Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Rachel: I’m a sucker for intelligent, literary sci-fi, so when I finished reading North Continent Ribbon, I immediately asked Ursula if they’d be interested in telling our readers about it so that I’m not screaming about how good it is all by myself.

Ursula: North Continent Ribbon is a collection of connected, queer short stories that’s coming out in August.

Here’s the blurb:

“On Nakharat, every contract is a ribbon and every ribbon is a secret, braided tight and tucked behind a veil. Artificial intelligence threatens the tightly-woven network. Stability depends on giving each machine a human conscience—but the humans are not volunteers.”

Rachel: I was struck by the theme of connection and relationship, both visible and hidden, in North Continent Ribbon. Did this theme emerge organically or did you intentionally build the stories around it?

Ursula: It’s organic! The intentional organizing theme is different parts of Nakharat society—I wanted it to be clear why one person would hate the judges or the army or the Companies but another person might try to join up. But I wrote queer romances while thinking through facets of my own identity, and I was curious about the role bigger social groups like student clubs and groups of drinking buddies play in social change, so I’m not surprised you see a more intricate web.

Rachel: The collection covers multiple eras of Nakharat history, which feels very rich and lived-in. How much worldbuilding exists off the page?

Ursula: In some places there’s a ton, while other parts of the world are more of a mystery. I have lots of thoughts about the culture of the titular North Continent, plus miscellaneous facts (ask me about ocean ecology or grammatical genders!) Other locations are wide open.

Rachel: My absolute favourite element of your world was the grim wire technology in the trains and spaceships, and what it says about labour, class, and automation. Where did that idea originate?

Ursula: The very first writing I did about Nakharat involved an even more furious adult version of the “Last Tutor” protagonist, Isekendriya. I knew that Isekendriya grew up on a mountain estate overlooking wide, empty plains, that the thought of their parents filled them with rage and guilt, and that nevertheless they wore a ribbon in the family colors hidden in their hair. I asked myself what kind of wealth leads to an estate in the middle of nowhere, and the answer was transportation—specifically, trains. 

The combination of ribbon imagery, train tracks, my character’s fury at their complicitness, and my own feelings about the US justice system led to the creepy technology you see in the book. I’m glad you found it compelling! I definitely did—compelling enough that I kept writing stories set on Nakharat, and eventually wrote my way back around to Ise.

Rachel: One of the challenges of short stories is creating characters that the reader can bond with, and who experience growth and change, within a very limited number of words. How do you balance economy of storytelling with creating complex and compelling characters?

Ursula: I cheat and write novelettes! As a poet, I expected that my natural fiction range would be very short. But I love the freedom that a novelette (about twice the length of a traditional short story) allows me to explore the psyches of characters who are uncertain or conflicted about what they want.

Rachel: Will you be revisiting Nakharat? What are you working on now?

Ursula: Right now I’m working on a couple of different historical fantasy projects (Napoleonic wars? Byzantium?) But I haven’t ruled out a return to Nakharat! One of the stories is about an artificially intelligent book, and I’m curious about whom else the book might meet.

Rachel: Tell us where the Night Beats community can find you and find your work!

Ursula: You can pre-order a hardcopy of North Continent Ribbon from Neon Hemlock Press.

If you want an alert the moment the ebook pre-order goes live, or you’re curious about what else I’m working on, you can subscribe to my newsletter:

And I’ve been spending lots of time hanging out on Bluesky ( @yarntheory.bsky.social ).