There is a kind of fantasy right now that I feel is best exemplified by J. Rowling. It’s this portrayal of a fantasy where there is not just a male, white, cisgender future for our society. It is a spectrum of colors, a spectrum of experiences, the spectrum of languages, a spectrum of sexual identification, and of sexuality. How important was it for you as a writer to really look at the spectrum of human experience and project it forward into the future of fantasy?
It was hugely important and I honestly wish we could do more of it if we had more time. I’d write a million more words of unique people living their lives. Maybe in future projects I’ll get a chance to do that. But it’s not just representing a hopeful world, or a world that we want to see. It’s, from my point of view, representing the world as it currently is. There are women in positions of power. There are people of color doing all kinds of jobs. There are queer people in every corner and class of the world. And so I want the world of the fantasy to reflect the world of the now. And that means reflecting our current reality.