Bruno Lombardi, a resident of Canada, is the author of the science fiction novel "Snake Oil," as well as several stories featured in anthologies.
Wallace: What made you start writing?
Lombardi: I’ve always had a talent for writing since I was in university, where I used to regale my friends with what ended up being called "Bruno-esque" adventures. Apparently, my “Weirdness Magnet” ability manifested at a very early age! I also used to do quite a bit of travelling, where my tales were often considered on a similar level to those of Bill Bryson. From there, it was a natural progression to other genres.
Wallace: What inspired "Snake Oil’s" unique premise?
Lombardi: It was originally going to be a serious "alien invasion" story at first but after the writing the first chapter, I realized that the story worked much better as a comedy. You don’t see too many comedic takes on the alien first contact premise, so this became my opportunity to cut loose and channel my inner Terry Pratchett/Douglas Adams.
Wallace: What got you into alternate history?
Lombardi: My very first introduction was with Terry Bisson’s 1988 novel "Fire on the Mountain." I was blown away by the premise and the rest, as they say, is history.
Wallace: What inspired your novella about a world where the Republic of China failed, "The Road to Yakutia," published in the anthology "With Iron and Fire?"
Lombardi: I can’t take any of the credit for "The Road to Yakutia," as the premise—a 1930’s style travelogue through the alternate China—was originally the creator’s [David Wostyn] impressively well-researched alternate history timeline [a long work of fiction written in a mock-nonfiction style] "Superpower Empire." I (and several others) had been submitting stories set in his universe for several years when he came to me with his idea. Over the course of more than a year, it went from what was originally a disjointed collection of emails to a novella-sized story. I had an immense amount of fun writing it, for several reasons: 1) It was a change in pace from my usual spec-fic writing, and 2) It allowed me to experiment with an entirely different style of writing. It apparently was a success, as I had multiple people comment on how "chameleonic" the story style to books from the same period was.
Wallace: How did this anthology, with such an obscure historical premise, come to fruition?
Lombardi: All due to the hard work and dedication of the good people of Sea Lion Press. It was established by several members of the alternate history forum specifically to highlight and publicize alternative history works that they felt needed a wider reading audience. They approached Wostyn, who in turn approached several of the contributors to his "Tale of the Superpower Empire" and "With Iron and Fire" was the result.
Wallace: Most of your work has been published in anthologies. Does this have an effect on your writing process?
Lombardi: I find that it enhances my writing to some extent, in that the different themes and styles in all the anthologies often encourages me to try out all kinds of weird and/or fascinating ideas.
Wallace: What inspired "Mr. Cuddles," your entry in the anthology "We Were Heroes?"
Lombardi: I’m part of a writer’s group with an editor of several of the anthologies I’ve been published in. The basic idea revolves around the editor giving out a variety of writing prompts and forcing us to come up with a story in a space of one week, which is then critiqued by the others. The prompt for "Mr. Cuddles" was an open-ended "Justice" prompt—and I decided to experiment a bit with having a story that starts off as a comedy (a talking teddy bear convinces a man to become a super-hero) and then have it go dark and creepy halfway through.
Wallace: You’re a longtime regular on alternatehistory.com, easily the largest alternate history forum on the Internet. How has the community there affected your writing?
Lombardi: Well, among other things, I met my fiancée as a result of the board. She’s my number one fan and is always there to encourage me to write and submit stories.
As for how it affected my writing—I can honestly say it was instrumental. There’s a small but very strong and dedicated writer sub forum on the board, and when I started making my early and hesitant forays into posting stories, I had nothing but encouragement and, in some cases, demands for more and more stories. Indeed, to circle back to "With Iron and Fire," David was looking for writers to flesh out his ideas and approached me with several ideas and essentially gave me carte blanche.
Wallace: What projects do you have planned for the future?
Lombardi: Several sticks in the fire, so to speak. I’m working on a dieselpunk re-interpretation of the Rapunzel fairy tale, as well as a story about a haunted subway train.
Wallace: What advice do you have for authors seeking to enter the genres you write in?
Lombardi: Three pieces of advice.
First of all—just write. Don’t pay any attention as to whether or not the story has a market at first. Just get your ideas and stories and characters down and then worry about the markets later.
Second—persistence is the key. My very first published story – "A Thursday Night at Doctor What’s Time and Relative Dimensional Space Bar and Grill …" was initially rejected by one publisher with the sentence: "I really didn’t find this all that funny but better luck next time" and accepted by another publisher several weeks later with the sentence: "This is the funniest story I have ever read and if you let me buy this, I’ll put it as the first story in the anthology!."
Third—don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to try a completely different genre/style than you feel comfortable with. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or criticism. Don’t be afraid to bounce ideas or premises or suggestions off friends or colleagues. In short—don’t be afraid to take things one step further.
