Brenda W. Clough is the first female Asian-American SF writer, first appearing in print in 1984. Her latest work is a novelette, ‘Clio’s Scroll’, which appeared in Clarkesworld in July 2023. A historical novel A Door In His Head won the 2023 Diverse Voices Award. Her novella ‘May Be Some Time’ was a finalist for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards and became the novel Revise the World. Marian Halcombe, first in a series of 12 neo-Victorian thrillers appeared in 2021. Her complete bibliography is up on her web page, brendaclough.net
1. Which trope of science fiction (phasers, transporters, time machines, much more) would you like to see put into our own reality? And how would you use it in a mundane way?
I intend to write this one some day. It will be about time travel used for climate control. You know how it’s annoyingly warm in the summer time? How nice it would be to have that heat and humidity when you could really use it, in mid-February? Well! A simple time machine built into your HVAC system would do the trick. And that February chill would feel great in July, so it would not be wasted! If the time machine was in house then the straight swap, the climate in your living room from February to July and vice versa, would be no problem at all — the space is the same, right? Of course you might want to keep the cat out of the room before you hit that button…
2. How have you used the phrase “I’m a writer” to avoid an unpleasant situation? What was it?
Oh, you can do anything and ask anything, as long as you precede it with the phrase, “I’m a writer, and …” I had a friend who phoned the local chemical supply store and asked about hydrochloric acid. How much would you need to fill a bathtub? Would it be strong enough to dissolve a piece of meat that weighed, oh, 160 pounds? What about the inner surface of the tub, would it need reglazing? No problem at all! I have persuaded people to confide to me about felonies. They have described how to mainline heroin, and what it feels like. It’s amazing!
3. If you had to choose between being a time traveler or a space explorer, which would you pick and why?
Definitely time travel. I realize I am a historical F and SF writer. Everything I write has a historical component in it, either historical characters or actually set in the past. And now we have cell phone cameras!
4. If you could choose any real-life celebrity to make a cameo appearance in one of your books, who would it be and why?
Either Mick Jagger or Bob Dylan. At this moment I am writing a novel, HIS SELACHIAN MAJESTY REQUESTS. It’s SF, about alien intelligence, and also about sharks, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s set in 1979. My hero is a third tier pop star, and he clearly needs to move in more exalted circles. He needs to go to dinner with a major rock star of the 70s or 80s!
5. If you were secretly an alien visitor to the Earth, why are you here?
Definitely, for the food. I do desserts, I travel to eat different things!
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SERVANTS OF THE EMPRESS, the 12th volume in my Marian Halcombe series of Victorian thrillers is out in December. The first volume is available free, here: https://bookviewcafe.
Book View Cafe is also where to look for all of my current fiction, and it’s where I intermittently blog. My next novel, HIS SELACHIAN MAJESTY REQUESTS, should be out in the latter half of 2025. My full bibliography is up at my web page, brendaclough.net. I’m also BlueSky, at https://bsky.app/profile/
I will be at Worldcon in Seattle in August 2025, and also in Los Angeles in 2026. I’m also planning to attend a few conventions in the Pacific Northwest, like Orycon.
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