PodCastle 781: ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: Interview with Rachel Swirsky

* Author : Kij Johnson

* Narrator : Heather Lindsley

* Hosts : Matt Dovey and Rachel Swirsky

* Audio Producer : Eric Valdes

*

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PodCastle 781: ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: Interview with Rachel Swirsky is a PodCastle original.

Episode 781 is part of our 15th Anniversary special and includes an interview with Rachel Swirsky, the founding editor of Podcastle back in 2008. This is a transcription of the interview.

Matt Dovey

Rachel Swirsky. Welcome back to Podcastle! And thank you for joining us and being part of these celebrations. It means a huge amount to us to have everyone involved again. How are you?

Rachel Swirsky

Yeah. Thank you for asking. Very exciting. I just got back from a writing retreat up in Southern Washington. So, I am tired, because it’s uh, well, last year I did 40,000 words over the four days but this year I did about 18,000, which was definitely less intense, but it was editing so it was a different process. And so, I’m both very tired and also in a way relaxed.

Matt Dovey

An odd mix for sure. Firstly, would you like to introduce yourself for those listeners who might not have been around for your original editorial run?

Rachel Swirsky

Most people I assume. Although I still do sometimes get people who come up to me and they’re like, “I’ve followed you ever since the original Podcastle. I like your voice because I’m used to you reading to me”

Um, I… My name is Rachel Swirsky. I am primarily a science fiction and fantasy writer of short fiction. Novels are really really, really long. I used to say that I didn’t have the attention span for novels and yet I was very surprised when I was diagnosed with ADD. It helps. Medicine helps. So, I have been very fortunate in being nominated for a number of awards such as the Hugo’s, the Locus Awards and World Fantasy. I’ve twice won the Nebula Award once for my novella uuuh…I definitely know

Matt Dovey

The Lady who Plucks Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window.

Rachel Swirsky

Yeah, I definitely remember my own storie’s title. Sorry, its title. And also for the short story If You Were a Dinosaur My Love. I have one collection out. Actually, that’s not true. I have two collections out: Through the Drowsy Dark from Aqueduct Press and How the World Became Quiet through Subterranean; both of those from a while ago now. And this year, I just published about six months ago, a novella called January 15th  through Tor.com. And it’s about the application of universal basic income in a future United States through the viewpoints of four different characters on the day the money is dispersed.

Matt Dovey

And I just read it and enjoyed it very much.

Rachel Swirsky

Oh, thank you!

Matt Dovey

We’ll come back to all that later. You’ve answered like half the questions I’ve got planned just in the introduction alone. This is gonna get really strange from now on

Rachel Swirsky

Well,