How did “A Pedra” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

I actually wrote this story for a horror anthology! I was very interested in the horrifying aspects of time as a menacing, material force—something that could eat you. But I ultimately became much more interested in the world in which time might function this way: the addictive substances that might be used to pacify kids who can “see” the future, what “seeing” the future might do to a child’s psychology, and ultimately, how might such children be exploited for capital gain? I was also reading a lot of John Keene (I actually stole the epigram for the story from his brilliant collection, Counternarratives). Keene incorporates “primary” documents into his work to mind-blowing effect, and I thought that would be an interesting technique to expand the universe of the story in a somewhat compact way.

What is your writing space like? What do you like to have around for optimal creativity?

I generally write at a big desk—two planks of wood that I sanded and finished propped on a couple of sawhorses—that overlooks a busy street in Oakland, California. There is a freeway overpass (and underpass) across the street, as well as a number of beautifully overgrown coast live oaks whose upper branches are, as I type this, swaying quite dramatically in the wind.

I usually have multiple stacks of books nearby: what I am reading for school, what I am reading for pleasure (what hasn’t been migrated to my bedside), and anything that feels helpful to any particular projects I happen to be working on at the moment. Right now, that includes Terrell Carver’s Marx: Later Political Writings, W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America, and the Winter 2023 Issue of The Georgia Review. Add to all that some framed photos, a few empty coffee mugs, water glasses, a couple cups (including a beautiful blue ceramic mug made by a dear potter friend) full of pens, and any one or two of my four cats, and it can be a fairly crowded workspace.

What are you reading lately? What writers inspire you?

I recently started a PhD program, so most of my reading is fairly academic. This has led me to crave dependable reads in my leisure time. I only want to read work that I know will nourish me creatively and emotionally. I just reread Laurie Marks’s utterly fantastic Elemental Logic series (I cannot recommend it enough). And I’ve undertaken a project to read all of Ursula K. LeGuin’s novels in chronological order. I just started Rocannon’s World.

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

I write a quarterly column for a very sweet magazine about nature in the Bay Area, appropriately called Bay Nature Magazine. Otherwise, I am always working on new stories, and a couple will be out in various magazines soon! You can find everything at my website www.endriarichardson.com, or via my newsletter hello-from-endria.ghost.io