ISSUE #10 | An Interview with Joe Anderson
JOE ANDERSON is an educator, fiction writer, and media studies scholar. His short story, "Parade," was published in Johnny America. Strange Visitor: Subjectivity, Simulation, and the Future of the First Superhero, an academic text, will be published by Lexington Books in 2021. Bizarre thoughts about fiction can be found at his blog, Dispatches from the Adventure, available on YouTube and Wordpress.
PLANET SCUMM: Whatcha reading?
JOE ANDERSON: The Immortal Hulk, Rama II (a real left turn from Rendevous with Rama), Dolezel’s Possible Worlds of Fiction and History. I’m not re-reading Danielewski’s House of Leaves, but I’ve been thinking about the book, itself. Truant said that would happen.
PS: Is science fiction your primary genre?
JA: I’d say I work in fantastic fiction more generally. Magical realism, maybe? Though, reading-wise, futurism and space stuff are my jam. Blade Runner to Star Trek to Firefly, baby.
PS: What are you working on now?
JA: ‘Ergodic literature’ is a fun word that I just learned when it was used to describe ‘Desert Man’. There’s another piece I’ve been working on for a looooong time that I might turn back to that’s in the same ergodic vein, though not ‘fantastic’ per se.
PS: If you absolutely had to live through a sci-fi style apocalypse, what sort of apocalypse (zombies, Death Star, Ice Age) would you prefer?
JA: Okay, so ‘absolutely live’ means I survive, right? And ‘through’ means I’m around for the long haul, yes? So I would like a Brave New World-style political ‘apocalypse’, please. For reasons. ;)
PS: Tell us about a work of art or media that has directly influenced you.
JA: Flat Cat by Hoban and Scruton. It’s a storybook that pretty much determined the interior design of my brain. Good luck finding it, tho...
PS: You’ve been cryogenically frozen. Do you hope the timer is set for ten years, 100 years, 1000 years, or 10,000 years? Why?
JA: What a fabulous question! 100 years. 10 years? What’s the point?! 10,000 years? Who knows if there’s even going to be an Earth left. Or humans, for that matter. Do I make friends with the tree-dwelling octopoids? Feels like it may yet be too soon for that, though. A thousand years? I remember hearing something one time about how, if you were to travel far enough into the future, you might just die of culture shock. With technology advancing exponentially, then, 100 years feels like it’s the way to go. Think of how much better health care, longevity, and quality of life might be. And as the most recently-thawed HistoryPop, I’d probably have an income...
PS: What classic sci-fi invention—hovercar, anti-grav boots, capsule food—would you most want to have made real?
JA: IT’S 2021! NOVEMBER 2019 IS OVER! FINITO!!! SO, WHERE THE F#%K ARE MY FLYING CARS?!?! THEY SHOULD BE BLOTTING OUT THE SUN BY NOW!!!!!!
PS: What classic sci-fi invention do you most fear being made real?
JA: Malevolent AI.
PS: Give us your solution to the Grandfather Paradox.
JA: MacGyver says guns are bad, m’kay?
