And so The Snow Queen also became a story about the need to seek equilibrium, in our own lives, with the natural world, even within the universe at large.
Joan D. Vinge

As for the historical inspirations I drew on in writing The Snow Queen, I suppose I would call them more cross-cultural inspirations, though they frequently involve past societies as well as present day ones.
Joan D. Vinge

Besides, wouldn't it be wonderful if no one ever had to worry about the random cruelty of fatal illness or the woes of old age attacking them or their loved ones?
Joan D. Vinge

Beyond that, I seem to be compelled to write science fiction, rather than fantasy or mysteries or some other genre more likely to climb onto bestseller lists even though I enjoy reading a wide variety of literature, both fiction and nonfiction.
Joan D. Vinge

But our society does not grant nontraditional forms of intelligence equal recognition, no matter how much it would help us get along or truly enrich our lives.
Joan D. Vinge

Each time, storytellers clothed the naked body of the myth in their own traditions, so that listeners could relate more easily to its deeper meaning.
Joan D. Vinge

Everything born has to die, in order to make room for the future.
Joan D. Vinge

Fear of the unknown is a terrible fear.
Joan D. Vinge

For every path you choose, there is another you must abandon, usually forever.
Joan D. Vinge

Here was a fragment of Goddess myth that, through all its permutations, had somehow escaped being turned on its head. It was the perfect springboard for the sort of novel I wanted to write.
Joan D. Vinge


Humans are upsetting a fragile balance that their own human ancestors established.
Joan D. Vinge

Humans may be the only creatures on Earth who spend significant time thinking about the fact that someday their lives will end.
Joan D. Vinge

I wanted to show those characters discovering it is possible to find common ground, as they make their way through a plotline that I hope is engrossing enough to keep the reader a willing participant.
Joan D. Vinge

I was thinking about what I wanted to write next, after my first novel, and had decided that I wanted to write a story with a lot of strong female characters in it.
Joan D. Vinge

Moon is also a naive native girl when she sets out for Carbuncle.
Joan D. Vinge

Myth is, after all, the neverending story.
Joan D. Vinge

Perhaps the thing that makes humans truly unique on Earth is that we are never satisfied with our situation; maybe that is what's taken us so far.
Joan D. Vinge

Probably I chose immortality because mortality is a universal human obsession.
Joan D. Vinge

Studying anthropology, I developed a kind of holistic view of human existence, in which the dichotomies you listed are all necessary and vital aspects of life.
Joan D. Vinge

The contradictions are what make human behavior so maddening and yet so fascinating, all at the same time.
Joan D. Vinge