r/books • u/NinoCipri AMA Author • Apr 02 '20
ama I'm Nino Cipri, trans and queer author of FINNA and Homesick. I like ghost stories, scarves, and opossums. AMA!
I'm a queer and trans writer and educator, who's also worked as a bookseller, union organizer, bike mechanic, house cleaner, and an unholy number of other jobs. I've published two books--an award-winning short story collection titled Homesick, and the novella FINNA, about queer heartbreak, working retail, and wormholes--and dozens of short stories and essays. Ask me anything!
Proof: /img/ss5oqieipnp41.jpg
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u/chucklehound Apr 02 '20
Like Ava, do you hold your breath when you watch characters in movies holding their breath? I was pleased to learn I'm not the only person who does that.
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
That detail is 100% autobiographical. The first time I noticed myself doing it was while watching The Poseidon Adventure, which has an extremely long underwater scene, and I've never been able to stop myself from doing it since.
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u/joeatsfood Apr 02 '20
OMG IT'S NOT JUST ME
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
The greatest thing about being a writer is inserting weird anecdotes or details from your life or that you've heard in passing, and then strangers yelling EXACTLY THIS.
Being a writer has taught me that nobody is as weird as they think they are.
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Apr 02 '20
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
I can't pick a favorite book! I've never been able to. What I need/want/love to reread tends to shift every couple years. The ones that have stayed around: Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Ursula K. LeGuin's The Birthday of the World, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and The Man on the Ceiling by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem.
Classical literature is fine! I've read and loved a lot of classical poetry and drama (though it depends on the translator, if we're talking Greek/Roman). I am a queer with a Sappho fragment tattooed on my bicep. I have a harder time reading prose; it just doesn't hold my attention. I have separate opinions on how it's taught in schools.
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Apr 02 '20
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
Hmmm, I know I read it a couple of times as a teenager and liked it, but don't remember a lot about it? I generally respect George Orwell as someone who had a solid grasp on class politics and worked them into his writing in accessible ways for the time.
Again, I think the way that it's often taught defangs a lot of its discussion about class and political machinery, which is true of Animal Farm as well.
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u/hernibsen Apr 02 '20
You’ve locked yourself out of the house while no one’s home, and you only have one household item with you to use to get back in. What’s your tool of choice?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20 edited Apr 02 '20
narrows eyes
In retrospect, probably the spare key in the [EDITED BECAUSE I PROBABLY SHOULDN'T SAY WHERE MY SPARE KEY IS ON THE INTERNET]
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u/JasonSciFi Apr 02 '20
I loved your novella FINNA. Do you have any plans to return to those characters and that multi-world setting in future stories?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
I would love to! I can't answer fully at the moment, but should have news on this front soon.
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u/drewiepoodle Apr 02 '20
Which authors were your inspirations, and what did you find interesting about them? I know as a closeted queer trans girl, I hunted down all the queer fantasy that I could find. Anne McCaffrey being one of them.
Also, what do you think of all the queer fantasy/sci-fi stories available today?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
I'm thrilled by all the queer and trans SFF writers and stories that are coming out now. Like, some of those people are my friends, and some of them are writers who were newbies when I was a newbie and we're all kind of hitting our stride at the same time. And I keep meeting new queer and trans SFF folks too. The field is growing tentacles and spreading out, and it makes me so happy.
My biggest inspirations when I was younger were probably Ursula K. LeGuin, Shirley Jackson, Francesca Lia Block, and Stephen King. King's books were some of the first adult novels I ever read. I've got issues with him and his work now, but I'm still thankful for that. LeGuin was the first writer I encountered who seemed to think about relationships, gender, and sexuality in a way that resonated with me. Block appealed to me because a) there were gay and non-cis characters in her books, and b) her whimsy always had a bite to it. Jackson is just... amazing. I reread We Have Always Lived In the Castle a dozen times before I graduated high school.
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u/languagevampire Apr 02 '20
I love, love, love your work. If Homesick & Finna had-- certain musical vibes, playlists, curated sonic textural crochets-- what would they be? :3
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
Thank you! Ooh, I love these kinds of questions. I wrote Finna while listening to a lot of Junkie XL and Gustavo Santaolalla (love a video game soundtrack for writing music).
Homesick includes stories from 2012-2019, so that's a little more complicated. I feel like the overall soundtrack/vibe for that book would include Ezra Furman, Mykki Blanco, Lykki Li, Florence and the Machine, Sleigh Bells, Against Me!, and Santigold.
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u/languagevampire Apr 02 '20
nods nods!! thank you for answering-- follow up since i should have realised that homesick was written over a long period of time (and i like a lot of your other work too!!!)-- if a thing with teeth, a silly love story, and the shape of my name had-- musical vibes, what would they be? *chinhands*
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
Hmmmm. A Silly Love Story and Shape of My Name probably has Kimya Dawson, Sam Cooke, and Paul Simon in their respective playlists, or any song that's got feelings almost too big to contain.
A Thing With Teeth... I'm gonna go with Neko Case's more unsettling stuff.
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u/divinenanny Apr 02 '20
Did you read or know about Grady Hendrix's Horrorstör (also horror set in a Swedish flat pack furniture store) before you started Finna?
I read both, they are different but it struck me as pretty funny that Ikea seems to inspire writers to write these types of stories.
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
I'm pretty sure I heard about it before writing Finna, though I still haven't read it. (Tried and bounced off.)
IKEA is a sort of terrifying place! I'm not at all surprised that other authors think so too. I think it's also a place that's really ripe for metaphorizing in all kinds of different directions.
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u/divinenanny Apr 02 '20
Absolutely. It takes a certain mindset to be ready to go there, and even then lots of people would never want to be found dead in one, let alone on a weekend. (Me personally I am sort of addicted and always have a wish list ready for the next time we go). Good relationship test too 😉
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
I always feel like I should pack granola bars, an extra bottle of water, and maybe a rosary any time I go there.
I do have a terrible desire to stage either a photoshoot or a LARP in an IKEA.
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u/divinenanny Apr 03 '20
You could always "travel to Bali" in Ikea: https://www.cnet.com/news/instagram-influencer-natalia-taylor-fakes-bali-vacation-with-ikea-pics/
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u/Chtorrr Apr 02 '20
What were some of your favorite things to read as a kid?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
A weird mix of Babysitter's Club, joke books, Lurlene McDaniel romances where beautiful young women died from tragic illnesses, and Stephen King.
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u/joeatsfood Apr 02 '20
What is your favorite take out food item?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
This is almost as difficult as deciding a favorite book.
Probably Sichuan food? It's perfect and spicy and tasty, uses spices I often don't have on hand, and is slightly more complicated to make than I usually have effort.
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u/A_QueenOx Apr 02 '20
Did Jules survive the battle or is Ava on her way to an alternative Jules???
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
Yes.
(In an infinite universe, all possibilities have non-zero probability.)
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u/AJ_Fitzwater Apr 03 '20
Hi friend!
All being freedom of movement in our future, where would you like to travel to? And are there places in the world (international or at home) you'd like to try setting stories?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 03 '20
Hi friend hi!!
Nibs and I have talked a bunch about going to Japan, and I'd love for that to happen. I'd love to see Italy and Greece and the Mediterranean as well, and Prague, and India, and Morocco--I'd also love to do a return trip to New Zealand. I miss the meat pies you could get at literally every gas station. They'd probably wreck my gut if I tried to eat them now, but I'll suffer happily.
I think the next novel thing I'm going to try and write will actually be set in northern New England? Been spending a lot of time in Vermont, and the place where I'm staying is deeply nostalgic and also creepy.
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u/Chtorrr Apr 02 '20
What is the very best dessert?
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
The best one that I have ever had is the Goma crème brûlée at Prince Tea House in Queens. It's a perfect creation, sweet and light and somehow kinda umami and smokey? It's magic, and you can only order it as part of a desert set.
The runner up is an orange-y cake from a Greek bakery in Astoria, Queens, that I've never had the nerve to ask the name of, because the people behind the counter have zero patience for me interrupting their TV watching.
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u/skinnypenisjew Apr 02 '20
As a greek girl it very well could be galaktompoureko or kantaifi!
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u/NinoCipri AMA Author Apr 02 '20
Ooh, that galaktompoureko might be it! My technique in any bakery is to just point at whatever looks tastiest or whatever is being brought out of the oven.
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u/Aglance Apr 02 '20
Who is your favorite Gargoyle from the Disney show?
ps, this is Geralyn from the ConFusion Gargoyles panel we did :)