Associate Professor of Creative Writing Stefan Kiesbye writes about climate change in his new story "Smokeland" published in the anthology Fire & Water: Stories from the Anthropocene (Black Lawrence Press 2021).
"Stefan Kiesbye's Carmen, in his story "Smokeland," has been traumatized by a fire that burned down his whole neighborhood, including his house. They rebuilt, but Carmen has nightmares about the neighborhood burning again. And yet his regular life manages to go on: ' Dinner was a disaster. Katie refused to eat turkey, carrots, and peas and instead plastered the food over her face. Then she dramatically fell off her chair, convulsing until she died with a whimper. Devin laughed so hard at her act that he sprayed his peas through his nose across the table at Carmen. Moments after Heather sent the kids to their rooms, the fire alarm went off, and they found Devin standing on his desk chair, holding a candle as high as he could below the alarm.' -- Introduction by Nicole Walker