Exclusive Interview: “Skin” Author Kathe Koja

 

William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” But not every player has everyone’s best interest at heart.

Originally released in 1993, Kathe Koja’s queer, body horror / weird fiction novel Skin is less a story and more a performance. Or so she explains in the following email interview about the new version of Skin, which Meerkat Press are rereleasing in paperback.

To begin, what is Skin about, and when and where does it take place?

What Skin is, at its heart, is a show: something you watch as you read, a chaotic and propulsive show about love, and ambition, and the pure urge to find your group, your tribe, and do something spectacular together.

The two main characters, Tess and Bibi, form a performance group from their shared passion to create: Tess the sculptor with raw metal, Bib the dancer with flesh and blood. And it all takes place in a world of warehouses, coffeeshops, welding shops, and rehearsal rooms, where work gets done and money is just another tool, never a goal. I’ve had a lot of fun myself in places like those.

Where did you get the idea for Skin?

I’ve always been fascinated by live performance. It’s a tightrope, it can go amazingly well or unbelievably poorly, at any given moment, and you don’t know till the end how “good” the show was. And part of what makes any show come alive is the energy of the watchers, or in this case, the readers.

So, is there a reason why you made it two women as opposed to two men or one of each?

In all my novels, the characters are the novel: the story comes through them, their actions, desires, and decisions. Tess and Bibi, their work, their friends, colleagues, enemies, that’s the story of Skin.

It sounds like Skin is a horror novel, though I’ve also seen it describe as a work of weird fiction. How do you describe it, genre-wise, and why that way?

Skin exists in body horror and weird and queer fiction, certainly. And I think readers who appreciate intensity, who feel at home with strangeness and a love story and a tragedy of ambition — people who like Macbeth, say — would feel right at home reading Skin.

When it first came out in 1993, Skin was your third novel after The Cipher and Bad Brains. Were there any other authors, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Skin but not on anything else you’ve written up that point? Or such non-literary influences as movies, TV shows, or games?

Industrial culture was and is a place where both Tess and Bibi would fit in seamlessly, its unsparing ethos, its music and fashion, its bulletproof joie de vivre: think Blixa Bargeld, think the designers Elena Velez or Rick Owens, think the architecture of Kraftwerk Bar in Berlin. It was that vibe I was hunting for, writing that book.

And then, to flip things around, how, if at all, do you think writing Skin, or maybe the reaction to it, influenced what you wrote after it?

Have to say no. Each of my books (over 20, at this writing) pretty much exists in, and as, its own universe, and there’s no crosstalk at the desk.

So, the reason we’re talking about Skin now is that the good people at Meerkat Press are putting out a new version of it. Aside from double checking the text for typos, did you add or change anything about this version of Skin?

I’m truly thrilled to be working with Tricia Reeks and Meerkat Press on this new edition. Tricia is a complete professional and a total blast as a creative partner, and we’ve had a lot of fun reimagining the book’s look, its design, and its killer swag: a Surgeons Of The Demolition flyer, a Tess & Bibi heart sticker, Bibi’s bookmark eyes…

And this new edition has a wonderfully written, wonderfully heartfelt introduction by Eric LaRocca, a writer whose work is generating so much well-deserved attention and excitement. Skin spoke to him as a young reader and writer, and in his introduction he tells us what that meant to him — which on a personal level makes me very pleased and proud.

A moment ago you said Skin hadn’t been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But do you think Skin could work as a movie, TV show, or game?

I think Skin could make a terrifying and fantastic film: the elegant metal monsters that Tess creates, Bibi’s ferocious cutting sessions, the wild Surgeons shows with dancers stalking and screaming — all of that’s very visual, very immersive, and, with the right production design, it could be mind-blowing to watch.

And if someone wanted to make that Skin flick, who would you want them to cast as Tess, Bibi, and the other main characters?

As far as casting, it’s such a delicate and nerve-wracking task. We’ve all had the experience of seeing a film or show where the casting was so perfect you could never imagine anyone else playing that role — or casting that was so totally off-base it ruined the whole experience. So I’d definitely leave that task to the professionals.

So, is there anything else you think potential readers need to know about Skin or this new version of it?

If you like it dark, you’ll like this book.

Finally, if someone enjoys Skin, which of your other novels would you suggest they check out next?

The Dark Factory trilogy, also from the endlessly inventive Meerkat Press — Dark Factory, Dark Park, and upcoming in late 2025, Dark Matter — are also centered on making, set in the afterhours landscape of the dance club and the endless horizons of gaming, and at the end of the world, too, so the stakes are impossibly high.

For a taste of that world, go here and dive right in.