Even on Earth, where every known organism emerged from the same evolutionary tree, life has taken an astonishing range of forms. Insects inhabit the same planet we do, yet many of their environments and behaviors can already feel remarkably alien. Burning Salt grew from asking what life might look like if I pushed that unfamiliarity much further. If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be? That feels more appropriate for the characters in Burning Salt than assigning them familiar human songs.