P.A. Cornell’s novelette, Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl, will be released on February 3 by Stars and Sabers Publishing. I’m a big fan of P.A.’s short stories so I was excited to get a look at a longer work.
This novelette is delightful, wrapping young love and high hopes in the most gorgeous retro-futuristic package. The endearing protagonists are scrappy and street-smart, adorable in their daily work to reach their elusive dreams. Tension ratchets up when a stranger with ill-fitting shoes enters the picture.
This is a story of true love—and trust, honesty, and self-confidence. The backdrop of an alternate Toronto comes through, with airship docks and lunar launch pads sprinkled through the familiar landscape. The book has a distinctive cover featuring gorgeous art, as well as some fun interior illustrations. You won’t want to miss “The Story Behind the Story” at the end of the book.
Thanks to Stars and Sabers Publishing for the ARC, and to P.A. for answering my questions!
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Cover art by Kim Herbst * Title Font by Dash Creative
Myna: The promo copy for Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl sounds wonderful: “a retrofuristic noir love story.” Tell us about the book. Who are your characters? What themes do you explore?
P.A.: Shoeshine Boy’s a sweet, trusting guy, whose willingness to see the good in others gets him into a bit of trouble. Cigarette Girl, on the other hand, isn’t the trusting type. Life’s taught her to fend for herself, because no one else is going to. Somewhat improbably, these two fall in love and it’s through their love that they see an opportunity to make their dreams reality. Of course, life throws them some curveballs they weren’t expecting. There are many themes explored here, some of which I discuss at the end in a special “Story Behind the Story” segment exclusive to this book. But generally speaking, it explores the power of love, being your best self, trust and loyalty, among other things.
Myna: The setting is so intriguing. How did it come about? Have you written other stories in this sort of setting?
P.A.: I haven’t written other stories in this particular setting. It takes place in a retro-futuristic, alternate Toronto. I’d always wanted to set a story in Toronto—a city I’ve known my whole life and also lived in for several years. So this one has some elements of the real Toronto, paired with others that exist only in my story. My familiarity with the real Toronto is the foundation, the rest is me engaging in imaginative play, if you will, since I’ve always loved the retro-futuristic aesthetic. This also allowed me to do things in my story that wouldn’t work in real life. For instance, in my book there are people living on the moon, with rockets taking them there daily from the Toronto islands. To my knowledge, this isn’t yet happening in the real Toronto.
Myna: What can you tell us about the spectacular cover art?
P.A.: The cover art is by Kim Herbst, who’s an incredibly talented illustrator. I gave her a few ideas I wanted the cover to include, and she took it from there. She deserves all the credit because the way it looks, from design to color, to the way she uses lighting, is all Kim. I’m thrilled with what she did with this. I’m especially fortunate that I also got to work with a second artist for some outstanding interior illustrations, so I also want to shout-out Ahmed Raafat who did those.
Myna: How did this book come about?
P.A.: I’d been thinking for a while that I wanted to write something involving a cigarette girl, simply because they don’t really exist anymore. It seemed almost a quaint relic of the past that I wanted to bring back in some way, I just hadn’t figured out how. Eventually, I added a shoeshine boy, which is also a job you don’t see nearly as much these days. From those two characters came the title, but that’s pretty much all I had. Then one day, on a whim, I just started writing the story, without a clue as to where it was going. I didn’t even know it was going to be retro-futuristic at first. Once I had the voice figured out though, it took off from there. I wrote the first draft fairly quickly, realizing early on it was going to end up a novelette. I wasn’t even thinking it would become a book at this point, but I’m thrilled that Stars and Sabers decided to go that route with it. The way this book turned out has far exceeded any expectations I might’ve had at the start.
Myna: If your book had a theme song, what would it be?
P.A.: My publisher Jendia Gammon started promoting it on Instagram using the song “Destination Moon” by Dinah Washington and while I’ve also promoted it using other songs, I feel like this one fits it best. Part of the plot is about the characters wanting to go live on the moon, and this song also has a retro vibe, so it was really a perfect choice.
Myna: Were there any surprises along the route to publishing?
P.A.: I didn’t know I’d get to work with so many great artists, which is a wonderful surprise. In addition to Kim and Ahmed, there’s also Danika Corral who’s also super talented. She designed some of the swag for the book, and it turned out so cool. It means so much to me that at a time when art is being threatened by AI-generated slop, Stars and Sabers is going out of their way to champion art made by humans. And not just the writing, but visual art of all kinds. Knowing my little book has created opportunities for three separate illustrators is an amazing feeling.
Myna: Your short story collection, The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories, is also coming soon from Stars and Sabers Publishing. What can readers expect from this new collection?
P.A.: This is my debut collection, so it was important to me to make it the best I could put out there. It includes twenty-one fantasy and science fiction stories—two of them never before published and four that have never been available to read for free. Those two new ones aren’t stories I couldn’t sell, either. I wrote them and very shortly thereafter decided to reserve them for this collection. I’m quite proud of them and I think readers will enjoy them as much as the others in the collection. One is the title story, “The Astronaut Among the Flowers.” The other one is called, “Everything That I Am.” Additionally, the cover was designed by Chilean illustrator, Loreto Salinas Retamal. She and I have known of each other for years, and have long talked about one day working together in this way, so that’s been a dream come true. The cover is stunning, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Loreto is an illustrator of some renown in Latin America and has more books of her own under her belt than I’m likely to ever have, so having her art on my book is a real honor.
Myna: What’s your favorite thing about writing?
P.A.: I just love stories of all kinds. Like most writers, I’m an avid reader. I also enjoy movies. But honestly, I’ll take stories in any format you want to give them to me. Getting to be one of the people who creates stories is the icing on the cake. The best part is when readers let you know something you made up in your head had an impact on them, even if it just entertained them for a while. I love that.
Myna: How do you stay motivated?
P.A.: I’ll be honest here, because I feel it’s important to talk about these things, but motivation is a struggle for me. I live with depression and anxiety, and one of the main ways these manifest for me is in a lack of motivation. So sometimes I have to push myself to get started. That said, I’ve also learned to be kind with myself. Some days I just can’t get myself to sit down at the keyboard and write, so I give myself a break now and then. I don’t believe in the old “write every day” rule. For some of us, that just isn’t realistic. Taking days to recover and manage the way my brain works hasn’t stopped me from being prolific. I’ve taught myself to write fast, so when the motivation’s there, I can get a lot done in one sitting. This may not work for everyone, but it’s working for me.
Myna: You know I’m a big fan of your writing. I’d love to share a few of your other works, either books or short stories. Which other things would you like us to read today?
P.A.: This is a great question. All my work is linked on my website, pacornell.com. I’ve also included most of my earlier favorites in my collection. Of those not included in this one, I’d love people to read “Bright Horizons,” which was first published in Flame Tree’s Learning to Be Human anthology in 2024, and has since been republished in Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 3. That one’s a cautionary tale about AI in education. Another one I really enjoyed writing is “Fire & Flight,” which was published in the inaugural issue of Plott Hound magazine and it’s about a genetically-engineered dragon. Finally, there’s “Through the Machine,” which means a lot to me because it’s about the harm done by AI in the arts. This one was published by Lightspeed and also featured by Gizmodo.
Myna: Tell us about your awards, nominations, etc. Please don’t be shy!
P.A.: In 2024, I was nominated for three major awards for my story, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” the Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora. I know I’m the first Chilean-born writer to be nominated for the Nebula. I might be for the other two as well, though I’m not sure about those. That story remains special to me, but not just for the nominations. I’m just really happy with how it turned out. Readers still message me about it, and that’s always special. Aside from that, my story “Splits” was the winner of Canada’s Short Works Prize in 2022. This story is one of my personal favorites, so this win means a lot.
Myna: Do you have a pet, or other non-writing hobbies/activities? Show us a picture!
P.A.: I have two cats, Jax and Rebel. They’re named after two of my characters—and are real characters in their own right. We adopted them over the 2020 lockdown. It wasn’t planned, and we certainly weren’t thinking of ever having more than one cat at a time, but they had other plans. No regrets, though. They keep us on our toes, as cats do, but we love them.
Myna: What’s next for you?
P.A.: I’m working on a number of things I can’t yet talk about, but I’m really excited about these and look forward to sharing them publicly when the time comes. I’m also continuously working on short fiction, so there’ll be more of that from me, and likely another collection at some point, but before that happens, I’ll let this first one have its moment.
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P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A graduate of the Odyssey workshop, her stories have been published in over sixty magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Apex, and four “Best of” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards, long-listed for the BSFA Awards, and in 2022 won Canada’s Short Works Prize. When not writing, she can be found assembling intricate LEGO builds or drinking ridiculous quantities of tea. Sometimes both. For more on the author and her work, visit her website pacornell.com.
Find P.A. at @CornellWriter on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads
Order Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl here.
See information about The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories here.
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Huge thanks to P.A. for providing alternate text for the images. Writing this text for other people gives me stress—what if I get it wrong? will I offend the author??—so the extra effort from P.A. is appreciated!
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Myna Chang 