MICAIAH JOHNSON

MEET THE PHD STUDENT BEHIND THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS, IN WHICH TRAVEL BETWEEN PARALLEL EARTHS IS POSSIBLE

Tell us about your protagonist.

Cara is someone trying to hide her actual past by crafting an alternate story about who she is. She’s chasing this vision of a successful future at all costs, and that ambition keeps her from appreciating and seeing the world already around her.

What are the rules of multiverse travel?

The most obvious problem is the one I like most: you can’t travel to a world where you’re still alive. You’ll see a version of yourself living a life you want, but you can’t ask them how they got there or if it was worth it. You can only wait, watch and wish.

How long did the book take to write?

I wrote it over almost two years, beginning in October 2016. The cultural conversation as I worked was centred on movement restrictions – border walls and travel bans – so naturally I created someone who can traverse unimpeded through cultures, across walls and even between worlds.

Does the book have a political message?

Someone once said that I could make orange juice seem political. So this book was always going to address existing power structures. It explores a hierarchy where the elites aren’t deliberately terrible. They’re “good”. They’re polite. They’d have voted for Obama a third time. But they benefit from a system that allows those at the bottom to die.

Who are your literary heroes?

Toni Morrison, Toni Morrison, Toni Morrison!

The Space Between Worlds is out on 4 August, from Hodder & Stoughton.