Can you talk a bit about how this story took shape and what inspirations fed into it?

The story of the world creation according to the Bible is one that I find enthralling and rich. I have always been drawn to writing a story in the same vein. The story was supposed to be flash fiction, but after plotting it out I realised I had to go with the flow of the story. I was deep in thoughts about a person having the ability to create things into life, and wielding much power to undo his creation—this was the genesis of where the story was birthed. The inspirations that fleshed out the story into life were drawn from plants, rebirth, fairy-tale, laws against people with special abilities, and loneliness.

I found it interesting that between the reference to plant cells in the beginning and Father ruminating about Dayo’s “pre-installed memories,” I was never certain whether this was straightforward fantasy or some kind of speculative future, even to the end. How did you approach the process of framing the world for this story while you were writing it?

Many times when I am writing, I usually don’t go along with the plot. This story should have been a straight-up fantasy piece, but the bringing to life of Dayo needed some bit of scientific exploration. Since this is a fantasy story, I had to stay true to this path. Infusing the plant cells and incorporating it with Dayo’s life also required some fantasy-science blend.

With how Dayo died twice before the story even started and stumbles into absolute jeopardy fairly easily, to me this story argues for the truth of a ruthlessly dangerous world. Is this what you were intending, and what led you to frame the story like this?

The world where my characters lived was ruled by the supernatural. Those who didn’t have such ability were at a great disadvantage, hence, the reason for the ban of magic in the first place. I wouldn’t say the world was ruthlessly dangerous, but people were on the verge of surviving in whichever means possible. While this story advanced, I wanted my readers to see the reason why Father was persistent on keeping Dayo at home, and safe at all times. This approach towards writing this came from a place of a parent protecting their child in a mean world by all means possible. The world we live in has no respect for the weak.

Between “the law that kicked against the use of magic” and “a surge of xenial feeling,” to name only two, I found the pattern of words in this story refreshingly different from what we tend to see in Lightspeed. How carefully do you choose your words while writing, and were you aiming for any particular resonance with the whole?

When I started out as a writer, I wrote a lot of poems. My style of poem was story-like in verses. A good piece of writing should take the reader on a visual journey, diving them further into a clear sense of imagination. The main aim of my choice of words is to leave a long-lasting imprint of my story in the minds of the readers.

Is there anything you’re working on that you’d like to talk about? What can our readers look forward to seeing from you in the future?

Currently I’m working on stories about space opera and the extraterrestrial. Readers can look forward to more of a mix of science-fantasy stories.