in 1986), she also launched the careers of Salman Rushdie, Michael Ondaatje, Julian Barnes and Anita Brookner.

If you’re not familiar with the Strawbs and their music, you’ll be surprised to learn that not only have you missed the 30th anniversary of the band, they’ve released at least 31 albums and are still playing live and releasing albums today. Formed in 1963, as the Strawberry Hill Boys, at that time they were a folk and bluegrass band. What is considered to be the band’s first album was released in 1968. Dave Cousins spares more than five minutes of his time to talk about his music then and now.