JOMA WEST Q&A


COUNTRIES HAS INFLECTED JOMA WEST’S WORK WITH A SENSE OF DISPLACEMENT


J


oma West is a third-culture writer based in Glasgow whose work straddles both fantasy and science fiction. Her novella, Wild, won the 2016 MMU Novella Award, and was published by Sandstone Press.


Caroline Carpenter: Your début novel, Face, is being published by science fiction and fantasy imprint Tordotcom in May. What is it about and what inspired it? Joma West: Face is told from multiple perspectives, all dealing with living in a hyper-connected world where physical touch is taboo and the way others perceive you means everything. While the majorit of the characters are high-societ figures who are concerned with their social image, there is a story that cuts through the novel—Jake is a servant to one of the most important families in the cit. His struggle with his emotions, identit, and his place in societ acts as a kind of moral indictment on the rest of the characters. The first nugget of inspiration came when a friend


told me how oversexed they found media and that it was puting them off physical intimacy. It snowballed from there.


CC: You have a two-book deal. What is your


second novel about? JW: My second book, Shiſt, has a completed first


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draſt but there’s a lot of work to do on it yet. It’s about family and sacrifice and what you would do if your survival meant the death of someone else.


CC: Your work straddles the fantasy and science fiction


genres. What is the speculative fiction scene in Scotland like? JW: I think it’s thriving. A lot of great SFF is coming out of the country and things like Cymera Festival and Shoreline of Infinit magazine are really helping put Scotland on the speculative fiction map. I’m really excited to see T L Huchu’s next Edinburgh Nights book and anything by Oliver K Langmead, as well as work from my agency stable mates Angie Spoto, Lyndsey Croal and Cailean Steed. I’m also looking forward to seeing what people like Heather Parry, Eris Young and Ely Percy do next... there are a lot of fantastic writers to keep an eye on.


CC: What are you working on next? JW: An experimental novel called The Waiting Room (supported by Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals). I really want to push myself in terms of mixing writing stles, forms and genres. This is giving me a lot of room to create characters who wouldn’t normally share a space together. It’s very meta and fantastical.


GROWING UP IN MANY DIFFERENT


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