They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with the award-winning Erica L. Satifka, whose debut novel Stay Crazy won the 2017 Best Newcomer for the British Fantasy Award!
What does Erica L. Satifka love when she’s not writing award-winning fiction? Spoiler alert: an electrifying revenge tale, “the inner-fantasy life of a somewhat terrible person,” global domination, a fresh take on an immortal character, and a stabby stress-reliever. Curious? Read on for more!
I actually read Naomi Alderman‘s novel The Power last year, but I loved it so much that it still remains one of my favorite things several months later! It chronicles the first few years after every woman in the world develops electrical powers. Told through the perspective of a half-dozen different characters as they learn to harness their powers (or report on women learning to harness their powers, in the case of the token male journalist character) and discover what this new variable means for relations between the sexes and the ultimate fate of society. In Alderman’s novel, power corrupts, and gender norms get stripped away as women find themselves able to physically dominate men. I won’t pretend that I don’t want to live in this world at least a little, but it’s so much deeper than just a revenge tale.
Photo Credit: Greg Gayne/The CW © 2018
My favorite television show at the moment isn’t an SF/fantasy show, unless you’re talking about the inner fantasy life of a somewhat terrible person! Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a musical dramedy about a lawyer who moves to Southern California to chase down a teenage crush object. Every episode of the show has a handful of hilarious songs with music videos to match, and the characters are somewhat aware that they’re living in a world where people break into song, which is really the best part of the joke. My two favorites at the moment are probably “Buttload of Cats” and “I Love My Daughter (But Not in a Creepy Way).” Fun fact: The show’s creator and star Rachel Bloom got the first Hugo nomination for a viral video for “Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury.” I guess it does all come around to science fiction…
Just because Civilization is the only video game I play doesn’t mean it can’t also be my favorite! The newest expansion, Rise and Fall, introduces gameplay that is more complex than any Civilization game to date, including a “Golden Age” mechanic that places your empire under alternating fallow and rising periods. And there’s even more ways for your chosen nation to win big in the game of global domination, such as converting the entire world to the one true religion of Poopieheadism, which just proves that nobody should give me a fill-in text field.
Going back to books, I haven’t heard much about Keith Rosson’s 2018 novel Smoke City in speculative corners, which is a real shame because it’s one of the most imaginative books I’ve read in a while. The story follows alcoholic painter Mike Vale as he teams up with Marvin Dietz, who is the soul of Joan of Arc’s executioner who has been reborn dozens of times in a never-ending cycle of holy punishment, and how cool is that? They’re on a road trip from Portland to Los Angeles, which they have to do via car because California has been overrun with “smokes,” ghosts who have some unfinished business on Earth. The novel’s take on an immortal character is very fresh, and there’s a nice balance of comedy and tragedy in the tone. Read it while it’s new!
My favorite non-writing/non-video-game-which-is-basically-just-Civilization thing to do at the moment is cross-stitch, which I previously hadn’t done since high school almost twenty years ago. I love it because it’s less bulky than knitting (which used to be my craft of choice) but much like knitting it is just interesting enough to keep your mind occupied while you’re watching something else with your other eye. While I haven’t yet tried one of her kits, Subversive Cross Stitch has hundreds of patterns, most relating to pop culture, Internet memes, or just general bad-vibes pithy sayings. Because I am me, I decided to start out with a sixteen-color picture of Godzilla, which at this rate might be done before 2019 (cross your fingers).
Erica L. Satifka is a writer and/or friendly artificial construct, forged in a heady mix of iced coffee and sarcasm. She enjoys rainy days, questioning reality, ignoring her to-do list, and adding to her collection of tattoos. Her debut novel Stay Crazy (Apex Publications) is the winner of the 2017 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer, and her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Shimmer, Interzone, and The Dark. Originally from Pittsburgh, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her spouse Rob and an indeterminate number of cats. Visit her online at ericasatifka.com or on Twitter @ericasatifka.
Dang I wish The Power had a much better cover now. I mean, I work in a bookstore and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked by that book, but the cover was always kind of ho-hum and made me think of other genres very NOT SF/F because of it’s design, so I never even checked out the summary. Had no idea that’s what it was about! Might have to check it out now…although it’ll have to get in line with my very looooong list of books…
Love the songs on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend! I wasted a great deal of the early-mid ’90s playing Civilization. My first day of unemployment when I was downsized from the phone company in ’92 I decided to play a few turns “just to see what it was like” at 8AM. The next thing I knew it was after 11PM. I don’t recall eating. I often missed meals, even whole days.
I watched the Ray Bradbury video on YouTube and I think I may need therapy. I started reading The Power but had to take it back to the library before I could finish it. I need to get my hands on another copy. Smoke City sounds interesting.