Introduction:
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‍Anna Mocikat has published over a dozen cyberpunk and related sci-fi books across four series, in addition to shorter works. She has given many interviews about her books, but this interview is an intimate look into the woman herself, the creative mastermind behind some of indie cyberpunk's most thrilling rides.
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‍Mark: You use your character Nephilim as your avatar. In what ways does she represent your ideal self?
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Anna: This is actually a question I get asked quite often. People want to know how much of me is in Nephilim. It’s funny that you mention that I use her as an avatar, because, in fact, I cosplay her. It started a couple of years ago when I bought myself neon-blue contact lenses. When I have a public appearance I always cosplay a Guardian Angel, one of my killer cyborgs. When creating Nephilim I didn’t plan her to be my ideal self at all. She’s way cooler than me. However, she and I share some distinctive traits: we’re both fearless, resilient and strong-willed. I would be a terrible killer cyborg though as I literally can’t hurt a fly.
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Mark: The psychologist Lacan says that fantasy comes between subject and object. In this case, the book is the object and the author the subject, with fantasy being the mediator. In this sense, how does Metatron play out your power fantasies as you were writing him?
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Anna: This is a very interesting concept and a very interesting question! Metatron is my favorite character, and we have a lot in common. We’re both intellectuals who see the world with more clarity than most people, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Despite how he is presented in the first book, I never saw Metatron as a villain. He’s a survivor who eventually turned to the dark side. Personally, I don’t have power fantasies. I’m an INTJ, who’s rather left alone and observes. I’ve no desire to control and manipulate people and I’m not very good at it. Slipping in his skin when writing him is great fun nevertheless. Mostly because he’s ruthless and doesn’t give a damn about conventions. If you piss him off, you die. It’s simple as that. What makes writing him a big challenge is that he’s a genius and a strategic mastermind who constantly plays 4D Chess. Writing someone who’s so much smarter than I am isn’t always easy.
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Mark: That's interesting. I am also an INTJ, so I can relate to that. It's a very rare personality type. You've been around the world, living in Germany and Poland, so let's talk culture, Anna. Asia has not been as obsessed with science fiction as the West has, with the exception of Japan. That is starting to change with the Three-Body Problem, but there’s still regional differences. You have mentioned how cyberpunk is different in Japan and the U.S. with the focus on augmentation and cybernetics being higher, and I know Ghost in the Shell was influential on your writing. When I visited England in 2002, the punk scene to me seemed more 80’s compared to the U.S. and more extreme, at least on the surface, with mile-high mohawks still being in style. When I think of the German punk scene, I think of Rammstein, Oomph, and Blutengel. With you having spent so much time living in Munich, attending film school and the like, how was the punk and cyberpunk scene different in Germany than the U.S.?
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Anna: (Laugh) I was a true punk when I was young and in my heart I still am. Combined with my deep love for science fiction and technology since childhood, I think that makes me a true cyberpunk 😉It’s interesting that you had that perception when visiting Europe in the early 2000's. Growing up in Germany this was basically a reality for me. I’m a 90's child and punk was still very much alive back then. Well, technically I’m a goth. Goths and punks have the same roots; in a way, goths are the punks’ younger and more stylish siblings. I’ve seen Rammstein live, by the way, among many other bands. I think what my readers and fans like about me is that I’m authentic. I don’t pretend, I live and breathe cyberpunk.

Mark: You certainly do. It's interesting how subcultures create labels to define themselves.
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‍Mark: Both the Northeast and Northwest U.S. have been hot beds for cyberpunk. It has also long been associated with Texas, drawing both left and right-wingers to its thrall. But otherwise, the South has been left out of the action. There is something unique about Southern Culture in terms of traditional values and religiosity, with a dark underbelly to both of those. What challenges do you think Southern culture provides cyberpunk authors, and is the genre compatible with the South?
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Anna: The beauty about modern technology, the internet and Amazon in particular is that I don’t need to live anywhere specific to sell my books... The publishing business has changed a lot, and some aspects are blessings for authors while others make it harder. The creative freedom of being an indie is a wonderful thing, finding your audience worldwide... The downside is that you’ve got to spend a lot of time and money on marketing.

I live in South Carolina, but I’m obviously not born here. I ended up here more by coincidence but I’m still here because I love it. In my opinion it’s hard to find friendlier people than Southerners. And there’s something about them most people don’t realize. Southerners might not be cyberpunks but they’re punks at heart, and it’s something I love about them. People tend to forget what punk really means and what it stands for. It’s not about fancy haircuts and nose piercings, such as many young people believe nowadays. In its nature punk is heavily anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment. And who is the establishment? The government, the media, Hollywood, big tech—the elites, the 1%. Being a punk is rejecting those people and their philosophies, or at least viewing them critically.

Southerners are very anti-authoritarian; they have a huge (and very healthy) distrust towards the government and the media. And they’re very anti-establishment too. So, they might wear baseball caps and drive trucks but in their anarchistic hearts, Southerners are more punk than many who claim they are. If you make the effort to actually engage with normal, working-class people here, you’ll discover that they’re capable of critical thinking much more than you’d expect. In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Southerners would be the Nomads.
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Mark: This is a very sophisticated way of applying the true definition of punk to the South. I think the South is conformist in terms of attending conservative churches every Sunday morning, but rebellious at heart as you have stated with your analysis. Thank you for sharing these insights, Anna.

Any author who has sold as many books as you will occasionally receive negative reviews. How do you handle that?
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‍‍Anna: In general, I’m not bothered by negative reviews very much. They’re a part of the business, it’s impossible to please everyone. Of course, I don’t like getting them, but who does? Funny enough, the majority of my negative reviews have a problem with the descriptions of sex in my books. My books are in no way pornographic; they’re written for adults and I always keep the graphic scenes at “HBO level.” Nevertheless, it’s too much for some readers. Even funnier is the fact that those bad reviews sell me a lot of books. What bothers me are reviewers who attack me personally or who try to prove that I don’t know what I am talking about. I put a huge amount of time and effort into research. I’m not a scientist but I try to keep my technology as plausible as possible. A reviewer once gave me a bad review because he thinks cyborgs aren’t science fiction, they’re fantasy. Another one criticized that the spaceships in my Space Punks series have artificial gravity. That’s why the genre is called science fiction and not science non-fiction. And people like this guy certainly don’t mind the artificial gravity on Star Trek.

Mark: Yeah, it's rough trying to please everyone. Let's go back to your social persona. You display yourself in your photos as a tough, badass woman. You come across as confident, outgoing, dominant, a leader, and quick to take credit for your accomplishments, and reemphasize that credit. Yet, you also describe yourself as an introvert at heart, a writer seeing into the sensitivities of your characters. As you are putting on the persona of the punk author, what hides behind all the leather and black lipstick that you don’t want the world to see?
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Anna: I’m authentic and that’s one of the reasons why people like me. I am a punk author. My lifestyle is extraordinary, if not avant-garde. The clothes I pose in are my regular clothes I wear on the street. I’m tough as nails because my life has been rougher than that of most people. I survived Dengue Fever twice, blood clots in my lungs, and an accident that left me with a partially fractured skull. I also survived working in the movie industry and in the video game industry (laugh).

During Covid, I was in such a dire financial situation that I was eating Dollar Tree ramen for months so I could afford the care for my senior dog in his last year of life. At a certain point in my life, I realized that there’s no knight in a shining armor coming for me, no one would save me unless I save myself. So, that’s what I did over and over again. I’m proud of my accomplishments and why wouldn’t I be? I worked extremely hard for my modest success. I started at zero when I moved to the US and within five years, I became the most popular contemporary female cyberpunk author and one of the most successful cyberpunk authors in general. And that despite the fact what a tough playing field cyberpunk is. And yet, despite everything I’m also an introvert, a nerdy girl who wants to beat your ass at First Person Shooters 😉

Mark: That is very rough indeed, and having to rely on yourself to that degree is a quite a challenge in itself. With all these experiences, can you give us some wisdom in closing?
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Anna: Don’t dream about your life, live your dream. This has been my mantra since High School.

We thank Anna for participating! Purchase her books on Amazon or learn more about them at her website.
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Anna Mocikat's Bibliography:

‍Space Punks Series - Books 1 through 4
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‍Cyber Squad Series - Books 1 through 3
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‍Behind Blue Eyes Series - Books 1 through 6
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‍There's no Murder in Paradise Series - Books 1 and 2
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Various short stories and anthologies