Earlier this winter, Angry Robot announced the beginning of Strange Chemistry, an imprint dedicated to young adult sci-fi and fantasy. Editor Amanda Rutter was kind enough to answer a few questions from us about the future of the imprint, YA, genre, and her own SF roots. -Phoebe

Phoebe: Thanks so much for joining us here at the Intergalactic Academy,  Amanda, and congratulations on your new job at Strange Chemistry! What drew you to YA speculative fiction? Why YA?

Amanda: Thank you for having me!

Well, I have been a fan of speculative fiction in general since I was a little girl, and my parents read me The Hobbit and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. After a brief flirtation with reading other children’s books (usually featuring horses!) I then tried novels such as Diane Duane’s So You Want to be a Wizard and Tamora Pierce’s Alanna: The First Adventure. Gradually I became more and more invested in the YA arena. I love the excitement, the progressiveness, the boundary-stretching of YA literature. I think it’s certainly treading new paths in comparison to adult fiction. Fantasy and SF on the adult shelves seems to be following more of a tried and tested formula, while YA, it seems, is branching out and trying new ideas.

Phoebe: Can you tell us a little bit about your history as a genre fan? What novels did you love at sixteen?

Amanda: Like I say, I’ve been tackling science fiction and fantasy from a young age. I’ve never gone long without reading a genre novel – even though I am a big fan of other types of literature as well (historical fiction, chick lit, thrillers, contemporary – I read a lot!) For me, our genre is a great one to be in – the people are so passionate, for one thing. Sure, we sometimes get into our arguments – like, do the Star Wars prequels exist or not – but it all stems from a great excitement and belief in what we are reading and watching. I’ve also dabbled with tabletop wargaming and enjoyed conventions. Without genre, I wouldn’t have met and made friends with the people I have done!

In terms of the novels that I was reading at sixteen… Well, it was a mix of YA and adult fiction. More adult, if I’m honest, since there wasn’t the breadth of choice in the YA field that there is now (and isn’t that choice a good thing?) I was trying authors such as Wilbur Smith and Jean M Auel, as well as the fantasy greats like David Eddings and David Gemmell – the latter remains a great favourite. I used my local library a LOT, and tended to take out any book that looked interesting, which meant I discovered many very fine authors (some awful ones as well *grins*)

I think the novel I loved most at sixteen is perhaps not a novel that people would expect and that is The Little Country by Charles de Lint. He is a tremendous author and the grand-daddy of urban fantasy (by which I mean fantasy in an urban setting, which was the original definition, as opposed to kick ass ladies killing paranormal creatures). I strongly urge anyone who hasn’t read him to give him a try, and The Little Country is a great kicking off point.

Phoebe: On Strange Chemistry’s blog, you list titles of YA novels that readers should be reading. Any particular sci-fi favorites? And are there any recent YA SF titles that you wish you could have edited?

Amanda: Oh man! Do I wish I could have edited The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness! I think it’s simply amazing. Having said that, I think the editor did a marvellous job there – retaining all the flavour of the novels without too much guidance on the reins – and I’m not sure I could have handled it so subtly.

Apart from that, I think Department 19 by Will Hill. It would have been great to be one of the first to read that novel, and get spine tingles from how good it was!

I am planning to do a YA SF that people should be reading, but I do confess that SF is rather taken over by dystopian settings right now. I want more spaceships and space opera style novels in our YA! That’s why I was so keen on Across the Universe by Beth Revis, because it gave us something different.

Phoebe: Strange Chemistry’s first titles have already been announced–including a SF thriller by debut author Kim Curran. Can you tell us a bit more about Shift? What drew you to Kim’s work?

Amanda: SHIFT is a tremendous novel! I read the first couple of pages and was utterly gripped – it’s such a page turner. I especially loved the main character, Scott. He feels so real and reacts to these strange happenings *exactly* as you would expect someone to react. Kim has a real talent for dialogue and characters. Add to that a tale that includes brain-eating madmen and a rather scary conspiracy, and it left me reading late into the night! I simply cannot wait to introduce everyone to this novel!

Phoebe: There tends to be a bit of a gap between the communities of adult sci-fi readers and readers of YA sci-fi. In your interview at YAtopia, you mentioned the award recognition of authors such as the aforementioned Patrick Ness. I suspect that finding a Patrick Ness is every editor’s dream, but how do you plan on fostering talent with broad crossover appeal at Strange Chemistry?

Amanda: I think the best way to produce talent with broad crossover appeal is to ensure that the story/characters have something to say to everyone. For me, this means avoiding novels too heavy on the romance, because the crossover appeal will be more limited. I really want novels that are going to speak to male and female readers, because I think the boys and men have been left a little behind in the rise of YA. There are some fantastic novels that do appeal to them, but not as many as for the girls. So far I’m incredibly pleased with the novels that Strange Chemistry are bringing out, because they hit these bases – concentrating on strong characters above all.

Phoebe: What sort of titles can YA SF fans look forward to reading from Strange Chemistry?

Amanda: Well, so far we have SF thriller, body swap fantasy, far future SF, urban fantasy 101 and epic fantasy – that’s in the first five novels to be released this year! YA SF fans can look forward to a true range of genres tackled – books that will introduce them to future styles at an early age. We can’t wait!

Neither can we! Thanks so much, Amanda, for taking the time to answer our questions.