Sarah Zettel

“I did not want to write a story about the invasion of Earth, so I had to create a race capable of living nearby, which meant to either on the Moon, on Mars, or on Venus. I picked Venus.”

“I suppose if I was to have to pick a few, Ursula LeGuin would have to top the list. It was while reading her work that I decided I wanted to be an author.”

“Fantasy is, of course, booming, and I think it's beginning to stretch its range as well.”

“I describe my plots as follows; A character is walking down the street when all of a sudden a piano falls on them. They spend the rest of the story digging out from under that piano. How they dig, how long and how well, this all depends entirely on the character.”

“I think people enjoy a series. When you like a story, many readers want more of the same, which is dandy, if the author and the characters have more to say.”

“I wish I knew who I am," I whispered to the stars in Baya's eyes.Slowly, Baya shook his head. "Oh, Dust Girl, that's the hardest wish of all. Not even Baya can give you that one. That one you earn.”

“Now, Venus is an extremely hostile environment, and as such presents a lot of challenges for a science fiction author who wants to create life there. However, as I began to research it more thoroughly, I found myself intrigued by the possibilities the world offers.”

“I have a better internal and intuitive understanding of folklore and myth than science and technology, so in that way fantasy is easier.”

“Then, I realized that there is an indigenous presence in the Solar System. It's us. So, then, I got to wondering what would happen if a more technologically advanced society moved next door to us, the way we moved next door to the American Indians.”

“I'm mostly a novelist these days, but I have written short stories in Fantasy, Science Fiction and horror.”

“I reject the notion that we must tell girls that the only way to be valid human beings is to turn themselves into boys.”

“I wasn't used to looking ahead. Not like Jack. Maybe that was why he had that ready grin. I could see through the dust, but he could see through time, and he didn't even need magic to do it.”

“Becoming a mother cannot help but change things. An author's life is reflected in their writing, whether they want it to be or not, and parenthood is one of the biggest life changes there is.”

“The Lord of the Rings movie set an entirely new standard for fantasy in the movies.”

“When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm generally reading, practicing tai chi or middle eastern dance, or cooking.”

“If I get blocked, it is generally because I don't know enough about some aspect of the story or the characters. The answer for this is generally more research, or making more background notes, so the place and person can be more fully realized inside my own mind.”

“I graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Communications and left formal education behind.”

“I feel SF is going through an experimental phase right now.”

“Actually, after while, finding the ideas is the easy part. Sorting them through and turning them into stories, now, that's the hard work.”

“First and foremost, The Quiet Invasion is a first contact story. What would we do if we actually found evidence of alien life out there? It's also about politics.”