Micro-interview with Eleanor Glewwe

We’re delighted to be joined by Eleanor Glewwe, author of “Limue’s Alphabet” in The Future Fire #74, for a quick chat about alphabets and languages, in this week’s installment of our micro-interview series.

---

Art © Barbara Candiotti

TFF: What does “Limue's Alphabet” mean to you?

Eleanor Glewwe: I was inspired to write this story when an author I followed on Twitter—I wish I could remember who—urged writers to “go weird.” I don't remember where the idea for the plot came from, but “Limue’s Alphabet” is the closest I’ve ever ventured toward horror. I’m also pleased by how its non-linear structure came together, and I always like being able to infuse my fiction with some linguistics.

TFF: What language or writing system would you most like to learn?

EG: Thanks to my newish research focus, I’ve learned to read the Georgian Mkhedruli alphabet, but I would love to be able to understand everything I can sound out. Separately, I wish I could speak Taishanese, the language of my mother's family. There's one Taishanese word tucked into “Limue’s Alphabet.”

TFF: Is there an art-form or creator from distant history that you still look at with admiration or awe?

EG: Johann Sebastian Bach came to mind, but I’m not sure he belongs to “distant” history. I could also say Georgian traditional polyphony, which I think is pretty ancient (sorry, I’m a bit of a Kartvelophile).

TFF: What are you working on next?

EG: I think “Limue’s Alphabet” is the last piece of fiction I’ve finished; I’ve been writing very slowly lately. But I am working (on and off) on another linguisticky short story set in a near-future Upper Midwest (U.S.).

---

Extract

In the dappled shade of a stand of bamboo, an old woman takes a stick and scratches two curved lines in the dusty yellow earth.

“Pai is for pera
Limue’s plucked eye”

---

Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2025/09/new-issue-202574.html.

New issue: 2025.74

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art—the art of words.”

—Ursula K. Le Guin (National Book Awards, 2014)

Issue 2025.74

Short stories

• ‘The Sons of Victor Levitak’, Rowley Amato - art by Toeken
• ‘Sentinel’, Lauren Ferebee - art by Barbara Candiotti
• ‘Seven Stories for Now and Later’, Nancy S. Koven
• ‘Unblooded Gospel’, Justin Taroli - art by Toeken

Novelettes

• ‘The Better Ends’, V. Zixin - art by Carmen Moran
• ‘Limue’s Alphabet’, Eleanor Glewwe - art by Barbara Candiotti

Poetry

• ‘The Void Is in a Playful Mood Tonight’, Naomi Simone Borwein - art by Carmen Moran

Download e-book version: PDF | EPUB

New issue: 2020.55

“Now is the time to warrior up and empower each other to take a stand for our planet. We need to sustain the little we have now, and develop ways not to pollute the environment, and sustain relationships with Mother Earth and save what we have left.”

—Autumn Peltier

Issue 2020.55

Short stories

• ‘We Will Become as Monsters’, Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• ‘Know They Will Die under the Salt of It’, Jennifer R. Donohue
• ‘Mijara’s Freedom’, Eleanor Glewwe
• ‘Scaled Soul’, Rhianwen Phillips

Novelettes

• ‘The Good Hawks’, Danielle Jorgenson-Murray

Poetry

• ‘Whistling Trees and Ironwood’, Hester J. Rook
• ‘Oak Tree’, Fiona M. Jones
• ‘Time Traveller's Memory’, Davian Aw
• ‘Neith and Her Women’, Gerri Leen

Download e-book version: PDF | EPUB | Mobi

Full issue and editorial

Rate or review this issue on Goodreads