An Interview with Author and Poet Mary Turzillo

Thanks to SF Signal, we read an October 14, 2008, interview with science fiction author and poet Mary Turzillo. Posted on the blog of the Nebula Awards, the interview has two interesting exchanges that should be of interest to Martian sci-fi fans:

Marva Dasef: Mary, you’ve already had a successful career in science fiction/fantasy. What works-in-progress can we scoop?

Mary Turzillo: I have a cats-on-Mars story coming out in Analog: “Steak Tartare and the Cats of Gari Babakin Station.” I’m working on a story about the god of Pachinko. And I’m working on my Mars colonization novel, Heart’s Journey, Mars Quest. ...

Marva Dasef: Prizes and prestige aside, what is the work that you’re most proud of and what makes it stand out for you?

Mary Turzillo: I have some dark fantasy I’m really happy about:
“Bottle Babies,” because Maureen McHugh liked it. “Eat or Be Eaten: A Love Story” because it’s over the top. But mainly the Mars stories. I’m inspired by my husband’s research into Mars atmosphere and the feasibility of human Mars exploration. I’m a member of the Mars Society. “Steak Tartare” is my current favorite. ...

A retired professor of English, Dr. Mary A. Turzillo is now a full-time writer. In 2000, her story “Mars Is No Place for Children” won a Nebula Award for best novelette. Her novel An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl was serialized in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in 2004. More recently, her novelette “Zora and the Land Ethic Nomads,” which is set on Mars, was published in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (2007). And, this past summer, her poem “Cats Can Colonize Mars” was published in the journal Star*Line.

Mary Turzillo maintains her own website. She is married to scientist and fellow science fiction author Geoffrey A. Landis.