How did “Everything the Sea Takes, It Returns” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

This story began with a writing prompt from Alexandra Manglis, who is the Undisputed Prompt Champion of the World. It was an image of a giant redwood washed up on a beach. From there, I pulled in other elements I’m obsessed with—queer relationships, non-hierarchical social structures, environmental collapse—and worked at weaving together those threads.

Did you get stuck at any point while writing this? How did you get past that?

I did get stuck. I’m a teacher at a public university, and I tend to do my writing in chunks on less-busy weeks or in the breaks between semesters. While writing this, I got perhaps three-fourths of the way through the original draft, got busy, and had to set it aside. When I came back to it I was flummoxed about how to get to the original ending I’d envisioned, which involved Jess alone at a tide pool. In the time away, I’d lost track of exactly how I planned to get to that ending, and it no longer felt right to me. Thankfully, the time away also let me see the possibility of the current conclusion. Those delays don’t always work out for me. I’m glad this one did.

What led you into writing genre fiction?

I grew up with genre fiction, but college left me with little time to read for fun, and I lost touch with SF/F. In 2015, I attended what was then called the Campbell Conference at the University of Kansas. Sarah Pinsker was in attendance—she was named the Sturgeon Award winner that weekend—and her work affected me deeply. It made me realize just how vibrant and relevant speculative fiction could be. So I dove back into genre, both in my reading and writing. I’m blessed to have found a wonderful community of genre writers and readers, and to have received so much wisdom, encouragement, and support from so many people.

Other than writing, do you have any other creative pursuits? What do you do to relax?

I play tabletop role-playing games: Dungeons & Dragons, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and whatever else I can make time for. I don’t know TTRPGS are relaxing, exactly—when you’re a single roll of the dice away from a total party kill, it sure doesn’t feel relaxing—but it gives me an outlet for my creativity when my brain needs a break from a story that just won’t come together.

What are you working on lately? Where else can fans look for your work?

I’ve got a cyberpunk short story in the works that’s thinking through issues of identity and “fake news.” My debut short story collection, All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From, is coming out this summer from Neon Hemlock Press. In addition to previously-published work, it has two all-new stories, one a supernatural mystery and one that’s perfect for those who’d like more lesbian sword-and-sorcery in their lives.