Tasha He (they/them) is a speculative fiction author, disability advocate, and founder of Disenfranchised Writers’ Voices, a nonprofit supporting low-income and disabled writers.
Author Links:
Instagram: @hethe.author
Book Club Pitch:
Explosive, witty, and emotionally raw, Caenogenesis is a genre-bending sci-fi dystopian novel about identity, autonomy, and found humanity—perfect for readers and book clubs who love morally complex characters and big questions about who we are when the world decides what we’re allowed to be.
Congratulations on your debut release! Can you tell us where your love of Sci-Fi came from, and what inspired you to write Caenogenesis?
Thank you! Well, where to begin? I suppose my biological father had something to do with it. He was a big fan of Star Trek. Heck, he convinced my mother to name me after a Star Trek character. For the years I was around him, I was around shows like Star Trek and Stargate. I’m sure that had something to do with it.
In addition, I fell in love with the Animorphs series in the 5th grade. It’s still a series I hold close to my heart even today. Caenogenesis is inspired from a 2014 RP site called Palingenesis that I was a part of. Unfortunately, the stories told on that forum were never finished as it died and we all drifted apart. Caenogenesis aims to finish the story I was directly a part of and bring closure to that part of my life.
Can you tell us more about the title (without spoilers if possible) – what does Caenogenesis mean for those not familiar with biological terminology, and how does it relate to the themes of the novel?
/ ˌsiːnəʊdʒɪˈnɛtɪk; ˌsiːnəʊˈdʒɛnɪsɪs / noun: variants coenogenesis or more commonly cenogenesis introduction during development of adaptive characters or structures that are absent from the earlier phylogeny of a strain (as addition of the placenta to the common vertebrate pattern in mammalian evolution)—as opposed to palingenesis.
I like to leave that interpretation up to the readers. I think there are a few characters or events one can link the title to. For me, I think of a certain character who is more than meets the eye. I think of her origins and her purpose. All 3 titles for the trilogy are that way. They all have an interpretive meaning to the story as a whole.
What research did you do for this novel (both in terms of fiction influences or non-fiction research)?
I didn’t really do much research. I did go back to Palingenesis and re-read a few threads. I re-read my character profiles, though my characters have evolved since then. I did briefly look into possible effects of mass nuclear war and subsequent nuclear winter. I sort of lean into the more fantastical “good enough” kind of sci-fi rather than hardcore sci-fi. Things don’t have to be entirely realistic—just believable in the world presented to you.
How did you develop this post-apocalyptic world – did you decide on what the apocalyptic event was, and develop the societies from there, or was it a less linear process?
I wanted to take the setting and make it my own, and that’s what I did. I already knew that the apocalyptic event was world-wide nuclear war. The year said war took place changed multiple times throughout the drafts, but finally settled in my final iteration.
I built Ignis before anything else. I put Ignis in my home state so I’ve points of reference and experience with the location. For the vibes and technology, I drew inspiration from TV shows I watched like Altered Carbon, for example. That gave the world a very dark, sort of cyperpunk vibe. Whatever Happened to Monday was another show that inspired the level of tech in my world. I’ll admit, I did not develop the world much outside of Ignis until I began thinking of the second book in the trilogy. Caenogenesis doesn’t cover anything outside of Ignis.
I really enjoy the world I’m building. It’s a fascinating sort of “what if.” What if the world was destroyed by nuclear warheads? What if we lost entire sectors of knowledge because all of its experts died? And for the next century we lost access to anything online? How would humanity persevere? How would they claw back to the level of technology we have today? How would they exceed it and in what areas? Are some areas further ahead than others?
On the social side, what might make a comeback because it is what survived in the underground bunkers? I regret to inform you all that YOLO made it through. The world takes place in is an amalgamation of technology both old and new and I found that a lot of fun to play with.
Your main characters are Kraken and Yin – introduce us to each of them, and tell us how you developed their characters from first concept to final draft.
Theopold Kraken is quick-witted, and far more compassionate than he lets on. A resident of Retro Ignis (aka the Inner Ring) with a talent for salvaging both technology and impossible situations, Kraken is deeply principled, stubbornly loyal, and driven by a need to protect others, even when doing so puts him directly in harm’s way. He’s your classic hero archetype character.
Kraken once belonged to a friend of mine. We used to roleplay Kraken and Yin together back on the forum. Unfortunately, Kraken’s original owner no longer roleplays or writes. I asked her if I could adopt Kraken as my own character. She agreed, and from that moment Kraken became mine. We’ve since lost touch, but I was able to get a couple questions answered to help inform the gaps I needed to fill. My goal was to keep Kraken as faithful to his original creator’s vision as possible. I referenced his old character profile frequently during drafting. I also read our old threads so I could get his characterization just right. I hope one day she’ll come across Caenogenesis and know I succeeded in closing our story. I hope I’ve done Kraken proud.
Yin Izumi is someone who approaches the world through logic rather than emotion. Trained to be a weapon, Yin is blunt, observant, and often unintentionally disarming in her honesty. While she insists she is not human, her curiosity, stubborn independence, and emerging sense of self reveal cracks in that belief. As she navigates freedom for the first time, Yin’s journey is less about learning how to fight and more about learning what it means to exist on her own terms. Yin Izumi was my part of our equation. Iterations of her have been around for as long as I can remember. She was one of my primary roleplay characters that I took across forums and adjusted to the setting. So don’t be surprised if you’re a roleplayer and find her character hidden in the archives of dead forums! What changed about her is I got older. No, literally. Now that I’m older and more matured, I’ve been able to handle her and her story with more nuance. I’ve given more depth to her history and adjusted parts of her that were more cartoon-ish in the past.
Lastly – what are you most excited about for readers to discover in this story, when ARCs go out on Feb 27th 2026? Can you share a favourite (non-spoilery if possible) moment, or line?
“The food items on this food chooser are nutritionally deficient. Why do humans consume such substances? Do they actively seek premature mortality?”
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