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Patrice Fitzgerald has been here before for my Women in Science Fiction series, but today, she’s come back specifically to talk about her anthology series Dark Beyond the Stars.  The first anthology got some unexpected attention for featuring only women authors.  As usual, the gender divide is alive and well.  The second collection released today and while it contains some men this time, Patrice’s commitment to diversity and supporting women in a genre which often ignores us is alive and well.  Here she is to talk about it!

P.K. Tyler – Today we’d like to focus on the anthologies you’ve been publishing, The Beyond the Stars Series! For readers that aren’t familiar, how would you describe these books, and what can readers expect to find within their pages?
I’ve just launched the second in the series, and I’m thrilled about the excellence of this new collection.  What readers can expect is tremendous story-telling and good fun.  There’s a big range of tales, and a lot of fascinating world-building going on.  It continues to amaze me how a good writer–and we have good writers–can pull you in with very few words and convince you that this landscape, this predicament, or this creature could actually exist.

PKT – What is a space opera, and why did you choose this genre to bind your anthologies together?
PF – First of all, space opera stories are expansive and limited only by our imaginations.  The subgenre is wide open for exploration, and can be approached from so many directions.  I chose to concentrate our anthologies in this specific niche of sci-fi because it’s both exciting and super hot right now.  It’s no accident that the new Star Wars is a hit around the world, or that our first collection, DARK BEYOND THE STARS, was a bestseller.

PKT – Animal Planet is your story within the first anthology. What inspired you to write it, and what are your favorite sci-fi elements within it?
PF: Animal Planet is a story about what we, as humans, are afraid of.  And about the urge to explore.  Those themes come together in a tale about colonists and the scary unknown creatures they encounter on a wild planet.  To me, this story was a little bit like an episode of Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits.  Which I consider to be a flattering comparison!

PKT – What is the main difference between the first book in the series and book two: A Planet Too Far?
PF – I think that with each new release the stories get better.  In the second one, the theme of “A Planet Too Far” seemed to inspire the writers to really describe the extremes of what the future could be like.  I think they pushed themselves to do their best work.

PKT – What inspired you to initially put together this collection?
PF – A big part of it was just that we thought it would be fun.  We watched Samuel Peralta’s amazing success with The Future Chronicles, and thought “let’s put out our own book!”  And so we did.

PKT – The entire first anthology includes Women writers.  Was this focus on women in Science Fiction purposeful?  Why?
PF – We sort of fell into it.  And once everyone in our little group of writer friends said yes, all the spots were taken… and so it became a women’s SF collection. Which we thought was cool, but not that big a deal.  Truthfully, that wasn’t so much a bold political statement as the result of a bunch of friends getting together to put out a short story anthology.  Friends who all happened to be women.

PKT – For those who love classic science fiction authors like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. What stories in the Beyond the Stars series will they gravitate towards?
PF – All of them, of course!  Seriously… I think Nick Webb’s powerful story “Hope 91” is reminiscent of those kinds of writers, as well as the lead short in the new collection, G. S. Jennsen’s “Venatoris.”  But all of these tales truly have echoes of the big themes and the excitement of exploration brought out by Verne and Wells.

PKT – What does the Beyond the Stars series offer readers that they can’t find elsewhere?
PF – I don’t know of another anthology series that is truly focused on space opera.  Or one that has such a neat mix of New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors alongside brand new writers–all of whom have something unique to contribute.

PKT – Will there be more Beyond the Stars collections?  How can readers find out when they’re available?
PF – Yes!  The third anthology comes out in August.  We’re just kicking around titles right now.  One of the possibilities is BEYOND THE STARS: At Galaxy’s Edge.

We have a mailing list to let folks know when new collections are released.  They can sign up at http://eepurl.com/bwdOcf

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About Patrice Fitzgerald

Intellectual property attorney, part-time opera diva, and CEO of a tiny publishing company, Patrice Fitzgerald has been happily published since Independence Day, 2011. In addition to putting together the stories for the BEYOND THE STARS anthologies, she has a number of her own books out, from Karma of the Silo (a story based in Hugh Howey’s world of WOOL), to Running (a political thriller about two women vying for the presidency), and numerous short stories.  She’s currently working on SPACE CRIMES, about an investigator on a peacekeeping starship who is able to penetrate minds and read memories.

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Giveaway

Patrice is giving away five copies of the new anthology in ebook form, and one print copy.  She’ll even sign it!

Comment to enter to win!

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