Page Created: 12/14/25. Last Updated: 01/05/26.
YUME KITASEI
ONLINE
Website: <https://www.yumekitasei.com/>
Blusky: <https://bsky.app/profile/yumewrites.bsky.social>
Instagram: <https://www.instagram.com/yumewrites/>
Meeting Date: December 13, 2025.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 27 + 17.
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A w/science fiction / fantasy writer.
Notes:
The threat of snow depressed the in-person turnout, though it held off until the end of the meeting. Our thanks to Steve Herr, Ingrid Staats, John Upton, Pamela Webber, Moshe Yuda set up / clean up help, and to Kathy Cannarozzi and Claire Fisher for running the zoom.
Christmas Cafe Contributions:
Bobbi & Thomas Bauer..........Mini Eclairs
Kathy Cannarozzi...................Vegetable Platter
Philip De Parto........................Coffee. Milk. Crumb Cake. Cupcakes
David Fischer..........................Banana Bread Loaf
Claire Fisher...........................Brownies
George Galuschak.................Fruit Platter
Charles Garofalo....................Apple Cider. Egg Nog. Soda. Salted Peanuts
Gregor Hartmann...................Cookies
Steve Herr..............................Ginger Snap Sandwich Cookies
James Kim..............................Korean Pastries & Cream Puffs
Erin Roll..................................Raspberry Almond Cookies
Ingrid Staats............................Mini Donuts. Donut Holes
Claire & Drew Sterling.............Vegan Chocolate Lava Cupcakes
John Upton...............................Cinnamon Buns
Anastasia & Greg Warden........Cupcakes
Pamela Webber........................Fruit Platter. Cool Whip Dip. Chocolate Bark
Claudia & David Willison..........Cookies
Moshe Yuda..............................Guava Berry-Filled Pastries
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2026 Philip J De Parto:
The Saturday, December 13, 2025 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. The threat of snow kept some people away, but we had enough people there for a successful event The snow held off until the meeting had ended, although some people received a dusting on their trip home.
Our annual Christmas Cafe of beverages and desserts was held before the meeting at 6:30 PM. There were brownies (Claire Fisher), cinnamon buns (John Upton), Korean pasteries (James Kim), banana bread (David Fischer), cupcakes ( Anastasia and Greg Warden, Claire and Drew Sterling), mini-eclairs (Bobbi and Thomas Bauer), berry-filled pastries (Moshe Yuda), donuts (Ingrid Staats), crumb cake (Philip De Parto), cookies (Gregor Hartmann, Erin Roll), apple cider, egg nog, and soda (Charles Garofalo), fruit (George Galuschak, Pamela Webber) and vegetable (Kathy Cannarozzi) platters, and more, with the club supplying coffee, tea, milk, etc. This is only a partial list of goodies present.
Our speaker was writer Yume Kitasei, the author of three books of speculative fiction: THE DEEP SKY, THE STARDUST GRAIL, and SALTCROP, with a fourth due out in 2027. Her short fiction has appeared in STRANGE HORIZONS and her nonfiction has appeared at REACTORMAG.COM.
Yume has two sisters. The family moved around a lot during her youth, living in NYC, Westchester County, New Jersey, DC, and elsewhere. Her parents were journalists who have been supportive of her literary endeavors.
Despite being a geek who could reciete STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE in its entirety, our guest considers herself a practical person who did not wish to rely on writing to make ends meet. She interned for the NYC Muicipal government when she was 15, and later attended Princeton where she met fellow author / past SFABC speaker Daria Lavelle. She graduated with a Masters in Public Affairs and worked in a variety of capacities for the City of New York, putting in 60 - 70 hour work weeks.
Our guest wrote her first (awful) book when she was 15. She now uses the disk as a coaster in her apartment. Three more novels followed it. Book number four was good enough to land a literary agent, but the agent was not able to close on a sale to a publisher.
THE DEEP SKY, a mystery about a terrorist bombing on a spaceship, was listed as one of "The Best Science Fiction Novels of 2023" by the WASHINGTON POST. THE STARDUST GRAIL, a space opera that starts in New Jersey, made multiple Best of the Year lists. SALTCROP is the author's most recent book and is a tale about sisterhood on an environmentally-ravaged Earth and also won multiple Best Of accolades. All three were published by Flatiron / MacMillan.
Her demanding work schedule limited Ms Kitasei to writing in 30 minute blocks when she got up, 30 minutes before she went to bed, and whatever she could do on the subway. She is a reformed pantser, who would originally just make it up as she went along. Now she will pants for 25,000 words, stop to figure out where she is going, and then loosely outline the rest of the novel. She writes in Scrivener, listens to music as she writes, and graphs out rising and falling action in Excel.
Despite the classic wisdom of not quitting one's day job, Yume is confident enough of her saleabilty to have taken eight months off to work on her new books. She recently concluding the Traveling SF & Fantasy Book Festival of 9 panels with 16 authors to promote her work and that of the participating writers.
We thank Yume Kitasei for taking the time to meet with us; Kathy Cannarozzi and Claire Fisher for zoom support, Allesandra Yanofsky for providing and selling the books; Charles Garofalo, Steve Herr, Ingrid Staats, John Upton, and Moshe Yuda for help with the setup and/or cleanup, and Pamela Webber for running the kitchen. More notes about the meeting appear on the club website at 2025 - 12/2025 Meeting.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
BACKGROUND
Japanese father, American mother
Was an exchange student in Hungry
Lived in Sweden
PERSONAL
Listens to audio books / reads books 50/50
Reads 15 - 20 minutes before she goes to bed.
She is an extrovert
MYSTERY & ROMANCE
Romance novels are masterful at building tension in a scene
Agatha Christie would start writing a mystery without knowing the identity of the murderer. She would decide on the killer late in the book.
The solution to a mystery must be obvious in retrospect.
A good mystery can be read twice
After each mystery, Yume thinks - God, I'll never do that again and then does it anyway
BECOMING A WRITER
Started writing short fiction - good place to learn craft
Learned about writing / publishing progress through the Barnes & Noble publishing section.
WRITING PROCESS
Write what you know
Asks each character: What does Character Want? What Does Character Need? What Is Background Trauma?
DEEP SKY
book cover has Easter Eggs
has been translated into several languages (search details) and will soon will be released in Japan
DEEP SKY landed her a two book contract
Next two books were written on proposal
Will no longer write on proposal
SALTCROP
Trying new things
Stretching her as a writer
SALTCROP scene - garbage patch in ocean
Characters doing things you don't expect is a good thing
Important to support small bookstores
Marketing - can't do Tik Tok. On Blue Sky, Instagram. Does Newsletter
Don't read reviews of your books. That way lies darkness.
Every space story is a story of immigration
The joy of writing (and reading) is connecting to people
Charles Dickens & Henry James circumnavigated with words
Writing leaves gaps for an author to allow the reader to insert themself. No two people read the same book.
Writing is a compulsion, it taps into her subconscious
Author influences & faves - Agatha Christie, Charlie Jane Anders. Veronica North. Ray Naylor. Octavia Butler. Kazuo Ishiguro
Does think about the reading experience
As a writer, she wants something to happen
People want to see how people change
The internet is a wonderful & terrible place
Her writing community is online
2023 became involved in a Slack community
Splayed edges are much more common for fantasy books than science fiction
US & UK releases have different covers
Doesn't like being boxed in or characterized