With numerous science fiction authors putting their own unique spins on classic stories — be it Rich Larson’s Ymir rewriting Beowulf or Darusha Wehm going full Shakespeare with Hamlet, Prince Of Robots — it was probably inevitable that someone would do a sci-fi version of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count Of Monte Cristo.
But while that’s kind of what Suzan Palumbo is doing with her sci-fi space opera novella Countess (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), as she explains in the following email interview about it, “…Countess has its own unique concerns.”
To start, what is Countess about, and when and where is it set?
Countess is set several centuries into the future. A large portion of humanity has colonized space in the wake of climate change, and there are interplanetary colonial empires that draw their history and culture from empires that once existed on Earth. The economies of these empires are based heavily on resource extraction from colonized planets.
Virika Sameroo, our protagonist, is descended from Caribbean indentured labourers and enslaved people who were forced to re-indenture themselves as migrant workers on these colonized planets to escape the climate crisis in the Caribbean on Earth. Through the course of the book, Virika is imprisoned for a crime she did not commit. Countess is about Virika’s journey towards freedom and seeking her own form of justice.
The book is inspired by The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. While Countess does follow the initial set up of Dumas’ classic, I am not one to submit to premade plans. I think Countess has its own unique concerns. It’s about myth making, rebellion, what a hero is, and wrestling with the tropes we often see in work presented as anticolonial.
So, did you start out wanting to put your own spin on The Count Of Monte Cristo, and Countess is what you came up with, or did you have the idea for Countess and then realize it would work just as well, or maybe even better, as a reworking of The Count Of Monte Cristo?
They happened almost at the same time. I’ve always loved The Count Of Monte Cristo. Around 2019, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at writing a sci-fi novella. Virika’s story and character came first but only barely. (I didn’t know her name, only that she was an immigrant in the merchant marine who was wrongly imprisoned and wanted justice.) I immediately thought that the initial set up for Monte Cristo would work well as a scaffold for exploring the unfairness and oppression she would face.
Virika’s story mirrors much of my own history and personal experiences. Further, a lot of what happens in Countess is actual Caribbean history. The work is fiction, but this novella is all very much a “write what you know” kind of book. I am the child of Caribbean immigrants who were very poor laborers when they arrived in Canada. I am an immigrant like Virika, who moved away from the place she was born when she was very young. My family are mostly descendants of indentured labourers in Trinidad And Tobago. Virika’s diasporic immigrant story is my own personal story.
I didn’t have a specific moment where I thought Countess would be better transposed onto a loose Monte Cristo framework. Edmund Dantes story has always resonated with me because so much of it felt like the truth. I knew almost immediately that it would be a major reference point for me when writing.
The other component here is that Alexandre Dumas had Haitian ancestry. He was a very early member of the Caribbean diaspora. I believe this is partly why Monte Cristo struck a chord with me as a reader. It is very much a book about injustice and I think we share those concerns.
So, is there a reason why Virika works on a cargo ship as opposed to a passenger ship, a pirate ship, a military ship, whatever the space version of a taco truck is called…
Virika works on a cargo ship because, before the book begins, she is recruited into the merchant marines. This is vaguely based on my experiences in high school where the Canadian military would set up a recruitment table in our cafeteria every few months. I grew up in a very poor Caribbean and South Asian neighborhood and they do very much like to recruit in such areas. Interestingly, my friends who lived in more affluent, white neighborhoods did not experience this. That said, it is highly possible the military did recruit in those areas as well and I just haven’t heard about it.
Virika, as a character, is more of an artist than a solider or pirate. She chose to sign up with the cargo ship because that would provide her with an education and a steady income to help support her family. It seemed less dangerous to her than going into the military proper. She maintains her artist’s soul throughout the book, however. She doesn’t have a soldier’s temperament and struggles to quell her feelings in tense situations.
She’s also a horrible cook (unlike me, I’m pretty good) and would be a disaster working in a space taco truck. Like probably fired the first day kinda bad.
Countess sounds like a sci-fi space opera story…
It is predominantly a sci-fi space opera. Mineral science and extraction is grounded in the premise. Countess is very slippery in a way because, while it is a space opera, Virika has a Gothic internal character arc. The narrative centers her thoughts and emotions as well as the horror of her circumstances. There are also dark fantastical elements such as a cursed planet and romantic subplot(s).
The other piece that I don’t mention often is that the novella pays homage to pulp space westerns. When I wrote the opening scene, I had the image of Captain Kirk sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise in his Captain’s chair in my head. I am a big fan of Star Trek: The Original Series and I think you can sense that show’s influence on the plot in terms of the action packed pace. The book is a lot of me smashing everything I love and care about together. It’s a great big fusion.
Countess is your first novella, though last year you released a collection of your short stories called Skin Thief. Are there any writers who had a big influence on Countess but not on anything else you’ve written, and especially not any of the stories in Skin Thief?
I have always enjoyed dystopias. That sounds so weird but it’s true. I am mostly a horror and dark fiction writer and dystopias, like horror, feel truthful to me. In my teens I read 1984 by Orwell several times. I also read A Brave New World by Huxley and Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury. I love the film Blade Runner as well as Logan’s Run and the original Planet Of The Apes series. I think a lot of my world view and opinions about the future evolved from these books and movies. I personally don’t believe that humanity will solve all of its social / political / economic problems / evils in the next several centuries. I hope we do but I think we are more likely to bring them into the future with us.
Countess doesn’t flinch from the idea that those problems will still exist. It doesn’t posit that they are easily solvable. To me this is a positive even hopeful point, because it feels true. You can’t solve problems unless you’re willing to confront them head on. Dystopias depict and confront problems head on. I love that about them and I wanted my novella to do the same.
What about non-literary influences; was Countess influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
As I mentioned, Countess is very influenced by Star Trek: The Original Series, as well as Star Wars and shows such as Space 1999. To elaborate on my love of Star Trek: The Original Series, I enjoyed the theatricality and adventurous aspects of that show. One major plot device in Star Trek is the use of a deadline. Scottie has to get the warp drive working in ten minutes or the Enterprise will be obliterated. Countess has that type of tension and pacing throughout. It’s fast. I wanted propulsive energy to fuel the book.
I know the history of the term “space opera,” and that it was coined as a derogatory label originally. The phrase alludes to soap operas and space westerns. Soap operas are supposedly “for women,” and historically, writing that is emotional or for women can’t be “serious science fiction.” That is what someone told me. Well, Countess is very influenced by soap operas and space westerns. Feelings and emotion are very present in the book and its got warp drive energy. I’m really proud of my choice to embrace the emotional aspects of the genre. I think that’s what makes these stories so epic and sweeping. It isn’t just the wonders of space, but also the depths of the human heart, that compels readers. I wanted to incorporate both in this novella.
Now, sci-fi novellas, be they space opera or something else, are sometimes stand-alone tales, and sometimes they’re part of larger sagas. What is Countess?
I don’t want to close myself off from the possibility of writing more in this world. I know it’s large enough to hold more stories, and I have vague ideas for them but I have not sat down and planned them out.
That said, when I originally wrote Countess it was conceived as a stand-alone.
Earlier I asked if Countess was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip the script, as you kids don’t say anymore, do you think Countess could work as a movie, show, or a game?
I enjoyed the 2002 Count of Monte Cristo film when it came out but I don’t think Countess would work well as a movie.
One reviewer said she would watch Countess as a TV series, and I tend to agree with her. It’s divided into ten chapters, and I think those would fit well into a ten episode format, with each chapter having its own mini arc. Hi Netflix, Apple, HBO; call my agent.
And if Netflix, Apple, or HBO do call your agent, who would you want them to cast as Virika and the other main characters?
This is a difficult question. Virika would either be played by a younger Archie Panjabi around the age she was in Bend It Like Beckham or Kate Sharma from Bridgerton. I want Florence Pugh [Dune Part Two] to play Alba because I think she would do a stellar job. Dominque would be a younger Octavia Spencer [The Shape Of Water].
I don’t think I could be a casting director because even coming up with these three actors was difficult for me so I’ll leave it there.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about Countess?
While Countess is described as a Count Of Monte Cristo retelling, it truly is Virika’s story. Her motivations, concerns and history are different than Edmund Dantes, and so her narrative is not going to replicate his beat for beat. I wanted to do something new and meaningful in terms of presenting a deeply anticolonial stance. I’ve veered away from expectations purposefully, in every way I thought possible. Intentionally. I have something to say about the stories we tell about heroes, revolutionaries and injustice and I hope that readers connect with those ideas in the book. Or at least appreciate my intended disruptive stance.
Finally, if someone enjoys Countess, what sci-fi space opera novel or novella of someone else’s would you recommend they read next?
Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice is the novel that made me want to try my hand at writing a space opera. I would also recommend Binti by Nnedi Okarafor and The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui.
