Jemisin, the answer is easy: Start writing a new fantasy trilogy!
Its also set pretty near to our own world, rather than in a fantasy realm like the Stillness.
Theres one exception, though: New York City, the focal point of the book.
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InThe City We Became, each borough is represented by a different human.
Sounds like quite a brew, right?
EW caught up with Jemisin to discuss the ingredients of her newest book.
Dark Anarchy
Check out the array of influences below.
That aforementioned otherworldly threat facing New York resembles both Lovecrafts work and his life.
Its kind of a deep dive into how pathological racists think.
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You cannot read Lovecraft without understanding that this iswhats in Stephen Millers head.
DuBois
In his seminal bookThe Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B.
DuBois coined the term double consciousness to describe the experience of African-Americans living in a racist society.
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InThe City We Became, Jemisin takes the concept at face value.
What if they are constantly superpositioned with this other space in which they are literally cities?
This is how I tried to give their magic and power form.
The Power Rangers.Everett Collection
What if MC Lyte grew up and became a city councilwoman?
is where I decided to go with that character, Jemisin says.
So I sent my little rap to her and she sent it back fixed!
Yoda in ‘Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back’.Lucasfilm
That was much better after she fixed it.
So two of them are young, one is elder, one is middle-aged.
I wanted their backgrounds more varied than what you typically see in something like that.
Well see how that goes.
And why not think in trilogies, when there are so many incredible examples from fantasy and sci-fi?
The firstStar Warsis sort of a popcorn-y thing, but the secondStar Warsis what made it a powerful story.
Random House
TolkiensLord of the Rings) in favor ofUrsula K. Le Guins world.
Le Guins work jarred me out of Tolkienism, Jemisin says.
I needed to be reminded that fantasy could take other forms.
His enemy is himself.
The idea of fantasy as psychological self-study was something I got from that.
Basically, the undesirables of the city had formed a very nice community there.
They had formed their own infrastructure and built their own houses, and were going on about their lives.
Moses couldnt stand the rampant miscegenation of all these white people fing all these black people.
Everyone loves Central Park, its a wonderful place.
Jane Jacobs was the anti-Robert Moses, Jemisin continues.
Its interesting to see her conception of the field.
One of those mythologies won, but is it the one that should have?
