Interview: Michele Tracy Berger, Author of Doll Seed: Stories

Welcome to another author interview on BookishEnds! I had the opportunity to ask the lovely Michele Tracy Berger questions about Doll Seed: Stories, a speculative short story collection that released October 4th.

What was your inspiration for writing Doll Seed: Stories?

I write speculative fiction, a genre that concerns itself with ideas that can’t operate by the physical laws of the universe as we currently know them, encompassing magical realism, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc. I have found it very useful to ask questions about the status quo of the everyday and how we might imagine it differently—especially as it relates to race and gender.

The title story, “Doll Seed” is an alternate history that imagines the inner life of the dolls that were used in social science research during the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education case that dismantled legal segregation. I was fascinated by the use of the so-called doll tests with children choosing dolls that demonstrated the deleterious effects of racism. I wondered what happened to those dolls after the experiment was over.

That story deals with longing, belonging, identity and community. Many of my other stories have similar themes including trust and betrayal, family secrets, and sacrifice and freedom. In creating the collection, I could see how the stories would offer the reader a satisfying variety of subjects, lengths of stories and points of view.

What was your writing process like for this collection? Did it require any research?

Most of the stories were developed and published over a ten-year period. I learned a lot about writing short fiction during that time. I experimented with voice, point of view, and length. One of the things that I love about the collection is that the reader gets to experience stories told in a variety of ways. 

My writing process has evolved over the past few years. I don’t tend to binge write anymore. I work on projects daily. I think it is important to always keep connected to one’s creative work and not lose momentum once you’ve got something going.

I always do research for my stories. For “Miss Black Little Hill of 1965”, I researched what local Black beauty pageants were like in the 1960s and what kinds of things Isabel, the main character, might aspire to if she grew up in a small Florida town. For “They Will Rise from the Oceans” which is set in the 1920s I got to explore the spiritualism movement that emerged during the late 19th early 20th centuries which involved the idea of mediums and connecting with deceased loved ones. The trick with research is to not go down so many rabbit holes that you forget to keep writing the story.

“Etta, Zora, and The First Serpent” was one of my favorite stories in the collection. How did you go about choosing the specific historical period and figures in this story and the collection at large?

Thank you, it’s one of my favorite stories, too! 

I had three interests that finally came together in that story.

I am generally fascinated by the time period of the 1920s-1940s and have always been interested in the Cotton Club as my maternal grandmother danced there for a brief period.  I grew up hearing stories about what it was like to dance there and the famous people that she met including Josephine Baker and Can Calloway.

The second interest is the life of writer, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. She was the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in anthropology and I’m amazed at the initiative that she displayed  in traveling all around the world collecting Black folk traditions. She was written out of the literary canon until Alice Walker and other feminist writers reclaimed her. She was rumored to have a larger than life personality, so I knew that I wanted to have a story where she would play a prominent role. 

My third interest and love is dance. In my late teens I thought about dancing professionally. 

In this story all three interests come together as Zora Neale Hurston encourages a young woman named Etta who dances at the famous Cotton Club to help her conjure a spirit. What could possibly go wrong?

Were you excited about your book launching during Black Speculative Fiction Month?

Yes, absolutely! Black Speculative Fiction Month was designated as such by writers and gamers Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade who wanted to elevate the powerful work of Black creators in speculative fiction. The month celebrates the long history of the intersection of Black culture across the diaspora  and speculative fiction. From Anasi tales, the folklore of the Gullah people to Netflix’s Supacell, Black creators have a long tradition of imagining beyond current realities. 

Growing up in the 1970s, I had few main characters in books or media that looked like me within genre culture. Young writers and creators of color will never imagine themselves alone in the ways that I did pre-internet, pre–Black geekdom communities, and pre­–Black Panther. One of the things that cheers me the most about Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Fiction Month is as creators, we are finding each other and audiences who are hungry for imaginative works that we’ve been wanting to share for a very long time.

Are there any speculative books you’re reading right now or always recommend?

I’m reading Nalo Hopkinson’s new collection Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions which is a compelling blend of fantasy, ecological awareness and Black diasporic imaginings. 

During the summer I finished This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour and have encouraged others to read it. It is set 500 years in the future when some humans have developed ‘see through’ or “invisible skin”. It plays with caste, race and marginalization in interesting ways. Great world building!

I highly recommend both of these books!

Doll Seed Description

Michele Tracey Berger has a voice like no one else. –Julia Rios, Hugo Award Winning Editor

Doll Seed: Stories by Michele Tracy Berger is a dazzling debut collection of speculative short fiction. The stories span horror, fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism, but are always grounded in very real characters and beautifully rendered, distinctive communities. Often thematically centered on the lives of women and girls, especially women of color and their experiences of vulnerability and outsider status, these stories are often playful and always provocative.

Fifteen stories invite you to get comfortable in the dark, to consider freedom and sacrifice, trust and betrayal, otherness, and safety. Marisol, an aspiring jewelry artist is haunted by a fast-food icon. Chevella, a self-aware doll, finds herself in 1950s America playing a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. Lindsay, a Black girl in 1970s America “wins” an extraterrestrial in a national contest only to find her family’s life upended. Chelsea and Jessa, two sisters, fight about what a strange child means for their family. A meat grinder appears in a magical forest and chaos ensues. All this and more.

Thank you to Michele for these insightful responses! If you’re interested in purchasing Doll Seed: Stories for yourself, you can find it on Bookshop.