Tell us about yourself
Reviewer, interviewer of authors and bookstores, because they’re about the best places to spend time in. And, freelance writer, editor and proofreader.
What sparked your love of Sci-Fi?
The Star Trek movies and I’ve never looked back since then. Exploring the universe, new life and civilisations? Anything was possible, I realised.
Your favourite Sci-Fi film (s) and why?
Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home. I think by now – or in about a couple of questions time, you’ll realise I adore Star Trek. So bear with me here – after the The Wrath of Khan, something uplifting, funny and hopeful was needed and this movie fits those characteristics in spades. It’s one I can just enjoy in seeing everyone back together again.
Honourable mention: Terminator 2. Because of John and the T2’s relationship, and because we understand Sarah and John’s relationship a whole lot more.
Book v film?
Good question. Book. But I have been known to see a movie first and then read the book. I think I might have done that with Harry Potter and never looked back after.
Greatest Sci-Fi book character?
My brain exploded when I read this question: how can I choose one?!
Greatest Sci-Fi film moment?
Greatest, most tragic and hardest to watch: when Spock dies in Wrath of Khan. In that moment, before I knew what happened in ST IV, I saw the end of a friendship and it broke my heart.
Sci-fi or Science Fiction?
Scifi actually. I maybe spend too much time on the internet.
Is there a Sci-Fi book you’d like to see made into a film?
All of them. I’m not actually kidding. The genre is finally being recognised as one that offers content that can be for everyone, not just scifi fans.
Which fictional planet would you like to live on, and why?
Any Earth of the future where the world isn’t ending or being attacked – boring answer, I know, but the tech! The tech writers have come up for our own futures make me want them all now!
Favourite technology from science fiction that you wish had happened?
Transporters. Because getting to work would be much easier!
Advice for any young people starting their Sci-Fi journey – essential viewing/reading?
Read what grabs YOU and not what everyone else happens to be reading. It doesn’t matter how old or odd it may seem, the important thing is it speaks to you.
Have you ever met anyone who has been abducted by aliens?
Sadly no.
Your 3 dream dinner dates from the world of Sci-Fi (alive or dead)
Spock, Mal (Firefly) and Mulder and Scully (Xfiles), because you can’t have one without the other.
Outside of literature and film, what inspires your writing?
The world around me – or I’m trying for it to. The oddest things can inspire people, and sometimes they may not be the most understandable to the public in general – but I’m trying not to let that stop me from writing about it.
You can hear more from Verushka on Twitter and Niume.
Want to join some of the finest science fiction writers, screen-writers, designers and scientists for this weekend’s virtual #BFIVoyager sci-fi festival? Sign up free here!
