Fantastic fiction covers fantasy, horror and science fiction - and it doesn't get the attention it deserves from the literati.

Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they're not absurd.

Is it more childish and foolish to insist that there is a conspiracy or that there is not?

I think science fiction is very bad at prediction.

Ever since I was two, I've loved octopuses, monsters, abandoned buildings.

When I write my novels, I'm not writing them to make political points. I'm writing them because I passionately love monsters and the weird and horror stories and strange situations and surrealism, and what I want to do is communicate that. But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I'm creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. But I never let them get in the way of the monsters.

Scars are not injuries, Tanner Sack. A scar is a healing. After injury, a scar is what makes you whole.