Who’s Who Geek Edition: Sarah Kuhn

I decided to do a set of mini interviews with people I’ve interacted with and have extraordinary backgrounds. Many I’ve met via Facebook and many I’ll meet when I attend SDCC for the first time this July. Next up is author, Sarah Kuhn!

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Name: Sarah Kuhn
Online handle: @sarahkuhn (So clever!)
Site: I can usually be found avoiding deadlines on Twitter. There’s some other stuff about me on AlertNerd
Age: Old enough to have seen Return of the Jedi in the actual theater (but not Empire or New Hope).

Fave cartoon/book/movie/whatever:I always fail at this question — by forgetting something or thinking about it too much or going all out and providing the asker with long, tedious lists featuring complicated ranking systems and maybe even a spreadsheet. So I’m just going to give you my six totem shows, which will hopefully help you discern the many amazing facets of my personality: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Spaced, The Middleman, Veronica Mars, and Alias.

L: Each of those shows are effing awesome, with the exception of Spaced and The Middleman…mostly because I have never seen them. You are one of the founders of AlertNerd.com and have penned the hilarious tale, One Con Glory. Would you tell us a little bit about what spurred you to write it?

SK: I love romantic comedies with all my moony-eyed, “Eternal Flame”-karaoke-ing heart. I love comic books with all my longbox-hoarding, continuity-obsessed heart. I figured I would *really* love something that put those things together. I also wanted to write a very specific kind of character: an obsessive geek girl who has very absolute ideas about every nerd topic on the planet, but isn’t so great with the life stuff. Someone who’s kind of loud and bossy and has a 15-minute dissertation on how she feels about the Jean-Scott-Emma triangle, but if you make her feel any actual feelings…well. She kind of can’t deal. And then finally, there was a writing prompt: One Con Glory started out as a serialized story in a nerd ‘zine called Grok. Every issue was built around a theme, and in this case, the theme was “Pon Farr.” Which I apparently translated as “Doin’ It.”

L: What DO you think about Cyclops’ hair?

SK: It is a glorious and beautiful thing and he obviously invests a lot of time and product into making it appear voluminous-yet-sculpted. I am always bothered when they put him in costumes that cover it up. (Also, the hair-obscuring costumes tend to look like giant condoms.)

L: Since you seem constantly doing something amazingly cool, what kind of projects do you have in the works?

SK: One Con Glory is in development as a feature film — I wrote the script adaptation and will hopefully have more news on that soon. For now, you can read quite a bit about it here on i09.

I have an essay in the new anthology Chicks Dig Comics, which is all about why I hate “who would win in a fight”-style debates. The whole book has a jaw-droppingly incredible line-up of lady writers and I kind of can’t believe I’m part of it. Additionally, I’ll be appearing on a couple of awesome panels at GeekGirlCon in August. GGC was my favorite con last year: so many ladies doing cool things, so much great community. Plus, the panel I was on last year totally did a spontaneous “Enterprise” theme song sing-along.

I’m also working on a new novel — all I can say about it for now is that it has a superhero(ine) bent. And I have a few in-the-works projects with lovely collaborators, including some excellent fellow geek girls I am proud to call friends.

L: Everyone has a science fiction property that means the world to them, be it Star Wars, Back to the Future, or even E.T. What’s yours?

SK: I imprinted on X-Men comics and Star Wars at an early age. Those are two of the main things that made me love stories — especially stories with strong, flawed ladies at the forefront.

L: I’ve seen around the Twitterverse that you’ve dabbled in drawing. What kind of thing is your favorite to draw?

SK: Ha. Um. I think you mean I’ve dabbled in Draw Something. My actual drawing “talent” is non-existent, but I do enjoy virtual finger-painting on my tiny iPhone screen. My favorite recent drawing was a masterpiece rendering of the Reaping sequence from The Hunger Games. My stick figure Katniss was so heartbreaking, I’m pretty sure the friend I sent it to immediately broke down in tears upon receiving it.

L: Hey, just because it’s Draw Something does NOT mean it’s not full of epicky goodness. There are some real works of art done on an iPhone! I ask this question of everyone, so be honest: If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet, what position would you want? I know I’d crap my pants.

SK: Epic Poet. Mostly so I could have “Epic” in my title.

About the Author

Leia Calderon

With an emphasis on POC & women creators, Leia loves to regularly tackle the comic book industry. Unfiltered and bold, she works in comics, co-writes Sub Cultured's Game of Theories YouTube series, and co-starred in Sub Cultured's web show, Strong Female Characters.