Author Interview: Erin Z. Anderson
Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Erin Z. Anderson, author of Memoirs of a Mad Scientist, a science fiction book told from the scientist’s point of view.
W&S: Welcome, and thanks for joining me! Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Erin: Of course! My name is Erin, I’m a professional illustrator during the day and published author the rest of the time. I originally studied Marine Biology and eventually Science Communication in grad school before I settled into illustration. I still keep up my science contacts and I am a main cast member for the science DnD podcast: Dugongs and Seadragons where I do science outreach and play DnD with a bunch of marine biologists.
W&S: Will you talk about your book, Memoirs of a Mad Scientist? What inspired it?
Erin: Okay so, you remember the Rogue One Star Wars movie that came out a few years ago? A lot of people have opinions on it, but my big takeaway was “Why wasn’t this story about the scientist?” I spent so much time talking about it with my husband – how we rarely get a scientist protagonist who’s a good guy and how we could actually see the workings inside the Empire – that he eventually told me to just go ahead and write the darn thing. Of course I did, building my own world around it and making my own story out of the idea. I made the robot buddy a cyborg because I like biology and I made the rebels more morally gray, but that’s how that got started…
W&S: In what way does your scientific experience influence how you tackled writing Memoirs of a Mad Scientist?
Erin: I mentioned earlier that my background was in Biology and Science Communication so of course that played a huge part in writing this story. I’ve worked in laboratories and I know how experiments are generally run, so I wanted to do justice to the process in my writing. I can’t tell you how many sci-fi scientists don’t have proper control groups or any statistical analysis of their data! The long hours, the poor work-life balance, the desperation for funding, that’s all classic stuff for people working in academia or research. I even had one of my old professors act as a beta reader for me to make sure I was doing a good job representing the scientific and academic process. On the other hand, I also wanted to represent the scientific principles I touched on in the story correctly. Anyone in sci-fi knows how important plausible technobabble is so in a story about cyborgs and giant space lasers, I wanted to do those topics justice. Obviously, I was taking these ideas to a fantastical futuristic level, but it was very important to me to at least try to get the ‘science’ in ‘science fiction’ correct.
W&S: What were some obstacles to writing Memoirs of a Mad Scientist?
Erin: Honestly, writing is the fun part. I love diving down research rabbit holes or just sitting quietly typing for hours. The real trouble came when I started looking for somewhere to publish. I kept a pretty accurate spreadsheet of everyone I queried and I got to over 90 applications before I finally got a ‘yes.’
W&S: What are some victories?
Erin: Definitely finally getting that official offer for publication. Chandra Press was a very small publishing house, they’ve unfortunately closed since then, but the credibility that gave me was a huge boost to my confidence. I am a professionally published author and no one can take that.
W&S: What writing your book, what came first to you, the plot or the characters?
Erin: So, I talked earlier about how I knew that I wanted to tell a story about a scientist working inside an evil empire, but what really came out of that was who I wanted this scientist to be. I knew they had to be a good person at heart, so I could explore the moral consequences of knowing you’re on the wrong side. They would have to be pretty work-focused and sheltered to not notice the evil signs until now, but ultimately care more about other people than their work. After I had Dr. Jarian Voss as a character, the story started to build itself.
W&S: You have mentioned that you used your own experiences with anxiety and clinical depression when writing your main character, Dr. Jarian Voss. I am neurodivergent myself, and I love seeing accurate and respectful depictions of neurodivergence in SFF. How does your experience transfer into your character’s personality?
Erin: I like to say that Jarian inherited his anxiety from me. We all write from our own experiences and mine happen to be pretty neurodivergent. I’m on good medication now, but when I tried to picture how I would react to realizing that my company regularly killed people off or how I would wait for my execution by the ‘good guys’ spiraling just felt natural. Pretty much whatever I put Jarian through is something that I’ve done myself. I’ve spent nights trying to break circular thoughts, feeling trapped inside my own brain, or completely breaking down so that’s what I wrote about. It really wasn’t until I got into editing that I realized where all this was coming from. After that, it became incredibly cathartic to explore these feelings on paper without having to actually spiral myself. Being able to look at my own experiences on paper and see them from a distance felt good, like pinning photos in a book that I could close any time.
W&S: You do a lot to represent neurodivergence in both your writing and in Dungeons and Dragons (which is awesome!). As a TTRPG player, I enjoy talking about the “D&D connection” with authors. What first drew you to TTRPGs?
Erin: I was actually pretty intimidated by TTRPGs to start with. In my first experience with my then- boyfriend, I made him handle the character sheet with all the numbers and I drew the pictures. It wasn’t until a little after that that one of my college professors asked if I wanted to help with a live show he was doing at a big convention in DC. So the very first character I ever built and played myself was on stage in front of a huge crowd of people! Since then, I’ve really gotten into the TTRPG scene. I love playing with Dugongs and Seadragons since it allows me to be an extra level of nerdy and talk about fish ecology and trophic levels and other marine bio stuff. They’re a really great group and we’ve all gotten really close over the years despite being scattered over the globe. More recently, I managed to be hired as one of the illustrators of the Limitless Heroics project. Everyone on the team had some kind of neurodivergence or disability they were dealing with so I fit right in. It’s been a really great project and I’m excited to keep working with them. Through Limitless, I’ve even managed to get involved with Accessible Gaming Quarterly – an accessibility- focused DnD magazine – doing illustrations and I’ve even written a couple of short stories for them. In my last short story for Accessible Gaming, I got to write about some of my experiences feeling and hiding from suicidal thoughts. So that was interesting and I really appreciate them for giving me the space to do that in. I married that boyfriend who first introduced me to DnD by the way and he’s the one who really encouraged me to write Memoir of a Mad Scientist.
W&S: Do you think your experience with TTRPGs affects your writing in any way? If so, how?
Erin: Maybe, but I really think that the opposite is true and that my writing has influenced my TTRPG play. How I build characters and their backgrounds has definitely developed as my writing has improved and it’s not unusual for me to write up an outline in advance if I know I want a character to do something specific. Heck, I’ve even been playing around with writing my own adventures complete with character descriptions and flavor text.
W&S: Who are some of your favorite authors?
Erin: Oh man, put me on the spot. I’m a huge Terry Pratchett fan (I have all the Discworld books) and I love Neil Gaiman of course. I grew up reading Tamora Pierce and Garth Nix. Then there are the classics: Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, plus I really enjoy Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker (Mina kicks ass!). Recently I’ve been into Johannes Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard, The Dresden Files by JimButcher, and anything by Timothy Zhan. I’ve also made it my personal goal to get everyone to try something by Yahtzee Crowshow. There’s more but I’ve probably gone on long enough.
W&S: Do you have anything exciting on the horizon that you’d like to talk about?
Erin: I have a few projects going.
Right now, I’m working on finding a new publisher or agent for my next novel, a time travel story that I’m very proud of. I’m also talking with a voice actor about creating an audiobook version of Memoir of a Mad Scientist. In the meantime, I’m definitely still writing and have a few manuscripts that I’m playing with. I’d like to explore some really fantastic creatures with crazy biology or find a way to incorporate my new pregnancy experiences into a fantasy adventure. In illustration, I’m excited to be involved with the latest Limitless Heroics Kickstarter and can’t wait to get started drawing access punk again.
About the author: Erin is a science communicator turned author. As a writer, she has taken her neurodivergence and weaponized it by turning her anxiety into fuel for art. In her debut novel Memoir of a Mad Scientist (originally launched through Chandra Press), she confronts the idea of the ‘mad scientist’ as she incorporates her own clinical depression and anxiety into the protagonist’s poor coping mechanisms. She is a professional illustrator with artwork featured in various projects including the amazing Limitless Heroics . In her free time, she is a member of the internationally-ranked marine science D&D podcast, Dugongs and Seadragons .
Purchase link: Amazon Author website: ErinZAndersonillustration.com
