Hey, look! It’s episode 105 of Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick, the podcast about making stuff (mostly writing), finding success as we each define it for ourselves, and staying healthy and sane in the process!
This is an interview episode, this time featuring the author Juliet Kemp.
From their website:
Juliet Kemp (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, writer. They live in London by the river, with their partners, kid, and dog.
The first book of their fantasy series, The Deep and Shining Dark, was on the Locus 2018 Recommended Reads list; the fourth and final book, The City Revealed, came out in 2023. They have written several novellas, and their short fiction has appeared in venues including Uncanny, Analog, and Cast of Wonders.
They were short-listed for the WSFA Small Press Award in 2020 and 2023 and had a story in the anthology Trans-Galactic Bike Ride, which was Lambda Award shortlisted in 2021.
When not writing or child-wrangling, Juliet knits, indulges their fountain pen habit, and tries to fit an ever-increasing number of plants into a microscopic back garden.
They can be found on Twitter as @julietk, on Mastodon as @juliet@zirk.us, and on Bluesky as @julietk.bsky.social.
Listen to hear us muse on fiction writing as a balm for anxiety, the challenges of defining just what sort of fantasy one has written, the validity of “comfort reads,” reaching the right readers, the benefits of working with a small press, procrastination and uncertainty, and why it’s okay to claim your writing as a priority in your life… and just how to go about actually doing that, too…
This episode was recorded on August 19, 2024. The conversation with Juliet Kemp was recorded on February 5, 2024.
Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode
- What is Hopepunk? How about Solarpunk?
- Juliet mentions Greg Egan.
- I mention “the Killer Bs,” Greg Bear, Greg Benford, and David Brin.
- An Archive of Our Own is a haven for fan fiction.
- My Sonitotum episode on how to fix the Amazon bookstore.
- During the episode, I couldn’t recall the name of a tag-based reading recommendation website. It’s The StoryGraph.
- Juliet mentions digging the Doctor Who novelizations from the 1980s.
- I bring up Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan books and the shared world series Wildcards by George R. R. Martin and company.
- Juliet’s Marek series is published by Elsewhen Press.
- My oft-recommended choice for a full-screen / no-distractions / plain text editor, Q10, is recommended yet again!
- Speaking of focus: give Focus At Will a shot.
- Mechvibes gets another mention. Typewriter sounds for focus and momentum as your write!
- Big thanks to my Multiversalists patron community, including J. C. Hutchins, Zoë Kohen Ley, Jim Lewinson, Amelia Bowen, Ted Leonhardt, and Charles Anderson! I’m incredibly grateful for the support of my patrons. If Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick brings you joy, become a patron!
- Every month net earnings from my Multiversalist patron memberships is at least $100, I will donate 10% to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let’s go!
- Patron members get the uncut, unedited edition of every episode of Sonitotum. For this episode, that includes seventeen minutes of extra content just for them!