Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Another huge influence are the many transcendent (I don't use the word lightly) experiences I've had in the natural world, particularly in remote backpacking, mountaineering, surfing, and rock climbing.

There are many differences between a place like Hawai'i and the rest of the United States. KSW: My experience as kama'āina (local to Hawai'i, a child of the land) moving to the continental United States, especially after time living abroad in Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa. TQ: What inspired you to write Sharks in the Time of Saviors?

KSW: There's a make-out scene in a bathroom, and it's simultaneously far more and far less sexy than you think. TQ: Tell us something about Sharks in the Time of Saviors that is not found in the book description. KSW: Complex, mythical, jagged, ultimately bright. TQ: Describe Sharks in the Time of Saviors using only 5 words. KSW: The feeling I get from performing or witnessing live hula deep interactions with the natural world live readings and compelling oratory more generally the transformative reading experiences I have, which continually reassure me of the power of literature. TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing? As much as I love writing, it still feels like a largely selfish endeavor, one that ultimately has to defer to parenthood and, just as importantly, active local/state/national work on climate change. KSW: Finding a way to make writing fit in with the larger concerns of my life (family, other employment, climate policy work). TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing? I find this still allows for serendipity, which is what a lot of writers are afraid of when they think of planning. I'm comfortable 'pantsing' a short story, but for longer works I prefer a hybrid approach: working out characterization and the plot it implies upfront, building out disparate scenes with an eye for their internal logic/causal chain based on characterization, etc. TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid? Heroes crash landing on distant landscapes, zombie tentacles fighting each other. Kawai Strong Washburn: Thank you for having me! In middle school I wrote a few short science fiction stories that I remember, more or less. What is the first fiction piece you remember writing?

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn