But instead, I asked, “ How do I find a way of writing about it?”Įven you, when you’re writing about the things that you write about, it’s set in the 90s, right? But that also feels to me, for someone who didn’t grow up in LA or didn’t grow up in the 90s in LA, that you’re also writing a fantastical time in a fantastical world. I didn’t want it to be, “I’m going to tell you a story about gentrification, I’m going to tell you a story about racism.” I already know those things, I live them. I knew it was my way of being able to write about difficult topics without being heavy-handed. Lilliam Rivera : I grew up reading Ray Bradbury, and Octavia and Samuel-science fiction books.

What about the story in your new novel Dealing in Dreams drew you to science fiction, and how was that decision made? Did you find the genre gave you freedom as an author to tell the story, in a way you couldn’t have if it was set in contemporary society? I’m thinking of course of Octavia Butler, Samuel Delaney, and so on. Nikki Darling: There’s a rich tradition of authors of color using science fiction as a way to tell stories of adversity and violence in order to highlight the absurdity of violence in our real world. Below is the transcript of the conversation.

Writers Nikki Darling ( Fade Into You, Feminist Press 2018 ) and Lilliam Rivera ( Dealing in Dreams, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster 2019) met recently to talk about new narratives for characters of color, fantastical world-building, and what it might look like to burn down the patriarchy.

Black Wave by Michelle Tea