Alison Stine
Author Interview - Alison Stine
Author of TRASHLANDS
Trashlands is set at a strip club at the end of the world, a generation after climate change floods re-shape the coasts of America. It follows a single mother, Coral, who lives in a junkyard called Trashlands, where plastic is currency and scavenging junk one of the only ways to survive, and her attempts to make a better chance for her son--and to make a life for herself as an artist.
Author Interview - Alison Stine
Author I draw inspiration from: Octavia Butler and Angela Carter, both from their work as well as their careers. I never was a one hit wonder and I admire writers who weren't either, who wrote many books, in many different ways, who just kept going, no matter what.
Author Interview - Alison Stine | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: In bed, just before falling asleep, hopefully under a lot of blankets.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Antoinette Conway, a police detective from Tana French's novels The Secret Place and The Trespasser. I love tough women characters who are capable badasses, and whose toughness conceals deep love, care, and trustworthiness. And I love French's work: rich, encompassing mysteries where a little bit of the story is left unsolved every time.
Author Interview - Alison Stine | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: Well, I've always known. One of my first memories is "writing" under the kitchen table while my parents had dinner. My mother was an elementary school teacher and she taught me to read very young. I think I was about thirteen and had read Anne of Green Gables when I realized I could do this for a living, for a job. But it's always been there for me.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I prefer paperback because I like to feel the pages, and paperbacks are lighter, more inexpensive, and easier to transport. But I'm so grateful we have so many ways to get books now. Books are for all. The more ways we have to read, the better, and as a disabled writer (I've been partially deaf since I was born), accessibility is essential to me.
The last book I read: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman. I was excited to get an early copy, and it made me remember how much I love Hoffman's writing. It helped the set the scene for fall and Halloween, my favorite season of the year, and for the darker days of winter.
Author Interview - Alison Stine | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Computer. It's easier for me to write more on a laptop, but if need be, I can write anywhere, with anything: on my phone, on the back of a receipt, in my car. You have to be flexible when you're a writer who has a child, particularly if you're parenting alone, as I did for the first ten years of my son's life.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Flora from The Book of Flora by Meg Elison. I love all the characters in Elison's trilogy, but Flora from this book, the third and final one in the series--I really grieved missing her when the books were over. Flora has such a true heart and good intentions. I felt so much for this character, and would follow her anywhere.
Author Interview - Alison Stine | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Singer
Favorite decade in fashion history: I don't think about what I wear too much, but anytime when women couldn't wear what they wanted was not great. My mom didn't own a pair of pants until college. I mostly just wear jeans and black T-shirts every day, but I'd be content wearing jumpsuits or painter's overalls forever too.
Place I’d most like to travel: To take my family to Europe. My son has never traveled abroad, and I'd really love to show him England, where I lived for a few months in my twenties--he's a big street art, soccer, and food fan--and Italy.
My signature drink: Dark beer
Favorite artist: Artemisia Gentileschi
Number one on my bucket list: To record an album of those songs I've written but haven't really let anyone hear
Find more from the author:
Twitter: @AlisonStine
Instagram: @alistinewrites
Author Bio: Alison Stine grew up in rural Ohio and now lives in Colorado with her partner and son. Her first novel, Road Out of Winter, won the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award. Recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and National Geographic, she is a freelance reporter with The New York Times, and also writes regularly for The Washington Post, Salon, and elsewhere. Her second novel Trashlands publishes October 26 from MIRA/HarperCollins.
