How did “Simmered in Their Wealth Like the Richest of Sauces” originate? What inspirations did you draw on?

I was thinking about dragons and capitalism (as one does) and wondering why dragons—at least European dragons—are always depicted as greedy and hoarders of treasure. They can’t use it, after all, no matter how shiny. What if the point was to separate us humans from their wealth? Certainly, some people have far too much of it. Dragons might be better, less corruptible caretakers of riches than we are (or at least, they tell themselves so). So I wrote a literal “eat the rich” story.

What is your writing process like? Did this story fit the pattern?

Every story is different. Sometimes I spend months just making notes before I even start writing, and months more revising while I try to find the heart of the story. With other stories (far more rarely) they spill right from my head and onto the page, and they only need light revision. For me, that’s more likely to happen when the story has a very strong narrator’s voice, which was the case for this one. But it’s a real rarity, and I always feel lucky when it happens!

Where are you in this story?

Um, is it bad to say the dragon is my role model? Only half joking! But seriously, capitalism is a broken system, and billionaires shouldn’t exist when people they employ are working long hours at exhausting jobs and yet can barely make ends meet.

What are you reading lately? What writers inspire you?

Since this is a dragon story, I’ll share two other clever and unusual takes on dragons that I’ve read recently.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is a twist on the magical academy, where a young Indigenous girl bonds with a dragon and has to attend a colonizer-run dragoneering school in an alt-history New England, all the while resisting attempts to (big air quotes) “civilize” her. It’s absolutely engrossing.

And The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott has some of the strangest, most delightful worldbuilding I’ve read in a long time, about a middle-aged Jewish mom who has to rescue her adult son from one dragon, and save another dragon who’s part of her family.

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

As a matter of fact, my first novel, Warped State, has just come out! It’s a space opera, so no dragons (sorry), but it’s thoroughly anti-capitalist. So if you like seeing obnoxious corporate types get their comeuppance, it’ll be right up your alley. You can find links to buy it at jomiles.com, plus a list of all my short fiction.