Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Seb Doubinsky, whose novel Paperclip, published by Meerkat Press, we featured on August 17.
The city-states world is a world very similar to ours, and its shares some of our history, like World War II for instance. The difference is that in this world, nations and countries as we know them have been replaced by “city-states”, which are political entities like ancient Rome, Sparta, Athens and non-Western urban centers which are competing or have formed alliances. There are three major alliances: The Western Alliance, with New Babylon, New Petersburg, Viborg City and a few others. On the other side you have the Eastern and Chinese Confederations.
The previous book in the
series, The Invisible, is set in New Babylon. Where is New Babylon
and does it have any parallels with cities in this world?
New Babylon isn’t set anywhere in the real world, but is a construction inspired by old political and cultural metropolises like New York or Berlin. It is multi or polycultural, but it isn’t an old colonial power. However, I see it as a dominant player in the city-states world, in the way the US is today, as it is the uncontested leader of the Western Alliance.
There is a strong magical component in these books. The Invisible features the Egyptian Goddess Nut, and Paperclip has elements of black magic and a talking bird. How important are these aspects to you, and the plot?
The need for magic is the symptom that something is lacking. That’s why people get interested in it. The ancient Egyptians were considered powerful magicians by the Greeks and the Romans, and the Tarot cards are (wrongly) said to originate from there. I write a lot about the politics of culture in my novels, and the conflict between official, respected culture (“mainstream” if you will, and in a very large sense) and other forms, less conformist or valued. Magic belongs to the latter, and has been constantly threatened or persecuted by all official religions. In my novels, magic represents other ways of thinking, of considering reality and of acting. It’s a form of individual freedom encapsulated in strange formulas and rituals.
Tell us more about the book’s crossover between genres - Dystopian, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction. Is this a new thing or is Speculative Fiction becoming more flexible?
I don’t think it’s really a new thing. Ursula Le Guin’s science-fiction novels, such as The Left Hand Of Darkness or Jeff VanderMeer’s “Area X” trilogy are a fabulous mix of various genres. But I would say that it is genre itself (whatever the definition one wants to give it) that allows for such freedom. This is why there is no “pure” genre: it’s always a mix, a hybrid. Genre might be, in my eyes, the true image of our cultural identities: constantly influenced by other genres, constantly moving, constantly morphing. It’s where the true life of culture lies. As I always say, mainstream is death or the desire of death: everything has to become the same until it cannot give anymore. Then they shoot the horse, and get another one.
How important is character to your writing? In Paperclip you have armament mogul Kurt Wagner as a protagonist. How significant is he to the story?
Characters are essential in a novel, for obvious reasons. They are the personas the reader will follow and identify with or reject. Kurt Wagner is the central character of the novel, as he is its unaware central piece, around whom all the other characters gravitate. Paperclip couldn’t exist without Kurt. His character was the first I imagined. He is the book.
Is there a system behind the magic in the books and how does it work?
In The Invisible, magic is, I would say, natural. Georg Ratner, the policeman who is visited by the Egyptian goddess Nut in his dreams, doesn’t use any special rituals. He actually met Nut in the first volume of the city-states cycle, The Babylonian Trilogy. They are old friends. What inspired me here is the old relationship one finds between gods, goddesses and humans in antiquity and polytheism. In Paperclip, the two characters obsessed by magic, Jet and Velma, are influenced by the famous figure of Alesteir Crowley, who coined the word “Magick”, which is its pro-active form. So I guess the system they are using is Crowley’s. And it seems to be working.
You are a bilingual writer, born in Paris, currently living in Denmark. How has that affected your writing?
I spent a part of my childhood in the States too, so I consider myself a Eumerican writer - a writer inspired by both sides of the Atlantic ocean. My roots are multiple and still growing, and I think it influenced my writing by giving me a multiple cultural angle in my stories. For instance, should one of my novels be adapted for the screen, it wouldn’t matter if the film was shot in Europe, in Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Oceania or in the States. Any place would work.
What does dystopian science fiction and fantasy tell us about the unsettling present?
Well, dystopian and speculative fictions are all about the present. People think they’re about the future but no: they describe the grotesque things that lurk underneath our reality. They take away the illusion like acid removes rust.
What led you to become a writer?
Writing. Just that. The urge for telling stories I thought might mean something for others than me. Why? I don’t know, really. Maybe because I have an inflated ego, maybe because I always felt I saw some things a little clearer than most, and writing was my way of showing them. Some use art, some use film or photography, others music. I think it’s the same process.
New Babylon isn’t set anywhere in the real world, but is a construction inspired by old political and cultural metropolises like New York or Berlin. It is multi or polycultural, but it isn’t an old colonial power. However, I see it as a dominant player in the city-states world, in the way the US is today, as it is the uncontested leader of the Western Alliance.
There is a strong magical component in these books. The Invisible features the Egyptian Goddess Nut, and Paperclip has elements of black magic and a talking bird. How important are these aspects to you, and the plot?
The need for magic is the symptom that something is lacking. That’s why people get interested in it. The ancient Egyptians were considered powerful magicians by the Greeks and the Romans, and the Tarot cards are (wrongly) said to originate from there. I write a lot about the politics of culture in my novels, and the conflict between official, respected culture (“mainstream” if you will, and in a very large sense) and other forms, less conformist or valued. Magic belongs to the latter, and has been constantly threatened or persecuted by all official religions. In my novels, magic represents other ways of thinking, of considering reality and of acting. It’s a form of individual freedom encapsulated in strange formulas and rituals.
Tell us more about the book’s crossover between genres - Dystopian, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction. Is this a new thing or is Speculative Fiction becoming more flexible?
I don’t think it’s really a new thing. Ursula Le Guin’s science-fiction novels, such as The Left Hand Of Darkness or Jeff VanderMeer’s “Area X” trilogy are a fabulous mix of various genres. But I would say that it is genre itself (whatever the definition one wants to give it) that allows for such freedom. This is why there is no “pure” genre: it’s always a mix, a hybrid. Genre might be, in my eyes, the true image of our cultural identities: constantly influenced by other genres, constantly moving, constantly morphing. It’s where the true life of culture lies. As I always say, mainstream is death or the desire of death: everything has to become the same until it cannot give anymore. Then they shoot the horse, and get another one.
How important is character to your writing? In Paperclip you have armament mogul Kurt Wagner as a protagonist. How significant is he to the story?
Characters are essential in a novel, for obvious reasons. They are the personas the reader will follow and identify with or reject. Kurt Wagner is the central character of the novel, as he is its unaware central piece, around whom all the other characters gravitate. Paperclip couldn’t exist without Kurt. His character was the first I imagined. He is the book.
Is there a system behind the magic in the books and how does it work?
In The Invisible, magic is, I would say, natural. Georg Ratner, the policeman who is visited by the Egyptian goddess Nut in his dreams, doesn’t use any special rituals. He actually met Nut in the first volume of the city-states cycle, The Babylonian Trilogy. They are old friends. What inspired me here is the old relationship one finds between gods, goddesses and humans in antiquity and polytheism. In Paperclip, the two characters obsessed by magic, Jet and Velma, are influenced by the famous figure of Alesteir Crowley, who coined the word “Magick”, which is its pro-active form. So I guess the system they are using is Crowley’s. And it seems to be working.
You are a bilingual writer, born in Paris, currently living in Denmark. How has that affected your writing?
I spent a part of my childhood in the States too, so I consider myself a Eumerican writer - a writer inspired by both sides of the Atlantic ocean. My roots are multiple and still growing, and I think it influenced my writing by giving me a multiple cultural angle in my stories. For instance, should one of my novels be adapted for the screen, it wouldn’t matter if the film was shot in Europe, in Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Oceania or in the States. Any place would work.
What does dystopian science fiction and fantasy tell us about the unsettling present?
Well, dystopian and speculative fictions are all about the present. People think they’re about the future but no: they describe the grotesque things that lurk underneath our reality. They take away the illusion like acid removes rust.
What led you to become a writer?
Writing. Just that. The urge for telling stories I thought might mean something for others than me. Why? I don’t know, really. Maybe because I have an inflated ego, maybe because I always felt I saw some things a little clearer than most, and writing was my way of showing them. Some use art, some use film or photography, others music. I think it’s the same process.
Are there any novels that have influenced you and made a lasting impression?
Yes, tons! You usually become a writer because you are a reader first. It’s the logical process. You want to emulate, you want to reproduce and then you want to free yourself. I have read everything by Kerouac and Burroughs, for instance. And I am still re-reading them very often.
What are your feelings about adaptations of science fiction and fantasy novels for TV and film? Are they successful and do you enjoy them?
To be honest, I am not really a screen person. We have a Netflix and a HBO subscription at home, but I nearly never use them. I like to watch old films, and I resent adaptations, unless they really depart from the original book, because then they become a real original piece. Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 Alphaville did that and I love it.
How many books do you envisage writing in The City States Cycle?
Good question. I have 9 out and writing my 10th at this very moment. We’ll see. Only future will tell. But it’s not over yet.
Will you focus on different cities to New Babylon?
Of course, and I have already done that: The Song Of Synth and White City take place in Viborg City, and Suan Ming and Missing Signal takes place in New Petersburg (which is inspired by LA and Miami, not Russia, by the way) and the novel I am working on now takes place in a city-states belonging to the Chinese Confederation, New Samarqand.
Are there elements of satire and humour in your writing?
Yes, absolutely. If you don’t laugh while reading my novels, you have missed something. But sometimes I’m really tongue-in-cheek, like Vonnegut. You have to notice the glimmer in the eye of the absent narrator.
What are you reading or watching at the moment?
Like I said, I don’t watch many films or series, but loved the Finnish series Border Town on Netflix and the Icelandic series Trapped on the same platform. I have had the luck of reading J.S. Breukelaar’s upcoming dystopian-horror novel, The Bridge, which is fabulous, as well as Eugen Bacon’s terrific collection, The Road To Whoop Whoop. I have also loved Brian Evenson’s Song For The Unraveling Of The World, Michael Cisco’s Antisocieties and Jon Padgett’s The Secret Of Ventriloquism.
About Seb Doubinsky:
Seb Doubinsky is a bilingual writer born in Paris in 1963. His novels, all set in a dystopian universe revolving around competing cities-states, have been published in the UK and in the USA. He currently lives with his family in Aarhus, Denmark, where he teaches at the university.
About Meerkat Press:
Meerkat Press is an independent publisher committed to finding and publishing exceptional, irresistible, unforgettable fiction. And despite the previous sentence, we frown on overuse of adjectives and adverbs in submissions. *smile*
