I’m happy to share a little info about P.A. Cornell’s new collection, The Astronaut Among the Flowers (Stars and Sabers Publishing). It’s filled with P.A.’s signature rich stories, some familiar and some brand new! There’s a great section of story notes with insight into the individual pieces, and an introduction from one of my other favorite authors, Jonathan Maberry.
Earlier this year, I interviewed P.A. about her novelette, Shoeshine Boy and Cigarette Girl. You can check it out here!
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Cover art by Loreto Salinas Retamal Cover Title Font/Layout by Dash Creative
Myna: Tell us about The Astronaut Among the Flowers!
P.A.: This is my debut collection, which essentially represents the first ten years of my fiction-publishing career. It includes twenty-one science fiction and fantasy stories. Two of them are brand new and published here for the first time, and several of the other stories have never been available to read for free, so there’s quite a bit new here for most readers. I also include story notes at the end for readers who enjoy that sort of thing, and Jonathan Maberry was kind enough to write a beautiful introduction for the book as well.
Myna: What themes do you explore in this collection?
P.A.: There are multiple themes throughout in each story, but the main theme I focused the collection around is that of “connection.” All the stories are very character-driven and center around all kinds of relationships between people and even between people and their environments, or technology. This is a common theme for me because I’m interested in what makes people tick and in how regular people like you and me would fare under extreme or unusual circumstances, so a lot of my stories revolve around that sort of thing.
Myna: Which stories are your personal favorites? Is there a character that you especially enjoyed writing?
P.A.: I love all these stories, so it’s hard to choose, but I suppose just to name a few: “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” will always be special to me, and not just because it was nominated for so many top awards. I’d included it in this collection because I loved it, long before that happened. I also really love “The Body Remembers,” which is a darker science fiction story that includes horror elements. Sci-fi/Horror is one of my favorite genres. And finally, “The Smell of Sawdust” is one I’m really proud of as well. It features an older female protagonist and depicts the kind of strength women can find in themselves and in each other. Since that one’s never yet been free-to-read, I’m excited for it to reach more readers. This is also one where I really enjoyed writing this particular character. There are a few throughout where I had fun with that and felt I got the voice the way I wanted to or that they were layered in the right ways, but the main character in “The Smell of Sawdust” is definitely up there in terms of favorites.
Myna: The cover is gorgeous. How much input did you have on the art & design?
P.A.: Thank you. I’d say I had a fair amount of input. What’s depicted on the cover—an astronaut lying in a field of purple flowers under a pink sky—comes directly from my description in the title story “The Astronaut Among the Flowers.” Beyond that though, it’s completely the work of Loreto Salinas Retamal, who is one of the top illustrators in Chile and president of the professional illustrator’s association there. She did an amazing job. The title font and design for the text elements were done by Dash Creative, who also did the same for my other book, Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl. I also got some input there in the sense that I approved the text the way it is in the final version. There were a couple of other options earlier in the process, and I got to give my feedback on those. One of the things I love about working with Stars and Sabers Publishing is that I do get quite a bit of say on the ultimate appearance of my book.
Myna: When a reader finishes the last word in the book, what emotion will they be feeling?
P.A.: I would say “hopeful.” Some of my stories can get pretty dark and they don’t all necessarily have what you might consider a completely happy ending, but despite all that, I think there’s always an underlying thread of hope. I think that comes naturally from my outlook on life. I’m not naïve. I see how bleak things can get sometimes. And yet I still hang on to a mostly positive attitude toward things. Some of the people who’ve read this collection have mentioned the sense of hope in reviews or messages to me, so I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the emotions that stays with people. Possibly the main one.
Myna: How did this collection come about?
P.A.: Because I’m a fairly prolific writer when it comes to short fiction, and have become known primarily for my short fiction, I always knew I wanted to at some point publish a collection. As I was approaching the ten-year mark, it just made sense. So I chose some of my favorite stories, pinpointed the themes they had in common, and then chose the remaining stories with that in mind. It took a while to figure out how I wanted to arrange them. In the end, I broke the book up into four parts: Artificial Minds, Unusual Circumstances, Time Distortions, and Visions of the Future. And within these I further organized the stories in a way I felt flowed naturally and left the reader with the emotions or things to think about that I wanted to leave them with as they moved throughout the book. It required a lot of thinking about the reader experience. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve read through this book while I was tweaking the arrangement and considering things like story length, tone, and more.
Myna: If your book had a theme song, what would it be?
P.A.: I guess I’d choose a song about connection, given the main theme. The first one to pop in my head is “Connection” by Elastica, but I’m sure there are many songs that deal with that. Probably ones that better reflect the vibe of the book, that just aren’t coming to mind right now.
Myna: Do you have any advice for other writers who want to publish a collection?
P.A.: I would say, don’t rush it. Don’t just throw any story in there simply because it’s available. Wait until you have a good group of stories that you love and that really work well in combination, and be prepared to exclude one or two you love when they don’t quite fit. You can always save them for a future book. You have to think both like an anthology editor and like a reader, when you put together a collection. You have to be able to put yourself in the mindset of a stranger and consider how they will receive this combination of stories.
Myna: Tell us about a recent accomplishment or share some happy news with us!
P.A.: With this book coming out in August it’s been getting the most attention right now, but around the same time I also had a short story published in Adventitious issue four titled “A Game of Go.” I’m extremely proud of this story, which is now also available to read for free. This one took a long and winding road to publication, first getting an acceptance from Analog that I ultimately had to walk away from, so finally seeing it published feels like a major accomplishment, and I hope people will read it and potentially consider it for awards when the time comes.
Myna: Tell us about your awards, nominations, etc. Don’t be shy!
P.A.: As of this year, I’m a two-time finalist for the Nebula award. First for “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont” and most recently for “Through the Machine.” “Oakmont” was also a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy awards. And “Through the Machine” was recently listed as a notable story in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2026. Both these stories can be found in several “best of” anthologies, which I list on my website. My short story “Splits”—also included in my collection—is the winner of Canada’s 2022 Short Works Prize. This one has an unusual premise that a lot of readers seem to like.
Myna: What’s next for you?
P.A.: I’ve been very busy with various writing-related things this year. For instance, I was one of the judges for Dream Foundry’s Emerging Writers Contest. And with two books coming out in the same year, I’ve also been promoting a lot. So right now I’m looking forward to not exactly a break from that sort of thing, because a lot of it is ongoing, but focusing more on hopefully writing some new stories. I have a couple of projects I can’t yet talk about, but I promise more exciting things will be announced, probably early next year. I also have several publications still to come either this year or early next, most likely. One I’m really excited to see out in the world soon is a short story I only just wrote in 2026 titled “Compliance” that will be coming out in Apex Magazine.
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P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A two-time finalist for the Nebula Award, her stories have been published in over seventy magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Apex, and multiple “Best of the Year” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy 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.
Author headshot by Michelle Ward
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Myna Chang 