Join us as we chat with writer, teacher, and pirate enthusiast Sylvie Althoff. In our conversation, we explore ambiguity, dream logic, transformation, and the strange comfort of unanswered questions. We discuss transcendence through surreal imagery, the limits of language, the body as both home and self, and how writing can become a way of imagining gentler worlds in difficult times.
Sylvie also reads an excerpt from her contribution to Made from Midnight: Delirium, “The Other Side,” a surreal and strangely peaceful story about a woman who transcends reality only to discover herself reborn as a snail among countless others on a vast cosmic tree. She shares the inspiration behind the story, the role queerness and embodiment play in her work, and what’s coming next in her growing catalog of speculative fiction.
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More about Sylvie:
Sylvie Althoff is a queer transgender woman who works as a writer, editor, elementary teacher, and jazz banjoist. Her Locus-recommended writing has appeared in venues including Harper’s Bazaar, Escape Pod, Small Wonders, and Lesbians in Space. Her novella Trivial Matters is forthcoming from Android Press.
She currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with her wife, musician and teacher Jen Thomas, their dog Nomi Malone, and their cat Pocket.
You can find more of Sylvie’s work at sylviealthoff.com, on Bluesky at sylvie-althoff and on Substack at Sylvie Althoff.
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Timestamps:
2:00-4:15 “The Other Side” Reading
4:15-6:30 Snails, Transcendence, and the Search for Meaning
6:30-7:30 Carcinization, Trees, and Evolutionary Inevitability
7:30-9:00 Dream Logic, Ambiguity, and the Limits of Language
9:00-10:30 Funhouse Mirrors, Identity, and Transformation
10:30-12:30 Writing Optimism Through Strange Worlds
12:30-13:30 Why the Afterlife Should Be Weird
13:30-15:00 Story Qua Story & Reading Through the Author’s Lens
15:00-17:00 Queerness, Embodiment, and the Universal Through the Specific
17:00-18:00 Snails Carry Their Homes With Them
18:00-20:30 Retreating Inward During Difficult Times
20:30-22:00 Acceptance, Meditation, and Peaceful Resignation
22:00-24:00 Building Worlds Within Ourselves
24:00-27:30 Pirate Radio Stations, Robot Pirates, and other Trivial Matters
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Here’s some of our favorite quotes from the episode:
“Life is great at prompting a lot of wonderful questions and not super long on answers to those questions.”
“The other side should be weird too.”
“We are all brains in our own jars trying to communicate what’s going on inside.”
“There are really no words to fully encapsulate what we’re thinking or feeling.”
“I’d rather be on a pirate ship than at Walmart.”
“It’s okay to have unanswered questions.”
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Thanks for reading, watching, or listening!
You can find out more about the editors, the press, the anthologies, and the contributors on our socials:
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www.poetsinthepines.com
Kelly Miller’s Socials:
IG: kellymbooks
Anne Ramallo’s Socials:
IG: anneramallo
Leah Cass’s Socials:
IG: elleunchained
