FLY SOUP

An Interview with Ann Leckie By Chris Large (First Appeared in Aurealis #86) Ann Leckie has worked as a waitress, a receptionist, a lunch lady and a recording engineer. She also happens to be the author of a little book called Ancillary Justice, which won not only a Hugo, but a Nebula and an Arthur C. Clarke Award as well. In 2014, her second book, Ancillary Sword was met with equal praise. Now, with the release of the third instalment in her Imperial Radch series, Ancillary Mercy, Ann speaks with Chris Large about perspective, the value of a good cup of tea, and most importantly of all, those pesky Presger and why we don’t see more of them. Hello Ann, and welcome to Aurealis. It’s great to have you here. Thanks! I'm glad to be here! As a thought exercise, the lack of gender cues in your Imperial Radch series can be a difficult concept to deal with at first. How have you found reader’s reactions to this device? I have been really surprised at some reactions...

Author interviews are a dime a dozen, so how many of them are worthy of your time, and how many are just white noise? I'm not saying some aren't worthwhile. There can be something to be gained by reading even an average author interview, but with every hipster and their blow-dried poodle running some kind of author interview/latte appreciation blog, there's just so much emailed-in, beige-carpet dross around, it can be a real splash of ice-water to the face to read a smack-down between two people who genuinely care about their topic of discussion. Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice I've been interviewing authors for a couple of years now (you won't find my interviews here, but in magazines and elsewhere on the inter-webz. I gave up writing for free a while back) and I've learned some really important lessons I'd like to share. The fact is, the difference between a could-find-this-crap-anywhere interview, and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a really i...

One thing I've really enjoyed about 2015 has been talking with a bunch of writers at the top of their game. I genuinely get a kick out of chatting with guys as talented, engaging and passionate about what they do as the likes of Shane Abbess and John Scalzi. Most recently I had a chat with Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C.Clarke award winning author Ann Leckie. It was just prior to the release of her new book Ancillary Mercy and I think I was almost as excited for the book's release as she was. Ann can be unexpectedly hilarious though, and we took  a couple of winding diversions in the interview which really surprised me. I think sometimes interviewees get sick of answering the same questions over and over, so if something a bit different pops up they really run with it. You can find the full interview in Aurealis #86 . Also, not sure I fully pimped my interview with Thoraiya Dyer. I think of it as her origin story, since it's a tale of the heartbreaking setbacks that have...