MEET THE SPSFC2 FINALIST!
A special interview with S. Z. Atwell!
Name and where you are from?
S. Z. Attwell (Sabrina), Boston area.
How many other books have you self-published?
1 novel (second in the Aestus series)
Tell us a little bit about your discovery of science fiction (books, shows, movies) and why did it stick with you?
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of far-off worlds, different “peoples”…I also enjoyed movies like Contact, things that made me think. I’ve always been interested in the idea of sci-fi as exploring what makes us human; I even took an anthro class on sci-fi at one point. And twists. Twists are fun. I really enjoyed a lot about Ender’s Game for that reason.
What/who made you want to become an author?
I’ve been writing since I was about 3 or 4 – I illustrated my first story (don’t remember all the details). At 6 I had a little story published by a family friend who ran a press, which was very exciting. Since 13 or so I’ve been trying to write novels. I just…need to read/write.
What elements do you feel make your book unique?
I tried to seriously sit down and think about how an underground city would work. This isn’t unique, of course (I’m looking at WOOL), but I tried to take an almost anthropological/sociological approach to how societies function, how people organize themselves, how we maintain the status quo, what we purposely don’t see in order to do that, etc. The City is in a real-world location as well (my friend has been to the region, and excitedly sent me video and told me I’d gotten the feeling of it right!). I also really go deep into the characters, which makes the book longer and less streamlined, but which is the type of reading experience I prefer (over the course of writing the book, I learned that I think of plot as a function of character motivations/decisions/actions rather than largely outside events).
What are some themes or ideas you like to explore in your writing? What may have inspired these?
Humanity. Who are we, how do we react to things, why, etc. I also like interesting technology/ideas, but I use those as backdrop for the most part. As to why? The human need to be seen, to be understood, I guess.
What are some of your favorite tropes and how do you explore those in your writing?
I’m not sure, but I enjoy the “things aren’t what they seem” trope (is that a trope?). Can’t say how I explore that (for spoiler reasons).
What’s something about your book we might not get from the blurb?
I wish the genre “epic” existed. It’s sci-fi, but it’s kind of more action-adventure with a side of dystopian and sci-fi speculative tech than anything else. Like I said, I tried to take a sociological/anthropological approach to things, and really analyze how things like the City might work – it’s not preachy and it’s not dry, but I hope it has something useful to say.
What was your path or decision to self-publish? Had you queried for publishers or planned self-publish?
I looked at the timelines, the advance/royalties structure, and the (perceived/real) loss of creative control, and decided to self-publish. I had a friend tell me they thought the book could be picked up, but I didn’t want to wait potentially 2+ years, nor did I want to be forced to add elements to my book that I didn’t want to for marketability reasons. (I misunderstood how that process works, upon further discussion with an agent friend, but I don’t regret my decision to self-publish.)
What’s something you’ve learned about the self-publishing process?
It’s generally a long game, and marketing is a lot of work. Do I love it? Yes.
What is one thing that you love about the current state of Science Fiction and what is one thing that you wish you saw more of?
To be honest, I’m not the most well-read when it comes to sci-fi. I do wish there were more old-fashioned-style works on, well, that sense of gazing at the stars and wondering. It’s amazing that we have things like the JWST and Hubble, but I have an old lithographic print of the imagined surface of an asteroid from I think the early 1900s that brings to mind being a kid and that sense of not knowing, of “what’s out there?” I’d like to share that with more people/to see more of that.
What’s up next for you as a writer?
No idea. Hopefully a continuation of my (technically-complete) series. I also have some other WIPs going, most of which are not sci-fi.
Website: https://szattwell.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/szattwellauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/szattwellauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54846812-aestus