by Rich Larson Rich Larson’s novella, Barbarians, appears in our [May/June issue, on sale now!] In this blog post, Larson discusses how a vivid dream, as well as the animated film Treasure Planet, led to this latest work. As is the case for about a third of my work, this novella was inspired by a vivid dream. I woke up one morning in Ottawa recalling a dark cavern, an ancient technology activated by blood, and a single disparaging remark: barbarians. Mechanized human sacrifice has haunted my subconscious for some time; in this case I decided a hidden treasure had been genecoded to a specific ..read more

by Bunny McFadden Bunny McFadden makes her Asimov’s debut in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] with her short story “Peck.” Here she discusses some of the unique challenges of being both a mother and a writer I oscillate between creation and consumption. I’ll go through phases where I am insatiably hungry for books, movies, television shows; I devour science fiction like a true bookworm and I binge limited series with the best of ‘em, cozy in my floral flannel sheets with my chin resting on my pillow. And then I’ll enter a period where I create and discard projects like I’m shaking a bag o ..read more

by Ray Nayler Ray Nayler discusses a childhood event that helped shape the rest of his life, and inspired his latest story, “Charon’s Final Passenger,” from our [March/April issue, on sale now!] I was kidnapped when I was three years old. It was not by a stranger (an exceedingly rare form of kidnapping, to which we devote a lot of cultural handwringing and television shows). Instead, it was the most common kind of child abduction: I was kidnapped by my father. My mother had left my father twice—once in Quebec, and again in California, after he came begging for her to take her back. He was able ..read more

by Alexander Jablokov Learn about the worldbuilding process behind Alexander Jablokov’s latest story, “How Sere Kept Herself Together,” now available in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] “How Sere Kept Herself Together” is the third of my stories about Sere Glagolit, a young woman who is forced to become a kind of detective to make ends meet after her ex-boyfriend takes off with the assets of their business. That their business involved reselling discarded body parts molted centuries before by an alien species called the Bik tells you something about the city, Tempest, that she has grown u ..read more

by Ian Baaske Follow Ian Baaske’s writing career from its earliest beginnings in this deeply personal essay. Also, don’t forget to read Baaske’s latest story, “The Man in the Moon Is a Lady,” in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] When I was a kid, I wrote whatever I wanted. In my elementary school, we had a program called “Young Authors,” where we got to write and illustrate our own books. The teachers would help us apply professional(ish) bindings and at the end we’d have our own real book that we wrote. My submission in second grade was called “The Revenge of Hera,” and I still have it. I ..read more

by Peter Wood Peter Wood discusses the role of nostalgia in his fiction as well as that of others. Be sure to read Peter’s latest story, “Une Time Machine, S’il Vous Plait,” in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] Margaret Atwood  and I both grew up in large Canadian cities and our fathers ran summer camps in rural Ontario. Atwood’s father, a forest entomologist, took his family from Toronto into the wilds of Ontario to live with graduate students. As a teenager, Atwood worked as a camp counselor for three years. I tell you this, because our family lived at the northern Ontario summer ca ..read more

by Zack Be Zack Be discusses the technology behind modern love and its future implications for human connection, two topics he also explores his his latest Asimov’s story. Read “Early Adopter,” in our [January/February issue, on sale now!] Do you remember your first kiss, first time on a date, or your first time being intimate with a partner? I am sure there was some mix of excitement, nervousness, doubt, and/or desire. Now ask yourself this—how might that experience have been different if it had occurred in virtual reality, or utilized an artificial intelligence, or been communicated wordless ..read more

Learn more about author Sean McMullen’s writing process as well as some of his upcoming projects in this informative Q&A. Also, don’t miss his latest novelette After the Winter Solstice in our [Jan/Feb issue, on sale now!] Asimov’s Editor: What is the story behind this piece? Sean McMullen: The setting for After the Winter Solstice is a world with an orbit more like that of a short period comet.  During the brief, intense inner summer, the world is closer to the host star than Venus is to the sun, but in the long outer winter the temperature drops so very low that breathing unheated a ..read more

In our latest Q&A, Marguerite Sheffer discusses her greatest influences, her writing process, and the piece of family history that helped inspire “The Disgrace of the Commodore,” her latest story in our [Nov/Dec issue, on sale now!] Asimov’s Editor: What is the story behind this piece? Marguerite Sheffer: This flash story is based on a maybe-true bit of family lore that was passed down to me: the story of a famous Commodore who surrendered a ship to the British.  I have a drawing of the ship itself hanging near my writing desk.  The Commodore has been the subject of a lot of conv ..read more

Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber discuss the follow-up story to their Asimov’s Reader’s Award-winning novelette, “The Hind.” Don’t miss “The Death of the Hind” in our [November/December issue, on sale now!] Asimov’s Editor: You two seem to make quite a team for these generation-ship stories. Did you have “The Death of the Hind” in mind when you wrote that award-winning first story, “The Hind”? Kevin J. Anderson & Rick Wilber: Yes, we aimed all along at future installments. We really enjoyed working together on  “The Hind,” and the story as we told it had room for at least one more in ..read more