We recently published a new short story called Those Eyes and had a chance to talk with the author and one of Arkhelian’s newest contributing minds, Samuel C. Lacoste. In fact, our conversation with Sam went almost two hours! During that time we discussed cyberpunk, grimdark, his upcoming novel, and writing advice. What follows is an excerpt of the interview—this first part is focused specifically on cyberpunk. In the future, we’ll follow up with the other portions of the interview, as well as the full video/audio in some new channels. For now, get to know the man behind the story a little better. Enjoy!
- Tell us a little about yourself. What’s something you think everyone should know about you as an author?
I’m Sam… Samuel. I’m French born, from Paris, raised and born. And yeah, I love science fiction. I’m a nerd of science fiction. Not only of science fiction, but pop culture in general. Cinema, video games, literature, comics, French comics, etc. I had a very big opinion, very young, about the big picture. Vision, because my grandmother was a teacher. A french teacher. And my father was selling newspapers and magazines… and comics, during the 90’s. So I had access to comics and magazines, like Heavy Metal, Métal Hurlant, Mad Movies, Strange and other comics and magazines. It opened my eyes, my horizons. The literature helped me a lot. My grandmother gave me a taste for fictions, and voila. I’m a kid who saw too much, too early !
- Let’s talk about Cyberpunk first. That’s how we connected. What does Cyberpunk mean to you? Why do you like it?
We love cyberpunk so much that we want it to advance. Not to stagnate, because for me, I think, even if cyberpunk is very popular right now… because of CD Projekt or some previous project like Altered Carbon… or an upcoming project, like Neuromancer… cyberpunk is stagnating for me. It’s because it’s a genre born in the 80s that still responds to the color of the 80s. But it was a futuristic genre. And if it’s a futuristic genre, you have to go forward–not backward. So I try… I try and I don’t know if I’ll succeed, but I’ll put all my strength into it to trust this idea of what could be the cyberpunk if it was imagined nowadays. And this is a very difficult task.
- What about cyberpunk appealed to you as a writer?
You’ll be surprised–the setting. Because we imagine the genre to be frontal. Sort of frontal. You prepare your video on the underground, but you act on the outside the final place of the story most of the time. And somebody wins, but they already told us so much different things about rebellion and winning against the pre-establish order. There’s so much nuanced that it can’t just be presented like a rebellion side and a corporate, bad side, you know. They’re all interconnected. Most of the time, a good story talks about that. About the real subversion of what is a rebellion and what is a tyrannic and tyrannical state. We lack and love that kind of story.
- Let’s talk about post-cyberpunk. Would you elaborate on that terminology for anyone that isn’t familiar or who may have seen inconsistent definitions?
Post-cyberpunk is cyberpunk but the technology is too advanced to be classical cyberpunk setting. We’re talking the about society already ambassing immortality and other technology. It’s a setting for something far worse after.
That’s it for part one. Keep an eye open for part two in the near future.
If you haven’t read Those Eyes or if you’re looking for more FREE short fiction from other authors, make sure to swing by the Fiction page. We’re working hard to bring our community the very best of indie fiction.
Want to connect with Sam? You can find him on Threads and Instagram.
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