An Interview with Joan Slonczewski

Abstract

This interview illuminates Slonczewski’s scientific and fictional fields of interest—microbes in particular, humanity and its future prospects in general, science fiction as a literary genre, and her own fiction. Topics range across issues from the microbiome and probiotics to symbiosis, extremophile metabolisms, and the corporate medical complex. Slonczewski practices a particularly humane variety of the posthuman imaginary. Socioeconomic disparities and ethnic tensions are primary players in her biopolitical scenarios, but may be overridden by the creation of spiritual mutuality. Slonczewski distinguishes her work from the cyberpunk trends contemporary with her writing of the Elysium Cycle. She addresses the recurrent theological themes in her fiction, discusses her most recent novel, The Highest Frontier, and drops some hints about its eventual sequel.