Q&A: Liz Shipton, Author of ‘Dot Slash Magic’
We chat with author Liz Shipton about Dot Slash Magic, which is a “Romantas-topian” about love and friendship and how we can work together to bring down the real bad guys.
Hi, Liz! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I’m a hybrid author and full-time off-grid liveaboard sailor. For the last 4 years I’ve been living on a sailboat with my partner and our dog, sailing around Central America while I wrote my first series and started my career as an indie author. I signed my first traditional publishing deal at the beginning of 2024.
I also make comedy videos on TikTok and Instagram, which ask hard-hitting questions like “Why do all men in fantasy romance smell like wet grass and cinnamon?” “Why are they capable of communicating only via growling?” and “How many times is too many for a man to raise one eyebrow in a romance novel?”
Spoiler alert: a man can never raise one eyebrow too many times in a romance novel.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I remember writing my first story (about a lobster who narrowly avoids ending up as a fisherman’s dinner) in first grade. But I didn’t start writing in earnest until about 4 years ago, when we moved onto the boat and set sail from California. A big part of why I chose this off-grid, nomadic life was because I knew it would give me the time and financial freedom to pursue writing seriously. Our journey also served as the inspiration for my first series, Thalassic, which is about pirates fighting climate change in a dystopian waterworld.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Oh man, good question! I think it was probably one of Enid Blyton’s Wishing Chair series.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Probably Hunger Games. I’m very drawn to dystopian fiction, because in my mind, books are vessels for messaging, and dystopian is a great platform for delivering that messaging in a fun and exciting way.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: It’s usually the one I read most recently. Right now, that’s Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (loved it! But I probably shouldn’t have read it a month before my debut trad launch, because reading about the ins and outs of the traditional publishing world filled me with anxiety, lol.)
Your latest novel, Dot Slash Magic, is out August 19th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
A big, sexy, bonkers mindf*ck.
What can readers expect?
Monsters, mayhem, off-the-wall humor, spice, a guy with a magic dong, a girl chopping up a kraken with her magic chainsaw arm, a one-eyed cat, a found family of magic troublemakers, an ending you will not see coming, and so many plot twists it takes three chapters to unravel them all at the end.
The book is about a twenty-something coder who discovers magic at her San Diego community college and then accidentally invents AI powered by sorcery. Her fellow magic-makers are all artists, musicians, theatre kids, etc. and extremely resistant to artificial intelligence. The book’s magic system is centered around creativity, art, and the human spirit, so it’s digging into that tension between art and tech, particularly the ways in which AI impacts artists and marginalized communities. It’s also about the value of art, the undefinability of the soul, and what it is, exactly, that makes us human.
Where did the inspiration for Dot Slash Magic come from?
It’s all inspired by my own experience: I grew up studying music and have a degree in vocal performance and jazz composition. I worked as a musician and in musical theatre for a long time before switching gears and teaching myself to code at the end of my twenties, at which point I went into software in Silicon Valley for a few years. So I’ve spent time in both worlds and find the places where tech and art intersect to be particularly interesting.
At the same time, I’m terminally on Booktok, where I’ve had a great time poking fun at romantasy tropes (and falling in love with the community, who have whole-heartedly embraced my snarky takes on their favorite genre.) It sounded like a challenge to take a big, serious subject like AI and make it fun and sexy. I guess I wanted to use the vibe of Booktok to smash the broligarchy a little bit.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
The scene where Seven (the main character) turns her arm into a magic chainsaw to fend off a kraken might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. Ditto the scene where Logan – the love interest – goes down on her while reciting Shakespeare. I had a really great time pushing silliness to the max while trying to keep it grounded enough to deliver the central messages.
It was also interesting to explore the main character’s psyche – to think about what kind of personality might be susceptible to corruption through tech, and how I can use that to touch on themes like the loneliness epidemic, the influence of technology on human connection, and who among us should be trusted to wield something as powerful as artificial intelligence.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Keeping the word count down while also trying to explain the magic system was difficult, as was balancing my comedic voice with the more serious moments. My editor at Angry Robot, Gemma Creffield, was instrumental in helping me pare down the manuscript – to be honest, the feedback she gave me was eye-opening and I don’t think my writing will ever be the same.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on a fantasy satire called Mother & Slaughter, which my agent Amy Collins and I are planning to pitch as both a book and a graphic novel. It’s about a gladiator in her mid-thirties who gets knocked up and goes on an epic fantasy quest seeking healthcare. I’m also launching a Kickstarter for a deluxe omnibus set of my dystopian waterworld series Thalassic at the beginning of next year.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
In addition to Yellowface, I loved Suttree by Cormac McCarthy and The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. I’m reading Karen Hao’s Empire of AI right now, about OpenAI’s pivot from “non-profit organization” to “most powerful company on the face of the Earth.” I highly recommend it for anyone interested in knowing what our tech overlords are up to.
