One thing I love about being a writer is getting to know other writers. And I have met some wonderful people and made some wonderful friends in the last few years! My writer friend Jay Lake is an amazing person. He’s won the John W. Campbell Award for best new science fiction and/or fantasy writer. He’s got a list of publications that’s about a mile long.
And he graciously agreed to an interview about his writing and the animals in his life.
Aimee: What kind of things do you write about?
Jay: I mostly write speculative fiction — fantasy, science fiction and some horror. I tend to talk a lot about individual responsibility and the process of coming of age. That last, of course, can happen at any time of life, or none. There’s a lot of cities in my fiction, and my fascination with weird machines shows up a lot.
Aimee: What’s a day of writing like for you? Do you have a set schedule? Do you have a day job?
Jay: I do have a day job, doing a lot of marketing a technical writing. I work at home from 6 am to 3 pm, except when I’m traveling. That in turn governs my writing schedule. At home I write in the evenings, and usually one weekend day. On the road, I write as I can — airplanes, hotels, you name it.
Aimee: Do animals appear in your work?
Jay: Often. Another basic theme of mine is the question of “who counts.” We’re very accustomed to seeing people as filling human-shaped holes. Speculative fiction addresses this question through aliens, through intelligent machines, through talking animals, all of which can often be read as metaphors for the way people divide themselves and one another. One of my favorite short stories of mine, ever, is “Jack’s House“, which is about a world of animals.
Aimee: What kind of pets do you have? Past and present, if you like.
Jay: I have always been a cat person. I am currently without, for the first time in my adult life. I like dogs just fine, but I’ve never had puppy love in my heart of the sort which makes all dogs cute little sweetie pies. They almost always like me, though. I have over the years played host to a tarantula and a rainbow boa.
Aimee: How do your pets help you work? And I use the term “help” very loosely… mine work as a distraction more than anything.
Jay: I have never understood the fascination cats have with keyboards. I’m sure it’s really an “I’ll sit on your hands and you’ll touch me, NOW” sort of thing. They are also a very uncritical audience for reading aloud to.
Aimee: So where can we find some of your works?
Jay: As a novelist, I’m published by Tor Books and Night Shade Books. MAINSPRING is about to come out in paperback (May, 2008). The sequel, ESCAPEMENT, will be out in hardback soon as well (June, 2008). These books are available at major bookstores everywhere, as well as online. My short fiction is widely available online, including the “Jack’s House” piece I mentioned, which can be read at Strange Horizons.
Aimee: Any last thoughts you’d like to add?
Jay: Animals make our lives more dimensional, and they do much the same for our fiction. The future isn’t all spaceships and food pills, after all. It’s people and their pets, just as we’ve always gone through the world.