Mercenaries running aid missions for the rebels, caught between pirates, cyborg xenos, and a black hole: that is the setup of Friday Strout’s debut novel, Black Hole Guns For Hire. An ENNIE-nominated tabletop game designer and former Marine, Strout wrote it on a whim during a break from game design, channeling two decades of complicated feelings about service and empire into a fast, sharp piece of science fiction.
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Q&A with Friday Strout
Q: Black Hole Guns For Hire has a great hook. What is the story, and how did it come together?
A: While it’s been a lifelong dream to be a novelist, I got my start in TTRPG writing and game design a few years back after I avoided sharing my fantasy novels with others for 20+ years. I wrote this novel on a whim while taking a break from game writing. I wanted to stay busy drafting! I’d written a couple of trunk novels before as a teenager and fiddled around in my 20s, but this was my first series attempt (for fun) in a decade.
Q: You wrote it fast and kept it lean. When did you start, and what finally pushed you to publish?
A: I wrote the book in 2 months and revised it as harshly as I could to pare it down so that it read fast. I wanted to just get a book out there without being overly critical of it. I think for years (decades) I was wrapped up in “is this good enough?” instead of just putting it out there. I made the choices I made and I feel like I delivered reasonably well. Fun facts: I’m a stay at home girlfriend and I like TTRPGs.
Q: Which character was the most fun, or the most challenging, to write?
A: Tyson Connor was a big challenge for me to inhabit that mindset, but once I got into it? There was a unique kind of villainous fun to writing his viewpoint and terrible opinions.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I’d like for people to enjoy the book first and foremost. The message I’d like for people to take away from the book is that Pride month is about queer wrongs, too.
Q: How much of your own life made it into the story?
A: I spent over a decade in the Marines, so a lot of the book was just drawing out my conflicted feelings about being a contributor to the imperial empire and recapturing the essence of what felt authentic in a sci-fi setting.
Q: Is there a question about the book you wish readers would ask?
A: Honestly? “Where’s the sequel?”
Q: What was the biggest challenge in writing or publishing it?
A: Being patient.
Q: What is next for you as a writer?
A: Book 2 of this series, and I’m outlining a gothic horror lesbian novel for next year.
Author Bio
Friday Strout is a nonbinary transfem tabletop roleplaying game designer, writer, and former imperial stormtrooper. Her D&D adventure writing was nominated for an ENNIE in 2024. She is a native of the Pacific Northwest in the United States of America, at the heart of Earth’s imperial core. Black Hole Guns For Hire is her first novel.
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