Bogi Takács (e/em/eir/emself or they pronouns) is a Hungarian
Jewish agender trans person and an immigrant to the US. E is a winner of the
Lambda award for editing
Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender
Speculative Fiction, the Hugo award for Best Fan Writer, and a finalist for
other awards like the Ignyte and the Locus. Eir new short story collection
Power
to Yield and Other Stories is coming in February 2024. You can find Bogi
talking about books at
Bogi Reads
the World, and check out eir
daily SFF story and poem
recommendation newsletter on Buttondown.
Today, read about Bogi's Six Books:
1. What book are you
currently reading?
Words Under the Words: Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab
Nye, recommended to me by Rasha Abdulhadi after I read Everything Comes
Next: Collected & New Poems by her, aimed more at a child and teen
readership. Words Under the Words is more for adults, though a lot of
her poems work for all audiences. She has a gentle speculative sensibility to
her work, even though it’s usually not marketed as speculative poetry. By the
time this instalment of Six Books comes out, I’ll have a poem recommendation
from this book in my daily speculative story and poem recommendations
newsletter.
2. What upcoming book
are you really excited about?
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia
Samatar – I got an advance review copy I’ve already read, but I’m really eager
for other people to read it so that I can discuss it with them! I’m excited by
everything from her, to be honest. But this one was the way I’m always
imagining what dark academia could be and it often isn’t. Written with a real
awareness of the horrors perpetuated in academia, in the name of scholarship;
but also understanding the beauty of the universe and the essential liberty that
is everyone’s birthright regardless of one’s academic and/or social standing.
Also, this is a prison spaceship story in addition to all of that.
3. Is there a book
you’re currently itching to re-read?
The Fallen by Ada Hoffmann – I’m about to read the
third volume of their Outside trilogy, and I usually refresh my memory of a
series before I read a new volume. I loved the first two books, and happily had
a chance to blurb them, but the third volume was in production when I was in
the middle of changing jobs, so I had to miss out on it. Now I’m catching up!
4 A book that you love and wish that you yourself had written.
I generally don’t wish I’d written books by other people, the
books I love are often quite different from what I personally write. It might
be easier to find anthologies I wish I’d edited? Recently I absolutely loved Infinite
Constellations edited by Khadijah Queen and K. Ibura, though I think it’s
wonderful the way they put it together, it doesn’t need me :) I also got an
advance copy of this early last year, but now it’s out and you can all read it!
5. What’s one book,
which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on
your writing?
Not so much on my writing, but more on my life in general,
which of course includes my writing – the
Nausicaä manga by Hayao
Miyazaki found me in high school at a very vulnerable and emotional time, where
I was ready to give up on everything. This series got it across to me that even
when we know things are going to be destroyed, it’s still possible to live on and
strive. That was an approach I didn’t see anywhere else at that point, and I
really needed to hear it.
6. And speaking of
that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?
My latest book is
Power to Yield and Other Stories, my
second short story collection coming this February from Broken Eye Books. It
has people changing into plants, a telepathic AI kid talking to aliens, angry
clothing, and saving the day with sadomasochism. It all gets quite complicated,
which I hope counts as awesome! I aim to capture some tiny shards of life with
its infinite complexity in my work.
Thank you, Bogi!
POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin