Micro-interview with L.E. Badillo

Welcome, L.E. Badillo, artist of “Crumb Cutie Exodus” in The Future Fire #67, for one of the last micro-interviews of 2023!

Art © 2023, L.E. Badillo

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Crumb Cutie Exodus”?

L.E. Badillo: “Crumb Cutie Exodus” was a lot of fun to work with. Bernie Jean Schiebeling provided some really great visuals for this. There were a few ideas I didn't have enough time to explore but went with the ones I felt strongest about. Trying to capture the moment when the ’Cuties escaped from the ship was key as well as the feeling of dread with the bonfire before the realization that they were in fact alive.    
TFF: What is the most terrifying thing about the sea?

LEB: There is so much about the sea that is awesome and terrifying. It's one thing to swim in a pool and another to find yourself unable to touch ground or see below you. With the discoveries of long thought extinct sea creatures happening with some regularity, it's not hard to let your imagination get the better of you. I prefer showers to baths thank you very much.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

LEB: I'm currently pouring my energies into working as a storyboard artist. This is a really fun field to work in and not far from illustrating for stories since you work from scripts. You can see my latest work at https://www.elbad.net/boards.html.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Elena S. Kotsile

We invited Elena S. Kotsile, author of “How to plant an olive tree on the Moon when all is lost” in The Future Fire #67, over for a brief chat about trees, planets and poetry.

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Art © 2023 Fluffgar

TFF: What does “How to plant an olive tree on the Moon when all is lost” mean to you?

Elena S. Kotsile: “How to plant an olive tree on the Moon when all is lost” is a poem that first came to me as an image. Olive tree, Olea europaea, is my favorite tree species and always somehow finds its way into my writing. I love how the silver-green leaves shine under the Mediterranean sun, reflecting the summer light like sardines on a sea’s surface. It breaks my heart to think about the decline of olive trees due to climate change.

TFF: If you could create a new planet, what would it look like?

ESK: Earth is perfect exactly because it emerged from organized chaos and randomness. If I could create a new planet, it would be the same blue planet as Earth, with islands instead of continents and several moons that would be bigger and closer to Earth than our moon. Imagine lying on a beach, the cold ocean cooling your feet, and a cloudless sky with two or three colorful moons hanging above your head.

TFF: What are you working on next?

ESK: I’m currently querying for my first speculative novel (dark urban fantasy) and working on a second novel and some short stories. Whatever I do, though, I always keep going with my poetry, either SFF or autobiographical.

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Extract:

Bring soil from Earth, regardless how spoiled—
Lunar soil might not be polluted,
but it is full of silicon.
Do not use fertilizer.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Juliet Kemp

Very pleased to invite Juliet Kemp, author of “Just as You Are” in The Future Fire #67, over for a wee chat.

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TFF: What does “Just as You Are” mean to you?

Juliet Kemp: I was thinking about parenting and acceptance when I wrote it. Beyond that I'm not sure I can say it better than I said it in the story…    

TFF: Given what we know about the failings of even the most advanced AI today, how long do you think it will be before we create anything that could be considered alive?

JK: I think this depends on how we define ‘alive’ which is of course hugely complex. Our current definitions revolve around a form of organic bodily life which doesn't necessarily carry over to other potential forms of life. I think something mechanical that can perform appropriate functions to grow, maintain, and reproduce itself, and respond to external stimuli, might not be that far off. Something that's ‘conscious’ or ‘intelligent’ or similar is a more complicated question—and far harder to judge, especially given the human tendency to try to define humans as ‘special’ and therefore exclude other beings (such as ones we already share the planet with) from intelligence or consciousness.

TFF: What is your favourite example of hopeful or fun speculative fiction (in any medium)?

JK: I really enjoyed Ruthanna Emrys’s A Half-Built Garden—I found it complicated but hopeful and fascinating. (I have many other favourites too!)

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Extract:

Jin’s wearing the expression which means they’re desperate to look at my code fork, though it’s probably not conscious. Jin’s lab is the preeminent AI research lab; all those half-dozen person-level AIs are in some way based on the code that we developed here. After the court case that gave the first, Aisha, human rights, we open-sourced the main code branch, figuring it was the only ethical decision. Aisha took control of her own code fork, and the cluster she runs on.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Beth Cato

We welcome Beth Cato, author of the poem “How magic will help you take the bastards down” in The Future Fire #67 for a short conversation.

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Art © 2023 Melkorka

TFF: What does “How magic will help you take the bastards down” mean to you?

Beth Cato: For me, it's a poem about anger and wit. Even if magic were to exist, its use is not an end-all. There will still be injustice. You fight back however you can.

TFF: What is your favourite example of hopeful or fun speculative fiction (in any medium)?

BC: I love Becky Chambers' works, both her Wayfarers series and her Monk and Robot books. They are not for everyone, as they are not big on action or plot, but she has a graceful way of depicting humanity even in beings that are not human.

TFF: What are you working on next?

BC: I'm gearing up for the January release of my next book, A Feast for Starving Stone. It finishes up my duology that began with A Thousand Recipes for Revenge. These books are packed with magical food and swashbuckling action. I don't recommend that people read them while they are hungry.

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Extract:

start the hot water kettle
with a glare fueled
by the infuriating recollection
of how your boss said
‘oh don’t worry, we’ll investigate’

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Katharine A. Viola

Katharine A. Viola, artist of “Woman, Soldier, Girl” in The Future Fire #67, joins us for a quick chat about illustrating, family history and dreams.

Art © 2023, Katharine A. Viola

TFF: How did you go about illustrating “Woman, Soldier, Girl”?

Katharine A. Viola: I loved the machine aspect of this story.  The author painted such a vivid portrayal, not only in describing what the machines looked like, but the importance of these machines to the character(s) in the story.  I felt it necessary to create these visuals to enhance the cultural aspects of the tale.

TFF: Is there one of your ancestors that you would particularly like to meet? What would you ask them?

KV: As it happens to be, I am a descendant of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. I would have a million questions to ask, but mostly would pick his brain about the time period and the importance of fighting for what you believe in.

TFF: Have you ever tried to paint or write one of your own dreams?

KV: Yes! Yet it is so hard to capture the images as they are often fleeting. Dreams can tell us so much, and sometimes the visuals can be extremely inspiring.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Vanessa Fogg

Welcome, Vanessa Fogg, author of “Microseasons of the Dead” in The Future Fire #67 (and many previous stories), to the micro-interview series, where today we focus a lot on seasons…

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Art © 2023, Cécile Matthey

TFF: What does “Microseasons of the Dead” mean to you?

Vanessa Fogg: For me, “Microseasons of the Dead” is about using a calendar year format to work out some existential thoughts on life and death. It was inspired by the microseasons of the traditional Japanese calendar, which consist of 72 “microseasons” with beautiful names such as “East Melts the Ice” and “Evening Cicadas Sing” (translations taken from this article).

 

TFF: What is your favorite day or season of the year?

VF: Autumn, hands down. As Keats put it, Oh “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”! I love everything about fall: the mists, the rain, the brilliant colors, the clear light of fall. Cozy sweaters, fuzzy pajamas, soups and stews, everything pumpkin spice. If I could live in just one season, it would be fall.

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Extract:

Crack and splinter of heavy ice. Cold sunk deep in your bones. (How is it that you can still feel your bones?) A mountain of snow. White sky.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Jonathan Olfert

Jonathan Olfert, author of “Collective Bargaining” in The Future Fire #67, came by for a short chat about the story, equity, AI and the future of education.

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Art © 2023, Carmen Moran

TFF: What does “Collective Bargaining” mean to you?

Jonathan Olfert: It's just a little story about how underresourced one-size-fits-all accommodations can be useless or worse. I first thought of it during the emergency remote delivery/remote proctoring debacle, at the same time as massive government cuts were forcing support staff layoffs. I came back to the idea several times during some of my own struggles with disability. I wondered what accommodations a hive mind would need, or would be forced to need by a system designed for boring old one-bodies like us.

TFF: Is gen-AI going to make examining fairly and equitably harder or easier?

JO: Anyone who says they can reliably and consistently tell the difference between mildly edited gen-AI and a second-year undergrad's authentic paper (or online quiz response, or cover letter, or scholarship application) is dreaming. So a student's uncertainty about a fair assessment is only going to rise, and uncertainty comes with unevenly distributed hazards. Just as one example, I think of many international students I've known who've learned an extra-formal style that can have that gen-AI 'feel.'  And since instructors often have the academic freedom to decide standards for gen-AI use in their classes, students may be juggling five different risk profiles a semester whether they've even used gen-AI or not. On a side note, want to hear something unsettling? I ran a survey on textbooks a couple of months ago at work, and out of almost 1100 undergrads, 4%—over forty of them—had explicitly used ChatGPT instead of buying a textbook. Which doesn't just speak to the quality of the information they and other gen-AI users are receiving, it can inform their writing style, so they may join the ranks of people more likely to get flagged even if they write all their own papers from scratch.

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Extract

Jane swarmed up the chair legs and settled into a rustling cluster. “All I want to do is write the exam,” they said through many tiny voices.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Melkorka

We had a bit of a chat with Melkorka, artist of “How magic will help you take the bastards down” in The Future Fire #67.

The Future Fire: How did you go about illustrating “How magic will help you take the bastards down”?

Melkorka: This piece deeply resonated on a personal level, so my illustration incorporated elements such as the Tarot and ritual that are also personally meaningful in the hope that they would convey my deep and authentic sense of solidarity with the narrator.

TFF: What spell would you like to be able to cast?

M: An invisibility spell. It would be an invaluable tool for an introvert!

TFF: Do you have a lucky charm?

M: Yes, a crescent moon pendant that I always have to have with me.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

A Tribute to Joel Lane 1963-2013

Guest post by Rachel Verkade

If you dig through the refuse and litter of the old internet, you may come upon the ruins of old message boards. Scattered and context-less, these pages and words drift through the invisible ether of cyberspace, offering little snippets of life in the internet’s heydays.

Among these lost pages is the former message board of prolific, long-lived, and celebrated British author Ramsey Campbell. While perhaps not the most populated corner of the internet, Campbell’s message board became a haven for spec fic readers and writers, young and old, to congregate, share work and plans, discuss stories and novels, and generally make connections regarding the craft. Included in there are some names that dark fiction afficianados will recognise, talking amongst each other and their fans, sharing stories and news, planning meetups. It was a little haven for those who loved and created and consumed weird literature, a dark sanctuary where like-minded people found each other.

Sift through those old pages, and come upon an entry from mid-November 2013. At 7:24 PM, a user posted that Birmingham author Joel Lane had died in his sleep. What followed below was a raw outpouring of grief and shock.

What?! You are sure it is no joke?

This is awful, awful news.

This is a joke, right?

This can’t be true. […] It just can’t be true.

Ah fuck, no.

This is like the most weird experience I’ve ever had. Crying over a man I’ve never met…

Life isn’t fucking fair.

No. […] for me, for now: no.

Micro-interview with Priya Chand

We invited Priya Chand, author of “Woman, Soldier, Girl” in The Future Fire #67, over for a brief chat.

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Art # 2023 Katharine A. Viola

The Future Fire: What does “Woman, Soldier, Girl” mean to you?

Priya Chand: I read Madhusree Mukherjee's Churchill's Secret War and basically… processing learning about the Bengal famine, plus my love of the steampunk aesthetic contrasted against the way that, at the time, a lot of it went hand-in-hand with effectively glorifying the imposition of Victorian aesthetics and empire. I'd also read this bit about how it's flattening to exclusively cast the colonized as victims, and the colonizers as all-powerful, because local allies made a lot of difference in how successful colonization ultimately was (there were examples, the only one I remember is La Malinche). So I also wanted to capture some of that nuance, and show some complicity as well.

TFF: What is your favorite progressive SFF movie or TV show?

PC: Does Everything Everywhere, All At Once count?? I feel like it should. That movie was way too damn relatable though, haha. I avoided watching it with my mom because I didn't want to be glared at every time Evelyn was disrespected by her daughter.

TFF: Tell us about one of your favourite underrated artists or authors?

PC: Fargo Tbakhi. I've loved everything of his I've read so far. His written work is both lyrical and sharp.

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Extract

Decades later, there will be a memorial, and tourists who mostly walk past the memorial—there’s plenty of shopping, the latest fashions and a myriad of clever trinkets in the artisans’ district, where people are still discovering techniques and ideas lost during the war and subsequent occupation. It’s astounding, some say, that their ancestors didn’t do more to preserve these things. The occupation didn’t last that long, after all, and such an illustrious heritage cannot be so easily erased.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Micro-interview with Carmen Moran

Welcome to Carmen Moran, artist of “Collective Bargaining” in The Future Fire #67, and our long-time illustrator and collaborator, to the micro-interview season.

Art © 2023 Carmen Moran

The Future Fire: How did you go about illustrating “Collective Bargaining”?

Carmen Moran: Very slowly. It took me quite a while to work out what I was going for. The image that struck me most from the piece was the fourteen thousand eyes, so I wanted them to be a prominent feature, while also showing the erasure that sets in when someone doesn’t fit the shape of the "standard human".

TFF: You're not a fan of spiders yourself. What small animals do you like, and do you think you can communicate with them?

CM: Well, when I say I'm not a fan, I mean them suddenly appearing in my field of vision freaks me out a little (or a lot, depending on size), but of course I love them as very cool parts of our ecosystem, and in their symbolic role as creators of art and weavers of tales—how could I not? As for communicating with them, there is actually a fleet of cellar spiders in my house that I have a contract with: I leave them alone as long as they don't suddenly drop from the ceiling into my face (which they sometimes do for some reason), and in turn they eat the really scary massive spiders that wander in from the garden. It's working well, for both parties as far as I can tell.

TFF: What else are you working on now?

CM: Mostly random personal projects at the moment. One of them is my random knowledge zine Emmeline (@emmeline.zine on Insta), which I've been publishing with a group of friends since 2003. I only just worked out this week that that was twenty years ago… There were some breaks in the middle, but we resuscitated it in 2019 and it's been going strong since then. It's my longest running project, and I love how it's brought a bunch of people together that wouldn't otherwise be connected, and that it teaches me new things all the time. Most recently it caused me to learn about grasshopper mice (Onychomys). If you've never heard of them, I suggest you look them up.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.

Microinterview with Bernie Jean Schiebeling

We’re very pleased to have Bernie Jean Schiebeling, author of “Crumb Cutie Exodus” in The Future Fire #67, over for a chat about help, hope, and projects.

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Art © 2023 L.E. Badillo

TFF: What does “Crumb Cutie Exodus” mean to you?

Bernie Jean Schiebeling: "Crumb Cutie Exodus" is about the need to take immediate action to help others despite possible consequences. Personally, I sometimes have trouble acting quickly, so writing characters who do is kind of like… practice for future situations.

TFF: What is your favourite example of hopeful or fun speculative fiction (in any medium)?

BJS: "D.I.Y." by John Wiswell and The Dream Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson are great hopeful fiction—both have clever and compassionate protagonists who take on powerful institutions that seem immune to change, and they win. I've also been having a wonderful time with I Was a Teenage Exocolonist from Northway Games, where the player character experiences a time loop and attempts to create a better (or at least different) life for themself each playthrough.

TFF: What are you working on next?

BJS: It's a busy transitional time—I've recently finished a contemporary queer Gothic novella, so I'm seeking publication for that and working on a backlog of short story drafts. My partner and I are also starting preproduction on our new spec-fic podcast after wrapping season 2 of our last audio project, Gastronaut.

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Extract: 

During the early hours of the Paris morning, someone flings a lilac bear from a high hotel balcony, and she tumbles, tumbles, tumbles through the freezing night air. The shiny gold tag in her ear, a plump star shape, flutters and flickers as it catches the wind. She lands with a soft pash of polyvinyl beans on cobblestones.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2023/10/new-issue-202367.html.