Talking with Jessica Reisman

WS: What genre do you write in and why?
JR: Broadly, speculative--science fiction, fantasy, horror, fabulism...it's always been the fantastic for me, since I was a kid, fiction and poetry and art that opens doors and pushes our sense of the possible beyond its bounds.

WS: What is your favorite book or writing craft book? Why?
JR: I'm very bad at picking one of anything.

WS: What fears do you have about your writing?
JR: That it sinks without much ripple, away into the deep tarn, and doesn't reach many people at all, that it is ignored and underappreciated.

WS: If you could have dinner with any famous author (dead or alive) who would it be?
JR: I would have liked to have had dinner with Tanith Lee.

WS: What are your tips for submitting writing? 
JR: Read the guidelines, don't take rejections personally, keep at it.

WS: What's the best (or worst) writing advice you've ever received?
JR: "You're going to have to get in the hot tub with the luddites." Michael Swanwick at Clarion West.

WS: What inspires your writing?
JR: Beauty, dreams, wonder, nature, hope, pain, love, longing, other stories in books, movies, art. Language itself, and visions of worlds beyond ours, within ours, within us.

WS: Where are you from and does that place ever enter into your writing?
JR: Philadelphia, Florida, California, the road, Texas, cities and rural places...I moved around a lot as a child and young adult, so in a sense, no place and many places enter into my writing.

WS: Do you do research for your writing? If so, what are some unexpected resources you’ve found?
JR: Yes, lots of it. I like image resources, museum and other digital archives, as well as scholarly articles, science papers, and collections of letters and journals.

WS: Drop any links or promos for your recent work, include your social media links.
JR:

• I have a story coming out in the May/June issue of Analog called "Aconie's Bees." https://www.analogsf.com/ 
• My story "For Successful Haunting" features in this issue of The Dark, https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/for-successful-haunting/
• You can get my first collection, The Arcana of Maps,here: https://fairwoodpress.com/store/p121/THE_ARCANA_OF_MAPS_AND_OTHER_STORIES.html
• Find me @jesswynne on Twitter