Ed & Sir Squeaks

Process

Story & Characters
I started designing the story with the main character Edlyn and her pet rat Sir Squeaks. Once I had the main characters down, I developed the plot and basic outline and then I just started to write. Alex came to me as I started writing. It just felt right to have someone living with Ed, and her entire character just kind of formed. Chief Inspector Wright originally was supposed to play a bigger role, but the story got too long, so I decided to just hint at their history together and leave the rest for another time. I also hand-illustrated Ed and Sir Squeaks for the cover art. 

Emerging Media Technology
A lot of thought went into building a layered world that subtly critiques social and tech issues, centered around Ed’s AR headset. Inspired by real-world advancements like Apple Vision Pro and tools from Samsung and Google, OmniLingo offers real-time subtitle translation, making the near-future feel very plausible.

I wanted Ed to talk to her rat, but realistically, a profit-driven company wouldn’t focus on animal translation due to limited demand. So, I made it an “accidental” discovery—something that, like many tech innovations, could reveal unexpected value after an unintentional breakthrough.

Worldbuilding
Thinking about a near-future world was a big challenge for me. It gave me the opportunity to dream of what I personally would like the future to look like, but I also wanted to stay true to what I think it would realistically be like. Aspects like the smog, little to no nature in the city, a designated “lower city district” where everyone is kind of poor and crime flourishes, were born from that realism. On the other hand, I was able to shape topics like I went heavy on a female cast, partly to counter male-dominated stories and partly to imagine a world where gender roles just fade away. Ed is androgynous, Alex has a gender-neutral name, and their relationship is undefined—family, friends, or something else. I wanted the story’s world to be fluid in how it handles gender, family, and sexuality. Ethnicities are also blended: Ed speaks English, Alex is French, and Wright knows Xhosa. In a future where instant translation erases language barriers, I wanted this society to leave racism, xenophobia, and ableism behind—though social status issues, evidently, persist.