Zilla Novikov's Blog, page 11

a + e by Ryszard Merey with Orange Tic Tacs

Fiction To Sink Your Teeth Into, a feature normally written by professional chef Rohan O’Duill, has been taken over this month by Rachel A. Rosen, who co-wrote a book about being bad at cooking.

a + e (Seasons Book 1: Spring) by Ryszard Merey is a haunting and luminous tale of doomed queer love and friendship. If you’ve ever had a teenage crush on your best friend, snuck into a club wearing fishnet, or otherwise got your mess splattered over everyone else in your life, this book is for you. In it, Ash seems to subsist entirely off orange Tic Tacs, while Eu eats everything he won’t touch.

Recipe:

Really?

You can buy the book here.

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: What’s better than a fantasy series? A queer fantasy series, and we’re in luck today! Elise Carlson is here to tell us about their epic and portal fantasy Ruarnon Trilogy , staring (mostly) queer young adults. Elise, what inspired you to write this book?

Elise: Short answer, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time and a lifelong love of fantasy. Longer answer: The Ruarnon Trilogy began with the question: why do adults fight wars? Which led to the question: what is the worst someone in a position of power could do out of fear (while also being genuinely well-meaning)?

The answers for war against someone’s will in Manipulator’s War delve into coercion, blackmail, assassination attempts, and of course, ultimately greed. But what someone afraid and in power could do led to breeding monsters, rallying sorcerers, initially unclear motives and attacks, and ultimately war and an entire movement that sweeps the world of Umarinaris.

In countering all of the above, the role of friendship in helping characters manage their spirits, emotions and attempt the impossible was crucial, and perhaps inspired by the importance of friendships to me as an asexual, aromantic person.

Sabitha : Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?

Elise: Book one, Manipulator’s War has the kind of plot where people will not grow into who they or the story needs them to be unless certain people die. So there was a character an advance reader was very fond of. I eceived comments from her as she read like; “Oh no! That’s very bad! *lots of crying emojis*.”

While I write fantasy, I like writing realistic characters and realistic stories. So with epic battles in all three novels, everyone isn’t going to live.

Sabitha : Do you have any suggestions to help people in our community become better writers?

Elise: The two most important things I would advise fellow writers are: reach out to fellow writers on whatever digital platform works for you, connect with them, get to know them, learn from and share your journey with them —yesterday! And when it comes to the process of writing and editing, try whatever you like and feel free to ignore things that don’t work for you. As an author with ADHD, I finished writing, editing, and publishing 360k words of epic fantasy because I threw unhelpful-to-me-personally advice out the window.

Sabitha : What’s your next writing project?

Elise: My next project will also be set in Umarinaris, around three thousand years later. The sorcerer alliances forming at the end of Ruarnon Trilogy will be like the United Nations by then, but with teeth: emergency services, police, armies, and educational institutions worldwide. It’s a small world, Umarinaris having fractured into inward-looking city states after a nuclear war wiped a continent off the map by then, and everyone abandoned modern (especially communications) technology in fear. Except for organised crime, another international organisation, whom Sythe’s characters will ultimately come up against —even before they graduate from school, magic and combat training!

Sabitha : Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Elise: You’ll find my ebooks at a range of stores and online subscription services via my books page. You’ll find me on: Blue Sky Social, Mastodon and Facebook.

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Aliens and fantasy are a match like chocolate and peanut butter in JR Swisher’s novel Keeper of the Sacred Scroll. JR, can you tell us a bit about your story?

JR: Keeper of the Sacred Scroll was my first published work, a romance set against political upheaval, and I’m proud of it.

Sabitha: Do you have a playlist for your book?

JR: My entire playlist is dedicated to my book, but Landslide and Sara by Fleetwood Mac are the songs most relevant to the story. Landslide the story is about time. Sarah was the main character’s original name and the song sums up her personality.

Sabitha: If your characters met you, what would they say to you?

JR: If my characters met me, they’d be unimpressed but also encourage me to get my mental health back together. However, if I met my characters I’d tell them I love them, especially my favorite character.

Sabitha: What’s your next writing project?

JR: My next work will be a sequel to the first novel, which will delve more into the culture and backstory of the characters. Vietnam’s history is a big inspiration for the story. It was dying to get written and published as long as I can remember.

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

JR: I’m on X @JackJRSwisher, and you can find my book on Amazon.

Book Report Corner

by Zilla N.

The Night Garden is a grown-up fairytale romance. Ellie and Max are foolish new adults, trying to navigate a world that doesn’t have a place for people like them—people who live passionately and in the moment. This struggle between who they are and who the world demands they grow up into comes with a fairytale curse: behave, or be turned into a Bèist, forced to live by day as a cat wandering the moors.

Nicole Northwood once again captivated my heart and my imagination. I loved Ellie and Max, and all the side characters who were as real and loveable as the main couple. A fantastic book from a consistently fantastic author.

You can find it here.

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Rachel: I’m obsessed with Zohar Jacobs’ short stories, and every time she publishes one, I have to send the link around to everyone I know and yell at them until they read it. Today, she’s joined us to tell our readers about her work!

Zohar: I write science fiction and slipstream, and so far have had stories published in the Sunday Morning Transport, Small Wonders, Analog and Clarkesworld. I also have a story forthcoming in Asimov’s.

Rachel: I’m always impressed by the religious and cultural questions you address in your writing, whether it’s about the role of religion on a Soviet lunar base or the question of whether a paired intelligence counts as one person or two in a minyan. Religion is such an under-explored concept in sci-fi—what draws you to exploring it?

Zohar: Mostly I’m getting back at Gene Roddenberry for how badly he dealt with religion in Star Trek. Although I’m an agnostic, religion has always been part of my life, and it’s one of the most complex social and intellectual systems that humanity has created. Why assume that we’d leave all that behind? You could actually argue that the feeling of being unmoored by distance from Earth and the scale of the universe might make people turn to religion more.

Rachel: Another theme I see in your writing is the engagement with real-world issues such as the climate crisis or the war in Ukraine? What are the challenges of writing about a future that is so grounded in our present?

Zohar: Oddly I’ve never thought of it as a challenge. I sometimes think that I’m not a very creative person: reality is always where I get my inspiration, because it comes up with much more complex and bizarre scenarios than I ever could. By hewing close to reality, I can expect my readers to bring their own set of rich, independent associations to my work. I guess the challenge is that I can’t predict how people will take my writing – but I’m not sure I could do that anyway.

Rachel: How important is literary voice in science fiction?

Zohar: Many SF readers prefer transparent, pacy prose that doesn’t get in the way of the story: think Andy Weir’s The Martian. So maybe it’s not that important. On the other hand, some of SF’s best writers have been great prose stylists – Ursula le Guin, Samuel R. Delany, M. John Harrison – so it’s clearly no obstacle to success either. Literary voice is important to me, but then I sometimes joke that I’m actually a literary author who just likes spaceships too much.

Rachel: What’s your next writing project?

Zohar: Funnily enough, a literary novel. It feels odd to temporarily step back from the SFF community, but this is a story that I’ve been wanting to tell for nearly 20 years. (It has spaceships too.)

Rachel: Tell us where the Night Beats community can find you and find your work!

Zohar: Apart from the magazines where I’ve been published, you can find me on Twitter @zoharjacobs and BlueSky @zoharjacobs.bsky.social. One of these days I will set up a website but this is not that day yet.

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Rachel: I’m a sucker for intelligent, literary sci-fi, so when I finished reading North Continent Ribbon, I immediately asked Ursula if they’d be interested in telling our readers about it so that I’m not screaming about how good it is all by myself.

Ursula: North Continent Ribbon is a collection of connected, queer short stories that’s coming out in August.

Here’s the blurb:

“On Nakharat, every contract is a ribbon and every ribbon is a secret, braided tight and tucked behind a veil. Artificial intelligence threatens the tightly-woven network. Stability depends on giving each machine a human conscience—but the humans are not volunteers.”

Rachel: I was struck by the theme of connection and relationship, both visible and hidden, in North Continent Ribbon. Did this theme emerge organically or did you intentionally build the stories around it?

Ursula: It’s organic! The intentional organizing theme is different parts of Nakharat society—I wanted it to be clear why one person would hate the judges or the army or the Companies but another person might try to join up. But I wrote queer romances while thinking through facets of my own identity, and I was curious about the role bigger social groups like student clubs and groups of drinking buddies play in social change, so I’m not surprised you see a more intricate web.

Rachel: The collection covers multiple eras of Nakharat history, which feels very rich and lived-in. How much worldbuilding exists off the page?

Ursula: In some places there’s a ton, while other parts of the world are more of a mystery. I have lots of thoughts about the culture of the titular North Continent, plus miscellaneous facts (ask me about ocean ecology or grammatical genders!) Other locations are wide open.

Rachel: My absolute favourite element of your world was the grim wire technology in the trains and spaceships, and what it says about labour, class, and automation. Where did that idea originate?

Ursula: The very first writing I did about Nakharat involved an even more furious adult version of the “Last Tutor” protagonist, Isekendriya. I knew that Isekendriya grew up on a mountain estate overlooking wide, empty plains, that the thought of their parents filled them with rage and guilt, and that nevertheless they wore a ribbon in the family colors hidden in their hair. I asked myself what kind of wealth leads to an estate in the middle of nowhere, and the answer was transportation—specifically, trains. 

The combination of ribbon imagery, train tracks, my character’s fury at their complicitness, and my own feelings about the US justice system led to the creepy technology you see in the book. I’m glad you found it compelling! I definitely did—compelling enough that I kept writing stories set on Nakharat, and eventually wrote my way back around to Ise.

Rachel: One of the challenges of short stories is creating characters that the reader can bond with, and who experience growth and change, within a very limited number of words. How do you balance economy of storytelling with creating complex and compelling characters?

Ursula: I cheat and write novelettes! As a poet, I expected that my natural fiction range would be very short. But I love the freedom that a novelette (about twice the length of a traditional short story) allows me to explore the psyches of characters who are uncertain or conflicted about what they want.

Rachel: Will you be revisiting Nakharat? What are you working on now?

Ursula: Right now I’m working on a couple of different historical fantasy projects (Napoleonic wars? Byzantium?) But I haven’t ruled out a return to Nakharat! One of the stories is about an artificially intelligent book, and I’m curious about whom else the book might meet.

Rachel: Tell us where the Night Beats community can find you and find your work!

Ursula: You can pre-order a hardcopy of North Continent Ribbon from Neon Hemlock Press.

If you want an alert the moment the ebook pre-order goes live, or you’re curious about what else I’m working on, you can subscribe to my newsletter:

And I’ve been spending lots of time hanging out on Bluesky ( @yarntheory.bsky.social ).

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: If you’re looking for a murder mystery, Claris Lam never disappoints. Her latest mystery continues with Aubri’s story, as she goes from solving her first murder mystery to getting stuck in her second. Claris, can you tell us about your books?

Claris: Engagement To Die For is the second book in the Harlow Mystery series.  Here’s my little blurb:

After everything Aubri went through at the resort, the last thing Aubri needs is more drama. However, meeting her previously-unknown twin sister for the first time, and attending her mother’s engagement party, results in yet another murder.

Due to the remote area of this crime, the police won’t be able to make it for a few days. Aubri realizes that she, along with her friends and her sister, must take up the mantle themselves to solve the case or risk being new victims again.

I’m also happy to share that Engagement To Die For was a  3-category nominee for the 2023 Indie Ink Awards and an 8-category nominee for the 2023 Queer Indie Awards!

Sabitha : That’s fantastic—and very well deserved. What inspired you to write this book?

Claris: Reading books like Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie definitely inspired me to write a murder mystery taking place on a train! It was so fun to figure out how luxurious the train the book takes place in was, in particular – there are many amenities included that most normal trains don’t have.

Sabitha : I love that book too. It’s a classic! So trains were the main focus of your research for the book?

Claris: I had to research the internal layouts of trains. This helped me figure out where the main characters were traveling to and from on the train during their investigation.

I also had to do some medical-related research for this book. This is related to a major reveal in the book, so I can’t share too many details or else I’ll give away spoilers! However, I looked it up because I had to figure out if that was possible in real life before implementing it in the book. The short answer: yes, but it’s very rare.

Sabitha : I’m tempted to ask, but no spoilers! Back to Aubri and her friends and family. If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?

Claris: If I met my characters, I would just tell them to continue to persevere and move forward the best they can. Bastian goes through some particularly tough moments in this book, so he definitely needs the encouragement.

Sabitha : And of course the response—what would they say to you?

Claris: I think all of my main characters for this book (Aubri, Bastian, Aria, and Nick) would be tired of murders happening wherever they are, but they appreciate at least being on a train where they have plenty of drinks available.

Sabitha : Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?

Claris: To my knowledge, no. I’m pretty sure every character I’ve killed in the Harlow Mystery series so far is someone people usually don’t mind getting killed off, mainly because they’re terrible (or mostly terrible) people.

Sabitha : Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Claris: You can find all links to my main website, newsletter, and socials in my Carrd. As for where you can purchase “Engagement To Die For,” check out any of the links here.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell with Soap Smoothie

Fiction To Sink Your Teeth Into, a feature from author and professional chef Rohan O’Duill!

If I could summarise Cloud Atlas in a paragraph, I wouldn’t be writing the recipe section of a newsletter. This epic saga throws up a lot of interesting concepts. Soap is a drink consumed by clones that provides their nutrition. I found it difficult to source the original protein source for the drink so I substituted in some vanilla protein instead.

Please enjoy this refreshing smoothie as you delve into the world of Cloud Atlas.

Ingredients

1 banana100g frozen mango1 tbsp peanut butter1 tsp seeds (any of chia, linseed, or flax)150g yoghurt (soya if you are vegan)150ml soya milk1 tsp vanilla protein

Equipment

A blender

Method

Put all ingredients in a blender and blitz for a couple of minutes. Simple as the book itself.

Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview

Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: One of my favourite stories in the science fiction anthology The Dance was Eli K.P. William’s tale of duality, “The MachineGarden”. So I asked Eli to come here and answer some questions for me!

Without getting too spoilery about worldbuilding, I fell in love with the duality of the machine side of the world vs the garden side. As a queer person, I instantly jumped to a trans reading of the story, particularly when Eos explains the, “gap between me and myself was there all along.” Did you intend or consider a trans reading as you wrote the story? If not, was there another type of duality intended?

Eli: I think that’s an interesting way to read “The MachineGarden.” The crisis for Eos is that, due to a rare variety of insight she possesses, she experiences her body as swinging between the two poles of a binary. However, this is a binary of ontology, rather than sex or gender, and it convulses all of (post)human existence, rather than any individual body, faster than the mind can follow.

Zilla: You are not the first author to explore the dichotamy of built vs grown, though I’ve never read your particular take on them before. As I read your story, Mass Effect and This Is How You Lose The Time War both came to my mind. What stories inspired you as you wrote your own?

Eli: I could give you a long list of authors who influenced me when writing the Jubilee Cycle trilogy: George Orwell, William Gibson, Ursula le Guin, Haruki Murakami, and China Mieville to name just a few. However, for “The MachineGarden,” I intentionally tried to break away from the influence of past writers because I wanted to unlock a new vision of the future that is rooted in the zeitgeist of the 2020s as opposed to in an earlier age. I don’t think I was entirely successful, but I hope to make further attempts in the coming years. Cultivating a radical new movement in science fiction is, I believe, the central challenge that the current generation of authors must rise to.

Zilla: I have the usual complaint of a reader who finished an excellent short story–I need more. Are you done with Eos, Arata, and particularly with the MachineGarden world, which feels like a character in its own right? Or do you think there are more stories to be told in this ‘verse or with these characters?

Eli:

I think there’s enough narrative and conceptual potential in “The MachineGarden” for it to be extended to novel length, but I’m happy leaving it as is, for now, so I can work on other books. I’m currently seeking an agent to represent a hard-to-classify novel set in two alternate versions of Toronto, and for the past few years, I’ve been gradually building a world for a near future novel about alien communication that takes place mostly in the upper atmosphere. I’m also busy doing research for a non-fiction book on Japanese science fiction. (You can read my first stab at the topic here.) 

However, there are threads in “The MachineGarden” I hope to pick up in other stories, such as the built-versus-grown dichotomy you mentioned, which I began to explore in A Diamond Dream, the final book of the Jubilee Cycle. I also have vague plans to run with the IntelSchism idea and use it as the core conceit for a full novel.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Eli: You can get The Dance here. You can learn more about me here, follow me on Twitter @Dice_Carver, or join my fledgling Substack Almost Real.

The best science fiction books with working class heroes

If you’re looking for your next great read, how do you find it?

Shepherd’s website lets authors suggest their favourite books on a theme. Rohan O’Duill picked science fiction with working class heros to match Cold Rising. Read his suggestions here.