BANNISTER PRESS

M’rami floated on a sea of trash that stretched as far as her compound eyes could see. Her side-eyes gave her a wider field of vision, but with it came overpowering agoraphobia.

“How to Make Frenemies and Influence People” is an otherworldly story by Paula Hammond. When M’rami takes a job as a trash-sitter, she hopes the work will pay enough to open a world of opportunities for her. But D’rarby has other ideas. 

Paula Hammond is a professional writer & artist based in Wales. She has been published by Abyss & Apex, Third Flatiron, and Air & Nothingness Press, amongst others. Her fiction has been nominated for the Eugie Award, the Pushcart Prize and a BSFA award. 

How did you come up with the idea for your story? 

I wanted to write a story about social ’norms’, elitism, and  the pressure to conform. However, I wanted my starting point to be a world, a culture, that’s completely different to what we know. So, immediately, we see that, regardless of how alien that world and its people seem, they have the same concerns, and the same worries as us. Hopefully it’ll make readers think about why society approves of some and excludes others, and what we can do to change that.

How does your story relate to the theme of “feeling other”? 

My character, M’rami, lives in a world where the pressure to ‘belong’ has made its inhabitants ashamed of how they look, to the point where they mutilate themselves to fit in. Then, one day, something happens that makes M’rami realise that she’s perfect exactly as she is … and it’s the world that needs to change. I think a lot of people feel that.

How do you keep your creative spark alive?

It’s very easy when you have publishers like Bannister Press putting out such inspiring submission calls.

Aw. Thanks! What’s next for you? Do you have any stories coming out in 2025? 

I’ve got two stories upcoming in anthologies from B Cubed Press, and a couple more in a Sherlock Holmes collection from MX Publishing. But hopefully 2025 will continue to throw fascinating projects my way.

Thank you, Paula!

Paula Hammond’s new Sherlock Holmes collection, Eliminate the Impossible, is out now from MX Publishing. She can be found @writer_paula

“How to Make Frenemies and Influence People” is in OTHER: the 2024 speculative fiction anthology, which can be found at Amazon.