Our Writer Guest of Honor spoke with BayCon publications before BayCon to answer questions about culinary experiences, music, teaching, her next book, and so much more. Make sure to also find Ryka before the end of the Con because she’s super awesome!
Q: Not everyone may know that you’ve published poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Are you partial to one literary genre over the other? What drew you to speculative fiction?
I think in some ways for me that question’s backwards. Sometimes a poem is a poem. Sometimes a short story is a short story. And sometimes a song is a song. I feel that each form has its own special magic, and often I find myself writing in a form for no other reason than this is the magic that has called me. My one goal is to capture a feeling or a thought or an idea and share it with people in a way that is beautiful, however one might define that.
That being said, I’ve been on quite the ride with science fiction fantasy/speculative fiction. I’ve always liked speculative fiction. I know that many of us have had rough childhoods. Me too.
Speculative fiction gave my mind and my soul a place to exist where I could still wonder and believe. Speculative fiction helped me envision a future that I could imagine and help create and live in. And it still does.
Q: Your novel Light From Uncommon Stars makes us hungry, both for the story and for the savory descriptions of food eaten by characters in the book! What inspired the emphasis on culinary experiences?
I’m so glad my book made you hungry! And that’s part of why I love to write about food. That’s why I love to cook food. Food literally brings us all to the table. Think about a potluck. People bring foods from their kitchens and their cultures and they share them. And the more dishes people bring, the larger the table—and the healthier the appetites—the more amazing the meal is going to be.
Also, I’m asking so much of my readers. I’m asking them to think about queer issues or issues of race or sex. I’m asking them to think of worlds where magic and science coexist. My next book is going to ask people to consider the end of all reality! I’m asking a lot from readers.
But when I write about food, I think that maybe I can give readers a place to sit down, enjoy the smells and tastes. Look around them—to reflect on where they’ve been and where they are now.
Q: You play a number of musical instruments, including the violin, which is featured prominently and lovingly in your novel. Have there been any new additions to your repertoire?
Thank you. Learning how to play the violin was one of the most wonderful and unexpected benefits of writing light from uncommon stars. The violin and I are going to be friends forever. After the violin, I started to explore fretless instruments. I think that as a writer and as a poet, fretless instruments are so much fun. When you just get the note right, there’s a resonance that comes from the strings that is so affirming.
I now have a 5-string fretless bass. I’m not particularly great with it, but it’s so much fun! I’m playing Chinese wuxia and xianxia songs (Think “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” except an octave lower).
Q: How important do you feel it is for speculative fiction to represent and empower diverse voices? What advice can you give to new writers struggling to find their own voices?
I get this question a lot. I think that makes sense. For many years, writers with my background didn’t have the opportunities to publish in mainstream science fiction and fantasy as we do now. I’m not going to go into the reasons. That’s a whole other set of questions. However, I think that by including stories from different perspectives and different places in our world, all of us gain.
And I think that’s the most important thing to remember. “Diversity” isn’t something we ask readers and writers to embrace to be virtuous. This should be something we do because we want to explore all the worlds out there. All the stories that we can possibly imagine as human beings.
As far as writers struggling to find their own voices? First off, welcome! May your stories enchant and challenge and thrill all of us.
As far as finding you own voice… The best advice I can give is to appreciate the voices of others. Not to compete with them or to measure yourself against them, but to appreciate them. To listen to their words and how they put lines together. How they develop characters and approach dialogue.
Again, to appreciate. To celebrate. Because when you do that, when it’s your turn to write, you will miss your own voice. Not because you’re jealous or anything—ut because you’re a writer and it’s your turn now.
I see a lot of young writers, and I did this myself, not giving themselves time to listen. I would listen halfway–always be comparing my style with the style of others. And so everything got tangled up, and when I went to write my own stuff, it was still tangled in other people’s work period and so I had to fight to “find my own style.”
Nowadays, I read a book by—say John Scalzi or Shelly Parker Chan or Nghi Vo or Charlie Jane Anders… They’re all brilliant brilliant brilliant writers. But all so different! And there is absolutely no way I can write like any of them!
But gosh, I can sure revel in their stories and styles. I can listen, read, let myself get lost in their voices.
And then when it’s my turn to write, I can just concentrate on being me.
Q: How does your career as a teacher inform your writing? Do you find they complement each other? Do you include any of your writing in your curriculum?
I really love teaching. I really love teaching composition. I like teaching creative writing, as well. But I really like teaching composition. Teaching composition reinforces my sense of structure and line. There’s something to be said for reviewing the basics. And teaching composition is a way to do that and get paid. 🙂
On a more social level, I find teaching to be spiritually rewarding. It makes me feel like I’m doing some good in this world. I’d like to think all of my work accomplishes this, but there’s something direct about helping a student express themself through words. Watching students gain confidence and their ability to convey their feelings and thoughts…A whole new world of possibilities opens for them, and I’m so grateful to be part of that.
As far as teaching my own books and my curriculum? I really don’t do that. I think it places students in a difficult position.
I think it’s important to encourage students to have honest opinions about things and ideas and to express them with clarity and power and maybe even a little flair. I want them to feel free to say that they don’t like a particular piece of work, and if it’s the professor’s own, that might not be so easy to do.
Q: You’ve appeared in documentaries and other films, and contributed to screenplays. Do you see more of this in your future? What excites (or doesn’t excite) you about film as a medium?
I’m kind of an accidental actor. I have appeared in some films and although it’s been a lot of fun, I have enough actor friends to understand how much more I would have to work on my craft to pursue it with any intention.
I think I’m always going to be more of a storyteller.
I think it would be amazing to see my work adapted into film. It’s a completely different medium so how work gets interpreted isn’t always up to the writer of the original source material. But there’s something exciting about seeing how your art inspires the art in others.
Maybe down the line, I’d write a screenplay of my own. I would also love to a chance to write a game and interactive novel—though I don’t know how one would get started with that. I’d love to write a graphic novel! A musical!
I guess I just love storytelling!
Q: Who are some of your favorite fellow authors of speculative fiction? Is there anything you’re reading now that you’d recommend?
This might be my favorite question! My favorite authors?
There are so many of them. But I wanted to mention authors who had no particular reason to be good or sweet or reach out or be amazing. And yet they did so. Folks who might be much farther along their careers…far more established than I am, but still made it a point offor their support…to say “hey you belong here too.”
John Scalzi has been nothing but the sweetest cinnamon roll to me. Even though he’s a freaking rock star, he’s bwwn nothing but supportive and kind and generous. He invited me onto the JoCo Cruise. And because of the people I met there, I get to be at BayCon. To be honest, I was nervous as all heck to go on that boat. And John said, “you’re going to have friends there. Will be there!” Which I thought was a nice thing to say, but when I actually got on the boat, there he was waving me over to hang out with him and Athena and Chrissy. I met so many cool people not just by hanging with him, but because he went out of his way to include me. As I hope my career grows, I see him as one of my role models of how to treat others (no matter how many necks my guitar may have).
Jenn Lyons has been like the big sister/literary fitness coach that I never knew I needed. I was getting a little overwhelmed with her next book, and she just told me what was up and get back to work. One of the coolest things she did was to advise me to work on my autograph. She reminded me how much signing a book meant to me and how much it means to others. She’s one of those people that I feel I can call at any time, and she’ll always make time for me. I hope she knows that I feel the same way. She’s such the genuine article!
Nghi Vo Is another one who reached out when she didn’t have to. When I was nominated for a Hugo award. it was an overwhelming experience, and she was there talking me through me what to expect at World Con… that I could reach out for help if I needed it. It was just so out of the blue. She saw I mate need a little reassurance and there she was. Amazing.
T.J. Klune. Have you ever been to a T.J. Klune book signing? Oh my gosh, his readers just love him! And I totally get it. The thing about TJ is that he has always believed in me. He’s always had faith in my work. And he’s always the first one to say “you can do this. You can make it as a writer. You really can!” And whenever he’s around, I know the room is going to be filled with some yummy unapologetically queer goodness and brilliance!
Gail Simone. I was at Wondercon this past year and Gail was signing at a table and there was this huge line. I walked by and waved to her and she gets up and waves me over and gives me a big old hug. That’s the kind of person Gail is. She’s funny and brilliant and can be tough as nails. But goodness she’s a sweetheart.
Kate Elliot came to my rescue at a book signing that I was doing in Hawaii. The event and the signing and all that went super well. But I most remember hanging out with her afterwards. Listening to stories of what women went through in science fiction and fantasy. What she had gone through herself. And it was just so honest and eye opening in it made me so grateful for her and for all the other women who opened the door for so many other writers. And she’s even more cool because she’s a competitive canoeist!
Foz Meadows jumped on the same train with me on the way to San Diego Comic Con a couple years ago and we’ve been great friends ever since. Every time we chat, I know a little bit more about queer K-Pop. He’s been more than the colleague; he’s been a partner in crime and is always ready for a drive to San Diego, a sushi lunch, or to take a picture when I’m holding stuffed animals or packages of beans.
Charlie Jane Anders. Wow. We go back decades, To some of the old queer and trans performance spaces in San Francisco back in the early 2000s. What I love the most about Charlie Jane is no matter how crazy the world gets sent all the changes that we’ve gone through… She still open and sweet. And when she signs books, she looks at every reader and actually talks to them. She’s got such a beautiful, beautiful heart.
I know this question was probably asking me about books that I might recommend. But because the speculative fiction world is such a community, and good communities are made of good people, I wanted you to know how cool some of these people are. I know of the saying is “never meet your heroes.”
But gosh, with these authors, I’m glad I did.
Q: Do you have any news to share about your new book? Or is there anything you’d like to plug? Please let us know!
By the time we get to BayCon, I should have sent a draft of my next book to Tor. I’m so looking forward to that. This was a difficult book. Those who follow me anywhere on social media know that I have been grieving. My mother passed in late 2022 and I was midway through the book. The book was already strained because I’ve been spending most of my time in the hospital. A lot of this book started out being written in hospital rumor in the waiting area or the cafeteria that got really quiet late at night. After she passed, I realized that that wasn’t the same person anymore. I think losing a parent can do that to you.
So I had to go back and rewrite the entire book into a story that I can believe in and I would be proud to give to you. There’s a lot of grief in this book. But there’s also dignity and hope and poetry.
There are also artificial intelligences and paranoid gods and trips across the River of Dreams. There are werewolves and angels and fairies who inhabit bobble heads. Pancakes and boil-fried dumplings and spoon bread wafting the aromas of nutmeg and honey being a scooped from a cast iron skillet.
And awkward romance. Yes. There’s some awkward romance. Queer romance. Queer awkward romance. And a vintage skateboard.
Anyway, thank you for giving me so many cool questions and for taking the time to get to know me a little bit better. Looking forward to meeting all of you soon!
Much love!
