Jeff Vandermeer

I used to work for a succession of software editing companies that would have contracts with state and federal agencies. And I would be the documenter of meetings, sometimes doing limited business analysis. I began to become quite cynical about how the world works. It works on ineptitude and inefficiency and a kind of passiveness.

My mom was a biological illustrator for a time before computers replaced that job.

My stepmom is one of the leading researchers on lupus in the world.

When you describe a character's dream, it has to be sharper than reality in some way and more meaningful. It has to somehow speak to plot, character, and all the rest.

Cross-pollination and 'contamination' is really important to the health of fiction, and sometimes it's a literal conversation, too, in that writers who might never otherwise meet and talk do so because of our anthologies.

Every day, I get up, and I fill the bird feeders and put out fruit and other food for both the birds and any passing mammals. Is that pointless long-term? I have no idea. All I know is that on this day, in this moment, it makes a difference.

Trump lays bare a lot of things already wrong with our society. But he also accelerates the process of it becoming worse, when it could be getting better.

In a sense, fictional dystopias have been a way of distracting us from the truth of our condition by placing it 'over there.'

I'm not a fan of fiction that's totally hopeless.

My dad is an entomologist and research chemist. That's why he was in Fiji, studying the rhinoceros beetle invasive species.

There are a lot of human-created systems that we like to tout as being logical that are actually riddled with illogic. And then, on the other hand, we have all these natural systems that are not conscious, but they are logical, and they work really well.

I'm a huge fan of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films.

'Borne,' in a weird way, even though it's a totally different universe, picks up where the 'Southern Reach Trilogy' leaves off, because it's post-apocalyptic.

I like North Florida because it's much wilder than the rest of the state.

South Florida, Central Florida, and North Florida could never be mistaken for each other. Each has its quirks and attractions.

I'm an agnostic trending toward atheist and resist, in particular, Christian interpretations and imagery.

Heroes aren't always people who save others in the normal sense. Sometimes they're people who keep trying even when things seem impossible.

I'm fairly skeptical of movements, organizations, and institutions in general.

Film fixes a precise visual image in the viewer's head. In fiction, you just hope you're precise enough to convey the intended effect.

There simply aren't enough constitutional safeguards in place to protect against a rogue president.

There are some beautiful creatures in the ocean that seem very alien at the same time.

Vladimir Nabokov liked to examine cruelty and the human condition. That didn't mean he was cruel; there's no evidence he kicked puppies just for the fun of it. Similarly, 'Black Mirror' likes to examine possible dystopias, but that doesn't mean the show is cynical enough to endorse them.

I always try to be alert to the potential for repetition, for a decaying orbit with regard to my use of technique, etc.

An important reason that we're in the trouble we are in with climate change is that we don't have a handle on our environment. We form public policy based on information that is wrong.

I have always tended toward a lush prose style, but I take care to modulate it from story to story and to strip it down entirely when necessary.