PHOTO: Marie J. S. Phillips, pictured at home in northwestern Connecticut, surrounded by her beloved Maine Coon companions and the nature that inspires her work.
Writing Worlds Through Animal Eyes And Alien Skies
Marie J. S. Phillips discusses her lifelong love for animals, science, and storytelling, revealing the creative inspirations behind her Furlitian tales, feline tributes, and vividly detailed nonhuman perspectives.
Marie J. S. Phillips has spent a lifetime seeing the world through other eyes—sometimes through the gaze of a cat, the roots of an ancient tree, or the thoughts of a sentient, saurian being from another planet. Her imaginative landscapes are shaped not only by her love of animals and the natural world, but by a grounding in science, art, and a childhood rich with curiosity. From the earliest days of drawing picture books starring trees to the creation of entire alien species in The Furlites of Aroriel, her stories spring from a well of deep empathy and vibrant inner vision.
Her books are more than speculative fiction—they are meditations on consciousness, memory, and the enduring bond between living beings. Whether honouring the life of a beloved Maine Coon in Khan: A Maine Coon, or exploring the long, slow witness of a spruce tree in Old Gent, Phillips writes with heartfelt precision and a willingness to follow her characters wherever they lead her.
To read her work is to enter worlds shaped by care and thoughtfulness, filled with creatures—real or imagined—whose lives feel intimately known. Her ability to inhabit non-human perspectives makes her storytelling unique, quietly radical, and profoundly moving.
Your Furlitian Tales universe presents narratives from non-human perspectives. What inspired you to explore storytelling through the eyes of animals, trees, and aliens?
I have always loved animals, trees, and nature, thus my stories and drawings from the time I learned to hold a pencil, featured nonhuman main characters. My very first “book” I ever wrote, at six years old, was about a tree. I never consciously thought “Oh I want to write about nonhuman characters.” It all flowed naturally. The creation of the Furlites began in college, as a bizarre critter with a candle head, inspired by a Magritte painting of Candles on the Beach. It took a number of years before they solidified into the people they are in the books. Their development flowed without a lot of effort, as I studied Earth sciences, inspired by my life-long fascination with dinosaurs. After a short stint as a lost hidden species in Earth’s Great White North, they earned their own planet and history. One of the big “what ifs” which brought me to write the Furlitian novels, is “what if the dinosaurs never went extinct and lived through the Ice Ages?” Their current furry saurian form solidified then. It has been a long writing journey with them.
In “Khan: A Maine Coon,” you blend fantasy with reality. How did you balance the true events of Khan’s life with the fictional elements?
This too, came naturally. I looked through his eyes, imagining myself in his paws, and with the events that occurred with his illness and passing, I felt some truth in the supernatural elements which happened late in the story. For example, when I traveled to see kitten Kai, and met him, he gazed at me with great interest, unlike his littermates, at me, and I saw Khan looking back at me through those blue eyes. I am not religious, but this was a spiritual moment. But to meld that into the tale, I wrote from kitten Kai’s pov.
“Eyes in the Dark” concludes your Furlites of Aroriel trilogy. What challenges did you face in bringing this expansive sci-fi saga to a satisfying close?
With this project, the biggest challenge was weaving all the subplot threads together logically, yet at the same time keeping the story flowing. There were many times I almost gave up, but once able to devote more time to the last book, characters whispered to me, day and night, and events fell into place. The characters told me the tale, and I acted as their scribe, finally completing the book.
“Old Gent: A Norway Spruce” offers a unique perspective. How did you approach writing from the viewpoint of a centuries-old tree?
I put myself in his roots so to speak, as I have with characters all my life. I researched the history of the old house, and showed how Old Gent might have experienced it.
The Furlitian Short Tales delve into characters like Commander Geupetus and Elara. How do these stories enrich the main trilogy’s narrative?
These tales delve deeper into some of the events in the main trilogy, while some dig back into the characters, showing events which happened only as flashbacks or memories in the main books.
Your works often feature strong animal characters. How has your personal connection with animals influenced your writing?
I always liked to imagine myself as an animal as a child, whether that be horse, dog, cat or imaginary animal like a dragon. That carried over into my adult life with my art and writing. It felt easy slipping into the skin of another being and experiencing their stories through their senses.
As an independent author, how has being part of the Independent Author Network (IAN) supported your writing journey?
IAN has been inspiring, and informative. IAN also offered a way to show one’s work with a personal page, which helps with exposure, something I am not very good at on my own. I am proud to be part of their community.
What advice would you offer to aspiring authors looking to create unique worlds and perspectives in their writing?
The one big thing I would say is NEVER copy someone else. Other works can be inspiring, and give one ideas, but a writer should create their own worlds which are unique. It is work doing so, particularly in the science fiction and fantasy genres, but worth it in the long run. World building is important, but to ring true one must do research, especially for science fiction. The base upon which any world is created must be rooted in scientific fact. In my case, I researched further into how the earth formed. Each star has its own spectral identity. Its primordial disk has different chemical components, and depending on the size of the disk and the composition of its founding star, would give rise to life, similar or very different for Earth’s. My knowledge in Earth Sciences helped me create the Furlitian world and account for its differences with Earth. Fantasy is more forgiving, but things must make some sense.
With regards to perspective, always look through the eyes and senses of your characters. This comes naturally to me, and what I do is think of how the character sees things, and not how you do. Put yourself in the heads of your characters and experience the world through their senses. It will read true.
