The Robot Keepers - Part 2 of an Interview with Terri Favro

Season 3, Ep. 33

This is the second part of Linda's interview with Terri Favro, who opens this part with her thoughts about gender and the genre of science fiction, making reference to

• Ursula LeGuin (1.05)

• Doris Lessing (2.45)

• Margaret Atwood (2.45)

Linda and she then turn their attention to the challenges of writing a trilogy (3.45) and the effects of the pandemic on writing her last instalment, The Sisters Sputnik (ECW). The two consider the Spanish Flu (9.35, 10.45, 12.23) and Sacco and Vanzetti (12.07), early Italian immigrants who were accused of theft and murder -- and explain the kind of anti-Italian sentiment that had a bearing on Favro's family (and many Italian immigrants). She speaks about how, first, she learned how stories were important to la bella figura (16.34) -- an Italian expression that captures the idea of holding a respectable outward form to the world (even if one's private life was a mess!), and, second, how her father was a source of inspiration as a "robot keeper" (19.37). That robot, incidentally, she adds, made an appearance on Johnny Carson (the "unimate," 25 and 29.12).

Host & Writer: Linda Morra, Co-producers: Linda Morra & Marco Timpano, Music: Raphael Krux