Madeehah joins the Luna Novella series with Orphan Planet, an SF story set off-world. You can order it here.
***
1. Let’s start from the beginning. Who were the writers who inspired you to become an author?
It’s a little cliche, but I’ve been reading since I could remember and writing not too long after that. I don’t remember specific authors that propelled my interest in writing; it was more an amalgamation of a love for reading and an active imagination that made me want to write. It was just fun. But there is a slightly obscure book from the periphery of my childhood that comes to mind: Emeldra and the Golden Orb by C.H. Proffitt. I don’t remember much of the story and I’m not sure what happened to the author, but I do remember being absolutely absorbed inside the book itself and its world. It’s a warm memory. That’s the sort of feeling I’d like to mimic in my work.
2. What is the very first piece of fiction you ever wrote?
If you don’t count ‘Mr Grumpy’ that I wrote at age 5 (with exquisitely rendered illustrations to boot), the first finished piece of fiction I wrote was during exam season of my final year as an undergrad. I was procrastinating from revision to the point I finished a short fantasy novel. I’ve always found writing to be a nice break from my very science-based, healthcare role; as much as I love science, I love creativity just as much, if not more. It’s nice to be able to switch between the two.
3. What is the hardest part of writing, in your experience?
The writing process has its own ups and downs, but I find promotion to be the hardest. Writing has always been something personal to me, and now it’s something my friends and family are aware of and support. But writing a story is essentially the contents of my brain strewn across a page, which makes me feel quite exposed. Then having to shove that page into front of people, asking them to read it and review it and leave comments... it all feels very counterintuitive. It’s the irony of being an introverted writer: you want others to read your words and connect with the story, but at the same time you don’t want to them to know you wrote it.
4. Tell me about your book. What was the inspiration behind it?
Orphan Planet is a story about human connection. Elif is the only human on Maoira-I, a planet of ever-changing seasons. She speaks sporadically with the Interplanetary Mission, the organisation responsible for finding a new planetary home for the space-faring remnants of humanity. When the Mission cancels their plans to send Elif a human helper, she has to reckon with the reality of loneliness on a world of violently changing climates.
Contrary to what you may think, this story was not inspired by the COVID-19 lockdowns and was actually written in a rough form before the beginning of the pandemic. Loneliness is an emotion many of us have experienced. It can be fleeting or pervasive. I wanted to take this emotion to its extreme both internally and externally. I was also really taken with the idea of what if you were the only human being on a planet? courtesy of watching Andy Weir’s The Martian far too many times than is healthy.
5. This is your debut book. How did you approach the ‘getting published’ process? Any tips, resources that you can share with our readers?
I submitted a very early and incomplete draft of Orphan Planet to the Future Worlds Prize for SFF writers of colour back in 2021. Somehow, I was shortlisted. I won’t say that being part of the shortlisted writers was an opening of any sort into the world of publishing, but it certainly opened my eyes to the process. I tried to turn the manuscript into a novel, being told they were far easier to sell than a novella, but alas the story was too stubborn to lengthen. Through social media I knew there were independent publishers open to SFF novellas, though there was not that many of them. I decided to polish up my manuscript and start submitting.
Whether by fate or luck, I was shocked when my novella was selected to be published with Luna Press. I expected to submit for a year, maybe more, knowing the market was so small and therefore so selective. I am very honoured that my story is being published with a well known independent press on my first try at submission. The moral of the story here is: just submit! With both FWP and Luna Press, I had nothing to lose, only a bit of time and perhaps some pride. I did not expect to be shortlisted, nor did I expect to be published so soon. You never know where your off-the-cuff submission will take you.
6. What is your take on social media, when it comes to being an author? Do you think that an author should have at least one channel of communication with the readers?
I never spoke about writing growing up. It was a hobby of mine that I kept solely for myself. I also grew up with social media in its more basic forms and without it, I wouldn’t have connected with the wider writing community. In all the different iterations of social media, I have always found a community of writers. Social media right now is a bit of a mess but I have made strong friendships from the writers I have met through it. I started a literary magazine with a fellow writer, shared tea and cakes and hugs with others. Social media is another means to find community, so even if you’re the type of author that shies away from social media (for good reason), find other ways to create and grow your writing community. When you grow this network, you grow interest in your work and thus your readers find you.
7. What are you working on at the moment?
I have a couple of novels-in-progress, one an alternative historical fantasy and the other science-fantasy, both based in Bengal. I am British Bangladeshi but have never felt very connected to my cultural heritage. My writer’s imagination really flourished when I started to read about the Bengal region, not just as it was colonised but prior to this, and how the region may have looked if it were not for colonisation.
As ever, I also have a conveyer belt of short story ideas I am slowly working through. Publishing a short story collection is also another goal of mine, hopefully someday in the near future.
You can order Orphan Planet here. Discover the full series!
About Madeehah:
Madeehah Reza is a writer and pharmacist from London, UK. She received an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her work has been published in several print and online magazines and anthologies including Wyldblood Press, Luna Station Quarterly, and All Worlds Wayfarer. She was a finalist in the 2021 Future Worlds Prize for SFF writers of colour and nominated for Best of the Net in 2023. Orphan Planet is her first novella. You can find more of her work on her website madeehah.carrd.co
Comments