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.
Jeff Vandermeer
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.
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.'
My dad is an entomologist and research chemist. That's why he was in Fiji, studying the rhinoceros beetle invasive species.
South Florida, Central Florida, and North Florida could never be mistaken for each other. Each has its quirks and attractions.
'Borne,' in a weird way, even though it's a totally different universe, picks up where the 'Southern Reach Trilogy' leaves off, because it's post-apocalyptic.
My mom was a biological illustrator for a time before computers replaced that job.
I'm fairly skeptical of movements, organizations, and institutions in general.
There simply aren't enough constitutional safeguards in place to protect against a rogue president.
Trump lays bare a lot of things already wrong with our society. But he also accelerates the process of it becoming worse, when it could be getting better.
My parents were in the Peace Corps.
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.
There are some beautiful creatures in the ocean that seem very alien at the same time.
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.
I do believe very much in the idea of unexpected or 'convulsive' beauty - beauty in the service of liberty.
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.
Film fixes a precise visual image in the viewer's head. In fiction, you just hope you're precise enough to convey the intended effect.
So many differing opinions and philosophies... are rarely housed under the roof of a single magazine.
History has shown us all too often the consequences of dreaming poorly or not at all.
There's also a lot of gritty Americana type of bands. I actually have a lot of Britpop on my iPod, too.
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.
My mother is an artist, and I have a strong visual sense. I almost always choose the cover art for my books. I've learned that the more I collaborate, like by having someone do a soundtrack to one of my books, the more I see my own work differently.
My stepmom is one of the leading researchers on lupus in the world.
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.
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.
In a sense, fictional dystopias have been a way of distracting us from the truth of our condition by placing it 'over there.'
I'm not a fan of fiction that's totally hopeless.
An important reason that we're in the trouble we are in with climate change is that we don't have a handle on our environment. We form public policy based on information that is wrong.
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.
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.
I'm a huge fan of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films.
I like North Florida because it's much wilder than the rest of the state.
I'm an agnostic trending toward atheist and resist, in particular, Christian interpretations and imagery.
Heroes aren't always people who save others in the normal sense. Sometimes they're people who keep trying even when things seem impossible.
