“It was not in my nature to be an assertive person. I was used to looking to others for guidance, for influence, sometimes for the most basic cues of life. And yet writing stories is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Fiction is an act of willfulness, a deliberate effort to reconceive, to rearrange, to reconstitute nothing short of reality itself. Even among the most reluctant and doubtful of writers, this willfulness must emerge. Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, ‘Listen to me.’”
—Jhumpa Lahiri
—Jhumpa Lahiri
![[ Issue 2015.32; Cover art © 2015 Cécile Matthey ]](http://futurefire.net/images/f32cover.jpg "[ Issue 2015.32; Cover art © 2015 Cécile Matthey ]")
- ‘An Invisible Tide’, Jo Thomas, illustrated by Christina Cartwright
- ‘Disconnected’, Vanessa Fogg, illustrated by Miguel Santos
- ‘Tessa’, Edward Ashton, illustrated by Lisa Grabenstetter
- ‘Trigger Point’, C.A. Hawksmoor, illustrated by Martin Hanford
- ‘After the New Dawn’, Joseph Tomaras, illustrated by Eric Asaris
- ‘Rustsong’, Sean R. Robinson, illustrated by Cécile Matthey
