Robin Sloan: Satire grounded in affection

BY LINDA ZAVORAL

Oakland author Robin Sloan, 39, didn’t let Twitter limit his creativity to 140 characters. After stints there and at Current TV, he used Silicon Valley as the setting for his debut novel, “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” – and the 304-page work landed on the New York Times best-seller list. His second novel, “Sourdough, or Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market,” finds his protagonist at the intersection of technology and food culture. It’s now out in paperback.

QYour writing is concise and clever. Did your time at Twitter alter your writing style?

ADefinitely! In its heyday, before the character limit was relaxed, Twitter’s limitations made it an ideal training ground. A poetry factory.

QHow do Silicon Valley techies respond to your portrayals of them and their world?

AGenerally, the reception has been warm. I think satire – good satire – has to be grounded in affection. When our friends make

5 Book Picks From Sloan

fun of us in a way that says “I know you deeply,” it’s not unpleasant. It’s the opposite– a form of love!

QWhere does the inspiration for your protagonists and plots come from?

My protagonists are all me, or a version of me. The plots come straight out of the Bay Area’s natural weirdness and drama, its fusion of technology and craft, wealth and counterculture ... all of it. This place is thick with people who seem like characters out of novels, so I just do the obvious thing and write them in.

QYou now produce olive oil in Sunol. How did that get started?

AMy partner, Kathryn Tomajan, is an olive miller, and through her work, we were given the rare opportunity to lease a very small grove. So that’s become our shared project.

QSo can we expect your next book to be “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Olive Oil Mill” or “Lois and Her Adventures Dipping Sourdough in EVOO?” Seriously, what’s next?

AI’m working on a new novel that’s closer to real science fiction than anything I’ve written before – a story that makes some predictions about the future of California. But, like all my novels, it takes place in a shared universe, so readers can expect to see some familiar characters.

QDo you have a favorite Bay Area bookrelated event?

AAI’m partial to the deeply weird and wonderful readings organized by City Lights in San Francisco. You can walk up the steps to the Poetry Room and encounter conversations that could happen literally nowhere else.

“The Bird King” by G. Willow Wilson: This historical fantasy takes a time period that’s passed into (the distant age of Muslim Spain) and makes it new and strange again. It’s quite a magic trick.

“Tentacle” by Rita Indiana: I love (a) short novels, (b) novels in translation and (c) novels about time travel – and ‘Tentacle’ is the trifecta. For me, it’s been the most delightful surprise of 2019 so far.

“Empress of Forever” by Max Gladstone: Reading this novel, you can feel your brain stretching to match its scale. It’s dizzying and thrilling, an ultra-widescreen sci-fi adventure.

“See You in the Cosmos” by Jack Cheng: This Young Adult book is a sensitive classic-inthe-making from a Detroit-area writer – who went to the same high school as I did!

“Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave” by Jessica Hische: Jessica is a legendary lettering artist here in the Bay Area whose first children’s book is gorgeous and captivating, with a next-level message.