Nina Schuyler joins the blog this week to discuss her short story collection, In This Ravishing World
Author Name: Nina Schuyler
Book Title: In This Ravishing World
Book Genre: Climate fiction
Release Date: July 2, 2024
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Welcome, Nina! How would you describe In This Ravishing World?
In This Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis.
What were some inspirations for this book?
After one of the wildfires in Northern California—which one? there have been so many—I heard Governor Gavin Newsom, who stood in an ash-covered forest with blackened trees stripped of leaves, say, “Nature has a voice.”
I wondered, what is Nature saying? Will we listen?
I also wanted to create something different from my previous novels. I’d never written an interconnected, cohesive short story collection. Finally, I’m also interested in challenging and breaking down human exceptionalism.
What’s your favorite part about writing/being an author? What do you find challenging?
I have a restless mind, and writing is a way to do something with this curious mind that seems to refuse to live only one life. Like actors, a writer has to inhabit completely, utterly, I mean, crawl into the skin of their characters and live there. Wonderful! For this collection, I attempted to embody and become Nature. That was challenging! So many pages were written and thrown away to find the right voice and tone.
If you were speaking to someone who hasn’t read your writing before, why should they want to read In This Ravishing World?
Here is a way for you, your book club, and your friends and family to discuss the hardest thing humans have ever faced: climate change. As the Judge for the Prism Prize for Climate Literature said when she chose my collection as the winner, “Nature’s presence embraces the entire narrative and lends a sense of enchantment. Rivetted, I could barely put it down for the three days it took to read the compelling stories of a diverse cast of characters: there is someone in these pages for every reader to relate to.” Remember: the future has yet to be written.
Readers who liked The Overstory, by Richard Powers, will also like In This Ravishing World.
Like The Overstory, In This Ravishing World is populated with many characters and many voices. When we talk about addressing climate change, there is a need for kinship among diversity. That may sound paradoxical, but it’s the underground grid for my collection and for helping the earth. Science counsels against anthropomorphizing nonhuman beings, but, like Powers, I find it a powerful tool for creating empathy for our fellow creatures.
Any words of wisdom you give your pre-published writer self (or to a new writer)?
Writing is a balance between play and rigor.
Be patient.
Take long walks and look around.
Eat chocolate.
Read, and read more, slowly and carefully.
Where can readers find you?
Website: ninaschuyler.com
Instagram: @ninaschuyler
Threads: @ninaschuyler
Facebook: @Nina_Schuyler
Bluesky: @ninaschuyler.bsky.social
Twitter: @Nina_Schuyler
Substack: ninaschuyler.substack.com
Thank you, Nina! In This Ravishing World is out now.
In This Ravishing World
In this Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis. An older woman who has spent her entire life fighting for the planet sinks into despair. A young boy is determined to bring the natural world to his bleak urban reality. A scientist working to solve the plastic problem grapples with whether to have a child. A ballet dancer endeavors to inhabit the consciousness of a rat. In this Ravishing World is a full-throated chorus– with Nature joining in– marveling at the exquisite beauty of our world, and pleading, raging, and ultimately urging all of its inhabitants toward activism and resistance.