🎙️ Anna Chung — An interview with the author of Plate V
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How long do you think it’d take you to realize the cave was alive?
I don’t think I’d ever realize it was alive…
Given you’re a chemist yourself, does the ability to describe things in the most unimaginative ways possible lend itself to being a good chemist?
Well, we’re taught that every reaction happens for a rational reason, based on well-described, repeatable properties, i.e., no ‘magical thinking’ allowed. When I’m working on an experiment and taking observations down, I don’t want to claim to know exactly what’s going on if I’m not completely sure. Let’s say that I’m trying to make an orange crystal. Obviously if my final product is orange that’s a good sign the synthesis worked, but until some additional tests are run I’m not at liberty to assume… Maybe I just made a conveniently colored sludge from a side reaction involving impurities. In that case, it’s better to write something cautious like: “An orange solid was formed.”
How many people do you think the cave ate before our protagonist was hired for the job?
I like to think the cave has been there for hundreds of thousands of years, beginning with eating any neanderthals that wandered inside looking for shelter. So… A LOT.
If the cave were an animal, what animal would it resemble the most?
I imagine the cave has a very limited perception of its environment, kind of like a carnivorous plant or a jellyfish. When we get stung by a jellyfish, we know it didn’t do so out of malice or genuine bloodlust, but because our proximity triggered an evolved offensive/defensive system.
Have you ever taken a Rorschach test? If yes, what’s the weirdest thing you identified?
I’m a little bit like the main character of this story in that I have a hard time doing these tests. Sometimes I see bugs or animal hides, but usually it’s a parade of blob #1, blob #2, blob #3…
What book are you reading right now?
To be honest, the only books I’m reading these days are textbooks.
Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
Check out my good friend Lorin Jeong’s cosmic horror story, “Penny”, published in Infinite Horrors issue #2!