How did “Carbon Zero” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

Sometimes I like to work from story prompts, and “Carbon Zero” has its generation in a story prompt for a small-press anthology that wanted science fiction stories about law enforcement. For a while I had also been wanting to write a story about climate change, but I hadn’t been able to find a compelling story idea. As a biologist who is constantly confronted with the realities of the changing climate in my work, it was important to me that my story not sugar-coat the trajectory humanity is on. Both of these things came together a few years ago, after British Columbia (where I live) experienced one of the worst climate-driven forest-fire seasons in its history. If we are to have any chance at averting a climate disaster, we must do more than just reduce our carbon output—we need to get to carbon zero or better. “Carbon Zero” explores the human cost of what may become humanity’s last chance to avert its own downfall. (As for that anthology prompt, “Carbon Zero” ended up being too long to submit to the anthology, but I guess that worked out in all of our favor).

Did you get stuck at any point while writing this?

Surprisingly, this one came very fast after I settled on the basic idea and had the main character and his conflict sorted out, which also happened quickly. This doesn’t happen often, so it’s notable when it does. I wrote the first draft of “Carbon Zero” in about an hour. I then did some additional research to nail down the details, and I had the final story completed within a few days of when I started to brainstorm ideas.

Where are you in this story?

What an intriguing question, and not one I have often thought about. Some of my stories are very personal, and I think it’s obvious (to me at least), where I am in the story, whether it’s within a particular character, belief structure, conflict, or story idea. Not so for “Carbon Zero.” This one draws mainly from my experience as someone whose professional work has been directly impacted by climate change, rather than from any specific personal experience (although those happen every day, too). Those professional experiences, and to some extent the urgency I feel for us to get our act together and change something, are likely where I lie in this story.

What are you reading lately? What writers inspire you?

I find I don’t have much time to read for pleasure. Between my day job, my writing, and just life in general, I can only manage to squeeze in a few short stories here and there. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a lengthy novel. I read a considerable amount of scientific literature for my job, so I’m often a little burned out on reading much of anything after that. When I do read fiction, I read a lot of stories from new writers trying to make that first sale, and believe it or not, I enjoy providing them with feedback (not that I claim any special knowledge) and learning about the craft from them. When I do read published fiction, I tend to dabble in magazines like Lightspeed and Apex for science fiction tales with visceral human stories at their core.

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

I have several writing projects underway. A few new short stories will be coming out over the next year in a variety of magazines and anthologies. The fifth book in the Calypto Cycle, my 1920 alternate-history, science-fiction thriller series, should also be available soon, but the first four books can be found at most online booksellers. I’m almost finished with the manuscript for the sixth entry in that series. Toss in a half-dozen short stories at various stages of development/submission, and I often find myself wishing for more hours in the day.