I first “met” Alanna Blackett a few years ago, when both of our favorite NBA teams, The Trail Blazers (me) and the Hornets (her) were looking to take names and kick butt. (Yeah… that didn’t really pan out, sadly.) Being that the internet sports world is dominated by a lot of male voices (though there are loads of female sports fans—don’t let anyone tell you any differently), we would regularly chat on Twitter about basketball.

Naturally, when I found out she was publishing a novella, Unsecure Connection, with Decadent, I bought it as soon as it was available. But it’s always a little stressful reading something written by someone you know—even if it’s just through the series of tubes that makes up the internet. This was amplified that I’m very science fiction-phobic, and Unseure Connection is science fiction. But I fretted needlessly—I quickly blew through the novella in an evening and loved the story of a pair of misfit hackers in a grim, gritty future version of New York City. The other thing that struck me is what a female-positive story Unsecure Connection is. Riley is tough and smart and crafty, and in surprising ways. It’s definitely a story I’d recommend for anyone looking for something different.

So, I thought I’d invite Alanna to chat with us about about her novella and books and reading in general. And sexytimes. Ahem.

{Pro Tip: Be sure to read all the way to the end of the interview.}

I’d love to hear a bit about Unsecure Connection, its plot, characters and gritty, creative setting in your own words.

It’s a cyberpunk romance novella featuring two hackers who are kind of stalking each other around Interspace, which is basically a virtual reality internet. When the story opens, Riley’s hacking into a database and she realizes someone’s tracking her. That person is CJ, who used to be a top-tier hacker until he got caught by the Evil Corporation. So now he’s being forced to work for them as a high tech bounty hunter, trying to catch his old friends and colleagues. Riley doesn’t really trust CJ (with good reason), but they have so much in common that she can’t help liking him. This all takes place in a future where New York City is controlled by corporations and has expanded to take over much of the lower half of New York state. I had fun writing it.