Randee Dawn is a best-selling author of funny fantasy, dark speculative fiction and horror. She’s the author of the humorous, fantastical, pop culture novel Tune in Tomorrow, and the co-editor of The Law & Order: SVU Unofficial Companion. In 2025 she will have three novels coming out: dark rock ‘n roll fantasies The Only Song Worth Singing and Leave No Trace (Arc Manor) and the follow-up to Tune, We Interrupt This Program (Solaris Nova). She co-edited the anthology Across the Universe: Tales of Alternative Beatles, has published numerous short stories, and is a veteran entertainment journalist for outlets including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Variety, Alternative Press and Emmy Magazine. She loves traveling, foxes, her lovely spouse and was once gifted a gold record by Radiohead.
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If you could swap lives with any of the mythical creatures from your books for a day, which one would you choose and why?
In Tune in Tomorrow, Jason is a very fashion-forward faun who happens to be the showrunner of a long-running reality TV show. He’s also very excitable and sweet, and loyal to his underlings. I’m not sure I actually would want to spend that day running the show, though – I’d just love to explore the rest of the world beyond the Veil through his eyes. In the book he yearns to travel more, and refers to dreaming of galloping across the ice plains of Niflheim, for example. And because he has a sequoia tree wardrobe full of the most marvelous costumes (and shoes – he’s very big on platform shoes) I know I’d have the most wonderful outfits to explore the various worlds at my disposal. So I’d be incredibly well-dressed and able to race at faun speeds (am I in habiting his body, or being me? I’d pick the former) through the most striking worlds fairyland could offer. Extreme freedom and looking good doing it. Sign me up!
If you could have any fictional pet as a companion, what would it be and why?
I think flying would have to be a job requirement for the fictional pet – that and some sentience/ability to communicate. So sign me up with Falkor, from The Neverending Story! (I would also accept Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, despite the inability to talk. The legendary Pegasus is also a top contender, but every time I see a rendering of that winged horse, I keep wondering how I’m supposed to get on that thing – the wings will get in the way of my legs all the time!) Oh, maybe I didn’t mention that yes, the beast should fly – but it should also be delighted to have me along astride its back. I mean, I think there’s a decent chance I’m never going to be able to personally fly, but if I’m going to have an invented creature as a companion, a big fluffy white luckdragon with a deep rumbly voice and fur rather than feathers is definitely the one for me.
If you were to write a book about a group of superheroes with completely useless powers, what would their powers be?
I actually kind of have! It’s not published yet, so I won’t go into details, but I wanted to write a superhero book that was a bit funny, a bit satirical – and also asked some questions about the nature of our fascination with “super” people. But I also did this as a secondary plotline in my (other) funny novel, Tune in Tomorrow – only, it’s magic, not “super” powers. In that book, human performers on a mythical creature-run reality TV show can win awards (they’re called The Endless Awards, as opposed to, say, The Emmy Awards). And you not only get a totally frou-frou statue if you win – you also get a bit of what one of the characters refers to as “junk magic.” This new power can be kind of amazing (one character can “relocate” rooms; another can mimic voices) but can also be as silly as instantly knowing what the nutrition values of a piece of food are, just by looking at the item.
If you could have any magical power, but the catch was that you had to perform a ridiculous dance every time you used it, what power would you choose and what would your dance look like?
So many powerful options! I’d love to go with the classics: flying or invisibility, and I assume we can’t say “I’d like to have the power to have any power I want for up to 30 minutes at a time” – the kind of “wishing for wishes.” But I’ll actually go with something a little more personal and honest, something I said recently to my husband: My whole life has been a struggle with food and weight. I’d love to have the power to eat whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted, without gaining weight. To control that aspect of my life. Because that is not how my body currently works! As for the dance that would go with it, dancing and eating would be pretty difficult to do together if the dance was very active. So because I’d have to dance while being magical, I’m gonna go with a gentle soft-shoe routine. Even better, I think I might pick that sarcastic dance some people do by holding up a forefinger, bending it, and moving it around. That would work best with this magic power!
How have you used the phrase “I’m a writer” to avoid an unpleasant situation? What was it?
Certainly – in a way. I can’t say I’ve been “caught” doing something that I could excuse myself (or try to excuse myself) because I’m a writer, but I’ve used it mentally to justify a whole lot of stuff. Writers – and this is where my author persona and journalist persona merge – are, ideally, nosy parkers. That is, we’re stealing constantly from the world, and the people, around us. My husband likes to say “no one is safe around a writer,” and it’s true: We’re magpies, picking the shiny and weaving it into our own nests. When writing some of my longer articles for magazines, I make sure to take note (or take notes) about all the small details people may not realize they’re offering up to the public: What does their office say about them? What notes are on their boards? Photos on their refrigerator? How do they shake hands (or not, in the case of Jared Leto)? What impresses me the most about the world or the people around me? I still remember, decades later, a handshake from a particularly handsome Irish musician where he not only shook my hand, but placed his free hand on my forearm. It felt incredibly intimate, even though we hadn’t exchanged places. It all goes somewhere. Now, if you consider this constant, deep observation, absorption and (sometimes) judgment unpleasant … as you might … then all I can say is, “I’m a writer!”
If you could transport yourself to any fictional universe you’ve seen in a television show or movie, which universe would you go to?
The easy go-to on this would be the worlds of “Star Trek.” They’re ostensibly sci-fi, but they’re so future-forward and so wide-eyed about human goodness and ability to overcome our flaws that yes – I want to live in those worlds. Not all of them, of course, but the general ones where we all have replicators and can transport and money is kind of hand-wavy no longer necessary. For sheer beauty, I just loved the world of Wicked, with its talking animals and gorgeous candy-colored sets. The world itself is clearly undergoing some major issues, but it looks so lovely and fantastical, I wanted to wrap myself inside it.
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Tune in Tomorrow is now available at various online outlets, with a new version published in 2024 that includes a bonus chapter and a new cover. Randee Dawn will appear at various conventions throughout 2025 to promote it and her other upcoming books, so be sure to check out her appearances page at RandeeDawn.com for all events. Her monthly reading series, Brooklyn Books & Booze, is always looking for future readers, and you can find all the information about signing up to read or just to attend at BrooklynBooksBooze.com.
Other ways to find Randee Dawn around the interwebs:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRandeeDawn
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https://www.threads.net/@randeedawn
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/randee-dawn
https://www.tiktok.com/@randee.dawn
https://randeedawn.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/randee.bsky.social
http://brooklynbooksbooze.com/
