Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: If you’re in the mood for a science fiction adventure, you are in luck, because Fiona Moore is here to tell us about their novel, Rabbit in the Moon. Fiona, take it away!

Fiona: Here’s the blurb:

Ken Usagi, a daring young journalist from the icy wilderness of Nunavut, is thrust into a perilous journey through the war-ravaged remnants of the former United States. Haunted by a chilling encounter with a mysterious biotechnical machine—a relic from his troubled childhood—he becomes convinced it holds the key to ending the devastating conflict tearing the world apart.

Far to the south, Totchli, a brilliant young biotechnician from a Mesoamerican society pummeled by catastrophic climate change, receives a desperate order. He must venture north to uncover the fate of a critical colonial expedition, a mission that once carried the last hopes of his people’s survival. Communication channels with the expedition have fallen eerily Silent.

As Ken and Totchli embark on their separate quests, the very fabric of reality begins to unravel. Their paths converge, leading to a fateful encounter where the boundaries of their worlds blur and shatter.

Zilla: What inspired you to write this book?

Fiona: The initial inspiration was something of a mashup. I had been watching Apocalypse Now while also reading the Raffles novels and Castle Keep, and I had an irresistible image of a riverboat going through a jungle, crewed by Harry Manders from the Raffles novels and Alfred Benjamin from Castle Keep. When I have an image like that, I start exploring it. How did it happen? Where are they going? What are they looking for? It all just came from there.

Zilla: I love that! Were there any other images that inspired you?

Fiona: As well as that mental image, there was another source. A friend of mine told me a story about how, on an early morning walk, he’d seen two magpies herding a rabbit. One driving it from behind, the other hopping in front. That struck me as a very sinister image, but also one that tied in with the novel—these people, symbolically associated with rabbits, being driven by forces they don’t understand towards conclusions that might be disturbing.

Zilla: How much research did you need to do for your book?

Fiona: On the one hand, a lot—on the other, hardly any! I’m a university professor in my day job, and I’m very interested in Indigenous approaches to economics as an alternative to the growth-focused model. This is one of the reasons why the novel centres on two futures, one in which the Inuit are the most stable and successful society in North America, and another, where an Aztec-influenced post-human society dominates.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Fiona: You can buy the book here: https://books2read.com/u/mVLQgp and I am drfionamoore on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, BlueSky and TikTok. My blog is www.adoctorofmanythings.com.