How did “Chaos Theory” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

I wrote the first draft of this story in late 2022, a few months after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively removing the nationwide right to abortion.

Around that time, my first kid had just turned one, and I was feeling retrospective about that first insane year of parenthood. I was also starting to debate whether I wanted to have a second kid and go through the nightmare that is pregnancy again, especially in the aforementioned political reality.

So the story was born, so to speak, from that indescribable, unique love of a parent for their child, from the fear of bringing a child into such a grim, malevolent world, and from the anger and helplessness of living under a system that is deeply concerned with controlling and oppressing women’s* bodies.

(*people with uteruses, even though the people doing the oppressing don’t respect that distinction.)

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

An obscenely large thermos of tea and lofi beats to relax/study to.

That isn’t a joke! I work from home, so I’m working and writing from the same place every day. I write in the evenings after the kids go to bed, so it’s really essential for me to transform the space into a place where I feel relaxed for a couple of hours.

Is there anything you want to make sure readers noticed?

The homage to one of the most powerful stories ever told*

*about dinosaurs.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

1. It doesn’t get easier, but it does get less painful to write if you build a habit of it.
2. Not everyone writes fast, don’t let them spook you.
3. Write the weirdest thing you can think of. In revisions, figure out how to make it weirder.

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

I have a novel with beta readers/in revision that features blood magic lesbians and sword demi-lesbians and a lot of public transit. If the readers tell me that it’s not totally unreadable, I hope to take it to the query trenches later this year. I’m also working on some new speculative poetry, and trying to remember to blog occasionally.

Links to my published fiction can be found at my website: ash-howell.com.