geeky tv show. >> yeah. >> we were such nerds. but 80s weird city to be a nerd in. >> especially a black nerd. as a writer your job is to create literally fantastic worlds and fantastic images. >> yeah. >> how much of that if any of that was informed by growing up here? >> a lot. >> yeah flew i'm writing in fantastic worlds but still writing about people, rarldless of the planet they're on. and that systems and networks of protection and networks of harm. and you know, also to make the worlds realistic is to explore the whiches oppression works. this is a town that's got a long and bloody history, and also a beautiful history. people banned together to kind of form, found families, or even to use blood families to try and make themselves safe in an unsafe world. and i hadn't realized how much of it i absorbed just from living here. it's in me. >> yeah. >> it's in me. there. whether i acknowledge it or not. and i troo i to acknowledge things. i'm renegotiating my relationship with mobile. and remembering how it started helps.