I write scenes more or less in sequential order, but if I get stuck, I’ll jump ahead to a scene that feels more tasty. If required, I’ll backfill the rest in later. It’s interesting, how often I find I don’t need to backfill.
Another thing I do when I get stuck is to step away from the laptop and go do something physical that I don’t have to think about: wash dishes, go for a walk. My mind goes musing and I often come up with solutions that way. Or I’ll try to describe the problem to someone. Sometimes the very act of doing so helps me solve the problem before I can finish articulating it to the other person, who’s then left frustrated as I waft back to my computer in a creative trance. I use manuscript organizing software such as Scrivener. That allows me to see all the scenes at a glance, and to map out, shape, and move elements of the story around until they click into place. When I’m in Toronto, I’ll often meet my friend, writer Emily Pohl-Weary, at a local library. She’s the granddaughter of Judy Merrill and Fred Pohl, and a bitchin’ writer in her own right. We’ll take our laptops and each work on our own stuff for about three hours. We do goof off, but I get a fair bit of writing done in her company. I miss Emily.
Clute? Delany? Steampunk? Butler? Le Guin? Each in one sentence please.
Clute’s critical writing makes terrifyingly astute art.
Delany: All hail the King.
Butler: I wish more people would talk about the ways in which she messes with normative sexualities, and I miss her very much and I don’t care that that’s really two sentences masquerading as one.
Steampunk: Cool gadgets, cool clothes, but whose hands assemble the materials?
Le Guin can make me cry with the simplest, seemingly inconsequential sentence.
You once said, “Fiction is NOT autobiography in a party dress.” Okay. Then what is it?
It’s what happens after you grind up a bunch of your personally received input, everything from life experience to that book about spices you read ten years ago, compost it within your imagination, and then in that mulch grow something new. I think that could even apply to autobiographical fiction.
You claim to have grown up in a culture without strict boundaries between literatures. Really? Not even between “high” and “low” art?
Yup. You can absolutely find that kind of snobbery in Afro-Caribbean culture, but it feels mostly toothless. The borders aren’t as strictly policed. It’s possible to have a literary conference in which both Nobel laureate Derek Walcott and dancehall singer-songwriter Lady Saw are headliners, plus bell hooks. In North America, there’s no way that what I write would be considered in the same breath as, say, Michael Ondaatje’s work. In the Caribbean, genre distinctions seem less important. Part of it might be that we don’t have “alternative” culture in the way that it manifests in Eurocentric cultures. As far as I know, there is no Caribbean equivalent of the hipster, or the science fiction fan, or the zinester. Perhaps that’s because we’re already marginalised from dominant Western culture, so we don’t need or don’t have the luxury of subdividing along minute genre fractures. There aren’t enough publishers to have that kind of specialisation. The focus tends to be more on what each work is trying to achieve than on what genre it’s in.
Your SF background seems heavily post—New Wave (1960s). Did you ever read the “Golden Age” all-guy crew like Heinlein, Clarke, Simak, Bradbury?
Absolutely, and still do. One of the proudest days of my life was when I got my mother to read Bradbury’s R Is for Rocket. Her verdict? “But it’s not about rockets and robots, it’s about people!” I agreed.
You could easily (well, maybe not easily, but brilliantly) teach modern literature as well as writing. Given the choice, which would you prefer?
Thanks for the compliment. I couldn’t, though. Geoff Ryman, now, he’s brilliant at both.
In New York, I worked with some taxi mechanics from Guyana. Saturdays, they drank Teacher’s and played cricket in the parking lot. What’s the deal with cricket anyway?
Lord alone knows. My dad was a big cricket fan. Cricket to me is golf as a team sport, with better outfits, that goes on for what seems weeks. Just give me the Teacher’s. Lots of it, if you’re going to make me watch cricket. Yes, I am a bad West Indian.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FORTHCOMING, 2013
Novel Sister Mine, Grand Central Books, USA.
FORTHCOMING, 2012
Novel The Chaos, Simon and Schuster, USA.
Short story “The Easthound” in anthology After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Hyperion, USA.
2011
Novelette “Ours Is the Prettiest” in anthology Welcome to Bordertown, eds. Holly Black and Ellen Kushner, Random House, USA.
Short story, “Old Habits” in anthology Eclipse Four, ed. Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade, USA.
Untitled micro-fiction, in high school textbook and online educator’s resource iLit Remix: A Revolution of Text Forms, ed. Emily Pohl-Weary, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Canada.
Chinese translation of novel Brown Girl in the Ring, Muses/jiaxi Books, China.
Chinese translation of novel Midnight Robber, Muses/ jiaxi Books, China.
Finnish translation of short story “Ganger (Ball Lightning)” in “Tähtivaeltaja,” Finland.
Finnish translation of short story “Riding the Red” in “Spin,” Finland.
Reprint of short story “Emily Breakfast” in programme book of Readercon 2011.
Reprint of short story “Herbal” in high school textbook iLit Remix: A Revolution of Text Forms, ed. Emily Pohl-Weary, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Canada.
Reprint of short story “A Raggy Dog, a Shaggy Dog” in Apex Magazine, issue 21, USA.
2010
“Reluctant Ambassador from the Planet of Midnight,” address to the 2010 International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts on the theme of race in the literature of the fantastic, in the Journal of the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts, USA
Short story “Emily Breakfast” in anthology TOK 5; Writing the New Toronto, ed. Helen Walsh, Zephyr Press, Canada.
2009
Short story “Blushing” in anthology Gothic Toronto, by Diaspora Dialogues, Canada.
2008
“Soul Case” (excerpt from novel Blackheart Man) in Year’s Best Fantasy 8, eds. David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, Tachyon Publications, USA.
2007
Novel The New Moon’s Arms, Warner Books, USA.
Audiobook The New Moon’s Arms, BBC Audiobooks USA. Narrated by Gin Hammond.
Essay “Genderquerulous” in anthology First Person Queer, eds. Lawrence Schimel and Richard Labonté, Arsenal Pulp Press, Canada.
Short story “Ganger (Ball Lightning)” reprinted in anthology Re: Skin, eds. Mary Flanagan and Austin Booth, MIT Press, USA.
2006
Short story collection Skin Folk produced by Leonie Forbes and released as an audiobook from Caribbean Tales, Canada.
2005
Short story “Blackberries” in Wanderlust: Erotic Travel Tales, ed. Carole Taylor, Plume, USA.
Short story “Men Sell Not Such in Any Town” in Nature journal, U.K.
Short story “Snow Day” in audio, for CBC Radio, Canada Reads.
Short story “A Raggy Dog, a Shaggy Dog” in anthology Lust for Life: Tales of Sex & Love, eds. Claude Lalumiere and Elise Moser, Vehicule Press, Canada.
2004
Radio fiction anthology “Six Impossible Things,” for Richardson’s Round-up, CBC Radio, Canada (editor).
Fiction anthology Tesseracts Nine, coedited with Geoff Ryman. Edge Press, Canada.
Short story “Message in a Bottle” in anthology Futureways, published by New York’s Whitney Museum and Arsenal Pulp Press; ed., Glen Rubsamen.
Fiction anthology So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of the Future, coedited with Uppinder Mehan, Emerson College, MA. Arsenal Pulp Press, Canada.
Short story “The Smile on the Face” in an
thology Girls Who Bite Back: Witches, Mutants, Slayers and Freaks, ed. Emily Pohl-Weary, Sumach Press, Canada.
French translation of short story “Under Glass” in Galaxies, Winter 2004-2005, France.
2003
Novel The Salt Roads. Warner Books, USA.
Fiction anthology Mojo: Conjure Stories (editor). Warner Aspect Books, USA.
Short story “Whose Upward Flight I Love” reprinted in digital journal Horizon Zero, issue 7 (February-March 2003) Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Russian translation of short story “Greedy Choke Puppy” in Supernova, issue 35—36, Russia.
2002
Polish translation of novel Midnight Robber, Zysk i S-Ka Press, Poland.
Polish translation of novel Brown Girl in the Ring, Zysk i S-Ka Press, Poland.
Short story “Delicious Monster” in anthology Queer Fear II, ed. Michael Rowe. Arsenal Pulp Press, Canada.
Short story “Shift” in journal Conjunctions: the New Wave Fabulists, Bard College, USA.
Short story “Herbal,” in The Bakkanthology, ed. John Rose, Bakka Books, Canada.
Novel Ladrona de Medianoche (Spanish translation of novel Midnight Robber). Factoria des Ideas, Spain.
Finnish translation of short story “Greedy Choke Puppy” in Tähtivaeltaja magazine, Finland.
Short story “Ganger (Ball Lightning)” reprinted in Best American Erotica 2002, ed. Susie Bright, Touchstone, USA.
Biography of writer Terence M. Green, in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 251: Canadian Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers, ed. Douglas Ivison, Bruccoli, Clark, Layman, USA.
Excerpt from novel Griffonne, in journal MaComère, USA.
Excerpt from novel Griffonne, in anthology Bent on Writing: Contemporary Queer Tales, ed. Elizabeth Ruth, Women’s Press, Canada.
Commentary: “Science Fiction and the World” in Nebula Awards Showcase 2002, ed. Kim Stanley Robinson, ROC Books, USA.
Short story “Whose Upward Flight I Love” reprinted in African Voices, USA, ed. Sheree R. Thomas.
“Making the Impossible Possible” interview with Nalo Hopkinson, conducted by Alondra Nelson, in Social Text, Summer 2002, Afrofuturism issue, ed. Alondra Nelson, Duke University Press, USA.
French translation of short story “Ganger (Ball Lightning)” in Galaxies, December 2002, France.
2001
Short story collection Skin Folk, Warner Aspect Books: December 2001.
Short story “Midnight Robber” (excerpt from novel) reprinted in Young Bloods: Stories from “Exile” 1972—2001, ed. Barry Callaghan, Exile Editions, Canada.
La Ronde des Esprits (French translation of novel Brown Girl in the Ring). Éditions J’ai Lu, France.
Excerpt from novel Griffonne, in “Obsidian III—Catch Afire: New Jamaican Writing,” vol. 2, no. 2, (Fall-Winter 2000-2001).
Unabridged audiocassette recording of novel Brown Girl in the Ring. Recorded Books, Inc.
Short story “Greedy Choke Puppy” reprinted in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.
Short story “Greedy Choke Puppy” reprinted in Year’s Best Fantasy, ed. David Hartwell.
Short story “Slow Cold Chick” reprinted in Wild Things Live Here: The Best of Northern Frights, ed. Don Hutchison, Mosaic Press, Canada.
2000
Novel Midnight Robber, Warner Books, USA (March 2000). In second printing. New York Times No table Book of the Year.
Whispers From the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction (editor). Invisible Cities Press, USA. One of the “Best Books of 2000”, voted on by the Vermont Book Professionals’ Association.
Short story “The Glass Bottle Trick” in anthology Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root: Caribbean Fabulist Fiction (editor Nalo Hopkinson). Invisible Cities Press, USA.
Short stories “Greedy Choke Puppy” and “Ganger: Ball Lightning” in anthology Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction From the African Diaspora, ed. Sheree R. Thomas, Warner Books, USA.
“Greedy Choke Puppy,” audioplay version, full production for “Seeing Ear Theatre” by Brian Smith: http://www.scifi.com/set/playhouse/puppy/
Short story “Riding the Red” produced by CBC Radio. Performed by author to original score by William Sperandei. http://www.davidbraid.com/sperandei.html Producer Barbara Worthy.
Radio play “Indicator Species” broadcast on “Outlook,” CBC Radio. Producer Glen Sinclair.
“Red Rider” (Nation language version of “Riding the Red”) a monologue for the stage, in anthology Tellin’ It Like It Is, a chapbook of monologues by Africanadian playwrights published by the Playwrights’ Union of Canada.
“Bitter” a monologue commissioned for the stage by the Toronto World Stage Festival, read at event “Kabaret Erotica” by actor Sandi Ross.
Japanese translation of short story “Precious” in SF Magazine 2000 11/35, Japan
1999
Short story “Slow Cold Chick” in anthology Northern Frights 5, ed. Don Hutchison, Mosaic Press, Canada.
Short story “A Habit of Waste” in anthology Women of Other Worlds: Excursions through Science Fiction and Feminism, eds. Helen Merrick and Tess Williams, University of Western Australia Press, Australia.
Short story “A Habit of Waste” in anthology Northern Suns, eds. David Hartwell and Glenn Grant, Tor, USA.
Short story “Precious” in anthology Silver Birch, Blood Moon, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Avon Eos Press, USA.
Author reading excerpt from Brown Girl in the Ring, digital broadcast in Real Audio on “Seeing Ear Theatre”: http://www.scifi.com/set/readings/hopkinson/index.html
1998
Short story “Slow Cold Chick” commissioned for and broadcast on CBC Radio One’s “Festival of Fiction,” May and August 1998. Producer Ann Jansen, performer Karen Robinson.
Novel Brown Girl in the Ring, Warner Aspect Books, July 1998.
Untitled article on science fiction writing and government support of the arts in September—October “Culture” issue of This magazine.
1997
Short story “Money Tree” in anthology Tesseracts 6, eds. Robert Sawyer and Carolyn Clink, Tesseract Books, Canada.
Short story “Riding the Red” in anthology Black Swan, White Raven, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Avon/Nova Publishers, USA.
1996
Short story “A Habit of Waste,” Fireweed magazine, Toronto, Vol. 53 (Late Spring 1996).
1995
Short story “Midnight Robber” in Exile magazine, Toronto, vol. 18, no. 4.
Article “Droppin’ Science: Black Science Fiction Writing in the 90s,” Possibilitiis magazine, Ottawa, Canada, vol 1, no. 4 (Summer 1995).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BORN IN JAMAICA AND NOW living in both Toronto and California, Nalo Hopkinson is known for her distinctive use of Caribbean myth and folklore in her award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels.
One of SF/F’s most popular and respected authors, she is also a consistent and eloquent voice for progressive ideas (and outcomes) in writing and publishing.
She has a master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and currently teaches at U.C. Riverside, where she says there are lizards. She likes lizards.
In addition to her novels and stories, which have brought new life and depth to the literature of the fantastic, Hopkinson regularly edits original anthologies, and is a founding member of the Carl Brandon Society, which exists to further the conversation on race and ethnicity in SF and Fantasy.
She also cooks and sews and avoids driving whenever possible.
PM PRESS was founded at the end of 2007 by a small collection of folks with decades of publishing, media, and organizing experience. PM Press co-conspirators have published and distributed hundreds of books, pamphlets, CDs, and DVDs. Members of PM have founded enduring book fairs, spearheaded victorious tenant organizing campaigns, and worked closely with bookstores, academic conferences, and even rock bands
to deliver political and challenging ideas to all walks of life. We’re old enough to know what we’re doing and young enough to know what’s at stake.
We seek to create radical and stimulating fiction and nonfiction books, pamphlets, t-shirts, visual and audio materials to entertain, educate and inspire you. We aim to distribute these through every available channel with every available technology—whether that means you are seeing anarchist classics at our bookfair stalls; reading our latest vegan cookbook at the café; downloading geeky fiction e-books; or digging new music and timely videos from our website.
PM Press is always on the lookout for talented and skilled volunteers, artists, activists and writers to work with. If you have a great idea for a project or can contribute in some way, please get in touch.
PM PRESS
PO Box 23912
Oakland CA 94623
510-658-3906
www.pmpress.org
These are indisputably momentous times – the financial system is melting down globally and the Empire is stumbling. Now more than ever there is a vital need for radical ideas.
In the four years since its founding—and on a mere shoestring—PM Press has risen to the formidable challenge of publishing and distributing knowledge and entertainment for the struggles ahead. With over 175 releases to date, we have published an impressive and stimulating array of literature, art, music, politics, and culture. Using every available medium, we’ve succeeded in connecting those hungry for ideas and information to those putting them into practice.
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