Angela Liu is a Chinese-American writer/poet who writes about intergenerational trauma and weird things. She is a two-time Nebula Award Finalist and Astounding Award nominee. Her work has also been nominated for the Hugo, Ignyte, and Rhysling Awards. She used to research mixed reality storytelling at Keio University in Japan and now splits her time between NYC and Tokyo. Her stories and poems are published and/or forthcoming in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed, and Logic(s), among others. “Barbershops of the Floating City” is her third story (and seventh overall appearance) in Uncanny, a beautifully written tale of class divisions, family, and memories revealed by haircuts.
Uncanny Magazine: This is a dark and poignant tale of horrible childhoods and memory streams in strands of hair. What was your starting point for the story?
Angela Liu: My son, who was still a toddler at the time, once asked if he could gain a person’s memories by eating a part of them. My husband suggested eating something that could be replenished so it wouldn’t hurt the other person, “maybe something like hair or nails” (ok, this is starting to sound like a body horror story). I quickly added, “Instead of eating hair, what if you could read another person’s memory by cutting their hair?”
And so this story was born.
Whenever I start a new story, I always look for ways to link it to others I’ve already written, like expanding my own fictional world map. I love that feeling as a reader when two different stories unexpectedly connect. So once I had the core idea, I tried to figure out which of my existing stories might have a barbershop where you could re-experience old memories when having your hair cut. That’s when I remembered “Kwong’s Bath” (in khōréō), which takes place in a world where authentic (unaltered) memory is an indication of class—where people literally cut out memories so they can be “clean” enough to join the Floating City paradise of the wealthy. I thought a barbershop set at a train station near the Floating City would offer a closer glimpse into what that so-called paradise and its residents might actually be like.
Uncanny Magazine: What was your favorite part of writing this story? What was the most challenging thing?
Angela Liu: This was one of the first stories I ever wrote in second person, so I had a lot of fun playing with the voice. I really enjoyed writing the beginning when the main character is just starting out at the barbershop and introducing the reader to the world/their day-to-day schedule—I loved exploring that weird mundaneness.
The haircut sequences were challenging. I wanted the reader to understand the feeling of a haircut memory and visualize some of the process, but I didn’t want to over-explain in a way that might take them out of the story. I tried to remember something my mixed reality professor said in grad school: “Readers (users) don’t need to understand it. They just need to believe it.”
Uncanny Magazine: This is a story with richly developed characters with complex relationships. How much do you need to know about your characters before you start writing? Do they ever do things you don’t expect?
Angela Liu: The only thing I need to know about my characters before I start writing are their relationships with each other. Who’s older/younger? Who owes who something? Is this a mom and daughter or more like a pair of close friends? Do they love each other unconditionally or is there an undercurrent of jealousy and distrust? The relationships help me figure out everything else from how the characters speak to what their motivations are.
I find if the character ends up in the exact direction I was originally planning, it’s usually not a very good story. I always hope at least one of them will surprise me. Even for this story, Girl #2 was supposed to sabotage the main character, but that just didn’t feel right anymore after they shared that haircut/memory sequence in the bathroom.
Uncanny Magazine: Near the start of the story there is a beautiful description of a collection of different scissors, gleaming on the wall. Is there anything you like to collect—tools of a trade or pretty pens or art or something else?
Angela Liu: I love collecting postcards. I’ve been doing this for at least two decades—some in sleeve binders, others in “bags of memories” (aka separated bags where I keep all the receipts/pamphlets/postcards from different trips). I’ve never trusted my own memory, so I like getting postcards wherever I go whether it’s a vintage candy store, a remote seaside train station, an old temple, an art exhibit. There’s a pop-up postcard of an autumn foliage-lined staircase with a small cat in the distance that I bought years ago in Kyoto that I’ve taped on the wall right above my computer so I can “leave” when I need a mental break.
Uncanny Magazine: I asked in a previous interview about your dark fantasy and horror literary influences, so this time, what about other forms of media? What are some of the games, comics, movies, or shows that inspire you?
Angela Liu: I grew up on anime and manga, so that’s always been a huge influence. Spirited Away (the scene where Chihiro is riding in the train over the water, in particular) is a core memory. Wolf Children by Mamoru Hosoda rewired my brain on how parent-child relationships could be depicted in fiction (I don’t think I’ve ever cried more while watching a movie). Satoshi Kon was an absolute genius, and I revisit his filmography whenever I just need to re-stimulate my brain. Old-school RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, VII, and Tactics all influenced how I approach worldbuilding (and probably contributed to my fascination with the depiction of time in fiction). I still often listen to the soundtrack for these games when writing.
I was obsessed with Vanilla Sky and The Matrix as a kid (and later on, Inception), and the idea that reality is not what you think it is. It might be an overdone topic now, but these movies left me with a lasting fascination with the concept of forming deep connections (even falling in love) in dream worlds and nonlinear timelines.
Classic paintings are another source of inspiration. “The Koji Show” and my poem “The Beauty of Monsters” were both inspired by prints from Katsushika Hokusai’s One Hundred Ghost Tales series. “Devouring the Starry Night” explored possible sinister origins of the famous Van Gogh painting. I try to visit museums/art exhibits at least once a month and give myself the assignment of writing one poem inspired by the title (or description) of any art piece there.
Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?
Angela Liu: I’m mostly focused on novel-writing for now, but I have some Horror, Romantasy, and speculative Mystery shorts in the works. I want to experiment a bit more with form for my short fiction and poetry.
Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
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