I had the great pleasure to talk with Cristina Jurado, author of several novels and collections. In this interview we’ll focus on her newest novella ChloroPhilia, translated by Sue Burke and published by Apex Book Company (May 18, 2025).
About the Book
Would you sacrifice your humanity to save the world?
Kirmen is different from the other inhabitants of the Cloister, whose walls protect them all from the endless storm ravaging Earth. A doctor’s experiments cause his physical form to gradually evolve into something better fit for survival in the world outside. Kirmen worries about becoming a pariah, an outcast among the other denizens of the domes. But his desire for affection and acceptance, and his humanity, fade away as the doctor’s treatments progress. What will happen when the metamorphosis is complete? What will be left of Kirmen and the group of survivors that he knows and loves? In English for the first time, ChloroPhilia, an Ignotus Award-nominated novella by Cristina Jurado, is a strange coming–of-age story that addresses life after an environmental disaster, collective madness, and sacrifices made for the greater good.
Chat with the Author
Mary: Hi Cristina, and welcome to Dragonfly. ChloroPhilia is your newest novella, out a week from today. It’s an intriguing story that defies genre but has some elements of eco-fiction, science fiction, and body horror. What’s happening in the book?
Cristina: Post-apocalyptic settings are some of the best ways to bring humankind to extreme situations. Because I wanted to explore the concept of collective madness, I thought about a small community that, due to external circumstances, was totally isolated. A planetary sandstorm felt like a great natural phenomenon to generate such a situation, forcing people to find creative ways to survive indoors. The Cloister, the group of interconnected domes I imagined, accommodates a self-sufficient community and, over the years, that isolation has unprecedented consequences, impacting individuals’ mental health in different ways. ChloroPhilia tries to expose a particular outcome from this starting point. You will find fragments that read like flashbacks where others feel like flash-forwards, and themes fluctuate between survival, mental breakdown, human transformation or the power of memory.
Mary: Can you tell us about the history of your fiction writing and what got you started?
Cristina: I started as an avid reader, looking for stories that made me hungry for more. As I was reading, unknown characters began to populate my mind and talk to each other. The interesting thing is that they were not even related to the fiction I was reading. The only way to make them calm down was for me to write their stories. My first novel in Spanish, From Orange to Blue, was born from that experience. Then, my interest shifting towards short stories and that’s when my collaboration in different projects started. The rest, as they say, is history.
Mary: What are some of your experiences that led to the writing of this book?
Cristina: I live in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and we frequently face sandstorms, but they are not like in the movies or TV. They’re insidious, creeping, and a more powerful phenomenon that you think, like an opaque veil enveloping reality rather quickly. When you are driving, for example, sand coils over the road and cars loose grip on the asphalt, leaving you with a helpless sensation. You can feel the taste of the sand in the back of your throat and even the grains in your teeth. Also, I love the desert, which to me is not a barren place but a canvas full of possibilities. During the summer, the hostile climate forces everyone indoors. Thanks to modern technology, people live comfortably, but the relationship with the environment is so mediated by the artificial that I’ve always been fascinated by its impact in society. All of that made me think about the Cloister, the setting of ChloroPhilia, a group of interconnected domes where humans try to survive. I guess living in the Arabian Peninsula has affected me more than I thought!
Mary: I also love the desert! Did you have a place in mind for the setting of this world? It seems futuristic or imaginary, but, for example, did you envision your own habitat in a different climate?
Cristina: I wasn’t thinking about a specific place when writing this story, although I was probably picturing a Spanish city surrounded by lowlands, just like Seville. My inspiration for the Cloister came from the multiple malls in the UAE, where people socialize and spend most of their time outside their homes when the weather is unbearably hot. I was trying to depict domes containing different habitats designed to provide everything, from sustainable building materials to food. It would have to be an environment adapted to the outside storm, using the wind as a source of energy, paying a lot of attention to recycling, engineering, and circular economy. I imagined it more as an alternate present setting than a futuristic one because, in a way, it’s a bit like how some people in extreme weather conditions already live.
Mary: Did you approach this story as a message/warning or mostly a piece of art?
Cristina: I don’t see myself like a champion of ideas but rather as a medium for emotions because my writing is intended to make people “vibrate” with revulsion, hope, uneasiness, compassion, surprise, terror, etc. Also, I pay a lot of attention to the way I write and spend time trying to elevate my prose. So, I guess, I want people to appreciate my stories as art that doesn’t leave you indifferent.
Mary: One of the reasons I was attracted to the story is because I like hybrid people-flora and sometimes wish I could be one. The body horror in this book due to a sort of reverse-terraforming. Can you explain and talk some the uniqueness of Kirmen, who is being transformed?
Cristina: Kirmen is the “chosen one” in his community, the last kid to be born in this isolated habitat, subject to surgical procedures and genetic engineering. He’s never known anything but painful treatments and endless tests, and because since a very early age he is different than the rest of the older kids, he has almost never formed a strong emotional attachment with anyone. The only two people he feels close to from the entire community are Jana, another kid a bit older than him, and her father Jay, while his own parents are absent. His relationship with the doctor is very complex as he sees him as a fatherly figure who occasionally tells fantastic stories about the time the surface of Earth was livable. On the other hand, he hates the medical procedures he is forced to undertake. But Jana and his father are also estranged, so there is really nothing idyllic in Kirmen’s life. His only prospect is his transformation, which makes him anxious because the outcome is unknown. I didn’t want him whining about his situation or wishing to be like the rest: he’s in a waiting mode, unhappy about the bullying he is suffering, sure, but feeling an enormous latent potential.
Mary: The other main human character is the doctor, and Chapter 0 goes some into his background. Can you talk some about the creative process of figuring out this character?
Cristina: I didn’t want the doctor to have a name because he represents the concept of progress. Even though historically this has been mostly a positive notion, I believe it doesn’t come without some steps back and, in some cases, a heavy price to pay. The doctor has a good heart in the beginning, but when you meet him much later in his life, you realize what an extreme situation does to well-intentioned people. I imagined him as a complex and contradictory man, with many ghosts in the closet. In the beginning of the novel, you feel sympathetic towards him and, as you read, you dislike him more and more. I wanted his actions, even the more questionable, to have a purpose in his mind. The reader might not agree with them, but I wanted them to be there.
Mary: The world has some non-human characters too (like storms). If you thought about this world before writing, what images came to mind?
Cristina: I thought it would be a cool challenge to use a natural phenomenon as a character. It was really fun to write that part, because with that type of oddity you don’t have to worry about its morals, for example. Once I wrote about a primeval deity which wasn’t human, and I had the same experience. It feels very empowering to be free of any moral prejudges.
Mary: What do you think readers might take away from the novella?
Cristina: I would like readers to envision how an extreme situation impacts a community and to reflect about how our civilization is moving towards this type of setting. Also, I want them to approach the theme of survival from an open standpoint.
Mary: Thanks so much, Cristina. I loved this story. Best wishes with it.
About the Author
To find out more about Cristina, see the following:
- YouTube channel called LIBRISIMO (“Very Bookish” in Spanish) to speak about new releases though short interviews. All interviews are available with subtitles.
- Editor Darian Bianco’s (from Apex), interview with Cristina about ChloroPhilia
- Website
- X
- Bluesky
Translator Sue Burke is the author of the science fiction novel Dual Memory. She also wrote Semosis, Interference, and Immunity Index, along with short stories, poems, and essays. As a result of living overseas, she’s also a literary translator, working from Spanish into English for such writers as Angélica Gorodischer, Sofia Rhei, and Cristina Jurado. She’s currently enjoying life in Chicago.
