Moss'd in Space: A Guest Post by Rebecca Thorne

Space adventure meets hilarious hijinks in this quirky tale of found family, second chances and a sarcastic computer made of moss. Read on for an exclusive essay from Rebecca Thorne on writing Moss'd in Space. 

Hello! My name is Rebecca Thorne, and I am beyond delighted to share Moss’d in Space with you this summer!! Some of you may know that I’ve been a cozy fantasy writer for years—essentially since it became a real genre in bookstores. I always felt really lucky to find my niche there, amongst the low stakes, found family, and a good cup of tea. But as I wrapped up the Tomes & Tea quartet, I found myself craving more.

I wanted cozy in space.

Two years ago, I pitched Moss’d in Space to my agent, then my editors, and amaze amaze amaze! It worked!!

This is a huge deal, because even now, cozy sci-fi isn’t… really a genre. There are books that fit into it—like Becky Chambers’ novels, and Martha Wells’ Murderbot series—but nothing really marketed as cozy sci-fi. That was a big reason why I wanted to write Moss’d in Space; I hope that with more books actively marketed as “cozy, but in space,” we can see the genre grow like cozy fantasy did!

Of course, that meant I had to write a stellar book that really stood out in the industry. Luckily, I was hugely inspired by Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, and the talking spider plant, Caz. It made me think: what sentient plant would thrive in space?

The answer was obvious. Moss produces more oxygen and cleans more carbon dioxide than any other plant on earth. It’s been proven to survive in extreme conditions. And I can’t be the only human awed by spongey moss on a forest hike!

After that, the story fell into place perfectly: sentient moss, responsible for a ship’s life support system!

Ironically, writing this book proved to be very difficult. I knew I wanted a specific kind of rapport with Moss, Torian, and the other characters—and I explored a lot of ideas before settling on the final version. Would they all be together on a big, cozy spaceship, Firefly style? Would they be involved in intergalactic drama like Mass Effect?

A dozen different experiments played out on my screen, and in the end, I decided they all felt too big. This book wasn’t an epic space opera. It needed to be smaller. More focused.

So, in the end, I decided to focus on Torian, a hopeful young woman who’s spent a lifetime helping her dying sister, and Moss, a sentient, organic computer struggling to realize why its immortal creator abandoned it. Together, the pair of them learn how to live again, and how to choose what they want after a lifetime prioritizing others.

It’s ironic, but in a story about sentient moss, this book is really about what it means to be human. And in our current age of artificial intelligence, where computers generate recycled creativity, what truly defines sentience, in the end?

That was the core of what I hoped to accomplish. A cozy story that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, and hopefully laughing along the way. There’s a great slow-burn sapphic romance (Ao3 lovers, I’m talking a real slow burn spread over the whole trilogy). There’s amazing, kind aliens.

It has all the best hallmarks of science fiction, prepped for a new, cozier audience. I cannot wait for you to dive into Moss’d in Space. I hope this book serves as a… breath of fresh air.

(That’s a Moss pun.)

Enjoy!!