“I don’t generally set out to write about social and political topics,” writer Izzy Wasserstein says in the following email interview about her new novella These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart (paperback, Kindle), “but we’re living in a time of political upheaval, climate change, and rising authoritarianism. And as a trans woman, I’m constantly being reminded that my existence is political.”
Though in talking about this queer, noir technothriller, it’s clear that while Wasserstein didn’t necessarily set out to be social or political, this story wouldn’t have it any other way.
To start, what is These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart about, and when and where is it set?
I usually struggle to summarize my projects, but this one has a clear log-line: set in mid-21st Century Kansas City, These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Hear is about a trans woman who returns to her former commune to investigate the murder of her ex-girlfriend.
It sounds like These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart is at least partially inspired by what‘s going on in the world, socially and politically.
Absolutely!
So, did you set out to write something socially and politically relevant, and These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart is what you came up with, or did you have the idea for These Fragile Graces first, and then realize it would work better if it was socially / politically relevant?
It was a little bit of both. I don’t generally set out to write about social and political topics, but we’re living in a time of political upheaval, climate change, and rising authoritarianism. And as a trans woman, I’m constantly being reminded that my existence is political. The political dimensions of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart were part of my early conceptualization of the novella.
Dora, our protagonist, faces killers with roots in her past. I wanted to explore how some commonly used science fictional tropes would work differently when applied to trans people.
The other major influence on the plot was the thinking I’ve been doing about how non-hierarchical structures work (or fail!),how they can be organized, and what threats — internal and external — they face. Hence the commune. I’m not interested in easy answers, so I knew early on that this book would include debates over what community should look like, but that it wouldn’t offer easy answers.
Is there also a reason you set These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart in the not-so-distant future, and in Kansas City, as opposed to the present or the far future, and in some other place? Is it because you were born in Kansas? In the not-so-distant future?
Being born in Kansas was a big part of it. I was born and raised about an hour from downtown Kansas City, so it’s a place I know well (and people familiar with K.C. will likely be able to figure out with reasonable accuracy where the events of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart take place).
Also, I feel like Kansas City is under-appreciated as a noir locale. I’m currently living in California, but I was back in K.C. for World Fantasy this fall, and I felt validated in my choice for the setting as I walked through the foggy night with rain spitting unevenly, surrounded by red brick and Mid-Century Modern structures with neon lights flashing above me.
I knew early on that I wanted a noir-inspired tale, and there were technologies like [SPOILER OMITTED] that I wanted to explore, so the not-so-distant future felt right. As I worked on this book, I spent time researching what climate change might do to the K.C. area, and thirty-ish years from now things could be really bleak, so it seemed like the right time and place for this book.
Your publisher calls These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart a “queer, noir technothriller.” I assume you don‘t disagree with that…
I think “queer, noir technothriller” fits very well. During my writing process, I tend to think in terms of voice more than genre, so readers are often the ones telling me what genre I’m working in.
That said, a murder mystery is a key part of this book, and I borrow elements from mystery genres.
Also, a lot of this book is about the ways communities can fail us — and we can fail them. I don’t think that really counts as a genre, but I’m going to claim it as one anyway, because I love stories that explore those questions. (Please write more of them, folks, so I can read them!)
These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart is your first novella, though you‘ve written two books of poetry ( This Ecstasy They Call Damnation and When Creation Falls) and a collection of short stories (All The Hometowns You Can‘t Stay Away From). Are there any writers, or stories, that had a big influence on These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart but not on anything else you‘ve written?
This was my first time leaning all the way into noir tropes, which surprised me, because I’m a huge fan of noir, whether classic or neo-noir. Dora’s voice owes a lot to Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe and to The Big Sleep in particular.
I’m not sure how evident it is in the text, but These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart was also very influenced by the way China Miéville engages with leftist politics in his books.
I’m also reading and thinking more about solarpunk these days, and I think you can see that in this book, which exists in a noir world that may yet survive but is going to have to become a solarpunk world to do so.
What about poetry? Do you think writing poems — and, of course, reading them — had any influence on These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart?
I don’t think many people would describe Dora’s voice as poetic, but I hope poetry shows its influence here. One of my great poetic obsessions are persona poems, where the poet adopts the voice of a character and explores their perspective (among my favorite poets who write persona poems are Ai, W. B. Yeats, Lisa D. Chávez, Robert Browning, and Lucille Clifton). Persona poems get their energy from using carefully crafted lines to deeply explore a character’s perspective, and I think that approach fundamentally shapes this novella. I want to take deep dives into who these characters are, and — especially in Dora’s case — how her narrative voice reflects and shapes her character.
How about non-literary influences; was These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
Since These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart is both a love letter to and an argument with noir, it’s probably no surprise that noir films (classic and neo-) were a huge influence. Two in particular that had a big influence on the novella are Night Of The Hunter and Miller‘s Crossing.
I often feel like my work is arguing with other texts, especially those that I admire. Here I think you can see my deep suspicion of the borderline nihilism of things like The Walking Dead comics, which are very well done but seem to point towards cruelty and hierarchy as the only ways to survive disaster. I think the evidence shows that community and mutual aid are much better survival strategies than hoarding food and hoping you have the biggest weapons and the most violent followers.
And how about your dog, Arya, and your cats, Ripley and Fiona? What influence did they have on These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart?
People who know me will tell you I’m a pessimistic person. (I once mentioned in passing to my therapist that I wasn’t particularly known for optimism, and she laughed at the understatement. I think that sums it up.) I don’t think I’m alone, though, in finding it hard to be optimistic about what the next few decades hold for humanity, the environment, and Kansas City. Dora’s world is a harsh one, but I never wanted this story to be “grimdark”; I think finding joy in tough times can be a radical act, and my furry companions are amazing at helping me find it. When Arya wants nothing more than to get some belly rubs, or Ripley is sitting on me and purring, or Fiona is doing trust-falls into my arms (seriously! It’s a wild maneuver),I’m blessed with reminders of the good things in life and find myself approaching the world of the novella from a new perspective.
Ripley, Arya, Fiona
Earlier I asked if These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart had been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart could work as a movie, or a TV show, or a game?
I think it would work best as a movie, though a True Detective-esque series also has a lot of appeal. But one of the joys of movies is entering into a film’s world, exploring that world through a self-contained story, one that wraps up by the time you leave the theater or turn off your TV.
Plus, while you can do noir mysteries in any medium, there’s something magical about noir film, so I can’t resist that option.
And if someone wanted to make that happen, who would you want them to cast as Dora, Kay, and the other main characters?
I’d love to see [Supergirl‘s] Nicole Maines as Dora. I think she could nail Dora’s look and, more important, her attitude.
While I’m dream-casting, Amandla Stenberg [Bodies Bodies Bodies] would bring the right mix of strength and vulnerability to Kay.
[Cobra Kai‘s] Xolo Maridueña would be a great Juan, I think, and could handle the gravitas I think Juan’s character needs.
The twins, Samara and Samuel, would be the hardest to cast, as there aren’t a lot of identical twins, one of whom is trans, who are also actors. I think Elliot Page [The Umbrella Academy] would be perfect for Samuel, but I’m not sure who would play Samara alongside him.
So, is there anything else people need to know about These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart?
If you like noir and messy, complex queer characters, then I think you’ll have a great time with it.
Finally, if someone enjoys These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart, what similar kind of novella by someone else would you suggest they check out next and why that one?
I’d recommend Margaret Killjoy’s novella A Country Of Ghosts. It’s a second-world fantasy full of social and political complexity, with a deep dive into some of the ways that people who reject hierarchies organize and resist oppression. On top of that, it’s a well-realized war story.
