Emma Burnett’s novella, Ex Partum (Atthis Arts), will be released in June. I love Emma’s work, so I was eager to write an early review of her book:
Ex Partum presents a harrowing extrapolation of today’s societal trends. What do we lose when we choose convenience over reason? Who suffers when we allow corporations unlimited control of our world? This story hit me on a visceral level, as the plight of new mother Panya resonated with my own slough through early motherhood. Ex Partum author emma burnett lays bare an all-too-plausible future — and shows that, even in an entrenched corporatocracy, hope can still sprout in the margins.
Thanks to Atthis Arts for the ARC, and to Emma for answering my questions!
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Design by Ellen Burnett
Myna: Tell us about Ex Partum! Who are your characters? What themes do you explore?
Emma: Ex Partum is a novella about food. It’s about parenting. It’s about social pressure and predatory capitalism and personal change. So, you know, it’s a near-to-now almost not even dystopia.
To be honest, I think you’d get a really good overview of the book by checking out the goodreads reviews. Folk have done a mindblowingly good job of picking up on points that work for them, or don’t work for them, and they’re all thoughtfully crafted responses. There are a few spoilers though, so heads up.
Myna: When a reader finishes the last word in the book, what emotion will they be feeling?
Emma: That depends on the reader. If you’re my mum, you’re ready to throttle me because: ‘Why isn’t it longer?! I want it to be longer!’
If you’re my partner, you might be feeling sad and disturbed, even though I’m fine, I promise!
If you’re a parent, you might feel like this hits you in the feels. I’ve heard this from people, particularly about the slowness and repetition and smallness that the story leans into.
If you’re a human, you might feel a bit mixed. The main character is not entirely reliable, and she makes mistakes, and we’re not sure we’re always on her side, but we really want to be.
And, if you work at a meal replacement company, you might feel nothing at all, because tbh you’re the bad guys in this story, my dudes, but I bet you give zero shits.
Myna: How did this book come about?
Emma: Like so much of my writing, Ex Partum was originally a short story. I started it one morning, and it was a short story. But it just kept outgrowing its container. Within a day, I had 12000 words, and by the end of day two it was over 20k. I remember sitting there, watching the word count tick up, complaining to a friend that this was getting out of control. But it just didn’t want to be smaller.
The book hits on a lot of themes I love and also those that I hate. It works through food culture, capitalism, parenting, sexism, othering, which is probably why it grew so long. That’s too much to pack into a short story. I think it works at this length, although there was probably space to grow it out even further*.
*Actually, having gone and looked at the goodreads reviews, the ones that marked it down tended to be the ones who wanted more. More story, more secondary character development, more worldbuilding. I think this is totally legit. It’s just a feature of a) novellas; and b) me, where I just couldn’t be asked.
Myna: Do you have other books or stories you’d like to mention?
Emma: Well, now you ask, there are a few dozen out in the wild that are free to read and will give you a good flavour of what I write. Most of it is flash fiction, but there are some longer pieces. Personally, my current favourites are 25 Peppercorns, Bone-eater Earth, Herself Anodyne, Spirit Alembic Keeper, and Instructions for Rewilding the Wasteland. You can find links to all of these here.
Myna: One of the things I love in your stories is the sense of justice. I’m curious about the way you weave various themes into your work. Does the theme come first, or does it develop as you write?
Emma: It’s always interesting to hear how other people interpret your work. I hadn’t thought about justice as a theme in my stories, but I guess maybe it is. I think the themes are emergent. I’m not a strategic writer in that sense – I have a story or at least a voice that wants out, and it’s my responsibility to put it down on paper. The themes get strengthened, I think, through the iterative writing process, through feedback with other writers, and by taking a step back when doing edits.
Myna: How would you describe your writing style, in general?
Emma: Oooh. I would call it ‘raging against the machine.’ But other people have told me that my writing is: problematic; horrific; utterly deranged. I have interpreted this as having mass reader appeal.
Myna: What’s your favorite thing about writing?
Emma: I mean… my favourite thing about writing is writing. It’s having a story land, fully formed in my brain, at 2am and bolting out of bed to transcribe it. It’s seeing someone’s face fall when I make them read something sad, hearing them snort when I give them a punchline, having them tell me my writing shifted something in them when they’re done. It’s feeling heard, in a world that can’t seem to listen to me when I say things, but reads me when I write them, and they’re all the same things but it comes through in the stories, so, fine. It’s the joy at bringing something together that is new and different, or old and retold, and to be proud of the result no matter.
It is sitting in the quiet and having a whole world inside me, a legitimate world, one where my imaginary friends are real.
Myna: How do you stay motivated?
Emma: I don’t. That’s a surefire way to feel shame, guilt, and exhibit internalised capitalism.
I just write when I write. I think all artists, including storytellers, make art because they are driven to. There’s a thing inside up just screaming to get out. Whether it is good art or developmental art, whether we do anything with it or just shove it in a drawer, it doesn’t matter. We just create.
And, excuse me for a moment as I tangent onto, that’s exactly why the AI slop is exactly shit. It’s got no passion, no humanity, no void-filling relief. It is tail-chasing productivity, but nothing else (I mean, it is ‘else’ in that it’s theft, and predatory, and a scam, but it’s not art).
Myna: Tell us about a recent accomplishment or share some happy news with us!
Emma: I’m just finishing edits to a novel! On the one hand, it’s frustrating, because I haven’t been writing any short stories (the book has taken over my brain). On the other, IT’S A BOOK!
Myna: Would you rather live in a magical forest, an advanced urban high-rise, an enchanted underwater city, or a complex alien world? Or do you have another perfect living space in mind? Tell us about it!
Emma: Can I be super dull for a moment? I’d love to live and work on a small farm, which turns a modest profit, where there are good public transportation links to a nearby town, which has a well-funded public education and health system, because officials are elected by proportional representation, and where people, actual human people, have the capacity to be involved in the life of a local area.
Myna: Do you have a pet, or other non-writing hobbies/activities? Show us a picture!
Emma: I wish I could just fill my life with nothing but pets and hobbies. Honestly, UBI comes along and that’s legit all I’ll do.
You can see my cats here.
Myna: Do you have a question you’d like me to ask the next person I interview? What things are you curious about in other writers or editors?
Emma: I’d love you to ask: What would you love to never have to read a story about again?
Myna: What’s next for you?
Emma: A nap. This was exhausting.
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Emma Burnett is a researcher and writer. She has had stories in Grimdark Magazine, Nature:Futures, Mythaxis, Northern Gravy, Radon, Uncharted, Flash Fiction Online, Apex, MetaStellar, The Forge, and more. She’s pretty excited that her first book, Ex Partum, will be released in June 2026 by Atthis Arts.
You can find Emma on Bluesky at @slashnburnett or on her website emmaburnett.uk.
Myna Chang 