There's also a lot of gritty Americana type of bands. I actually have a lot of Britpop on my iPod, too.
South Florida, Central Florida, and North Florida could never be mistaken for each other. Each has its quirks and attractions.
My dad is an entomologist and research chemist. That's why he was in Fiji, studying the rhinoceros beetle invasive species.
My best time to write is right after coffee and breakfast - four eggs - because, full disclosure, I'm really a komodo dragon - and that's because then I'm energized but not so awake that the critical voice clicks on, the voice that sometimes says, 'Don't write that,' or, 'Man, that sentence is terrible - you should give up and go pet the cats.'
Cross-pollination and 'contamination' is really important to the health of fiction, and sometimes it's a literal conversation, too, in that writers who might never otherwise meet and talk do so because of our anthologies.
I always try to be alert to the potential for repetition, for a decaying orbit with regard to my use of technique, etc.
So many differing opinions and philosophies... are rarely housed under the roof of a single magazine.
In a sense, fictional dystopias have been a way of distracting us from the truth of our condition by placing it 'over there.'
When you describe a character's dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest.
My mom was a biological illustrator for a time before computers replaced that job.
I used to work for a succession of software editing companies that would have contracts with state and federal agencies. And I would be the documenter of meetings, sometimes doing limited business analysis. I began to become quite cynical about how the world works. It works on ineptitude and inefficiency and a kind of passiveness.
I have always tended toward a lush prose style, but I take care to modulate it from story to story and to strip it down entirely when necessary.
Every day, I get up, and I fill the bird feeders and put out fruit and other food for both the birds and any passing mammals. Is that pointless long-term? I have no idea. All I know is that on this day, in this moment, it makes a difference.
The music I listen to while writing is really scene-specific. It's just a great motivator, a way to put myself in the mood.
I see music as an aid. It overcomes my internal editor, especially when the music evokes the character or the mood I'm trying to build.
My parents were in the Peace Corps.
Vladimir Nabokov liked to examine cruelty and the human condition. That didn't mean he was cruel; there's no evidence he kicked puppies just for the fun of it. Similarly, 'Black Mirror' likes to examine possible dystopias, but that doesn't mean the show is cynical enough to endorse them.
When you think about the complexity of our natural world - plants using quantum mechanics for photosynthesis, for example - a smartphone begins to look like a pretty dumb object.
There are a lot of human-created systems that we like to tout as being logical that are actually riddled with illogic. And then, on the other hand, we have all these natural systems that are not conscious, but they are logical, and they work really well.
There simply aren't enough constitutional safeguards in place to protect against a rogue president.
