How did “Money in the Bank” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

John: It started with a story beginning I wrote, a conversation between my hero and somebody named the Glovemaster about being hired by a powerful person named the Mealybug. It never got past the first page. I sent it to Bruce and he picked it up and ran with it. Making this story about cryptocurrencies and the culture surrounding them was Bruce’s idea, and we both pushed the characters toward comedy.

Bruce: I wouldn’t say that cryptocurrency is inherently comical, but from its very beginning there was always something weird-funny about it.

What was your writing process like?

John: The story got passed back and forth between Bruce and me through the summer of 2022, each of us revising and moving it forward to the next scene before passing it back. Many details changed from draft to draft, but gradually the plot got worked out and Wayne and Jacqui went from figures of fun to something more like real human beings trying to save their marriage.

As drivers, Bruce is always flooring the accelerator to beat the next light while I try to keep the passengers alive. There was a bit of tug-of-war over the steering wheel, and some questions about when the story was finished, but we eventually arrived at a mutually agreeable destination. The result is something I don’t think either of us could have written alone.

Bruce: In collaborations with other writers I tend to be the guy who throws a lot of hot spaghetti at the wall.

What are you working on lately? Where else can fans look for your work?

John: I’m working on a novel-in-stories with fantastic elements set at the turn of the twentieth century featuring historical figures including H.G. Wells and Stephen Crane, President William McKinley, and the French film pioneer Georges Méliès. A big collection of my stories, The Dark Ride, came out in 2022 from Subterranean Press. I’ll also have a short collection in PM Press’s “Outspoken Authors” series in 2024, The Presidential Papers.

Bruce: I just wrote a cover story for Newsweek about Artificial Intelligence, although Newsweek isn’t what it once was and neither is Artificial Intelligence.

If you’ve got to read a Bruce Sterling book, I would recommend the recent collection Robot Artists and Black Swans because, although every story in there is about Italy, they’re about Italy in a very Bruce Sterling way.