Curtis C. Chen is joining us today to talk about his novel, Kangaroo Forth. Here’s the publisher’s description:
On the way to his next secret mission, a high-speed kinetic projectile destroys Kangaroo’s transport, leaving him adrift in deep space—until a helpful passerby rescues his escape pod. Given the vastness of the cosmos, it’s a remarkable coincidence.
Millions of kilometers away in Earth orbit, thermal regulation is failing and the Intelligence Division of Kangaroo’s spy agency has gone into lockdown. The mysterious malfunction puts not only life support but also an unruly eight-year-old boy in jeopardy. Now the Eyrie has to deal with Joey’s escalating shenanigans and the possibility of saboteurs aboard what should be one of the Solar System’s most secure facilities.
Could these two emergencies be connected? Who would possess the resources to engineer such a thing? Of course, Intelligence Division has plenty of enemies.
And so does Kangaroo…
What’s Curtis’ favorite bit?
As a fiction writer, I tend to lean on dialogue and banter to amp up the humor in my drafts, and very often I try to
make things funny by referring to other things. Steal like an artist! I stole that from Austin Kleon. And just wait until
you hear about all the bits I’ve remixed from assorted other stories! (ObDisclaimer: not actually stealing, nothing
legally actionable to see here, moving on.)
While working on the first Kangaroo book, WAYPOINT KANGAROO, my editor suggested that I add something in-
world to explain why the main character in the distant future made so many dumb jokes referencing twentieth-
century movies and TV series. The actual reason is because I’m a lazy writer who grew up watching a lot of mid-
century modern entertainment, but I agreed and made up some tragic backstory about Kangaroo’s late parents
being media researchers with a specific interest in scripted shows from the 1900s. Done!
That said, I still couldn’t resist weaving additional, hopefully less obvious references into the Kangaroo novels.
Baby, I was born this way. I’ll share a few examples:
In that first book, I named a Martian spaceship Dejah Thoris as a nod to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels.
There’s also a featured cocktail called a “Zero-Gravity Football” for all you Red Dwarf fans.
In book two, KANGAROO TOO, there are several names that one might possibly recognize from another superior
sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I didn’t even try to be coy with book three, TRUE BLUE KANGAROO, which replicates pretty much the entire
“Village” setting from The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan’s trippy 1960s deconstruction of spy-fi.
And now, in the fourth Kangaroo book, KANGAROO FORTH, I’m flying my freak flag for Brian K. Vaughan and
Fiona Staples’ SAGA.
If you’re not familiar with SAGA, it’s… challenging to describe concisely. The publisher, Image Comics, calls it “an
epic space opera/fantasy comic book series…heavily influenced by Star Wars, and based on ideas Vaughan
conceived both as a child and as a parent.” One of the very impressive things that SAGA does is to effortlessly
blend eclectic, often diametrically-opposed science fiction and fantasy tropes—in a different way than Charlie Jane
Anders did in ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY, but just as cleverly and triumphantly. (Content warning: SAGA is
explicit and graphic with its depictions of sex and violence, and the narrative also doesn’t pull any emotional
punches, so make sure you’re prepared for all that sort of thing before you dive in.)
No one creates art in a vacuum. We’re influenced by the stories we first heard as children, all the media we
consumed growing up, and the conversations we have with others in community. Being aware of the echoes and
resonances with what’s come before can deepen and enrich the experience of reading a book or watching a movie,
but it’s not necessary to understand all the references to earlier works, whether they’re implied or openly stated, in
order to enjoy a particular story. For instance, while having seen The Empire Strikes Back will definitely enhance
your viewing of The Mandalorian, it is entirely possible to enjoy “baby Yoda” Grogu’s antics with absolutely no prior
knowledge of any Star Wars content.
So worry not, dear reader, if you don’t immediately understand the significance of “Hazel” or “Rocketship” when
you first encounter them in KANGAROO FORTH. Just enjoy the ride aboard a spacecraft that definitely on purpose
looks almost exactly like the one in The Adventures of Tintin: Destination Moon. Wink emoji!
LINKS:
BIO:
Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen (陳致宇) now writes stories near Portland, Oregon. His debut novel Waypoint Kangaroo (a Locus Awards and Endeavour Award Finalist) is the first in a series of funny science fiction spy thrillers, followed by Kangaroo Too (a Publishers Weekly starred review), True Blue Kangaroo (a Smashwords bestseller!), and the forthcoming Kangaroo Forth (out November 2026). He has written for the Realm original podcasts Echo Park, Ninth Step Murders, and Machina.
Curtis’ shorter works have appeared in Playboy Magazine; the ENNIE Award-winning Kobold Guide to Roleplaying; The Year’s Best Fantasy, Volume 2; Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey; and elsewhere. His homebrew cat feeding robot was displayed in the “Worlds Beyond Here” exhibit at Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum. He is a graduate of the Clarion West and Viable Paradise writers’ workshops.
Learn more about Curtis at: https://CurtisCChen.com
*Mary Robinette an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This does not increase your cost; it simply helps support her work