Microinterview with L.A. Hyland

We welcome L.A. Hyland, author of the poem “Why Would I Be a Woman” in The Future Fire #76, for the last in this microinterview season.

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Art © 2026 Barbara Candiotti

TFF: What does “Why Would I Be a Woman” mean to you?

L.A. Hyland: I’ll answer that with a question: if magic was real and could change you into anything, what would you choose to be? The possibility of magical transformation makes you interrogate the existential impact of a physical form, with all its associated abilities and expected behaviours. By suggesting ferocious and mythically powerful alternatives, I hope my poem prompts a reader to contemplate why some women might consider monsterhood a favourable option.

TFF: Tell us about a piece of art that came to life for you.

LAH: I was overwhelmed when I first stood in front of the colossal statue of Ramesses II in the British Museum: the “Younger Memnon.” There's such a gentle curve to his cheeks and a hesitation in his mouth that makes you feel as though he’s about to speak. Incredibly beautiful but it, of course, should be returned to Egypt.

TFF: Who is your favourite kick-ass woman from history?

LAH: There are too many! Let’s go with Alice of Antioch, for today. She chose to betray her god, her king, and her family. Ambitious and intelligent, she saw a chance in all the crusader chaos to claim Antioch for herself and almost succeeded. More than once.

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

LAH: Browsing the internet, most likely. Having grown up without the web, being able to look up anything makes me feel like I’ve been handed Mephistopheles’ book. It’s 3 a.m. and I need to know more about the mosaics of Zeugma, when the NHS began, or whether the planet Venus has any rings? I can just search and lose myself in the largest library the world has ever built. Is some information unreliable? Sure, but the old encyclopedias my parents owned had “factual’ entries about aether and ectoplasm…

TFF: What are you working on next?

LAH: I’m currently working on a speculative poetry collection, rooted in British myth and superstition. It features old gods and new ghosts, fairies and witches—it’s a giddy brew of idiosyncratic beliefs and ominous atheism.

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Extract

when I could be a dragon?
when I could be a gorgon,
petrifying all who dare
disturb my thoughts?

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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.

Microinterview with Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson, author of the poem “In Our Nature” in The Future Fire #76, is this week’s microinterview guest, here to talk about her poem, betrayal and alternate history.

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Art © 2026 Joel Bisaillon

TFF: What does “In Our Nature” mean to you?

Colleen Anderson: We think we always can tame nature. GMO, orchards, controlling “weeds” and making it work for us, but humanity has also done incredible damage to the world. Nature may one day rebalance and will not consider human want.

TFF: What is the thing that you find most difficult to forgive?

CA: Betrayal. To put trust in a friend or a family member who then does something that destroys a fundamental trust—that is unforgiveable.

TFF: What are you working on next?

CA: I’m working on an alternate history novel, a chapbook of “bad food” poems and on a collaboration of lost objects.

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Extract

In the beginning—
there was no beginning
not for flowers, trees, glacial rivers
evolving with the planet’s cycles
swimming through acid erosion

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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 Toeken

And this week's guest in the microinterview series is Toeken, artist of “Believe Me” and “The Trident-Tailed Water Monster” in The Future Fire #76.

Art © 2026 Toeken

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Believe Me”?

Toeken: Though it is a short tale, Christine Amsden’s splendid story is filled with such vivid imagery that it was tricky distilling ideas into the final illustration.

TFF: What was the image that really stuck with you from “The Trident-Tailed Water Monster”?

Toeken: It was probably something as deceptively simple as the “abandoned pool that had gone green from algae.”

TFF: What would be the most terrifying thing about being in outer space?

Toeken: I’d imagine it would be just trying to comprehend the sheer scale, the enormity of space itself, the awareness of the immense gulfs of space between stars and planets.

TFF: Have you ever seen a statue or a piece of art that you wished was alive?

Toeken: Bill Sienkiewicz’s rendition of the character “Warlock.” That’d be a treat to see strolling around.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

Toeken: Working with the writer Phil Emery on a scifi/noir comedy graphic novel, Hammek, which is being shopped around now; Vampyre Noir, another comic series, more paintings and a couple of book covers, one of which is for the writer Simon Bleaken’s upcoming collection of dark tales.

Art © 2026 Toeken

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.