Throughout September, we’re celebrating the women of queer Sci-Fi/Fantasy! You can find the master-list of posts and the schedule here!

Today we’re excited to welcome author Sarah Gailey to the blog to talk about her series of alternate history, that has hippos in it, people, and about queer and female representation in fiction.

El: Hi Sarah! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some of our questions today.

Let’s start with the burning question: What made you decide to write an alternative history of the US with feral killer hippos?

I wanted to write a heist narrative — a caper — and I wanted to write about fabulous hats and bloodshed. Hippos were a natural fit, of course.

Seriously, though. A.B. Guthrie once said something to the effect of: the key to good writing is a constant thread of the unexpected. When I had the idea to write about an America in which the Hippo Bill passed, I knew that I could do something with them that would keep that thread of the unexpected going strong throughout the story, and River of Teeth was born. Continue reading →