Interview with the Author: Jennifer Lee Rossman

I have had the exciting opportunity to be involved in some of the promotion of Circuits and Slippers, a forthcoming anthology focused on science fiction and fairy tales! The book comes on on September 29th, and you can read to the end of this blog post to find out how you can enter a raffle to receive a FREE copy. I had the opportunity this week to interview Jennifer Lee Rossman about her short story, Scrapefoot.

First, a little bit about the author:

Jennifer Lee Rossman is a science fiction geek from Oneonta, New York, where she crochets, watches Doctor Who, and threatens to run over people with her wheelchair. Her short story Scrapefoot will be featured in Circuits & Slippers anthology on September 29. You can find her blog at http://jenniferleerossman.blogspot.com/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/JenLRossman

And now onto the interview:

What inspired Scrapefoot?

Goldilocks has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, and a few years ago I thought it would be interesting if, instead of bears and a cottage, the girl found a flying saucer and the aliens started performing tests on her. I wrote all of one paragraph and forgot about it until I saw the Circuits & Slippers call for submissions. I got rid of the aliens and added “mysterious shadowy figures” but kept and elaborated on the idea of tests.

What is your writing process?

I get an idea and write it, become convinced it’s the worst thing I’ve ever written, and edit until I don’t hate it anymore. I’m a little critical of my own work. 😀

How does your personal life/identity affect your writing?

Having muscular dystrophy makes it hard to type, but in terms of influencing the content of my writing? I don’t know. Most of my characters aren’t like me at all, and I try to get as far from my actual life as I can in my plots.

Favorite book? Why is it your favorite/why should I read it?

Probably Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It takes everything I love (space, aliens, weird British humor, entire chapters about whales inventing language while falling through the sky) and mushes it into book form.

If you could give one piece of of advice specifically about writing science fiction, what would it be?

Break the rules. Science fiction is unique in that anything is possible, so let your imagination go further and invent something new. Do aliens have to be green and bent on destroying Earth? Who says teleportation means beaming yourself to another location? Maybe your aliens are indistinguishable from songbirds and trying to save Earth from pollution, and maybe teleportation means the entire city of Paris comes to you.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently looking for an agent for my first novel, FreakShow, and there’s a novella somewhere in the publication process with Kristell Ink.

A big “thank you” goes out to Jennifer for letting me interview her. And now, on to the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The rules are as follows:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post
2. Follow Jaylee James on Twitter
3. Tweet/Share a message about the book coming out!

Thank you, as always for reading.

-Mehek