Chris Genoa was born and raised in Philadelphia. He studied English at the College of William and Mary and King's College London and Film at the University of New Orleans. He now lives in Brooklyn where he is currently at work on two novels, Lick Your Neighbor and Flicking Away Like Mad. Questions and Answers What was the first comedic sf book you read? (I'd guess at Douglas Adams). Yep, it was Adams. Unless you consider Kurt Vonnegut to be comedic, or sf for that matter. I do, but not everyone does. Vonnegut is the one who got me hooked on reading in high school. Before I came across him I really only read comic books and watched movies (I had Robocop, Total Recall, and Holy Grail on a constant loop for about 3 years). I didn't get to Adams until after college, but when I did I devoured his books. Vonnegut got me to read novels, Adams made me want to write my own. What makes you laugh in a book, TV show or film? My sense of humor leans toward the ridiculously absurd stuff. Some of the funniest stuff out there right now for me is cartoons, especially the Adult Swim shows on Cartoon Network. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, Family Guy...I could watch that stuff all day. They'll allow that kind of bizarre humor in a cartoon, but it seems like with film they're afraid to take risks like that because so much money is at stake. It's much safer to throw Ben Stiller into another lame fish-out-of-water plot than to have a milkshake, a wad of meat, and a large fries living together in New Jersey and going completely crazy, which is exactly what Aqua Teen Hunger Force is. The last movie I saw that I laughed a lot during was Kung Fu Hustle. I grew up watching a lot of old Loony Tunes episodes and dubbed kung fu flicks, so the movie was a dream come true for me. I'm a sucker for good slapstick. How are you finding the task of preparing and voicing the audiobook version of "Foop!"? I'm absolutely loving it. It feels like I'm putting together a radio play. I'm lining up some great New York City underground bands to do the songs (there are 5 songs in the book), I'm narrating, I'm holding auditions for the other parts, and I have an amazing sound designer who's going to bring everything together. The auditions are being held online and are open to anyone. I set up an audioblog at http://www.chrisgenoa.blogspot.com/ where people can submit their auditions over the phone. Does the "goldfish in a lightbulb" cover design have any relevance to the story in your debut novel? Yes and no. While there is no mention of a goldfish in a light bulb in the book, there is a conceptual tie-in. I'm not going to say what that is because I want readers to come up with their own interpretations. What are you currently working on? Two novels: Flickering Away Like Mad and Lick Your Neighbor. My books change so much as I write them so I'm not going to say anything else about them except that they're both comedies, but only one is sf. The other is more magic realism. Is there a book or story you wish you had written? That's easy. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Who is you favourite author? This might surprise some people after I've just talked about how much I like cartoons and Douglas Adams, but my favorite author of all time is Samuel Beckett. Most people only know his plays, but his novels are incredible. Murphy, Watt, and Molloy are my favourites. The guy wrote some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. Take the opening line to Murphy for example: "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new." God I love that. He also wrote some truly funny passages. Heck, he even threw in the occasional fart joke. If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? Don't give up. I have a huge stack of over 50 rejection letters from agents and publishers who passed on Foop! If you want to get anywhere as a writer, you're going to have to fight to get your work noticed. And it's pretty much a never ending battle, but the only way to lose for sure is to not fight at all. The writers who make it are the ones who keep at it, making progress little by little each day. That goes for writing and promoting. When did you first feel that you were an author? Not until my copies of Foop! came in from the printer. Until I actually had something tangible in my hand that said "by Chris Genoa" I didn't feel like an author. Are you for or against e-books? I don't like reading them, but I'm for offering them. I love what Cory Doctorow has done with the e-books for his books, licensing them under a Creative Commons License and making them available as a free download from his site. That's a great way to get the word out about your books, especially when you're a new author. The Foop! e-book should be available soon and the audiobook will be under a Creative Commons License. Are you a music fan? If so, what? I always listen to music when I write, so I'm huge music fan. Here's a few of my favorites: Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, David Byrne, Bright Eyes, Nick Cave, Postal Service, Tiny Tim, Neutral Milk Hotel, Wilco, Magnetic Fields, Fiery Furnaces, Ron Sexsmith, Tori Amos, Ween, Beck... SF, Skiffy or Sci-Fi? What is the correct shortening of Science Fiction and does it matter? It doesn't matter. I use SF and Sci-Fi, but if people want to call me a Skiffy author that's fine by me. Do you have a favourite place to write? There's only one place I can write: locked in my room with the shades down, music blasting, and a pot of tea by my side. Do you enjoy book signings/conventions? Oh my gosh yes. As a writer you spend so much time in what feels like solitary confinement, getting almost no feedback on your writing. Fans don't know how good it makes me feel to meet them, to get a nice email from one of them, to see a positive reader review on Amazon. It doesn't just make my day, sometimes it makes my week. I also love doing readings. I did sketch comedy and theatre in college, so there's still a little bit of a performer in me. And the silliness of my writing usually leads to a fun reading. Why do you like SF/F/H? I like anything where artists are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild. We're bound by the laws of physics and limits of mankind everyday in our own lives, so why should we have to abide by them in our storytelling? What book are you reading at the moment? Salt: A World History. Who knew that a book about salt could be so fascinating? Is there anything else that can be done with Alien Invasion, Time Travel or Robots? Yes! Of course I'm saying this as an author with a Time Travel book that just came out. There's also robots in my book. And some aliens who sort of invade Earth. Wow, I pretty much crammed every sf convention I could think of into one book. I...am...an idiot. Seriously though, I think you can come up with new angles on those concepts. For example, no one has written a book about alien bird people who fly to Earth to take all of our trees back to their home planet to make nests. The only thing that can stop them? A time traveling robotic lumberjack (with a heart of gold) from the future named Flapjack. Do you prefer writing about the near future or the far distant future? Near future. Mainly because I'm lazy. It's easier to write about the near future because you can use what you see in front of you as jumping off point. It's the same reason why I only set stories in places I've lived or paces I completely made up. This is why you'll never read a story by me set in Los Angeles. Because there's no way in hell I'm moving there. Do you have a scientific background? I started out as a Chemistry major in college, but I switched over to English Lit about half-way through. I still love reading science books and magazines, but my books will always be soft. I'd rather spend more time developing the characters than the science. Do you get inspiration from recent scientific discoveries and theories? Absolutely. A lot of the inspiration for Foop! came while I was reading books by guys like Stephen Hawking, Clifford Pickover, Michio Kaku, Carl Sagan, Brian Greene, and Paul Davies. Do you always know a story's ending when you begin writing? Yes. If I don't I find it hard to finish the book. Writing a book is like going on a long road trip. If you head out with no plan whatsoever you'll probably meet some interesting characters and have some good times along the way, but at some point, you're gonna run out of gas or money and get stuck in the middle of nowhere. However, if you start out knowing your final destination, and you make that destination somewhere awesome, then chances are you're going to do whatever it takes to get there. If you have a great beginning to your story people will continue reading it. And if you have a great ending, chances are they'll remember it forever. Why do you think SF gets bad press? I think some, not all, people who don't read SF/F/H think of those genres as being sort of childish and corny. Equating them with children's books, or stuff only for young adults, just because they have a strong element of make-believe to them. I think that's complete rubbish. Dr. Seuss once said that he hopes children never lose their sense of wonder. Unfortunately, a lot of them do. What's the most memorable thing said in a review of your work? James Morrow, a writer I highly respect, called me an "authentic literary lunatic". I love that because some people think you can't be loony and still write "literature". As if literature is reserved for the stuffy old dudes in tweed jackets. I say screw that. Daffy Duck could have written some damn fine novels if Bugs Bunny hadn't kept messing with the duck season/rabbit season sign. Sometimes I like to think of myself as Daffy Duck, but with more free time to write. Many Thanks, Chris! Relevant Links Chris Genoa's Home Page