Black Hole Blues with Riley Passmore

Riley Passmore (he/him) is a speculative fiction writer and essayist based in Tampa. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, and attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop this past summer. His work has appeared in Swamp Ape Review, Small World City, Barnstorm Journal, Five on the Fifth, and many others. Follow him on Bluesky @RDPassmore and read more of his work at rileypassmore.com.

Riley is the author of “Black Hole Blues” from Issue 12.

Q: Short fiction rarely receives the same commercial attention as novels. What keeps you committed to the form?

So many things. First and foremost, of course, is that I love it. Simple as that. All of the most mind-blowing stories I’ve ever read are short stories. (I’m thinking of Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” here in particular.) But there’s also the fact that I think short stories are more flexible, artistically-speaking, than novels. While I don’t do too much of this in “Black Hole Blues,” I love experimenting with form and structure in fiction, and that’s much harder to pull off in longer work. If, say, I wanted to tell a story in reverse, or tell a story in a series of status-update social media posts, I think the short story is better suited for that idea.

Q: What writing insights did you take with you from your time at South Florida, and which did you discard?

I learned so much during my MFA, but these two insights stick out. The first is something Michael Kardos wrote in his The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer’s Guide. He wrote that “endings should feel surprising, yet inevitable.” As in, at the end of your story, your reader should be thinking: “I can’t believe this story ended how it did, and yet, how else could it have ended?” When a story pulls that off, it’s like a magic trick.

The second is a piece of advice from my thesis director Ira Sukrungruang. I have a tendency to overwrite; I have a lot darlings. And to help me past this, Ira told me: “Always cut your favorite parts. Save those for the reader.” I’ve always taken this to mean that the reader should have space to add themselves to the story, that writing and reading are even more participatory than we think. Not that I don’t sometimes love dense prose, but I think knowing when and where to step on the gas, so to speak, is a crucial skill for writers.

Q: What can you tell us about your next project?

I don’t want to say too much just yet since I’m so early in the process, but I’ve been working on a novel on and off over the last year. No prose yet, but lots and lots of research. It was originally going to be a short story, but it kept growing and growing. It’s a post-apocalyptic story about AI, a climate-collapsed Earth, and the role of human-made literature and art in the creation and maintenance of civilization. Think Mad Max meets Fahrenheit 451. I’m hoping for it to be my debut.

Q: Your publication frequency is off to an explosive start for 2026. How do you plan to keep it up?

As well as I can, hopefully! I attended the Clarion workshop last summer, and so I’ve been working through those stories and sending them out as quickly as I’m able. I have two of those pieces out right now, actually, along with a flash piece I wrote after the workshop. Hopefully, I’ll get some more good news soon.

Q: What brought about the idea of having a group of troubled students be the ones thrown into a black hole?

Oh, that’s a great question! Originally, “Black Hole Blues” was much different and much longer – more of a novella idea than a short story. But the emotional core was the same. I wanted someone entering a black hole and, through the warped physics involved, be confronted with their life choices. Their mistakes, especially. As for the students, well, I tend to write about working class characters surviving in spite of the system that exploits them, and who better fits that bill than those placed in a work-release program?

Q: Tell us about the RHENGE 5E you created?

It’s an unofficial campaign setting that I wrote for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition back in 2020. It’s available on DriveThruRPG, and there should be an expansion coming out later this year. A friend of mine, the amazing Vanja Mrgan, did all of the art and visual design – seriously, check out his work. The guy’s a genius. If you’re looking for ancient marble robots and killer plants in an endless wilderness setting, check it out!

Q: Since your first poetry publication “Devil Work” was published, do you hope to return to the poetry world?

Hopefully sooner rather than later! I love poetry; unfortunately, I don’t write too much of it. I have to be in the right headspace. While I love lyrical language, I love narrative a whole lot more, and any poem I write starts to turn into an epic if I’m not careful. Just look at “Devil Work” – it’s a poem with seven parts.

Q: Was there any music (1-3 songs) that you think would make a good mini-setlist for your story? Either ones that may have been on your mind, or ones that give readers a good idea of the themes?

I’m not sure if there’s any carryover in terms of themes, but I was listening to a lot of moody rock and metal when writing this story. Here were a few of my faves:

1. “My Twin" by Katatonia

2. “Dream Stealer" by Arch Enemy

3. “Vicarious” by Tool