Laura Bogner’s What Color is Your Machine Gun? taps into a very contemporary sense of fear, paranoia and danger. There’s also a desire for positive change — something I suspect many of us hanker for at present.

Laura, is it fair to say the themes of this story are close to home?

I live in California and right now our political situation here in the US feels like our country is fracturing in two. The ICE raids, families being torn apart, protesters being murdered, detention centers where unspeakable cruelty is inflicted, the refusal to release the Epstein files, and the chaos and destruction that AI is already causing are all things that weigh heavy in my mind. I write daily, rain or shine, both as a fiction writer and also for my own mental health therapy. Lately, my characters are marginalized people who revolt against oppression in organized but under-the-radar ways.

Does the story have the potential to be a longer piece of work?

Yes, most definitely! What started as daily prompted writing is turning into a novel now about a revolutionary war against the tech oligarchs who are kidnapping those who have offended them, some in the most ridiculous ways, like getting higher SAT scores in high school, and forcing them through intimidation and threats to their loved ones to build robots and work in their secret data centers that are the most antithetical to who they are as revenge.

Can you recommend a novel or story to us that you’ve read in the last couple of years that’s made a big impression on you?

I loved Tess Gunty’s debut novel called The Rabbit Hutch. I was completely blown away by it. The plot, her craft and structuring of the novel, and the characters and the setting were all fantastic.

What theme / topic would you choose for the next Urban Pigs submission window and why?

I think parallel universes would be an interesting topic. Mainly because in so many ways it feels like we are living in them. We are living in a technological age that allows us to do incredible things but also very destructive things as well. The deepfakes are terrifying. The real vs. the unreal. It saddens me to see how social media fosters an environment for people to be anything but their real selves, and don’t even get me started about Instagram and TikTok! Of course never before has propaganda spread so fast and masqueraded as truth. Yep, I think parallel universes would be a great topic! I’m already thinking about what I’d write.

What writing projects do you have on for 2026?

I’m working on a novel and hope to have it finished by the end of 2026. I’m directing and performing in a 10 Minute Play Festival of a play I wrote in May. I love doing spoken word and have some events lined up that I’m excited about.

I agree with so much of what you’re saying there. It does feel like many of those predictions from the great sci-fi writers of yesteryear are now coming to pass. The comment about social media and our ‘real selves’ struck a chord too.

Laura, great to have you involved with Urban Pigs and good luck with that novel. And loving the profile pic — it’s definitely set the standard for future submissions.

Check out Laura’s story here https://urbanpigspress.co.uk/2026/01/31/what-color-is-your-machine-gun-laura-bogner/