Hybrid genre novels and the world of artificial intelligence with Eli Lee

Eli Lee was born in Dorset and now lives in London. She writes fiction and non-fiction for a variety of anthologies, magazines and websites. She is the fiction editor and a contributor to the literary journal Minor Literatures and has also worked for Strange Horizons. Her debut novel, A Strange and Brilliant Light, has just been published.

Our interview begins at 15 minutes. 

Mini book club: Cultish by Amanda Montell

A thought-provoking  and compulsively readable exploration of how cult-ish language pervades our everyday life. 

*Note: Caitlin read a copy through her job with Harper Collins Australia. 

In this interview, we chat about:

• Why Eli describes A Strange and Brilliant Light as a ‘non-traditional sci-fi’ novel and why this was the key to finally writing the book which felt right
• The real-life relationship that inspired the novel
• Why Eli wanted to explore sexism and class struggles in an otherwise ‘advanced’ society
• Building the world of A Strange and Brilliant Light
• Eli’s top tip for writers working in any genre
• Exploring artificial intelligence and Eli’s research to make sure her alternate world was based on real AI possibilities
• Representations of AI in fiction and film
• How studying literature stole Eli’s confidence
• The strange magic of choosing a new book to read and the pleasure of re-reading

Books and other things mentioned:

• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• Her (movie)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (movie)
• Mitchell’s Vs the Machines (movie)
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• Alice Monroe (author)
• Elena Ferrante (author)
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
• The Folded Clock: A Diary by Heidi Julavits 
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Follow Eli @eli_lee_writes. A Strange and Brilliant Light is available now.

Follow us on Instagram @betterwordspod

Thank you to the team at Quercus Publishing for providing us with copes of A Strange and Brilliant Light.