Benjamin C. Kinney is a speculative fiction author, neuroscientist, and the assistant editor of the science fiction magazine Escape Pod. In his Escape Pod role, he’s been a Hugo and Ignyte Award finalist. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and more. He currently lives in St. Louis with three cats and a spacefaring wife.
How can I contact you?
Sign up for my newsletter (see sidebar), email me at benjamin.c.kinney (at) gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter at @BenCKinney. I’ve also begun dabbling in Instagram. See here for more contact info, including upcoming convention appearances.
What do you write about?
Oh jeez, everything. I’ve written across the spectrum of science fiction and fantasy. If I want to be pretentious, I’d tell you I write about science and faith, the human mind and the inhuman mind, and where these four intersect. Also dragons.
Is that your real name?
Nope! I publish under a pen name because my real name is associated with my nonfiction work, and I want separate google searches for those two tracks. I am a neuroscientist currently working in St. Louis, Missouri. My research interests include how the the brain’s mechanisms of handedness interact with nerve injuries and rehabilitation.
Why that pen name?
“Kinney” is a re-spelling of my mother’s maiden name, and the “C” is a family heirloom from my father’s side. Some puns survive for generations.
What does your website title mean?
It’s a reference to a stage of neural development that continues in the brain until adulthood: neural pruning. It’s my way of saying “website/life under development” in a too-clever neuroscience way.
I heard your wife went to Mars! Is that true?
As true as it gets! Thankfully, she came back!
What is your all-time favorite endorsement?
“you are the soul of books” – Chuck Tingle
How can I support your work?
Most of my fiction is in free online venues, or reprinted here on my website. However, my Publications page lists a few anthologies that you should definitely buy.
I don’t have a Patreon/Drip/etc because I receive adequate money from my day job, so go help out a writer with a tighter budget. But if you really want to support my work, consider backing the Escape Artists patreon!
Tell me something else! Down with the FAQ format!
Let us dance among its cinders while I proclaim myself a member of the Codex writers’ group, a graduate of Viable Paradise 18, and an active member of SFWA!