I was interviewed by Lisa Timpf for Interstellar Flight Magazine, and we had a fantastic discussion on a number of issues close to my heart. The interview can be found here. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to continue the discussion!

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by Derek Newman-Stille, a PHD in Canadian Studies and professor at Trent University, for their award-winning podcast, Speculating Canada. What a fantastic discussion we had!

We talked about hopepunk, bringing marginalized voices to the centre, my new and upcoming novels, and of course, why speculative fiction is such a critical form of art in our dark world.

If you’re interested in listening in on our conversation, check out the episode: https://speculatingcanada.ca/2025/10/20/an-interview-with-su-sokol/

I actually wrote this story seven years ago for an anthology of alternative Jewish history. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young person living in a Jewish space station among other community space stations, orbiting an earth blighted by war, plagues, and ecological disaster. My purpose in writing the story was to talk about community defined broadly and how to best do your part in trying to heal the world. It didn’t get into the anthology, and I ended up putting the story aside. Recently, I decided again to try to get it published, and I succeeded.

For some readers, this story may seem more timely now than when I originally wrote it. Check it out here. It is the lead story of this spring’s edition of AFTER THE STORM magazine.

For all of you who asked if I’d ever write a sequel to Cycling to Asylum, that moment has arrived! Five Points on an Invisible Line, which takes place three years after the events in the first book came to a close, is scheduled to launch at the end of the summer with Flame Arrow Publishing. Flame Arrow will also be republishing an updated version of Cycling under the title Invisible Line.

Stay tuned for cover reveals and other updates!

Les lignes invisibles was reviewed in Le Devoir!! Vous pouvez le trouvez ici.

The employees of Indigo/Chapters/Coles – Français have chosen Les Lignes invisibles as their book of the month!! Voici ce qu’ils ont dit à propos du livre :

« Ce mois-ci, nos employés recommandent : Les lignes invisibles

Dans un avenir rapproché, Montréal est devenue une ville sanctuaire qui accueille des personnes réfugiées. C’est le cas de Laek, Janie et leurs enfants qui ont fui la ville de New York, devenue trop violente et répressive. Sans statut et sous la menace d’une déportation, la famille fait face à de multiples défis pour s’adapter à son environnement.

Su J. Sokol brosse un portrait fascinant et optimiste d’un Québec possible, dans l’ombre d’une Amérique de plus en plus inquiétante. Iel donne une voix à chaque membre de la famille, nous offrant ainsi la chance de comprendre la façon dont ce voyage les a marqués individuellement. 

Un roman captivant, intelligent et humain. »

Eight years and two novels later, my dream of having a French version of Cycling to Asylum is finally coming true!

When I first began this adventure of becoming an author, I had no idea how things worked. I understood that Cycling to Asylum, a story of flight and refugee protection (or the lack thereof), of borders and of smashing them, of activism and international solidarity, of learning a new language and different ways of being, of two cities — Montréal and New York — and the people who live and struggle there, would be of strong interest to francophone Québecers, but I did not know how to bring that story to life in a language that I could only speak and write very imperfectly.

As the years passed, I saw that the traditional way of getting a book translated and published in another language did not seem to be in the cards, and after a while, I began to wonder if “la version française” of this story would ever see the light of day.

It was the translator herself who finally made it happen. After learning about the novel through a panel I participated in during Congrès Boréal, Émilie Laramée approached me about a translation. Passionate, talented, and with a lot of savoir faire, it was she who identified the perfect publisher and convinced them to go ahead with the project. VLB Imaginaire, a new collection of the well-established VLB éditeur, is a first-rate publisher of hopeful, edgy, Québec speculative fiction. They have already published some outstanding novels in French; Les lignes invisibles joins the ranks as their first translation. From what I’ve seen, VLB Imaginaire has a bright future ahead of it. I am so lucky to be part of their family of authors!

Slow Reveal by Melanie Mitzner is a unique story about family, relationships, art and life. Katherine, a film editor, is in an open marriage with Jonathan, an artist whose work was panned for being “too political.” She is also in a long-term love affair with Naomi, a successful poet who has been kept out of Katherine’s family life, and in particular, the lives of her two now-adult children. The story is also about these two children: Ellie, an artist like her father, and Brigitte, a possibly budding writer who struggles with drug dependency. The reader meets other characters such as Jonathan’s father and sister, Katherine’s brother, and an assortment of people who circulate in and out of our main characters’ lives. 

The setting of the novel is New York City in the nineties, and the author’s depiction of this time and place is both understated and convincing, comparing favourably with usual “sweep past the Empire State Building, peek at the Brooklyn Bridge, flash on Times Square” approach of some who place their stories in the city of my birth. Likewise, Mitzner’s characters are portrayed in a way that is both realistic—including selfish thoughts and deeds—and kind. We see how people faced with struggles including the death of a loved one, mental health, betrayal, financial instability, and loss of intimacy still manage to keep going, and in some cases, to continue making art with integrity.

One difficulty I had with the novel was all the head-jumping. One moment you were in the thoughts of a certain character, and the next moment, without warning, you were in another’s. For this reader, the result was confusion rather than a sharpening of the characterizations, and a feeling of always being a little behind the ball since it took a moment or two to figure out in which point-of-view we were now immersed. On the other hand, this approach created a kind of collage or mosaic effect, which helped to nicely reinforce thematics around art and connectedness.

I strongly recommend this novel, especially to readers who enjoy LBGTQ+ stories, stories about art and politics, urban fiction, and novels about family and relationships.

Theta Station has posted an author spotlight where I answer a some very interesting questions about my writing. Please check it out here!

My publisher,  Renaissance Press, has put together a free virtual literary conference that will take place on the weekend of June 5th to 7th. There are a lot of cool panels, a virtual vending room — even the possibility of chatting on Discord. I  think this is going to be a lot of fun, as well as a great opportunity to talk about books and the craft of writing.

Check out the programme here:

https://pressesrenaissancepress.ca/events/renaissance-virtual-conference/full-program-and-registration/

If you would like to “browse’ in the the virtual vendor’s room, follow this link: Vendor’s Room  and the FB event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2533936420249841/

I am excited to be on several panels and I plan to attend a lot more. I may even do a reading! There will be a lot of interesting books on sale in the virtual vendors room, where you will also be able to find both my novels.

It is great that Renaissance has taken the initiative of organizing such a conference during this time of social confinement.

Hope to “see” you there!

–Su