How did you get the idea for this story? Haw Par Villa is known for its aesthetic and the moments spent there in the story skillfully foreshadow some of the visuals you explore later. Have you ever visited the park?

I first visited Haw Par Villa as a kid. Weirdly, I was most afraid of the exhibit that shows the “good souls” standing on the silver and gold bridges to cross into paradise. For some reason I interpreted that exhibit to mean that the good souls would be standing on that bridge forever, and that was considered a reward since they wouldn’t be subjected to the tortures of hell. I was freaked out by the idea that the best-case scenario for the afterlife was still eternal conscious imprisonment, just without pain.

I went back to Haw Par Villa in 2020 in the hope of finding an idea for a story. I wrote a short story called “The Cat of Lin Villa” (published by Cast of Wonders) that had some references to the Ten Courts of Hell but didn’t end up being about Haw Par Villa. In 2023 I revisited the photos from that day, and the idea for “The Museum of Cosmic Retribution” finally came to me.

I’m curious about which writers have inspired you to write the way you do—your description and imagery reminded me of Arthur Rimbaud’s “A Season in Hell.” Walk me through some key elements of your process when creating these arresting images and heartbreaking stories.

I read Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman several years ago and it had a big impact on me. Although The Sandman is a comic and my work is prose, the memorable and outlandish artwork made me rethink how I use imagery in my writing. I also was really influenced by the way Gaiman tells stories within stories and creates worlds within worlds. My favorite volume of The Sandman is Vol 8: Worlds’ End, where a bunch of strange characters from various worlds get trapped in an inn and pass the time by telling stories.

I could easily ask you fifty questions about the Aekro and Fael part of the story—I feel as if they could have been the entire story. As a seasoned and widely published prose writer, how do you know when something cool is not the center of the story, only a fragment of it?

Many of my short stories are told in this format, with a few vignettes that come together under an overarching storyline. Each vignette is meant as a small glimpse into a wider universe. A review referred to this as “thumbnail worldbuilding.” I enjoy structuring stories like this because it allows me to do a lot of worldbuilding within a short word count.

As a brand-new fan I’m hoping you can conjure up another Aekro and Fael story, or at least something about their world. With that said, what’s next for you?

I may revisit Aekro and Fael’s hyper-pacifist planet in the future! For now, I have a science fiction story called “The Worms That Ate the Universe” coming out in a future issue of Uncanny Magazine.

I’m also currently working on a science-fantasy novel that I’m very excited about. Think Cyberpunk 2077 meets Spirited Away. It’s been a long time in the making—I started on the first iteration of this book back in 2019—but the end is finally in sight. I’m hoping to finish it by the end of this year or early next year.