Lightspeed Magazine Issue 32

by Judith Berman

  I wanted to learn a little more about the history of your story, and what I discovered is that some gorgeous multi-media art had been created based on “Child-Empress of Mars” to benefit the Interstitial Arts Foundation, and that you had coedited the first in the Interfictions series. Can you tell our readers a little about what interstitial art is, and what about it drew you to participate with the Foundation?

  Yes, several works of art were created for an auction benefiting the Interstitial Arts Foundation. C. Jane Washburn created a sculpture of the Child-Empress. She was gorgeous! Laramie Sasseville created an amazing bookmark, and Connie Toebe created one of her wonderful boxes, called Dream of the Child-Empress of Mars. Later, several friends got together and bought me another Washburn sculpture, the poet Elah Gal, which is one of my most prized possessions. Interstitial art is art that exists between genre boundaries, and I think my story is exactly that. It’s science fiction—sort of? Or maybe it’s an interrogation of science fiction. Or maybe it’s an interrogation of fiction. But it definitely plays with generic conventions. Not that I was thinking of that when I wrote it. I just thought of what a pleasure it would be to write something so strange and complicated. It was a challenge I set myself. But I became involved with the Interstitial Arts Foundation, and coedited the first Interfictions with Delia Sherman, because I wanted to work with this sort of art. I think it’s exciting stuff, and of course the pieces created for the auction are also excellent examples.

  What’s next for you?

  I’m currently working on a novel based on a novella called “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter,” which is about all the daughters of the mad scientists: Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. It’s about how they meet in late nineteenth-century London, and the adventures they have together. It’s a pleasure to write, and gave me an excuse to go to London last summer. That novella will shortly be reprinted in a book called The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. In a way, I’m doing what I did in “Child-Empress,” telling you that although you think you know the story, you don’t. There’s another story, another perspective, and if you listen, I’ll tell you what it is …

  Christie Yant is a science fiction and fantasy writer, an occasional narrator for StarShipSofa, and co-blogger at Inkpunks.com, a website for aspiring and newly-pro writers. She lives with her husband and daughters in a former Temperance colony on the central coast of California.

  Coming Attractions

  Coming up in February, in Lightspeed …

  We’ll have original fantasy by Genevieve Valentine (“Abyssus Abyssum Invocat”) and M. Bennardo (“The Herons of Mer de l’Ouest”), along with fantasy reprints by Marly Youmans (“Prologomenon to the Adventures of Childe Phoenix”) and John Crowley (“Exogamy”).

  Plus, we’ll have original science fiction by C.C. Finlay (“The Infill Trait”) and Carrie Vaughn (“Harry and Marlowe Escape the Mechanical Siege of Paris”), and SF reprints by Robert Reed (“Eight Episodes”) and Maureen F. McHugh (“Interview: On Any Given Day”).

  For our ebook readers, our ebook-exclusive novella will be “The Happiest Dead Boy in the World” by Tad Williams, and of course we’ll have our usual assortment of author and artist spotlights, and feature interviews.

  It’s another great issue, so be sure to check it out. And while you’re at it, tell a friend about Lightspeed. Thanks for reading!