KAREN JOY FOWLER INTERVIEWED BY TERRY BISSON Do they really put chopped nuts in sushi in Santa Cruz? It’s one of the town’s many charms. There is a rumor that L. Ron Hubbard played a role in your development as a writer. Explain. My story “Recalling Cinderella” was published in Writers of the Future, an anthology funded by Scientology. This was my first publication, though not my first sale; the Scientologists proved more efficient than Ed Ferman, editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The anthology was made up of winners in a quarterly contest. I did not even place. But Algis Budrys, who edited the volume, liked my story enough to include it. So I would say that Algis Budrys had an impact on my career but that L. Ron Hubbard found me wanting. This all happened in that particular period in which L. Ron Hubbard was maybe dead or maybe not dead. There was an extravagant launch party in LA where I met many science fiction writers of whom I was in breathless admiration. The party and my thirty-fifth birthday were on the same day, so I hardly minded turning thirty-five.
What do You think about The Science Of Herself (2013)?
