Parrot talk with Eleanor Lennox

Eleanor Lennox lives in New England, on a quiet hilltop where fog gathers and animals linger. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Online, Radon Journal, Factor Four, and 34 Orchard, amongst others. Find her online at eleanorlennox.com or @eleanorlennox.bsky.social.

Eleanor is the author of “The Atures Parrot” from Issue 12, and "The Fish in the Garden" from Issue 9.

Q: Where have you found yourself now over a year since our last discussion?

As a human—it’s been the same year we’re all living through.

As a writer—in the last year, I’ve found my way into a few stories that I’ve wanted to tell for a long time, but couldn’t find the way in (until now), so that feels good.

This story is definitely one of them.

Q: Where did the evocative and central idea of a memory package come from?

It really was in service to the idea. For some time, I’d wanted to write about forced human evolution, where we needed to become something else in order to survive on a very different kind of planet. The memory package was the solution I arrived at in order to tell that story, but maintain close perspective throughout.

And it tied in well with the other story I’ve wanted to tell for perhaps a decade now – the story of the Atures Parrot. As soon as I read that poem, I knew it’d find its way into a story – I was so haunted by it, and also wanted to keep its name alive. I’m glad I got there, at last.

Q: In the spirit of your Radon story, what legacies are you hoping to pass down to future generations with your work?

Oh man. I’ll be honest, I don’t have much expectation of handing anything down to posterity, or being remembered. If my stories make even a few people alive right now realize we have something precious here – both in ourselves and in our planet, a planet we’ve evolved to fit perfectly over millions and millions of years, completely irreplaceable to us as a species no matter where we go in the universe – then I’d be happy.

Q: What about space travel speaks to you?

To start – there’s something delicious about the singular terror of imagining yourself in real space. Going a step further, and imagining yourself at such a distance that our sun is just another star – chills.

As a writer, I like space travel (and science fiction generally) because it allows us to ask the big questions, the questions of our why that have always obsessed me – and not just navel-gaze about everyday human concerns as literary fiction can sometimes be guilty of.

Ha, that makes it sound as though I hate literary fiction – I don’t! A Gentleman in Moscow is one of my favorite novels, and On Beauty is another one. But I won’t pretend it doesn’t bother me when science fiction is dismissed by people who love to read (but won’t read sci-fi!) as lasers and green aliens and nothing more, and writers like Margaret Atwood distance themselves from the label of “science fiction” with excuses that don’t really hold water. Science fiction is stories, just add worldbuilding and/or philosophy. And in the words of Ina Garten, “How great is that?”

Q: What will you be working on for the rest of the year?

I have a novelette I’ve been working on, on and off, for a long time. It’s a sociological sci-fi with violence, romance, and two “households”– I think of it as sci-fi Romeo and Juliet! I’ve kind of beaten the shit out of it at this point, and now I need to put it back together. I hope to get that out into the world this year.

Q: Is this the first story of yours where you’ve melded your love of dancing with writing?

Yes! Usually it’s food that’s my recurring motif, but I love dance, it’s so human.

Q: What is your opinion on the state of the SFF industry currently?

Dystopia is having a hard year, competing with reality. But on the positive – it’s encouraging to see the strong anti-AI stance that many magazines have taken, though I wish it were more universal to have just as strong a stance against AI art – I don’t care if it’s free! It doesn’t have a soul! Please, no hot dog art.

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?

LOVE this question. What are we eating, what are we listening to, where are we going – what else is there?

“Tears in the Rain” (Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack, Vangelis by way of Hans Zimmer). This song is beautiful, but I confess I never hear it without hearing Rutger Hauer’s voice overlaid on top — “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” ICONIC. And so fitting for this story.

“Die Sonate vom Guten Menschem”(The Lives of Others, Gabriel Yared). A beautiful song in one of the greatest films of all time.

“Années de pèlerinage I, S. 160: VIII. Le mal du pays” (Franz Lizst). [“Mal du pays”] means “longing for one’s homeland.” This song is really worth a listen.