Subway Takes with Ian Li

Ian Li (he/him) is a Chinese-Canadian economist, developer, writer, and poet, who started writing in late 2023 after a lifetime of believing he could never be creative. Find his work featured in Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, and the Toronto subway system, among other venues. He is also a poetry editor at Orion's Belt. Learn more at ian-li.com.

Ian is the author of “I Always Follow Rule 22:” and “Thank You for Choosing RoboDoctor” from Issue 13, along with “Drinking Song” and “Distilling Emotion” from Issue 5.

His previous Radon interview can be read here.

Q: When we spoke in 2023, you aimed to have a pro sale by mid-2024, a novel finished by 2025, and a Hugo, Nebula, or Locus award by 2030. How are you faring on your journey as you find yourself halfway through 2026?

Oh, I’d forgotten I’d written these goals! My reasoning at the time was that putting some goals out there publicly would help me push myself — so thank you for keeping me accountable!

I did manage a pro sale before mid-2024, and a handful more since then. At the time, I thought “pro” was a more meaningful distinction (rather than just pay rate), but nowadays I’m just as proud of being published in semi-pro markets that I admire!

I outlined a novel in 2025, but couldn’t maintain the discipline to sit down and write it out. I enjoy writing short stories and poetry too much, and I constantly got distracted by new ideas. A novel is still in my plans, but for now, I’m letting myself get pulled in the direction of my interests, so it’s entirely possible I focus on short form or aim for a poetry collection first.

I did have a story on the Locus Recommended Reading List this year (“The Memory Technician” in Small Wonders), so I suppose I was on the (very long) ballot for the Locus Award at least. But I think my goals are broader now. At the time, I still didn’t know much about the industry, so award recognition was the extent of my knowledge as a reader. It’s still a fun dream to have, and of course an award would be incredible, but I guess what I wanted was for a lot of people to read my stories. I figured an award would achieve that, but I think I got it directionally wrong — it's stories that reach and touch many readers that get awards attention. My Locus-recommended story seemed to resonate in that way, and I’m very proud of it, so I’d like to aim for more of that: Write more heartfelt stories that move people, get them into publications with wide readership, and help publicize those publications and my stories. (And I’m using “stories” as shorthand that includes poems as well, because I believe poetry is just another form of storytelling.)

Q: How large has your writing spreadsheet grown, now four years on?

I’m just coming up on three full years, and my submissions sheet has over a thousand rows now (to be fair, each individual poem in a submission packet is a separate row, so a ton of simultaneously-submitted poetry subs juices up that number). I also now have spreadsheets to track my stories/poems/publications and markets/submission windows I want to submit to. I just love spreadsheets, haha.

Q: How does one get featured on a city’s subway system like you did?

Poems in Passage is a non-profit program in Toronto which partners with the transit system, and they have open submission windows annually, in which they receive thousands of poems. I’m so overjoyed mine [“Light of My Life”] was one of the poems they selected this year, and it’s been absolutely surreal seeing my work on the subway and having friends & family send me photos when they encounter it. Public arts initiatives make a city more alive and vibrant, so I encourage everyone to check out, support, and contribute to their local programs!

Q: Have you found yourself more heavily involved with the Canadian speculative writing scene as the decade has progressed?

Oh yes, the writing community has been incredibly welcoming and supportive here. I attend as many book launches by local speculative writers as I can, and I feel like I’ve gotten to know so many talented writers who have been kind and generous with their time. And they’re just a cool group to chat and hang out with. As an introvert, I’m thankful to a few writers in particular who host events, invite people out, and make it easier for everyone to get to know each other. As I figure out where I want my writing career to go, I’d love to give back more to the community here.

Q: How is the current economic and political landscape influencing your writing?

Hmm, one on hand, it’s easy to look at the state of the world and think: good time for dystopian stories. But I actually think it might be tougher in this environment, because a lot of dystopian ideas feel too real now.

On the other hand, I think it’s a good time to share uplifting stories, stories that show the inherent good in humans. My hopeful stories have gotten a lot of positive attention in the past year, and I love writing about finding kindness & hope in a dark & gritty world.

Q: Does writing dystopian poems make you feel more hopeful or more resigned?

Never resigned. Hopeful might not be the right word; my feelings vary between:

· Scared, that my brain thought up such messed up things.

· Angry, at the messed up system I thought up.

· Fired up, to write more and warn against such a possible future.

· Relieved, because things aren’t as bad as they are in this poem.

Q: Do you begin with a particular image, a feeling, or a world when writing?

Most often I start with an idea that intrigues me. I guess that’s pretty much a “world”? Though not as expansive or complete as the word suggests.

For “I Always Follow Rule 22:,” I imagined an authoritarian government that believes there should only be owners and things that are owned, anything else is dangerous.

For “Thank You for Choosing RoboDoctor,” I imagined a society in which a robot is the most affordable source of medical diagnoses for much of the population.

Q: It may be a random choice or it may be a deeply intentional one. We’re curious why you chose 22 to be the specific rule number in your poem?

Intentional! After writing this poem, I was rewatching the movie V for Vendetta and realized there were some similar themes, and figured it would be cool to slip in a subtle homage: V is the 22nd letter of the alphabet.

Q: What is your poetic relationship to couplets? More so a classic tool for structure and framing, or an always-fresh reframing of standard stanzas?

I’ve never thought about this before! I usually just use whatever “feels” like right for the poem.

A rough tally shows about 8 of the ~50 poems I have published use series of couplets, so it seems I like them. One reason is I feel like couplets are easy on the eyes? Just one or two related ideas/images per couplet, ample space to allow the reader to digest, forms a natural rhythm of sorts.

Q: Have you had personal experiences with automated medical assistance or telehealth that influenced your poem “Thank You for Consulting RoboDoctor”?

I think a lot of us have done this or know someone who has: gotten some weird symptoms, self-diagnosed by looking up the symptoms online, and fell into an anxiety spiral believing it could be some gruesome/deadly/incurable disease.

From there, I just imagined a world where this is automated, diagnoses delivered by a medical AI that could easily make the same kind of mistake. Having heard a number of AI startup pitches, I’m afraid this possibility doesn’t feel that farfetched.

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

Perhaps not specific to these poems, but I often listen to punk/alt rock bands when in a dystopian writing mood, so these came to mind:

“Hands Held High” by Linkin Park

“Working Class Hero,” written by John Lennon, performed by Green Day