Nova Scotia Vol 2 anthology, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J. Wilson, is now available for pre-order! It celebrates the depth and breadth of Scotland's dazzling science fiction and fantasy landscape from its haunted islands to its transformed cities and everything in between. Jenni Coutts created the gorgeous cover art.
You can order the book on its own, or buy the bundle anthology deal - both from the Luna store.
Today we'd like to introduce you to Lindz McLeod and the story "Junior".
About the author:
Lindz McLeod is a queer, working-class, Scottish writer and editor who dabbles in the surreal. Her short prose has been published by Apex, Catapult, Pseudopod, and many more. Her longer work includes the short story collection TURDUCKEN (Spaceboy, 2023), as well as her novels BEAST (Hear Us Scream, 2023), SUNBATHERS (Hedone Books, 2024), THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET (Harlequin, 2025), and AN HONOUR AND A PRIVILEGE (Stanchion, 2025). Her work has been taught in schools, universities, and turned into avant-garde opera. She is a full member of the SFWA, the club president of the Edinburgh Writers' Club, and is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing.
Lindz on the story:
How my story came to be: While I was working on a contemporary SF/domestic horror, I had to come up with a few headlines for a scene set in a supermarket; "Forever Baby launches in June" was one of them, and the idea wormed into my brain and wouldn't let go. At first, I considered what a piece of tech that mimics all the actions and emotions of a real infant might be used for, and then I realised that in addition to using it as a teaching tool, it might be utilised by people unable to bear biological children, or testing out the idea of having children to make sure it's a sustainable lifestyle before committing to it, or to assuage grief in some way. The latter seemed like the most interesting and original angle, so I created a male character, Jamie, who is grieving his wife's recent miscarriage. My hope was that the story would address something we don't talk about enough in society—resources which provide emotional support for men who are coping poorly with domestic issues. Society expects a certain amount of emotional labour and intelligence on behalf of female-presenting people, which both places an undue burden on them and also creates an emotional vacuum in how we raise male-presenting people, who aren't expected to provide or need emotional intelligence in the same way. Although the idea of a 'Forever Baby' has bigger-world implications, I wanted to zoom in on one particular household, to see how an emotional crutch like this could be used to aid the grieving process and simultaneously obstruct Jamie's ability to connect and grow along with his real kids. By staying in his comfort zone in the uncomplicated role of 'Daddy' to the Forever Baby—which he names Junior—Jamie misses out on real-world events and real-time news, As time passes, he's so wrapped up in Junior's care that he struggles to connect with those around him in even the most basic human ways. I find I'm usually most interested in characters who suffer from a similarly blinkered approach to the world, as it enables me to explore the psychology of that person in great detail, whilst also contrasting the interior and exterior spheres of domestic and public life.
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