This story was a finalist in the 2025 Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest from Grist. Imagine 2200 celebrates stories that invite us to imagine the future we want — futures in which climate solutions flourish and we all thrive.

Q: Your short story, “The Ones Left Behind”, was a finalist for Grist’s Imagine 2200 climate fiction competition. How did you react when you got the news?

I got the email right before a kickboxing class. Rejection is a common experience when you send work out for publication so I was absolutely thrilled to get the news from Grist! Then I immediately celebrated with burpees and roundhouse kicks.

Q: You envision New York’s Chinatown in the future, after the city has flooded many times over and many of its more wealthy residents have moved out. There’s a moment where two of the people “left behind”, Grace and Quique, explain why they’ve decided to stay. Why did you think this was important to include?

This felt important to include because it was the hopeful heart of the story. I wanted to wrestle the individualist, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps myth that where there’s a will, there’s a way. And if someone is unable to save themself from a systemic problem then it’s a moral failing. There’s a ton of reasons why people can’t leave a deteriorating situation. They might have a chronic health condition or be a caretaker, or they may not have the money or resources. There have always been people who’ve had to stay and make the best of difficult circumstances.

Grace and Quique are different people, but I think ultimately what draws them together is their shared legacy of resilience, and finding a way to thrive. I wanted to talk about those “left behind” because I think the privilege of an escape plan can stop a person’s sense of responsibility. Why support others when you and your loved ones are fine? Thinking about Grace, Quique, and their community was my hopeful vision of what it could look like when people take off those blinders and lean into taking care of each other and their surrounding community.

Q: In this new world you have imagined, insects are a central part of people’s diet. There’s a great passage where Grace cooks a meal with wild ginger and fried silkworm. How did you conceptualize food systems in the future? 

I started with the question: how can a city block feed itself when it wouldn’t have access to large, land-based farms? Then I was inspired by what folks have done historically and are currently doing! Quique’s floating farm was inspired by floating farms in Rotterdam and Bangladesh. The local rooftop farms were my love note to urban farms here in New York City, like Harlem Grown, Brooklyn Grange, and more. Another huge source of inspiration was Alexis Nikole Nelson aka the influencer known as BlackForager. She talks about foraging and getting to know your local native plants. Watching her videos of delicious recipes for alternative food sources also got me excited that food systems can be local and delicious.

Q: There are many ways of tackling the climate crisis, but sometimes people think first of scientists and policymakers. What role do you think creative fiction plays in helping to envision and create the climate futures we need? 

One of my favorite quotes about speculative or imaginative fiction is from Octavia E. Butler. When responding to the posed question, ‘What good is science fiction to Black people?’, she wrote, 

“What good is science fiction’s thinking about the present, the future, and the past? What good is its tendency to warn or to consider alternative ways of thinking and doing? What good is its examination of the possible effects of science and technology, or social organization and political direction? At its best, science fiction stimulates imagination and creativity. It gets the reader and writer off the beaten track, off the narrow, narrow footpath of what ‘everyone’ is saying, doing, thinking — whoever ‘everyone’ happens to be this year.” 

I appreciate science since it teaches us through research. But like Octavia said, the arts and story-telling also have their own place. They teach us through imagination— like empathetic thought experiments.

Q: You’ve been writing for a while. Was there an important person or moment in your journey as a creative writer that kept you going? 

One important moment for me was separating “getting published” from “writing a good story.” Once I realized publishing and writing are two completely different games, it helped me push through and keep working on stories.

Q: To anyone who dreams of becoming a writer, what message do you have for them?

I have so many things that come to mind, and so many well wishes I want to send. But ultimately here’s my best advice: Do it! Write what interests you and delights you; write that story idea burning inside you; write two sentences, two pages, two novels— just write. Take care of your ability to write the same way you would take care of your physical health. And if you’re finding it difficult to start, examine and nurture whatever part of yourself that’s making it hard to write. That is also valuable.

To follow K.J. Chien’s journey as a writer and read more of their work, check their past and upcoming publications on their website.