Future Tense Fiction Video

Extreme Environments and Human Nature: An Interview With Margrét Helgadóttir

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In Margrét Helgadóttir’s “Tunnel Fever,” an isolated roadside bar buried in a vast network of tunnels on the floor of the Arctic Ocean is staffed by a claustrophobic waitress who dreams of life above the surface. When a pair of outlaws tries to rob the bar, its patrons and employees are forced to work together to stave them off—pushing the boundaries of survival and trust in extreme environments.

In an interview with editor Mia Armstrong-López, Helgadóttir shares the story behind her June 2025 Future Tense Fiction story.

Read the response essay by human geography scholar Anna Pigott here.

Future Tense Fiction is a partnership between Issues in Science and Technology and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.

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