Ann Aguirre

“I'll always want him. Until every sun goes dark in every sky, until I am nothing more than long-forgotten cosmic dust, I will want him. And even then I suspect my particles will long for his.”

“We're broken in complementary ways, thus rendering our damage comprehensible to each other.”

“For love to flourish there has to be trust. Promises don’t matter as much aspersonal choice.”

“Too often, women are portrayed in two ways: as prizes to be won by men or as damsels in distress.”

“I've held my silence when I probably shouldn't have. But I was in the minority, a woman writing SF, and I was afraid of career backlash. I was afraid of being excluded or losing opportunities if I didn't play nice.”

“Pull yourself together. People among the living still need your help, and I haven't given you permission to quit.”

“Because it takes more courage to heal the world's hurts than to inflict them.”

“I’m not a woman you bring home to Mother, pick out china patterns with, or Mary forefend, breed. I’ve seen a chunk of the universe, true, but there’s still so much more to see. I doubt I’ll ever cure this wanderlust, and I’m content with dedicating my life to failing to sate it... He’s never going to sit at my feet and write me poems, which is good because I hate poetry, except dirty ones that rhyme.”

“Since becoming aware of the need to be inclusive, I've tried to make my stories broader and more representative of our world.”

“My life experiences are different than the average person because I've spent the last 10 years living in Mexico. I generally don't know what's going on in America, and when I do visit for work, I'm often interrogated about my life choices by random strangers.”

“People need to believe they can make a difference - that one person standing strong can turn the tide.”

“My process seems to be unusual in the sense that I don't create worlds before characters. With me, character is king.”

“I had a respected SF writer call me 'girlie' and demand that I get him a coffee, before the panel we were on together.”

“In 2007, I sold my first book, 'Grimspace.' It says it's SF on the spine. I believe it to be SF, though it's certainly written differently. I write in first person, present tense, and the protagonist is a woman with a woman's thoughts, feelings, and sexual desires.”