Writer Spotlight: Cressida Roe
Welcome to the 33rd installment of Writer Spotlight. This week’s focus is Cressida Roe. I’ve reviewed 12 of Roe’s pieces, nine of them individually on InkFoundry’s “Get WYSR” feed. (In case you didn’t know, InkFoundry is a wonderful and free resource that aggregates short fiction and poetry pieces!)
Recurring Themes:
Loss of identity
Pregnancy
Bad men who need to die
Animal fiction / people inside of animals
Day One - Sep 17
“Fame Cycles of Pop Gods” | WYSR Review
Hark becomes the new hot god - but his time in the limelight is both limited and overwhelming.
He searches for her in every timeline, and categorizes them based on when he finds her and when he doesn’t.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These stories seemed pretty different to me.
Individually:
“Fame Cycles of Pop Gods” This story has so much and I loved it!! It shows the manipulation and abuse of celebrities / pop stars, themes of answering prayer and the complexities around it, the fickleness of fandoms / popularity and the inherent danger from them, and more.
“Singularities” This story has themes of yearning and timeline travel / hopping. The prose in this is exceptionally gorgeous.
Day Two - Sep 18
3. “Nothing Bright But the Shine of Your Coat” | WYSR Review
The bear brings her anything she desires. Except her freedom.
4. “Skin Deep” | WYSR Review
Erin and Amanda can shift into any animal they desire. But growing up comes with shifting desires, too.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories involve people inside of animal bodies!
Individually:
“Nothing Bright But the Shine of Your Coat” This story is a fairy tale retelling with bears, and wishes. It has that beautiful nostalgic/classic feel of a fairy tale, with mentions of stealing celestial bodies from the sky and imprisonment from bears, but it hints at something deeper.
“Skin Deep” This one has themes of coming of age, unrequited love, and shifting into animals.
Day Three - Sep 19
5. “The Memory Swap” | WYSR Review
Trading her memories of her mother seems like a win-win for Haru. At first.
There are no mirrors in her husband’s house.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes about regret and a loss of identity. Haru loses part of who she is by losing her memories of Eomma, while in “Mrs. No-Face” the protagonist literally loses part of her face.
Individually:
“The Memory Swap” This story has themes of regret, mother/daughter relationships, and problems with memory.
“Mrs. No-Face” This story is a haunting reflection (haha) on the intersection of racism, cultural appropriation, and misogyny. Themes include Bad Men Who Need to Die and loss of identity. The imprisonment in the house reminded me of “Nothing Bright.”
Day Four - Sep 20
7. “The Fifth Horseman” | WYSR Review
The fifth horseman has more than one name.
8. “The Godhood of Ima Day” | WYSR Review
When people can birth gods, is it a blessing or a curse for the mothers?
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These stories seemed pretty different.
Individually:
“The Fifth Horseman” This microfiction has a banger of a last line. It has themes of the apocalypse and the fine line between despair and hope.
“The Godhood of Ima Day” This was a poetic and brutal story filled with themes of motherhood / childbirth, gods, and how those in power take advantage of both.
Day Five - Sep 21
9. “Belladonna” | WYSR Review
“Her last memory was a hand prying her jaw open and settling a small, round fruit on her tongue.”
10. “A Recipe for Loveliness” | WYSR Review
Abigail is pregnant, and her sister is trying to keep her opinions to herself.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes of revenge in some way.
Individually:
“Belladonna” This story is dark and visceral. There are themes of grooming, time travel, and Men Who Deserve Death (reminding me of “Mrs. No-Face.”)
“A Recipe for Loveliness” This one has themes of familial tension between sisters, a hidden crush / jealousy, and narcissism (at least that’s how I read Abigail!)
Day Six - Sep 22
11. “A View From the End of the World”
“Of all the apocalypses on the cards, I draw the climate crisis on my twenty-first birthday.”
“The Second Lead is Fate’s favorite.”
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These stories seemed pretty different to me.
Individually:
“A View From the End of the World” This story has themes of apocalypses, suicidal ideation, and pregnancy/barrenness. The theme of pregnancy reminded me of “A Recipe for Loveliness” and “The Godhood of Ima Day.”
“Second Lead Syndrome” This is a comedic yet poignant flash about romantic tropes. I admit I’ve preferred the second lead in many shows! :D
Emmie’s Personal Favorite: “Fame Cycles of Pop-Gods”
Interview Questions
What are the themes you tend to return to the most in your work overall? Why do think that is?
Roe: Maybe I’m an egotist, but I love writing about identity, and my protagonists’ arcs usually revolve around some kind of question of the self. Is who you are innate, or is it always performed for the people around you? Are those external expectations real, or are you simply projecting your own insecurities and fears onto people who don’t care? How do you arrange your past in a way that makes the present acceptable? How does technology or magic contribute to or hinder to this journey? Connected to this, I really like having a mirroring character, or simply a good foil to my protagonist. I don’t really know why, but since I often have a character-first approach to my pieces, it all suits my purposes.
2. How has your writing evolved since you began?
Roe: When I started writing short stories, I had a tendency toward very serious and dramatic, slightly tortured plots about formerly gifted kids with ambiguous endings (e.g., “The Godhood of Ima Day” and “Belladonna”). I still think angst and high conflict are the areas I’m most comfortable in, but more and more, I feel the urge to play around with humor and absurdity. And sometimes the absurdity is in service of the angst! I’m not sure how visible this is in my published pieces so far, but I have more confidence to experiment with different modes and—crucially—give my characters the occasional happy ending.
3. Do you tend to start writing a story idea out of a particular element, like character, setting, or point of view?
Roe: It depends! For my stories built around fraught relationships, like “Belladonna” and “Skin Deep,” the character pairs absolutely come first, and the rest of the plot unfurls around that particular dynamic, their choices, and where I want them to end up. When a story comes to me as a higher-concept question (what if you could sell memories; what if you could become a god), then the actual story elements are chosen based on what feels most serviceable to the execution of the theme. My favorite instance is when the title comes first and sort of brings all the rest of the story behind it, because titles intimidate me, and having it right away makes the story feel already half-written.
4. What short fiction author do you look up to? Why?
Roe: Kelly Link is the first person I like to recommend when I talk about short speculative fiction. She has this beautiful blend of a classic feel in a very modern execution, and her works are always surprising. I’m sure her name won’t be new to anyone reading this, but all of her collections are brilliant, and if you’ve been waiting for a sign to try her work, consider this it!
5. Anything else you’d like to say about your work?
Roe: The short form really intimidated me when I was starting to hone my writing craft. I thought it had to be so precise, so condensed, so concentrated; it allowed no room for error and probably needed to traumatize the reader a little in the process (“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” was probably not the best place for me to start in my short fiction reading journey). How could I possibly hope to accomplish this? I gave short stories a wide berth and hacked away at long-form projects that never went anywhere. Eventually, though, I decided that I had to learn how to write a short story, just to prove that I could do it (and also to escape the trenches of novel drafting). So I started reading more contemporary work, discovered writers like Isabel J. Kim and Kij Johnson and A.C. Wise, and challenged myself to write as many different types of stories as I could and submit them to the venues I most enjoyed reading. Overtime, this medium that I had such fraught beginnings with has become something I truly enjoy. It’s become a place where I can experiment with themes or characters, have the satisfaction of completion when writing long form feels like an endless wasteland, and hopefully impact (though not traumatize) the readers who encounter my stories!
6. Do you have any piece, listed here or otherwise, that you would like to promote?
Roe: “Skin Deep” and “Fame Cycles of Pop-Gods” are two pieces published this year that are eligible for SFF awards in the Short Story category—if you enjoyed either or both, I’d be honored to be considered for your nomination lists!