First off, can you tell us a little bit about your new book, Goldilocks? 

Goldilocks is about the first all-female space mission to an exosolar planet called Cavendish, 10.5 light years away. It’s humanity’s last hope as Earth only has 30 years left of habitability thanks to climate change and overpopulation. Yet at the last minute, the women were kicked off of the mission through a loophole, and NASA planned to send 5 men instead. The women knew they were the best people suited to the mission, so they steal the spaceship and head off anyway. Yet there are secrets on board that could threaten to undo everything they’ve worked for.

I basically summarise it as The Martian meets The Handmaid’s Tale, or hopefully your favourite parts of astronaut films but it passes the Bechdel test.

As a reader, I loved rocketing around the solar system with Naomi and I can tell how much you love exploring the stars. When did you first become intrigued by Space?

I think I’ve always been fascinated by it, but it’s only in the last few years I started really learning a lot about the cosmos. I wrote a far future space opera (Seven Devils—out in August!), though that takes more of a science fantasy approach. In 2018-2019, I was involved with an interdisciplinary project called ‘Scotland in Space’, which was a partnership with the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University (where I lecture), and the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Scientists, social scientists, and authors/artists partnered up and came up with concepts. The authors wrote the story, the academics wrote essays that complemented them subject-wise, and the artist illustrated them. It culminated in an anthology that came out last November. I wrote about the Fringe in space, where a group of performers and scientists head to Alpha Centauri b to try and convince the aliens there to help save humanity. I started learning more of the actual science, which led nicely to Goldilocks. It meant I had an existing network of experts to help me answer some difficult questions. 

You write brilliantly about women in STEM, and the science throughout the book is fascinating. What kind of research did you have to do?

My acknowledgements are 5 pages long. I immersed myself in all things space for about 6 months and asked scientists targeted questions so I wouldn’t waste too much of their time. I learned about astrophysics, astronomy, how we would grow food in space, which led to learning a lot about cyanobacteria and cyanophages, climate change and how to fix it, terraforming, space law, some cryonics, the history of spaceflight, what space does to the human body, what astronauts actually do, and more. A big shoutout to your mum, Dr. Heidi DeBlock, for helping me! 

What is one fact from your research that has stuck with you?

The current best theory of how to get anywhere close to FTL speed is giant gold laser kites in space. 

You’re very good at writing your characters into intense situations that require tough decisions. What was the process of coming up with these scenarios? What were some themes you wanted the crew of the Atalanta to confront?

It was a very symbiotic relationship with my editors at Wildfire. Because I’d sold it on a two chapter partial (which is not the usual process, but this was the 8th book I’d sold), I ran all of my plot ideas past them, since really the concept of ‘women in space search for exosolar planet’ was their idea that I ran with. So having experienced editors point out how I could make certain situations more tense, or point out where I was pulling my punches, was really helpful. 

In terms of themes, I think a large one is growth—of a planet, of people, of society, of plants, and also how easy it is to destroy something as opposed to giving it the space and opportunity to flower. I also ask hard questions that don’t have entirely clear answers. It’s a bit of a warning—this is what I’m afraid will happen in the future if we don’t get out act together and tax billionaires, stop electing fascists, and save the planet. 

Goldilocks is set the future with amazing scientific and technological capabilities. But what is one element from today’s society that you chose to echo in your story?

Probably how women/AFAB people are so often having decisions being made about them without their input. When I started drafting, I had a certain year that abortions were made illegal in the US again. Then the Heartbeat Bills started coming out in places with Georgia, so I had to move the timeline up radically. In April, the state of Texas has been taken to the Supreme Court for banning abortion during the COVID-19 crisis, meaning they are technically violating Roe vs. Wade. Alabama, Oaklahoma, Ohio, and probably other states have also made it very difficult to access reproductive health issues during lockdown. This has big potential long-term ramifications.  

If you had to choose four women to bring with you on the Atalanta, who would they be? 

This is hard! 

1.    Jeanette Epps, who I met at Worldcon 2019 in Dublin because, well, she’s actually an astronaut at NASA so my odds of dying in space go down right there. 

2.    Dr. Sinead Collins, my evolutionary biologist friend who did a science read for me and is basically Naomi but not an astronaut, so she’d keep us fed. 

3.    I think Sinead would be sad to go to space without her wife, so Dr. Kali Wilson can come too—she does stuff I don’t fully understand with lasers, physics, quantum computers, and atomic clocks, so I’m sure that’ll come in handy. 

4.    Last, she’s not a scientist, but I’m going to have to go with Juliet Mushens! She will keep us all organised and on task and in good spirits, plus keep us in shape on board. 

I am totally dead weight on this potential spaceship but I can uh, tell stories over dinner? 

Goldilocks is published 30th April and be purchased at Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwell’s, The Hive, Amazon, or any good bookstore!