Virtual Memories Show 391:
Christopher Brown
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“Utopia is not a place; it’s a decision. It’s a decision to try to live a better life, to craft a more wholesome community.”
Can there be economic justice without environmental justice? With his new novel, FAILED STATE (Harper Voyager), Christopher Brown returns to the alternate America of Tropic of Kansas (2017) and Rule of Capture (2019) to explore the possibility of utopia and the catastrophe of man’s disconnect from the land. We talk about how he reprised his great character Donny Kimoe (causing Amazon to categorize this book as “Dystopian Lawyer”), the roots of the world he built in these novels and his drive to publish 3 books in 4 years, and how the pandemic is influencing the choice of his next project, and how he’s been coping since our COVID Check-In a few months ago. We also get into the culture of undocumented people in his area of Texas, the documentary TV episode about his home in east Austin, his current binge of Latin American horror by women writers, the role of resistance when the law is being subverted by politics, the future of his wonderful Field Notes weekly e-mail, and more! Give it a listen! And go read Failed State!
“Decisions about accountability are in the hands of politicians, and politicians are all very terrified of the idea of people being held criminally accountable for things that are at the margins of politics and power.”
“I live in a Hobbit house of the future. It’s about the idea of bringing back the wild in the heart of the city.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Christopher Brown is the author of Tropic of Kansas, a finalist for the 2018 John W. Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of the year, and Rule of Capture, the beginning of a series of speculative legal thrillers. He was a World Fantasy Award nominee for the anthology Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic. His short fiction and criticism has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including MIT Technology Review, LitHib, Tor.com, and The Baffler. He lives in Austin, TX, where he also practices law. His new novel is Failed State, from Harper Voyager.
Follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the weekly Field Notes e-mail.
(There’s a more comprehensive version at his website.)
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely via Zencastr. I used a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone
