Micro-interview with Jonathan Olfert

We’re joined for this week’s micro-interview by Jonathan Olfert, author of “Whiskey Mud” in The Future Fire #71.

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Art © 2024 Cécile Matthey

TFF: What does “Whiskey Mud” mean to you?

Jonathan Olfert: I guess at the level past 'no institution will ever love you (back)' and 'elephants are people too,' it's about how our level of intelligence waxes and wanes, and how frightening it can be to be less intelligent than you were yesterday, with worse judgment. Maybe that's not a universal experience but I think it's a pretty common fear that we don't really talk about.

TFF: This is the second futuristic elephant story you've put in TFF; would it ever be possible for us to start treating the other sapient species on our planet as equals?

JO: Equal in dignity maybe, at an individual level, but I'm enough of a cynic about institutions writ large to say no. I think the main common element of those two stories is that although Chalt and Sara travel farther than any of their species ever have, it's always on others' terms and mediated by others' opinions of their limits and possibilities and dignity.

TFF: If you had to invite the protagonist of your current work-in-progress to dinner, what would you cook for them?

JO: That would be the turncoat tithe collector Ander Carmora, wandering the red-grass prairies between the Churchlands and the Five Deserts, and he'd be ravenous for anything that's not roast jackal. I make a decent lentil curry off the Curries With Bumbi channel, so let's roll with that.

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

JO: I mean, 'never pay a submission fee' is evergreen, but I'll go with 'cut yourself some slack, your best day's tomorrow.'

TFF: What are you working on next?

JO: I'm just wrapping up that story and I'm starting to feel the itch to write another one. Seeing a few Carmora stories come out over the next year will probably light a fire under me. And since most of those stories stem from my feelings about authoritarianism, I'm guessing I won't run short of inspiration anytime soon.

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Extract:

Hanging from thirty-seven cables in his nutrient tank, Chalt missed the churning skies of home. The billion metal shards in low orbit, just barely too small to see individually—even with thick lenses—made the starscape wriggle. The whole sky sloshed around from dusk to late morning. If you saw the moon in daylight, its dusty craterscape itched and twinkled as LEO debris skidded past.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Microinterview with Rachel Rodman

We welcome Rachel Rodman, author of the poem “Two Hybrids” in The Future Fire #71, for a brief chat in the microinterview series.

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Art © 2024 Fluffgar

TFF: What does “Two Hybrids” mean to you?

Rachel Rodman: I love hybridization.

The most exciting kind of creativity combines elements that are infrequently combined. I also love the stylistic challenge of merging objects and identities from different sources: Froggie’s sword + the runcible spoon; a winged creature + a half-amphibian who hunts dragonflies, pooling their talents to survive a long journey through the sky. (Many more examples can be found in my recent book, Mutants and Hybrids, which was published by Underland Press.)

“Two Hybrids” is also exciting to me because it feels like a breakthrough. It is one of several projects that began as a short story. For a very long time, I worked and reworked these pieces, getting nowhere. Eventually, however, it occurred to me to convert these failed stories to poems.

After that, things went quickly.

TFF: What are you working on now?

RR: More poetry. More short fiction.

I am also working on a long-form, “quantum fiction” project. In quantum fiction, events are both happening and not happening. When one outcome occurs, so does its opposite. (An early example of quantum fiction is a story called “Schrödinger's Fever,” which was published in Why Vandalism?) Quantum fiction is non-linear. It is internally contradictory. Within this genre, the usual stylistic divisions don’t make sense.

Poetry? Prose?

When my writing feels most authentic, these categories stop mattering.

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Extract:

When her parents die,
she converts
the pea-green boat
to
a pair of prosthetics—
wooden extensions of her own wings
(which are only half sized).

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Microinterview with Sebastian Timpe

Sebastian Timpe, artist of “Deep Sea Baby” and cover artist of The Future Fire #71, joins us for this week’s microinterview.

Art © Sebastian Timpe 2024

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Deep Sea Baby”?

Sebastian Timpe: This was a very interesting piece to approach from a visual perspective, it had two stories going in it and one of them is a conversation with no visual elements attached. After reading it once I knew the first illustration had to be the white flowers in the lungs. It was such a striking visual. For the second illustration I decided to do a travel poster because the vacation aspect of the location seemed very important to the story.

TFF: How do you go about visualizing the truly alien?

ST: I use a lot of reference material in my work so visualizing something outside our world is very difficult. I prefer to play with strange versions of our reality, like the jellied mushrooms or the indigo sky.

TFF: Is there a difference for you between creating artwork to order, and composing purely from your own imagination?

ST: For me the deadline is the largest difference. Working on my own projects I'll often pick them up and put them down on a whim/when the inspiration strikes. Creating artwork to order means I have to actually finish it!

TFF: What or who would you most like to draw, paint, sculpt or photograph?

ST: I've just gotten into Dragon Age so I will probably be doing some fan art in the future.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Microinterview with Vanessa Fogg

We’re delighted to chat today with Vanessa Fogg, author of “That Small, Hard Thing on the Back of Your Neck” in The Future Fire #71.

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Art © 2024 Ellis Bray

TFF: What does “That Small, Hard Thing on the Back of Your Neck” mean to you?

Vanessa Fogg: To me, this story is about the masks/skins that we all wear. The ways we pretend to better fit in, to get along, for status and popularity and ease of living and maybe even (for some people) sheer survival. And it’s also about the psychic costs of living that way.

TFF: What are you working on next?

VF: I admit that I’ve been blocked for a few months now. But I’m trying to write a short (and maybe satirical?) horror piece now, and I’m excited about some earlier stories I wrote that should be coming out in 2025 or so—including a tale about a Faerie prince touring our modern world and going viral on social media, a story about the search for immortality (based on Chinese myths and legends), and what I think of as a little weird horror piece where a Eurydice-figure talks her lover into the Land of the Dead.

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Extract:

You are thirteen and in the shower when you find it. A hard, dangly little thing, like a tag, stuck to the back of your neck. It’s stuck just where your neck bones merge into your back, between your shoulders. Reflexively, you try to brush it away, swat it off, as you would to a bug. It stays stuck. Hot water sluices over you, and the thing is slick and hard to grasp, but you manage. The thing feels like metal. It’s small and rectangular, and there’s a little round opening at the top, where the tip of your finger fits.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Microinterview with L.E. Badillo

Today our old friend L.E. Badillo, artist of “In the Field” in The Future Fire #71, dropped by for the next installment in our microinterview series.

Art © 2024 L.E. Badillo

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “In the Field”?

L.E. Badillo: “In the Field” had some nuclear fallout vibes and I tried to portray a toxic atmosphere humans could not directly interact with. I tried representing this with a yellowish background and smokey textures.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

LEB: Besides my artwork, I'm exploring interactive fiction with programs like Inky and Twine. Hopefully, I can join a team and make a game or at least release some small games in the near future.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Micro-interview with Faith Allington

We’re joined today by Faith Allington, author of “Deep Sea Baby” in The Future Fire #71.

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Art © 2024 Sebastian Timpe

TFF: What does “Deep Sea Baby” mean to you?

Faith Allington: The title comes from Marika Hackman's haunting cover of the song “I Follow Rivers”; the longing in it really resonated. From a character perspective, my story is about familial love and grief, how these can change the landscape of ourselves until we are unrecognizable. From a plot perspective, it's about our planet's changing climate and a future where humanity is no longer the dominant species.

TFF: If we encountered an alien intelligence (from another world, or from an undiscovered part of our own), would we ever be able to communicate with them?

FA: I think humans can be excellent at communication, and once we got over the shock, we could find a way to communicate with them. Assuming they'd want to talk to us.

TFF: What are you working on next?

FA: I'm revising a feminist horror novel so I can query it, and in the meantime, working on a short horror story about a young woman who gets a summer internship at an unusual new cemetery.

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Extract:

The sea is glassy and lustrous with moonlight when Johanna arrives. The vacation town of Fairhaven’s only hotel crouches on the shore, bold lines blurring to ghostlike in the dark. The air is pure salt, corroding her skin and etching her lungs as she watches the indigo horizon.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Micro-interview with Cécile Matthey

Cécile Matthey, artist of “Whiskey Mud” in The Future Fire #71 and TFF’s in-house artist, joins us for a micro-interview.

Art © 2024 Cécile Matthey

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Whiskey Mud”?

Cécile Matthey: Another story involving elephants ! Of course, I couldn't resist drawing them. I found a lovely photo of two elephants lying in the water, seemingly having a conversation. I used it as a model for one of the illustrations. The second illustration was more complicated… I wanted to show Chalt as a brain, in his pool of nutrient fluid. But I wanted it to look pretty… As I often do, I turned to the natural world. Given the shape of the elephant's brain, the idea of a sort of seashell came quite naturally. As for the cables, they were suggested to me by the water lilies, whose very long stems plunge deep into the water. The two fish are a wink: they are called ‘brain fish.’

TFF: Can you tell us about an artist whose work you're particularly enjoying at the moment?

CM: It's a writer: I fell in love with Pierre Pevel's book Les enchantements d'Ambremer. The story takes place in a refreshing Parisian steampunk universe, packed with classic references, reminiscent of Maurice Leblanc (Arsène Lupin), Jules Verne, and of the finest adventure films. There is a whole trilogy, called Le Paris des Merveilles. I have seen it has even been "translated" into comic books. I'm definitely going to read one!

TFF: What else are you working on now?

CM: I am working hard on my collages. I have the opportunity to exhibit them next year in a local bookshop. It's quite a challenge! (Some examples can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caeciliana/53155901622/in/photostream/.)

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Micro-interview with Shelly Jones

We welcome Shelly Jones, author of “In the Field” in TFF #71, for a short chat about her story, aliens, writing and cosy mysteries!

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Art © 2024 L.E. Badillo

TFF: What does “In the Field” mean to you?

Shelly Jones: My day job is as a professor at a small college. I wrote “In the Field” thinking about how future AI/robotics might change my day to day life as an educator. I am forever fascinated by the persistence of life, of the ways we can continue despite the world crumbling around us. I am also interested in the ways we need to pivot and re-define what's been in front of us the whole time as a method of survival, of resistance.

TFF: Would you like to meet aliens from another world?

SJ: While I don't believe in little green men versions of aliens, I do believe there must be some kind of other life out there in the vast beyond. If they ever encountered earth, I hope they'd find humans to be kind and empathetic creatures.

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

SJ: To be persistent and remember to just get words on the page. You can always go back and change those words, find shinier, prettier, more perfect words—but you can't if there are no words to begin with.

TFF: What are you working on next?

SJ: A bit of a shift in genre! I'm working on my cozy mystery series about a board game shop owner and her femme gaming group. If you like nerdy, game-related puns, look for the first in the series, which debuts in Fall 2025.

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Extract:

The professor pulls down a shoebox of cassette tapes from the bookcase. Her office is full of boxes like this on every shelf, stacks in the corner waist-high. Her life’s work: collecting the voices of people who no longer exist. I look at the delicate ribbons loose in their cartridges and consider that my ancestors were once made of such crude materials, reels of magnetic tape spooling their thoughts.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Micro-interview with Devan Barlow

Devan Barlow, author of the poem “A Moon Witch Seeks a Shell” in The Future Fire #71, joins us for the first in this season’s micro-interviews.

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Art © 2024 Melkorka

TFF: What does “A Moon Witch Seeks a Shell” mean to you?

Devan Barlow: This poem is part of a series of lunarpunk pieces I’ve been writing about these moon witches. Each piece helps me sort out a little more about the setting and the characters, and in this instance gave me the chance to combine two of my favorite things—lunarpunk and sea creatures.

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

DB: Keep reading—and reading things that aren’t the genre you’re working in.

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Extract:

On the opposite shore, I hope
another moon witch
convinces a mollusk our cause is just
Sometimes, the most difficult conversations are those
between witches upon the same moon

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

Micro-interview with Joel Bisaillon

Joel Bisaillon, artist of “Transmogrification” in The Future Fire #70, is with us for the next in this season of micro-interviews.

Art © 2024 Joel Bisaillon

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Transmogrification”?

Joel Bisaillon: I have to be honest. It wasn’t easy. Like any piece you try to do the author justice by honoring their work with the best of your understanding. Having chosen most of my labels as a goth/punk kid, I’ve understood the labelling others cast out towards me, but I know that mine was personally elected. This isn’t that whatsoever. This is part of the character's core being and to get that right without falling into a caricature of what a straight white male might project isn’t the easiest. I want to ensure the protagonist is respected, and the story is honoured. So, in short with more hearty and thinky than arty.

TFF: What is the thing you lost and wish you could find again?

JB: Focus.

TFF: How do you imagine early digital graphics will be seen by future art historians?

JB: Unfortunately, I don’t think that digital art will be that significant to future artists or historians. I know it’s a bleak outlook but with the advent of generative AI instilling the acceptance of demanding unearned rewards without learning the skills to do so, and the fact that one can simply copy/paste digital art we have lost the ability to be enamoured by its uniqueness. Art Historians (should they recover from this) will see a “dark ages” loom over this time saturated with big-breasted inbred anime girls corrupted by the generation loss of AI feeding upon its product like Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son.

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

JB: I know I’m an odd duck for this but Diane Arbus’ photograph – Child with Toy Hand Grenade. That kid has seen some shit and needs to unleash it.

TFF: Can you tell us about an artist whose work you're particularly enjoying at the moment?

JB: Recently I’ve been enjoying the old pulp horror/sci-fi art of weird tales and one of my favorites is Lee Brown Coye. Amazing macabre black and white ink works yet whimsical.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

JB: Besides my own webcomic Eirgsmoth, I’ve a few projects due for Roses & Wildflowers Magazine. Oh and still trying to quit my day job.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Zoe Kaplan

Zoe Kaplan, author of “The End of Rain” in The Future Fire #70, joins us for today’s micro-interview about her story, mountains, and other friends.

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Art © 2024 Joyce Chng

TFF: What does “The End of Rain” mean to you?

Zoe Kaplan: “The End of Rain” is a reflection on the end of a relationship. It's abstracted in the story, enough so that (hopefully!) all kinds of readers can resonate with it, but it grew out of one real specific friendship I had as a teenager. It was intimate and sustaining until it wasn't. Not every relationship gets to be forever, which sucks, but I'd like to think we're both stronger for the time we had together. At least, I am—and their Instagram makes it look like they're doing okay, too!

TFF: Which natural or geographical feature do you feel most affinity for?

ZK: I grew up in the Appalachian mountains, and they have my heart forever. And I love to be in a forest! The denser the trees, the less sky I can see, the better. I love the way a forest makes you feel so held.

TFF: What are you working on next?

ZK: I've got a story coming out at the end of this month from Dragon Gems. It's a contemporary sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with magic and swords and penthouses and subways. It should be a lot of fun! Follow my socials or my newsletter to be notified when it comes out. 😊 Beyond that, I'm currently working on a Gothic ghost story that's turning out way longer than I expected, so wish me luck taming that beast.

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Extract:

I made my home on a patch of damp farmland. I was young and so was she, her trees mere saplings next to the neighboring forests. I tilled her soil and trimmed her branches, and in return, she provided me with fruits and grains, more than I could eat.

It rained often in those days. I would lie on the grass and let the water seep into us both as we talked for hours at a time. We were sustained like that for perhaps two years, growing into each other like vines.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Katharine A. Viola

We’re delighted to be joined today by Katharine A. Viola, artist of “Matryoshka City” in The Future Fire #70, for a very quick chat.

Art © 2024, Katharine A. Viola

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Matryoshka City”?

Katharine A. Viola: This was such an intriguing story with great details, so it wasn't too hard to find something I wanted to paint. The macabre imagery of bodies in boxes really stood out to me.

TFF: Would you like to visit another planet?

KAV: Yes! Supposedly it rains diamonds on Neptune, so I'd like to go there with a couple of large bags!

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with R.M. Pérez-Padilla

Today’s micro-interview is with the wonderful R.M. Pérez-Padilla, author of “Transmogrification” in The Future Fire #70.

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Art © 2024 Joel Bisaillon

TFF: What does “Transmogrification” mean to you?

R.M. Pérez-Padilla: I wrote “Transmogrification” when I, like Max, was a few months into HRT, balancing new gender euphorias and the strangeness of a changing body. Rereading it now, three years later, I find it holds a special place for me as a marker of my gender journey. The title is partly inspired by a favorite poem, “notes on the seasons” by trans Puerto Rican poet Roque Salas Rivera, which speaks about “wait[ing] for transmogrification.”

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

RMPP: That it is at its best when it is honest, and that it can be anything! All my work has improved when I’ve been able to let the characters and the story lead me to new possibilities, even if they're not quite in line with my original plans.

TFF: What are you working on next?

RMPP: I’m currently editing a (hopefully final!) draft of my romance/science fiction novel, starring an augmented human, a surveillance AI, and an alien ex-revolutionary. Like “Transmogrification,” the novel explores how our intimate relationships, romantic and otherwise, can heal our wounds and help us to become more truly ourselves.

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Extract:

“You tried to finger yourself and had a panic attack,” my girlfriend concludes. Not unkindly, but not with much gentleness, either, like I’m the dumbass for not realizing what I experienced. Which, generally speaking, is the issue with us.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Toeken

This week we’re joined by Toeken, artist of “The Ships That Sang” in The Future Fire #70, for our series of micro-interviews.

Art © 2024 Toeken

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “The Ships That Sang”?

Toeken: Gorgeous piece of work by Joss Cho. I began sketching after reading the piece about a dozen times, designing and painting about twenty-something screwheads (chucking most of them away ~ less is more, right?) and then painting/assembling the portholes so they don't look quite so 'obvious.'

TFF: How do you imagine early digital graphics will be seen by future art historians?

T: Any art of real value, creatively speaking, is born of effort and, to some extent, torment. Hopefully the 'art historians' of the future will still be able to recognize this.

TFF: What is under your bed?

T: I'm looking after two dogs right now. And they are both under my bed. They don't like the heat… or each other, it seems.

TFF: Can you tell us about an artist whose work you're particularly enjoying at the moment?

T: Again, there's a whole bunch but the works I've been digging into lately by Christophe Jacrot, Laura Rich, Eric Brenner, Ikkō Narahara and Juan Ruiz are extraordinary.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

T: I've just finished a few pieces for Shoreline of Infinity, The Future Fire (obviously), Lovecraftiana Magazine and working on a cover with the author Simon Bleaken. There's also a short graphic novella that I'm trying to finish that's based on Phil Emery's excellent tale, 'Hammek', who I've worked with in the past on the graphic novel Razor's Edge. There's an illustrated spec fiction/horror anthology that I've been wanting to finish for years on the way too.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Mary Soon Lee

We welcome old friend Mary Soon Lee, author of the poem “What Heroines Read” in The Future Fire #70, for a quick chat about poems, animals and fantasy.

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Art © 2024 Dr T. Eratopo

TFF: What does “What Heroines Read” mean to you?

Mary Soon Lee: I primarily hoped the poem would entertain readers. It's part of a series of poems with similar titles ("What Trolls Read," "What Aliens Read," "What Cacti Read," etc.), and the series as a whole draws on my lifelong addiction to reading. This particular entry in the series has also been infiltrated by my feminism.    

TFF: Into which animal would you like to be able to morph?

MSL: A dragon. Or, for real-world animals, then a cat, either a small house-cat or a snow leopard. I am very partial to guanacos, alpacas, llamas, but I'd prefer to be a cat.

TFF: What are you working on next?

MSL: I'm writing standalone poems, plus poems that add onto slowly-growing poem sequences, including the series mentioned above with "What Heroines Read." I have completed another poetry collection, though it isn't in submission yet (nearly!) And an illustrated print edition of my epic fantasy The Sign of the Dragon is inching closer to publication: the wonderful Gary McCluskey recently completed the forty interior illustrations.

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Extract:

The selfsame canon that any hero does—
From Airavata to Zeus: A Pantheon,
The Point of Swordsmanship,
The Care and Feeding of Sidekicks.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Auke Pols

Auke Pols, author of “The Transformative Three and the Clean Cooking Revolution (grant no. 437-775)” in The Future Fire #70, joins us for this week’s microinterview.

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Art © 2024 Cécile Matthey

TFF: What does “The Transformative Three and the Clean Cooking Revolution (grant no. 437-775)” mean to you

Auke Pols: The story was inspired by watching one too many superhero movies in which hyper-competent individuals solve world problems (usually other hyper-competent individuals) through technology and violence. Which made me wonder what superpowers one would really need to tackle wicked issues in international development, an area in which I’ve done both research and teaching. Unsurprisingly, it quickly became clear that the story would become a kind of antithesis of the classic superhero story. For one, the focus is on communities and institutions rather than individuals. Instead of flashy destruction, it is about creation, patience, hard work and upscaling. And most importantly, it is about setting aside individual agency and your own convictions and being open to the wants and needs of the other. In the words of Ernesto Sirolli: “Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!” All this made it a challenge to write—but a deliciously subversive one!

TFF: Who is the most interesting person you've ever met while travelling?

AK: Visiting Eastern Europe, I once met a friendly and somewhat melancholic old Russian logician. I was mostly impressed by his dedication to his craft when his university board had instigated book bans, because they were ‘of the Devil’.

“What do we do with the Devil?” he asked his students.
“We fight him!’ was the answer.
“What do you need to fight an enemy?” he asked.
“Knowledge of the enemy!’ was, after some deliberation, the response.
“So if someone bans you from gaining knowledge about the enemy, should we not regard him as being in league with the enemy?”

His logic was ruthless, his dedication to his craft admirable. He also got fired. I never met him again: I hope the best for him.

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

AK: Two things come to mind—I hope you’ll indulge me. The first is that speculative fiction is important because it shows us that things can be otherwise, for better or worse. As the proverb says, we live in interesting times. This is a problem, because many people are suffering from their more violent aspects, and many more will suffer before we are through them. But a crisis is also always an opportunity to question our assumptions of what we really value as individuals and as society, how to share what we have and what future we want to create for our descendants. Good writing can help us think through these fundamental questions.

The second is that writing (and reading) is a way to help process emotions, your own and others’. Many years ago, a friend who I knew from Live Action Role-Playing died in a tragic accident. Our friend group deliberated on how to deal with this in the game, as characters perishing is not that unusual. So I wrote a story in which his character was called away on an epic quest from which it was clear that he could never return. It helped us deal with the grief, and for me, it was a realisation that I could not only write for fun, but that my writing could also do emotional work.

TFF: What are you working on next?

AK: I’ve just finalised a post-apocalyptic steampunk novel in which an elderly and an armless priest have to solve a murder in a crumbling island city. Currently I’m starting up a spiritual science fiction novel following a diplomat, a veteran and a scientist on a peace mission to a group of powerful aliens, whose welcoming gift to humanity may expand its consciousness—or destroy it entirely. Of course, finishing writing a novel is not quite the same as publishing it, so no promises on when you’ll be able to to read it—but I’ll keep The Future Fire updated!

More news in my LinkedIn or Hebban (Dutch).

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Extract: 

The sun sets in a dusty orange haze when our jeep bumps over the dirt road towards the low brick houses of the Bihari village. To anyone else it would have looked like the many villages dotting the North Indian countryside that we passed earlier, by train and by jeep. But when you’re a team of superheroes—determined Grace, silent Vlinder, Vinod sleeping in the back and me, Bram, you know when there’s change in the air.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Joyce Chng

Joyce Chng, artist of “The End of Rain” in The Future Fire #70, joins us today for this month's micro-interview series.

Art © 2024 Joyce Chng

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “The End of Rain”?

Joyce Chng: What I did was to let the images come to me while I read the story. It was lyrical and beautiful, immediately inspiring some visual imagery. The first was the mandala of water/droplets, followed by two people embracing.

TFF: Have you ever had a close affinity with a piece of land or other geographical feature?

JC: Interestingly enough, I have had close affinity to… the sea. I feel calm when I touch sea water. As for land or geographical feature, I love mountains, hills and cliffs.

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

JC: Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci. I am intrigued by her and her backstory. Her eyes seem to indicate a warm personality who loves to laugh.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

JC: A YA duology (Sapphic, swords, friendship, coming-of-age) and a collection of my own SFF stories.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html

Micro-interview with Alexandra Brandt

We’re joined by Alexandra Brandt, author of “The Shape of Her Shadow” in The Future Fire #70, for a quick chat about monsters, #metoo and magic.

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Art © 2024 Fluffgar

 

 TFF: What does “The Shape of Her Shadow” mean to you?

Alexandra Brandt: I wrote this story in early 2018, in the middle of all the #MeToo revelations, and completed it the day after the Women's March in Washington, DC. We know who was in power in the US at the time. As an American and a woman, I was… really angry. Prior to that, I don't think I'd ever written a story while angry! I felt powerless (and to be honest, I still do)—but I needed to write something in the face of all that. Something that didn't give in to despair. For me, “The Shape of Her Shadow” is both rage and hope.

TFF: Who or what is your favourite monster?

AB: I don't think I have a favorite, but I did just watch Nimona last night, and she's pretty delightful.

TFF: What magical power would you like to possess?

AB: To open a door and have it go anywhere in the world in an instant. Preferably in a way that I could bring people along with me. (If I asked for any world-changing powers, I fear that I would abuse them in the name of "fixing" everything…)

TFF: What are you working on next?

AB: I have these three Sapphic fey historical romantasy novellas out right now, but they really need to be a proper novel. So my next goal is to make the novel happen and publish it by December.    

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Extract:

I wonder which monsters they mean: the shadowy creatures lurking deep in the Wilds that I and mine must soon enter… or these warlike men who now claim to protect my daughters from them.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/07/new-issue-202470.html.

Micro-interview with Mahaila Smith

And this week we’re joined by Mahaila Smith, author of the poem “Manipulating the Light” in The Future Fire #69, to talk about solarpunk, climate crisis and future work.

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Art © 2024, Fluffgar

TFF: What does “Manipulating the Light” mean to you?

Mahaila Smith: I wrote “Manipulating the Light” after reading The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. This book made me think about the specific impacts of the climate crisis in India and the technology being adopted in response. I find it important to read and write solarpunk in settings where the climate crisis is experienced most severely. The poem centres around a sapphic relationship which, as a queer person, was significant for me to include.

TFF: What are you working on next?

MS: My novelette in verse, Seed Beetle is forthcoming with Stelliform Press in 2025. This story explores themes of eco-dystopia, feminism, social organizing and the relationship between marine life and outer space. It is set in a Southern Ontario community that has experienced widespread desertification and loss of land to industrialization. The community looks to a robotics corporation to heal the land through its megafaunal automated beetles, however community members are harmed by exploitative labour practices and non-consensual brain implants.

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Extract:

The open skylights lance
drops of sunlight that slip
through prisms and bounce
off mirrors, leaving a spill
of colour and light
at the altar of the temple.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/04/new-issue-202469.html.

Micro-interview with Katharine A. Viola

Katharine A. Viola, artist of “Sunrise over Neo-Tokyo” in TFF #69, joins us for today’s micro-interview on her work in this issue and other art.

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Sunrise over Neo-Tokyo”?

Katharine A. Viola: The author made great use of imagery when describing the city’s relationship with nature. I really enjoyed how the two concepts meshed together and the picture I painted represents the image I had in my head while reading the story.

TFF: If you were able to draw a map of a real or imaginary place, what would that be?

KAV: Map of the universe!

TFF: What would be the most important thing for you to hold onto if civilization started to break down in your city?

KAV: Morals and integrity, though I would imagine it would be difficult as very little is ever black and white.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/04/new-issue-202469.html.