The Genesis of Misery

"Transmute the saintly Joan of Arc into a foul-mouthed and combative protagonist, decant them into a weird and wild far future, and strap in for a wrecking ball of a ride. It’s a little Pacific Rim, a little medieval Europe—although it may or may not be related to our own Earth at all—and it is ridiculously wonderful in its language and over-the-top conflicts and characters. So enjoyable. I wanted to retell the Alexander the Great story as space opera because it seemed perfectly suited for space opera’s particular blend of characteristics. In writing, it was both helpful and challenging to have to adapt an actual history and actual people whose actions are known. It was helpful because I had a template to work with, so I didn’t have to make everything up. It was challenging to make it all work in a new and quite different setting while also keeping aspects of the story and people true to the history without slavishly following it. Setting a story taken from the ancient world in the far future also allows the writer to upend narrative expectations about who belongs in a story of this kind and what they may or may not accomplish and how they might behave."