Welcome to Lightspeed Magazine! We’re so happy to have “Legs” as one of the science fiction stories for this month. Can you tell us about what inspired you to write this story?

I was thinking about power dynamics, and about a Tamsyn Muir story that appeared in Lightspeed in 2017. It’s called “The Magician’s Apprentice,” and it follows a young girl, Cherry, as she learns how to work magic. I was intrigued and distressed by the extreme power imbalance between Cherry and her teacher, a much older man with a secret about where his magic really comes from. At the end of Muir’s story, Cherry learns the secret and chooses to accept it, to embrace the nasty roots of magic. But, I found myself wondering, how much of a choice did Cherry really have? Completely isolated from her friends and family, living in a world where her teacher exercises absolute control, how could she have chosen otherwise?

I wanted to write a story about a character participating in some type of ritualistic practice, in a world where she’s not only doing so entirely against her will, but the concept of her even possessing a will at all is inconceivable to the people in charge. What sort of wiggle room is there in this existence for joy, or novelty, or redemption?

Perspective plays such a vital role in this piece—what drew you to telling this story from Legs’s point of view?

Muir is one of my favorite writers, and one thing she does that I’m continually impressed by is write from the perspective of a character with no idea what’s going on around her. Sometimes her characters choose to not be interested in very important things; other times they are incapable of seeing the bigger picture for various reasons. It’s hilarious and devastating by turns to realize what is being said in the periphery, how much it matters in the world of the story, and why certain characters can’t or won’t understand.

I was also thinking of Marlon James’s Dark Star Trilogy, in which each book retells the same events from a different character’s perspective, and how drastically my understanding of what happened shifted between tellings.

In “Legs,” I wanted the slow creep of realization that the idyll presented in the opening paragraphs isn’t actually what’s happening at all. Once you realize how much of a shithead Dennis is, Legs’s resilience becomes (hopefully) even more bittersweet. I also wanted the challenge of writing from a perspective with a very limited understanding of the world at large.

Do you believe cycles of abuse can be broken?

I think we have to differentiate between interpersonal abusive relationships and institutional systems of abuse. Dennis, for example—he’s a guy who believes that the world owes him whatever he wants. I don’t think Dennis as a person is exceedingly capable of change. But we also have to think about why Dennis is the way he is—what values were taught to him about gender, ethics, and accruing capital? How is his behavior positively reinforced by his community? When the system benefits him, why would he think about alternatives? And if the system were very different—if, for example, we valued things like people’s lives instead of shareholder value—what might Dennis be like?

What do you aim to explore through the connection between human beings and their pets?

Aside from young children, pets might be the singular group in our society with the least amount of power. There is also less of a social incentive to “invest” in your pets. Their existence is entirely at our mercy. Pets, maybe, should hate us. But instead, they love us unconditionally. It’s beautiful, and terrifying. You’re telling me that my dog, who is right now sitting at my feet asking to go for a walk, was once a wolf who had to kill something if she wanted to eat? My sweet darling dog would one hundred percent starve.

Is there a project you are currently working on? And if not are there any themes, objects, or news that might be tickling your fingers?

I am working on too many projects! Lots of short stories are in the editing stage right now. I write a lot about bodies, and how horrible it is to have one. Speaking of, I’m writing a series of personal essays about living with chronic pain and chronic illness (these may never see the light of day). My novel and I are feuding.

I have a story coming out in Apex this month (it might already be out!). If you liked “Legs,” go check it out. It’s also about abuse, which is funny, because I write about a lot of other things that aren’t abuse, I swear.