Today’s guest is P. A. Cornell, the Chilean-Canadian author of “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont.” She’s the first Chilean writer nominated for a Nebula award…and perhaps the first to win?
Time is her hobby and her obsession, so I’m glad she took the time to sit down with us.
Tell us more about your book/ series/ short story work.
I tend to write a lot about relationships, be they romantic, familial, or otherwise. I’m interested in what makes people behave the way they do, especially when it comes to interacting with others who may not think or feel the same way. This is something I explored quite a bit in my novella, Lost Cargo.
The plot has my group of characters stranded on a dangerous, alien moon, but beyond that, they’re also total strangers from various places on Earth. They don’t all even speak the same language. How they react to this situation also varies and adds to the challenge of trying to survive their ordeal. Another good example would be my story, “Splits,” in which an anomaly causes my main character to split into various versions of herself at different ages. It’s a way of exploring both familial relationships, and also our relationship with ourselves, and the journey of learning to love and be compassionate toward ourselves.
Why do you write speculative fiction? / What is speculative to you?
The short answer is that I write speculative fiction because I love it. I think those of us who create in this space or who enjoy it as fans just love how cool and fun it can be. But beyond that, speculative fiction is practically limitless in terms of allowing writers to explore themes and ideas in ways that a straight literary story might not. It also allows us to explore possibilities by posing questions like “What if?” or “If this continues, then what?” It’s the fiction of the curious.
I think it was Heinlein who said there are three kinds of science fiction: “what if?” “if only…” and “if this goes on.” I agree, speculative fiction (as a whole) offers limitless possibilities beyond the reality we see every day.
Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
I’ve found that pretty much anything can inspire a story. Sometimes it’s as simple as something someone says that triggers a train of thought that eventually leads to an idea. I’m often inspired by things my children say, for instance. They see things in a way that’s so different from adult perception. They’ve often caused me to consider things in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise done. I’m also often inspired by other arts. Images, pieces of music, etc. And sometimes I’m not even sure where a story comes from.
My story, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” is a perfect example.
On the island of Manhattan, there’s a building out of time.
It seemed to come from nowhere. I just woke up early one morning with the opening line in my head, and I started free-writing from there, discovering the story as I went. But the story is also filled with things that have personal meaning for me. Like certain songs, silent films, historical events, even some of the foods mentioned in it. This story probably wouldn’t have taken the shape it did if I hadn’t on some level been trying to combine all these disparate things into one piece.
What is your favorite sci-fi, fantasy, or horror trope? / What is your favorite sci-fi subgenre?
Anyone who’s read my fiction knows I love tropes, and I enjoy the challenge of giving them my own unique spin. It’s hard to choose a favorite, but if I had to, it would probably be time travel, or anything where I get to play with time. I’ve done this in multiple stories. “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” takes place in a building in which multiple time periods meet. “Splits,” has the protagonist splitting into versions of herself at different ages. “A Fall Backward Through the Hourglass,” is about a woman who begins aging backward at the same rate her daughter ages normally. “8 Laws I Wound Up Breaking While Attempting to Restore the Timeline,” pretty much says it all in the title, as it’s about a series of time travel mishaps. I never go too long without playing with time.
I’m a fan of time travel myself. My first novel was a time travel murder mystery, and I’ve got a few other time travel short stories out there.
What is it about time as a concept that draws you? When you look at time, what do you see there?
I think Ms. Knox, the manager of The Oakmont, says it best in my story:
“Time is nothing…and everything. It doesn’t actually exist, because we made it up.”
Time is humanity’s shared delusion. We arbitrarily decided how many hours were in a day because the math roughly worked out. We just need to make minor adjustments now and then like leap years and daylight savings and time zones. In that way, we’re all constantly playing with time.
When I go to the Nebula conference, I’ll be time traveling because I’ll be going from the East coast to the West. That sort of thing is funny to me. And of course I’ve just always enjoyed stories that play with time. The Time Traveler’s Wife, for instance. Or “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Even Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
I find it fun to play around with this in a way we obviously can’t in the real world—at least not yet. It’s also a challenge, because when you mess with timelines, it affects everything, so if you’re crafting a plot, you really have to watch for holes or find a way to explain them so that the story still makes sense. For “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” for instance, there are many rules the residents must follow that help them navigate a place where their neighbors exist in different eras, and at the same time helps me hold all the continuity threads together. The passage of time is also interesting to me because as time passes, we change, and I enjoy exploring those changes as I did in “Splits” with the different ages of the protagonist, and also in “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” with the different attitudes people have about things depending on their generation.
What is your favorite speculative fiction book (besides yours)? / What is your favorite speculative short story?
My favorite speculative book is The Martian by Andy Weir, which I believe turns ten this year, so I’m celebrating that milestone with a re-read. I know people are going to argue with me that it should be Project Hail Mary, if we’re talking about Weir’s work, and I do love that book too, but as a lifelong space nerd I’ve always had a soft spot for Mars, so that book just ticks all the boxes for me. I also really enjoy Weir’s writing style, the way he weaves this sarcastic sense of humor into stories often filled with hard science and high-stakes conflict. That’s pretty much the recipe for a story I’m going to enjoy.
What is the best story you’ve written?
I guess it’s easy to point to “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” as my best story since it was the one that got nominated for a Nebula, but it’s also my favorite and would’ve been even without the nomination. I have others I feel really worked too though.
I’m really proud of, “The Body Remembers,” for instance. It’s a dark military SF about soldiers used to test a new regeneration technology that allows them to heal from practically any injury. This sounds like a good thing, on the surface, but the story makes it clear that the reality is anything but. I feel like that story did exactly what I wanted it to do, and it’s been very well-received. It was published twice within the same year and later translated into Farsi as well. I’ve also received positive feedback from readers who were in the military, and that means so much to me.
What is the world you long to see?
A world in which empathy and foresight guide us. I feel like a lot of the worst things we do stem from a lack of empathy or foresight and if we just took some time to consider the consequences of our actions, the world would naturally be better. I think speculative fiction exists in part to teach us this.
How does it feel to be the first Chilean finalist for a Nebula Award?
Obviously being the first to reach a milestone is a great feeling. To my knowledge I was also the first Chilean in SFWA. But once you get that out of the way, it doesn’t mean much on its own. My hope is that “first” means there will be more to come.
I grew up loving fiction, but I didn’t get to see myself represented in the stories I read. The landscape has become more diverse since then, but there’s still work to do, especially when it comes to bringing stories from outside the English-speaking world into our sphere. I’m always thrilled to see any kind of diversity in fiction and strive to include it in my own, but for me personally, I’d love to see more Chilean representation specifically, because it’s still quite rare to see myself represented. And that can only come from Chilean writers.
The thing is, for their stories to find their way to the publications and awards we’re familiar with here, these authors must either be able to write in English or be translated. I may be the first Chilean nominated for a Nebula, but I have the privilege of being fluent in English and that I live in and publish from Canada, which simplifies things. Chilean writers are no strangers to literary awards. We’ve won the Nobel and the Pulitzer, for instance. I’m a member of Alciff Chile (Chile’s answer to SFWA) so I know the country has a wealth of speculative writers. I would love to see more of their stories accessible to readers here.
There are two other Chilean writers in SFWA right now that I can mention. Rodrigo Culagovski is a fantastic writer. His story, “You Don’t Have to Watch This Part,” (Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures) is among my favorites. Rodrigo Juri, whose story, “One in a Million,” was published in Clarkesworld, also comes to mind. I’d love to see them or any other Chilean on the ballot for a major speculative award.
Bravo!
Bonus question: Novels or short stories? Which do you prefer to read? Which do you prefer to write?
I don’t really have a preference. The length of my stories is dictated by the complexity of the plot, for the most part. So I’ve written everything from flash to novels. I do like the way short fiction lets me explore many different themes, or play with different characters, without a huge time commitment. But I also enjoy spending more time with a story and being able to explore these themes and characters more deeply in a longer format.
As far as reading goes, I tend to read novels just because I have a mile-long TBR like most writers do. But I also read short stories in those moments where I maybe don’t have a lot of time. Or I’ll listen to short story podcasts while I’m cooking, for instance, which allows me to “read” when I don’t have my hands free to hold a book.
Thank you for joining us, P. A. Cornell. Good luck in the Nebulas!
If you’re intrigued by P. A. Cornell’s time tropes, twists, or turns of phrase, head on over to PACornell.com for some Free Reads.
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