Microinterview with Crystal Koo

Crystal Koo, author of “Titanium Chef” in The Future Fire #76, joins us for this week’s microinterview, and for a chat about her story, artificial personalities and writing.

---

Art © 2026 Joel Bisaillon

TFF: What does “Titanium Chef” mean to you?

Crystal Koo: I wanted to write a story about what it would be like finding closure in a duplicate ex-partner sans the inconvenient parts that caused the end of the relationship. It wouldn’t necessarily be the healthiest thing given how contrived it might be, and then have that take over the protagonist’s life.

TFF: Do you think an artificial personality is possible that is not a copy of a living person (or simulated from predictive text)?

CK: Not sure in terms of likelihood, but it would certainly be fascinating to imagine one—and how different it might be from what we recognize as human personalities, if it’s something that’s emerged from code. It might be completely alien from what we’re used to!

TFF: What are you working on next?

CK: I’m at the editing stage of a short story about app-based prostitution. Bigger picture, I’m also slowly working on a novel.

---

Extract

Sometimes you catch the show’s copydroids roaming the city before the season starts, testing their programming against the vagaries of the real world. They’re wide-eyed and tentative, like exotic animals reintroduced to the wild. I find photos of these titanium pseudo-humans online, lost in a pet shop or on a bicycle in the park, experiencing things in their memory for the first time, afraid it might be their last. A Titanium Chef that loses a round is deactivated, its borrowed consciousness wiped in front of thousands of real-time viewers. The last one standing returns to its lab and fights again next season.

They look at the camera warily, as if it might take their soul.

---

Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2026/05/new-issue-202676.html.

Micro-interview with Katie Conrad

This week we’re joined by Katie Conrad, author of “Protector of the Forest” in The Future Fire #76, for a microinterview about writing, environmental scifi and optimism.

---

Art © 2026 Barbara Candiotti

TFF: What does “Protector of the Forest” mean to you?

Katie Conrad: “Protector of the Forest” is a story about second chances—a second chance for humanity on a new planet, and a second chance for the protagonist, Gabrielle, to find love and community after a mistake. Gabrielle’s story is also about finding the strength to give yourself a second chance even when you don’t quite believe you deserve it.

TFF: Do you think it would be possible to learn from our mistakes on earth and do better on another planet?

KC: I do think it’s possible. Despite everything, I remain optimistic that we will learn from our mistakes and do better here on earth before it’s too late.

TFF: What are you working on next?

KC: I’m currently working on a sci-fi novel. It’s a space opera about a group of super-powered female friends who steal a powerful artifact and end up on a quest to save the galaxy. I’m on draft four and hoping to finally get the plot wrangled into shape.

---

Extract

We’d been living on Toivoa for a year when the trees began to die.

“What, all of them?” Captain Harris’ dark eyebrows furrowed above her wire-rimmed glasses. I sat on the visitors’ side of her desk in her office. It was a small place with bare walls and bare shelves. None of us had much in the way of personal effects, but the Captain took it to the extreme.

---

Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2026/05/new-issue-202676.html.

Micro-interview with Rae Zalopany

Rae Zalopany, author of “The Trident-Tailed Water Monster” in The Future Fire #76, is with us today for a microinterview about her story, monsters, writing and water.

---

Art © 2026 Toeken

TFF: What does “The Trident-Tailed Water Monster” mean to you?

Rae Zalopany: Florida’s landscapes have always felt to me like they hold something ancient and half-hidden. I’m interested in what might be living just out of sight in the swamps and springs, and this story became a way to follow that imagination while also processing political anxiety.

TFF: Who is your favorite groundbreaking woman author?

RZ: Right now I’ve been reading a lot of Sayaka Murata. I think most writers return to a few core questions or obsessions, and Murata does a great job of revisiting hers in unexpected and precise ways.

TFF: What are you working on next?

RZ: I’m currently working on Water Bug, a collection of flash fiction set around swimming pools that explores bodies and transformation.

---

Extract

Here is the dream that led her here:

An owl was the size of a petite man perched on the post office roof. He wore Spanish moss like a lei around his brown, freckled neck. A sign in red Sharpie was taped to the banister that said WET PAINT.

Natalie took a step, then another toward him. His blank eyes, the color of the moon, bored down onto her.

“Can you tell me where to find the springs?”

---

Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2026/05/new-issue-202676.html.

Micro-interview with Christine Amsden

We’re joined by Christine Amsden, author of “Believe Me” in The Future Fire #76, for the first of this issue’s microinterview series.

---

Art © 2026 Toeken

TFF: What does “Believe Me” mean to you?

Christine Amsden: Many of us have experienced symptoms being misinterpreted and pain being ignored by medical professionals. Certain extreme cases have made the news in recent years, inspiring me to write this story. It’s not my story, not exactly, but I can relate. It took nearly fifteen years for me to get a fibromyalgia diagnosis... fifteen years of pushing myself to try harder in physical therapy, fifteen years of taking antiinflammatory medication until I got an ulcer, fifteen years of wondering if it was all in my head. FIfteen years... until one person finally believed me and helped me get the diagnosis I needed.

TFF: What is your favourite real or imaginary monster, and why?

CA: My very favorite monster has to be Grover. One of my favorite books growing up—and then enjoyed reading to my own kids—was The Monster at the End of this Book. It's a fantastic take on how fear creates our own worst enemy.

TFF: What can you be found doing when you're not creating/writing?

CA: I enjoy knitting, chess, role playing, and a good cup of tea.

---

Extract

“There’s an alien in my brain.” The words sound clear in my head, but they come out slurred, more like, S’an aleen mbain.

They don’t believe me. They never do.

---

Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2026/05/new-issue-202676.html.