Writer Spotlight: Rodrigo Culagovski
Welcome to the 31st installment of Writer Spotlight. This week’s focus is Rodrigo Culagovski. I’ve reviewed 11 of Culagovski’s pieces, all 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:
Unique methods of communication with non-humans
Both dystopian and hopeful / solarpunk sci fi
Characters with long term plans over centuries
Government oppression
Gorgeous worldbuilding (not a theme of course but it’s definitely a recurring feature!)
Day One - Sep 17
“Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space” | WYSR Review
Two people meet again, as they have countless times.
“Where Are You Right Now?” | WYSR Review
Uma just wants to connect with others like them at the downsized augments group.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories include a longing for connection and humans augmenting their bodies.
Individually:
“Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space” This story focuses on the theme of a long history between two people now estranged, as well as the feeling of missing someone while at the same dreading them.
“Where Are You Right Now?” This story has themes of disconnection from the body / dissociation, as well as human augmentation.
Day Two - Sep 18
3. “The Bass Drops” | WYSR Review
Olivia is caught in a time loop in the club.
4. “A Track of Color Among the Wars” | WYSR Review
Youths avoiding war in the future find happiness where they can.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
These are both sci-fis and both are set in bleak futuristic landscapes with spots of hope in the plot.
Individually:
“The Bass Drops” This story has themes of trust.
“A Track of Color Among the Wars” This one is short but chock full of bright sensory details, anti-war themes, and youths rebelling against the status quo.
Day Three - Sep 19
5. “Dead Man’s Switch” | WYSR Review
Plants have learned to talk to humans.
6. “The Color Out of License” | WYSR Review
The cherry grown from the ground is not an allowed color.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories have themes around growing food and government oppression.
Individually:
“Dead Man’s Switch” This story has themes of communication with fungus / plants, eco-activism, medical ethics, and trust, the last of which reminded me of “The Bass Drops.”
“The Color Out of License” is a dystopia with themes of government control over color and food, as well as themes of the senses, as in the vividness of the color itself.
Day Four - Sep 20
7. “BigHappyFriend Likes Humans” | WYSR Review
Answer all of BigHappyFriend’s interactions with a polite yes. Or else.
8. “The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On” | WYSR Review
Kaleyé and the other Homo astris work to develop the new planet for the Homo sapiens.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories involve aliens, though the aliens in “The Smell” might be a stretch considering they are more like evolved humans. Both also employ a subservient attitude towards those in control, and both also have themes of war/anti-war, as in seen in “A Track of Color.”
Individually:
“BigHappyFriend Likes Humans” This story reminded me of “The Color Out of License” in how everything seems very regulated in what is allowed. There are themes of alien communication / telepathy, which echoed “Dead Man’s Switch,” the problems with always having to say yes, and, something I just noticed, which is colors! Colors are important in “A Track of Color” and “A Color Out of License,” and in this story, the aliens are mentioned many times as “the purple cat thing.”
“The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On” This story has themes of implied slavery, evolved humans, millennia long plans coming to fruition, (which echoed “Dead Man’s Switch”) humans ruining everything, and government oppression, also which reminded me “Dead Man’s Switch” and “Color Out of License.” Also, several mentions of scent, which reminded me of “Dead Man’s Switch” in how the language translated via sound and vibration. I’m coming to see a kind of sub-theme in Culagovski’s body of work that includes themes around the senses. As mentioned above, there are the stories centering colors as well.
Day Five - Sep 21
9. “A Murmuration Becoming Death” | WYSR Review
The Murmuration speaks to Alicia, and she teaches them human language.
10. “Liz’s Tea House” | WYSR Review
Liz’s Tea House offers a place of respite in the overwhelming Space Station.
The Pairing: (Spoilers)
Both these stories involve kindness to someone in need. The Murmuration helps Alicia and Liz helps Ana María. This reminded me of “Where Are You Right Now?”
Individually:
“A Murmuration Becoming Death” This story echoes themes of communication with non-humans, as in “BigHappyFriend” and “Dead Man’s Switch.” There
“Liz’s Tea House” This story is a sweet and fun futuristic sci fi with lots of gorgeous worldbulding. Which I guess isn’t necessarily a theme, but it’s something I’ve noticed Culagovski does in many of his stories! I would highlight “Dead Man’s Switch,” “The Smell,” and “Marianne” for loads of vivid visualization and fleshed out worlds.
This one has themes of finding the right job, being overwhelmed in a new place and with new people groups, interstellar travel, diverse alien culture, and more. I was also reminded somewhat of “Marianne” with this one, in that the futuristic world is much more hopeful than Culagovski’s other stories I’ve read.
Day Six - Sep 22
11. “Max Loves the Internet” | WYSR Review
An (actual) AI monitoring Earth for possible invasion efforts finds resistance from the Internet.
“Max Loves the Internet” This was HILARIOUS. There are themes of alien invasion, a fight between two AIs, (again, actual AIs, not whatever the fuck we have now), enemies to lovers, and more. The tone of this one was tongue in cheek cute, reminding me of “BigHappyFriend” and “The Color Out of License.” While more humorous, this story does touch on themes of war as Max realizes they don’t want to destroy the Earth, which echoes “A Track of Color” and “A Murmuration.”
Emmie’s Personal Favorite: “Liz’s Tea House”
Interview Questions
What are the themes you tend to return to the most in your work overall? Why do think that is?
Culagovski: I often write about being ‘other’, and feeling and being out of place. It’s what drew me to read and write SFF in the first place. Part of it is my own experience. We moved to the US from Chile when I was 3, then to Guatemala at 9 and back to Chile at 10, also I was (am) a nerd. Feeling out of place was a big part of my life growing up, and in a way it’s the places in between where I feel most comfortable.
I also play music and a lot of my stories include a lot of music in them, which is not that easy in a text-based medium.
2. What character(s) in these pieces do you relate to the most? Or, what character(s) are different from you that you found most interesting?
Culagovski: I write very autobiographically, even in the far-future high-tech ones, and my protagonists always almost always incorporate some experience of mine. I have a piece called “Between Worlds” in the “Not Your Papi’s Utopia” anthology which is almost explicitly about my own experiences except the protag moves to a space-station in Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids instead of the US.
3. How Has Your Writing Evolved Since You Began?
Culagovski: I’ve gained some confidence in my abilities, and that’s freed me to try ‘harder’ things and some formal experimentation. I’m not sure it’s better, but I have more fun now.
4. Do you tend to start writing a story idea out of a particular element, like character, setting, or point of view?
Culagovski: Some of my favorite pieces are me trying to write a story to match a title idea, like “Marianne in an Unlit Bar on the Outer Curve of Human Space”, “Liz’s Tea House”, and my story in Nature “The Real Time-Travel Paradox Was the Friends We Made Along the Way”.
I also usually can ‘see’ the scenes pretty clearly, like a movie or comic, so a lot of my writing is trying to get that across. When I started out, I had to control myself to not put in too many visual details, to trust the reader to visualize it on their own. I studied architecture so I also sometimes have to give up on describing the precise geometry I’m thinking of, as most people wouldn’t understand it.
5. What short fiction author do you look up to? Why?
Culagovski: Ted Chiang, of course. P.A. Cornell, for the way she mixes the personal with the fantastic.
6. Do you have any piece, listed here or otherwise, that you would like to promote?
Culagovski: I’m pretty proud of “Marianne…” for how it manages to include a wide scope of time and ‘sci-fi stuff’ in relatively few words.