An Interview with Julia Jaxsun
Julia Jaxsun is the recipient of the Aspiring Authors scholarship from the Colorado Author’s Hall of Fame and a finalist for the Diverse Worlds Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation. She grew up in the Southwest and played in an indie-punk band, achieving MILD success. She has a few college degrees, which ground her writing, while her sci-fi ideas keep it weird. She enjoys the great outdoors and lives in Colorado with her partner and their cat, Madame President.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
I was traveling through Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and stopped in a campground for the night. There was a hot springs tub there and I met several quirky, fun women there who inspired this novel! You’ll see this come through in chapter one. From there, it’s all a wild, fictitious adventure with glimmers of the supernatural.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
I’ve lived and worked in several different worlds: In a past life, (or, ten years ago) I was a teacher. I’ve traveled Europe for several months, lived in Rwanda for half a year, and Chile for half a year, too. I’ve traveled pretty big swaths of the world. I like to think up strange sci-fi adventures within the realms of reality, in large part based on my travels and the ideas of ‘What could a more peaceful, matriarchal world look like?’
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
The title was, oddly enough, easy to come by. It was like fluid. It went like this: The characters are talking and persuading the main character, Theo, to stay with them in the desert. So, one character, Winny, says, “C’mon, stay with us! Dance with the Desert.” And voilà, the title came along easily. Additionally, later in the book, Theo plays a song she wrote for their fledgling feminist country band and titles it Dance with the Desert. And! The title of the book illustrates the homage I’m making to the beauty of the desert. So many layers! The title is just perfect.
What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?
When I finally got a test copy sent to me. *Chef’s kiss* Amazing. I realized, “Wow. I’m really doing this.”
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Ooo! Love this question. My book is largely centered around the power of music. I am a musician and am profoundly driven by the inexplicable eccentricities of sound and how molecules vibrating in our ears can create so many varied experiences and emotions. SO: I actually created a soundtrack of songs, the ones I was listening to while writing, that gave me the vibes to create the feelings in the book. I’ll give you just an excerpt of some of the songs.
Number one: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper. What’s not to love about the mind-bending, peculiar lyrics discussing the strangeness of time while also conveying the ultimate love one can have for another? In fact, the characters have a ‘moment’ together surrounding this song.
Number two: Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass) by Elisapie. This is a rendition done in Inuktitut, Elisapie’s original, indigenous language. It is a beautiful tribute to indigenous languages and a reminder to remember whose land we are standing on in North America. My characters travel through the Southwest, the land of many different tribes.
Number three: Speak to the Wind by Spindrift. This one is a quirky, spaghetti western-vibey one.
Number four: Vastopol by Elizabeth Cotten. This one, you can imagine my characters watching the desert landscape slide by while they travel in their Airstream together, on their way to their next gig, and maybe being followed by a UFO …
Number five: Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This one is a classic. A strange song, perfect for when things are getting a little weird as the characters start to learn more about the cosmos and that, maybe, just maybe, there could be aliens amongst them. Yep, it gets weird.
So many more songs. So little time.
What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?
I hope that my readers come away appreciating the joy that life can be. “What a strange, quirky, funny, thought-provoking novel!” Or “I had never really looked at female friendships that way,” or “I can’t wait to get out camping with my friends and imagine a strange, better world to create here on planet earth.”
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
Hearing just how much people have loved the novel. Wow! That’s pretty dang cool.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
Book two, babay!
Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.
Atmosphere Press is a selective hybrid publisher founded in 2015 on the principles of Honesty, Transparency, Professionalism, Kindness, and Making Your Book Awesome. Our books have won dozens of awards and sold tens of thousands of copies. If you’re interested in learning more, or seeking publication for your own work, please explore the links below.