Like all speculative writers, I was also asking myself: “What if?” What if I toyed with reality? What if I altered our actual timeline, flooding the coastlines in 2017 and sending my characters into one of the submerged cities? What if I gave my characters children and then launched those children into outer space? Through juxtaposing my answers to these two questions—What is? What if?—I found a way not only to channel my feelings about our present moment into a work of fiction, but also to imagine a possible path to something new.

I have just finished The Sundial by Shirley Jackson, published in 1958. It tells the story of a family who discover that the world is going to end and they are the only ones with a chance of survival – as long as they are inside the house when the day finally comes. Although the book can be classified as horror, I loved Jackson’s dark humour and the way she showcases the family dynamics. It’s set in a mansion where the characters live in their own bubbled reality, never fully satisfied, always thinking of the new world to come. I found the book so clever, scary and funny that it became a journey I got to experience alongside the family. And Jackson constantly teases the reader, having you flip between doubting and believing that this day will ever come.

Moreover, “as a Black author in this industry, I get paid much, much less than white authors do. Especially also as a trans writer, who is going to be shut out of certain opportunities, because I don’t have a gender and because it makes people uncomfortable. There are all these things working against me. The only way that I could create some sort of safety for myself through financial stability was by writing at this pace.”

In the same interview, Waititi shared that he always wants to keep things interesting by doing something unexpected. The filmmaker didn’t get into specifics about how romance novels helped him crack the story for Thor: Love and Thunder. That being said, with Jane Foster back in the franchise, it may be an indication that the romantic aspect of the blockbuster involves her and Thor getting back together. For what it’s worth, the Thor: Love and Thunder trailers already revealed the pair’s awkward reunion, highlighting how badly they handled their split.

Marie Lu has been writing beautiful, richly developed young adult science fiction and fantasy books for more than a decade. Her young adult books range from dystopian to historical fantasy to super hero stories. But all of them feature diverse characters, incredibly detailed worlds, and high stakes. Marie Lu is a Chinese American author who was an early advocate for the need for more diverse books. She’s combatted this need first-hand with the many Asian, queer, and disabled characters she’s written about in her books.