Outside of novels, Grace Curtis mostly makes her living from video games. She’s written for magazines like Eurogamer and Edge, and has a wonderful day job at an indie game publisher called Future Friends. When not writing she can usually be found up a hill somewhere, climbing or hiking or lolling idly in the grass. She lives in Bristol, UK.
What is the first speculative fiction book you remember reading or the one that sparked your love for the genre?
Of Time & Stars, the short story collection by Arthur C Clarke, was my introduction to ‘hard’ sci-fi. It’s showing its age nowadays (Clarke could imagine the next evolution of the human species but female astronauts were beyond him…) but it’s still very close to my heart, a balance of big ideas and clear, accessible writing.
My absolute favorite book as a kid was an adventure novel by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell called Corby Flood. It’s kind of mischievous and kind of sad, staffed with over-the-top characters and ridiculous names, structured as a journey gone wrong, and there’s a huge surprise ticking away at the novel’s heart—basically, everything I’ve been trying to do with my own books as an adult. I beg any readers with a tween girl in their life to buy them a copy of Corby Flood pronto.
How would you categorize your work? Do you think the label of speculative fiction fits what you write? If so, what purpose does it serve for you?
In the UK, I’m normally classed as a ‘genre’ writer, i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and anything else they hide in the Waterstones basement between the mangas and the YA. That and ‘speculative’ are nice and broad so I don’t mind them, plus they leave me in excellent company.
As for more specific labels—man, it’s hard. My books tend to slip between the cracks when it comes to marketing. Idolfire was sold as a ‘romantacy,’ but it’s this melancholy meandering thing, not much like the pacier/racier romantacies that helped make that such a popular term. Floating Hotel was sold as ‘cozy,’ but it gets pretty dark in the final third. And Frontier is just a complete hodge-podge. That’s not a problem with the labels per se, it’s just a perennial issue with marketing; it’s impossible to sum things up in a word or two. And it’s my fault too, because I love playing with people’s expectations. One day I will figure out a catchy name for what I’m doing. In the meantime we’ll keep compromising, hahaha.
Who are the authors you have looked up to who are doing the “good work?”
I encountered Sally Rooney at university through her short fiction, and fell for Normal People along with everyone else on earth. In the last few years I’ve been particularly moved and inspired by her advocacy for Palestine. Her writing on destruction of Gaza is excellent, and frankly puts a lot of other ‘literary darling’ types to shame.
In the genre space I am in awe of fantasy author Sofia Samatar, whose book The Winged Histories is one of the best things I read last year. Ditto Antonia Hogson with The Raven Scholar, and, on the horror side, Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta with their novel Feast While You Can and Stark Holborn’s cowboy ghost novella One for the Road. Kate Folk writes fantastic blends of sci-fi horror and satire, and her debut novel Sky Daddy was everything I wanted. I am incredibly proud of my UK-based friends Hannah Kaner and C L Clark, who are both having or about to have massive years, and are both working on some cool secret projects that you MUST get hyped for. It’s a great time to be a reader.
How do you see imagination, speculation, etc., as tools for building better worlds? How do you feel that you personally do this?
I’m quite cynical about this, or at least my own role in it. I don’t think you can create a huge amount of societal progress through buying and selling products, and I look askew at authors who market buying their books as a form of praxis. Any given nurse, teacher, social worker, etc. does more good for society then we do. But if I can give those people—heck, give anyone—a bit of fun, or distraction, or emotional catharsis, or whatever else you seek from art, then it’s time well spent. Saving the world is hard graft. You need a reason to get up in the morning, something to look forward to.
Less cynically, we do need our imagination to create better systems. And we need empathy. Art can foster both of these things.
Your books center heavily on a historical lens or an observer’s lens. From the perspective of those around the protagonist in Frontier to your newest project that follows along after Idolfire there is a clear love for the stories we tell about ourselves and others. How do you find this to be a tool in the way you tell stories? What do you feel it does for a narrative?
Something I don’t enjoy in stories is a feeling of unearned intimacy. I want to take my time falling for a character, not be told how much I love them, you know? Seeing the character through somebody else’s eyes is a great way to do that. In Idolfire, you don’t get a physical description of either character until they meet: it’s adorable and also kind of thrilling to finally ‘see’ Kirby and Aleya, but from the other’s perspective. And in Floating Hotel there’s a running thread of characters seeking out or longing for Carl at low moments, which allows you to really understand what kind of guy he is. It’s a slower way of building character, but I think it really pays off in terms of forging a deep connection with the reader.
Speaking of the new book, the next published novel is going to be grappling with the bad historical take of “they were really good friends” from what we at the zine have heard. Can you tell us more about the project and what inspired you to take it on in this format?
For sure! Heaven’s Graveyard is a sinister lesbian history mystery set 2000 years after the events of Idolfire. So moving from a Bronze Age(ish) to a mid-century(ish) setting. Our protagonist is an archaeologist trying to prove Aleya, the protagonist of Idolfire, really existed. This leads her to dig up some mysterious treasures and do some slightly inadvisable things.
With Heaven’s Graveyard I wanted to get a bit more into the messy side of the queer experience—shame, loneliness, parasociality, all that stuff. It’s a story about obsession and the dangerous places it can lead. It’s also, don’t worry, a good fun caper with fun characters and silly names and all that good stuff. It’s my favorite book I’ve written so far. I hope people like it.
You have a wonderful knack for perspective in a story to a degree that makes us jealous. What is your secret sauce? How do you work from so many perspectives in one story and not confuse the reader?
For me, the secret is to take each character seriously, at least while I’m in their head. Whatever they care about—getting a parent’s approval, doing a good job at work, taking down an empire, whatever—if it’s important to them, it’s important to me. There’s no such thing as a B plot. And with anthology-style novels like Frontier and Floating Hotel, I think of the chapters more like short stories. Even if the overarching narrative hasn’t fallen into place yet, I want the reader to finish each chapter satisfied.
The world is feeling a little topsy-turvy these days, and as someone who’s writing has joy bursting at its seems, where are you finding your joy these days?
My recommendation for anyone feeling hopeless is to take a genuine interest in other people. Co-workers, strangers in the post office, distant relatives, whoever. Go outside and people watch. If possible try to strike up some conversation. Volunteer, sign up for a class. Don’t worry about what they think of you too much, just take any opportunity to talk to and learn. Don’t let social media or the self-improvement biz trick you into looking inwards. Other people are the point of being alive. Promise.
What media are you enjoying these days?
I’m currently working through an old paperback copy of The Three Musketeers which is huge fun and also the most pro-adultery book I’ve ever read in my life. The moral of the story is you should always, always cheat on your husband, even if he’s the king. Considering how many affairs Dumas had in his day, I guess it’s not surprising. I’m also playing Elden Ring, which rules. I love running around shirtless and stabbing ghouls. There’s no better way to spend an evening.
©2025 Creative Commons
Leave a Reply