December 11

Terry Miles

Terry Miles, creator of the hit podcast Rabbits, chats to Cymera ahead of the release of his debut novel of the same name. The Black Tapes, also by Terry, is currently being developed into a TV series by Sony. Rabbits is published by Tor on the 10th June, 2021.

Rabbits is your first novel, but you have plenty of other writing credits under your belt. How did you know it was time to pen this novel?

One of my agents, Marc, knew that I had a background in fiction (BFA/MFA) and kept suggesting I return to the format that made me fall in love with storytelling. I tried writing a couple of different books, but Rabbits was the one that I couldn't stop writing.

Did you enjoy the experience of writing the book?

A lot of writers might say they enjoy 'having written' more than writing, but, yeah, for me the experience was definitely positive. In my other life as a filmmaker, budgets and collaborators have a huge impact on everything. With a novel, one is left more or less to their own devices. This was a nice change, but this type of freedom did come with its own set of unique challenges.

Tell us a little bit about what readers can expect from Rabbits?

I'd like to think they can expect a rollicking mystery filled with cool characters and interesting scenes, but, at the very least, they can expect that I did my best to take the more than a million words I'd written and cut away the least interesting 900k or so.

Should people seek out your podcasts before reading the book?

Definitely, although it's by no means necessary. The podcasts and the novel were created to be experienced on their own.

Do you now have the novel writing bug? Can we look forward to more books from you?

Absolutely. I can't wait to start writing the next one.

If you could spend Christmas with one well-known SF/F character, who would it be? And what would you buy them as a gift?

Great question. I think it would have to be Professor Woland from The Master and Margarita. For a gift...I think, a case of wine so we could drink and talk (maybe he'd bring his valet, cat and vampire, which would be awesome).