Cyberpunk Sapphics and Mecha Deities: An Interview with Author Zoe Hana Mikuta

Introduction from Hayley Palmer:

I had the pleasure of sitting down with debut author Zoe Hana Mikuta for a short interview over Zoom in May. Her novel Gearbreakers is one that I’ve had my eye on since October, so safe to say I was buzzing with excitement. The whole MixedLife team was ecstatic about this interview and we all highly recommend her book! For links to purchase Gearbreakers, scroll down to the bottom of the page. The following article has been edited for clarity.

Would you mind introducing yourself?

I'm Zoe Hana Mikuta and I'm a YA [young adult literature] sci-fi author. I’m currently a junior at the University of Washington. I study English, creative writing and I'm minoring in history of religion for fun. I come originally from Boulder, Colorado, and recently I've settled into my first apartment here in Seattle. I feel very adult, it's weird. I've just always [had a] big literary brain, loved reading growing up. I definitely always have one foot in some kind of literary door. 

What are your ethnicities and what is your relationship with your identity?

I am half White and I'm half Korean, definitely more connected to my Korean side, culture wise. I grew up with a ginormous Korean family on my mom's side and then my dad's side is all in the south. Writing my first book, Gearbreakers, I can feel myself getting more connected to my culture because I’m writing these mixed characters and I don't know...recently it's been something I have to keep solidifying for myself that I'm Korean, not like diluted Asian [laughs]. I need to not take it so seriously, really.

What was your experience like growing up mixed? Were there ever any moments where you struggled with your mixed identity?

My family grew up around the suburbs, first in Virginia then Colorado. It was pretty white, and I'm pretty white passing so it was mellow for me. But I remember being out with my mom and in certain situations, people don't think I'm her kid. So that's always a little weird, but I'm less uncomfortable with it now. But moving to Seattle, where my university has a larger Asian student [population], my mom was definitely very happy. I haven't really been exposed to living in a neighborhood with lots of Asian people. Mostly the exposure I got was being over at my Halmeoni's [Grandmother's] house all the time. So I didn't really struggle, I guess, but there are definitely some moments where I’m looking at pictures with my entire family and it's me and my brother looking extremely white. [laughs] It's a little- I laugh at it now, but there were definitely some points where I was just kind of bummed out about it. 

Yeah, definitely. There's always the big family photos and you're like, oh my gosh, I kind of look like I don't belong here. Moving on to general writing questions, did you face any barriers while you were trying to publish your book due to your age?

Definitely not with my age, but that's only because I didn't put my age until later on in the game, like after I got my agent. I remember our first call when she was offering representation, she was like, "Are you a graduate student?" And I was like, "Oh, I'm actually starting my freshman year in two months." She thought it was cool because she's in her mid twenties too, so we made a good team. But I'll just find people on Twitter and [they'll say] "I don't know why you think you're better than us for starting earlier." And I'm like, I didn't say that! I'm sorry that you're having problems with it though.

I know you and a lot of YA authors are on TikTok, how do you think being on social media has affected the marketing for your book?

I think about this all the time, how social media is this fantastic tool and it's completely free to just do marketing on. But also the social implications for it are very cool, I could go on a whole rant. And I haven't debuted yet, but it's cool to see people getting hyped about it. I don't know what that would look like if we didn't have social media. 

I think social media really affects sales of books. Like I saw, do you know Adam Silvera, the author of They Both Die At The End? His book was super popular on TikTok for a while and he shot back up to like, number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

I know, it's crazy. When I first got my publishing deal I wasn't on Twitter or anything. But when I joined Book Twitter and Book TikTok, I was like, oh my God, people actually are still reading. I literally had no idea that the community was so big. I was just doing it because I was like, this is what I want to do. I had no idea that there was a whole community. I think it's neat.

Oh, speaking of Book Twitter, I know there's an author community on Twitter. Are you involved in it at all?

Well, I got really lucky with my group on Twitter. It's me, Tashie Bhuiyan, Christina Li, Racquel Marie, and Chloe Gong. [Hayley gestures towards the copy of Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights on her bookshelf and Zoe laughs] I see it in the background, I love it! It was Tashie who reached out to me like "You wanna be friends?" And I was like "Hell yeah". This was months before any of our books came out and we just hung out. It's a blast because we vent about the publishing industry and just kind of scream together when we're frustrated. I also get a lot of exposure to queer and AAPI [Asian and Pacific Islander] books just because that's what people are sharing on my side of Twitter, and I love knowing what's going on in those spheres.

That's so great! Moving on to Gearbreakers, your debut novel. Could you give us a little summary of it?

Gearbreakers is about two hundred foot mecha [large armored robots controlled by people inside] deities wreaking havoc in the desert. And there are these renegades called gearbreakers who are raised to take down these mechas from the inside out in order to protect themselves. Eris Shindanai is a gearbreaker and she is raised to be very cold hearted because she knows she's going to lose people. Sona Steelcrest is on the other side of the war, and she's a cybernetically enhanced mecha pilot with hidden loyalties. Her and Eris meet and their mission is to take down the entire corrupt government that is supporting these mechas. So it’s enemies to lovers and lots of found family, because I love that stuff. And it's about how you can find yourself in other people, even if you're not expecting it. 

I'm reading it currently and the world building is really great, I love it. What was your inspiration for the world in Gearbreakers?

Well, it's very far in the future dystopian because in all honesty, I don't know anything about STEM. So I was like, I'm going to drop everything as far in the future as I can so no one can check me on the semantics of it. What's implied is that it's after all this nuclear fallout, after multiple ends of the world. And now there's this ginormous monolith of a city growing out of the desert. I just really liked that image in my mind, like the blankness versus Metropolis.

I feel like in sci-fi, there's a lot of...I wouldn't say tropes, but a lot of standard sci-fi things. Are there any ones you flipped on its head or changed a little bit?

One of my inspirations was the mecha genre in general, with “Pacific Rim” and Neon Genesis Evangelion. And those mechas, they're fighting for the right side. But I was like, wow, they're really, really big. What if they were scary? [laughs] Like what if they're bad? What do you do then?

What was the most fun thing to write/research while working on Gearbreakers?

With the scale of the mechas, I wanted them to have the same [proportions] as humans. So I remember measuring my brother's wingspan [laughs] because I had to figure out how big the inside of your arm would be if you were 200 feet tall. But that was math, I don't even know if I got it right. We'll see if my copy editor checks it. 

Young Adult books have made some pretty large strides in terms of telling diverse stories. In a book like Gearbreakers, why do you feel it's important to tell these stories, be it Asian, mixed race, or queer ones?

Initially, I was like, I'm just going to write these characters because it's what I know. With Gearbreakers, the girls are half Korean and there's definitely references to the culture. But otherwise they're just there, existing, because I just exist just like most readers do. And definitely when I lean more into contemporary, I want to lean more into the mixed experience. But for now, in this distant sci-fi world, I just wanted to see someone that was like me. I think it definitely helps me feel more connected to the plot. Like when you read a book and you can tell the author's having a good time with it or how personal it is. And that's really what I was going for by putting half Korean queer girls into my stories.

Definitely, having representation is so important. Do you have any books that you felt really connected to for any of those reasons?

Well, let's see. I just finished Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. It's about two girls getting drunk married in Vegas and it's just such a fun read. I felt really seen with the unapologetic sapphic-ness of it. Discrimination is, of course, a part of being in a marginalized community. But this was kind of like a breath of fresh air because it was more focused on them having their sapphic love, and it's unimpeded. 

What do you feel is the importance of OwnVoices books [books written by an author from an underrepresented group writing from their own perspective]? 

I think it's very important to see yourself in stories no matter what the context of the stories are. I took this class last quarter about empathy in stories and how stories are always going to be around and have always been around. Because they exist as survival information. And that's not necessarily life or death survival. But it's more like, sometimes the survival information you need is just to see that people have survived situations that you've been in. Or who shared a part of your identity and have just been here before you. There's just a comfort in it. I think that's really important, especially within an industry that's really leaned on White voices, for a very, very long time. 

I know that the screen rights for Gearbreakers were acquired by a producer. First of all, congratulations, that's amazing! Second of all, dream cast, throw it all out there.

Oh, my God. I don't know. I don't think about it too much because it's not the basket I'm putting all my eggs in, but let's see. Have you seen "Parasite"? The girl who plays the sister, Park So-dam, I picture her as Eris in my head, definitely. She has the range, I think. I'm not sure about Sona, because Sona is half Korean and I don't know any half Korean, half White actresses off the top of my head.

Some wrap up questions, any must read book recommendations?

I would say Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan. It came out earlier this month and it's just so sweet. It's OwnVoices as well with anxiety representation. The Ones We're Meant to Find [by Joan He] also came out on the same day. That's my next read. And The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke. It's about a lesbian coven. I love this book because it's like the classic mean girls trope except they're all really there for each other. Oh, and I'm waiting for Ace of Spades [by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé] to come out in June. It's dark academia by a queer author, too. So I'm very excited. And I'm waiting for Chloe [Gong]'s book to come out [These Violent Ends], she already sent me the ARC [advance reader copy] for it.

I know you have a few other books you're working on currently. When I was stalking your website I saw the one that’s described as Adventure Time meets “Spirited Away” meets The Raven Cycle—I'm a very big Raven Cycle fan [laughs]. Is there anything you can tell us about your current works in progress?

Yeah, the one you just mentioned, I kind of put it on hold just because I'm editing. But that's more like a fantasy contemporary blend. I have really leaned into the genre blends. I just want to try everything. I wrote a third book over quarantine, a fantasy horror. It's a Gothic “Alice in Wonderland” retelling meets Attack on Titan and it has a sapphic lovers to enemies plotline, which is just like a blast to write but so incredibly violent. I literally don't know if they're going to let me publish it as young adult [laughs] so we'll see. 

Those all sound so good! I'm very excited about how many books you have planned. All right, last question. Where can people buy Gearbreakers and where can we find you on social media?

It's available online wherever books are sold. Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, and Amazon. But everyone can go to my website and I have all the links there. And then all my social media is just my full name. (Instagram, Twitter, TikTok)