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The WSU student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen, has a nice feature on Nisi’s reading tomorrow at BookPeople in Moscow. Reporter Brandon Seiler interviewed Nisi, me, and BookPeople owner Bob Greene.

Feminist science fiction.

Without mention of an author such as Nisi Shawl, these words have about as much to do with each other as three balls dropped from a bingo machine. Her work is helping pioneer the capacities of the sci-fi genre beyond the cliches from questioning the most rigid social norms.

Defying any branch of mainstream storytelling, Shawl said her ratio of female to male protagonists is nearly nine to one and the women are rarely preoccupied with locking down a love interest. Yet, Shawl said she doesn’t feel particularly aware of trying to write feminist literature.

“It’s not a conscious or preachy thing, gravity is a part of my work too,” she said.

Nisi reads at BookPeople Saturday the 4th starting at 11 a.m.