Special Guest C.E. McKenna

Tea, Tonic & Toxin interviews C.E. McKenna, who discusses her short story “Long Night of the Polar Bear,” published in On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology. She’s joined by Curtis Ipppolito, Puja Guha,  and Raymond J. Brash.

C.E. McKenna is a writer and historian from Colorado. She has history theses in the libraries of Reed College and Oklahoma State, and her short stories have found awards and publication with Writing by Writers, Desperate Literature, Cagibi, Lumina, Quarterly West, Northwest Review, and Shift. In 2022, she completed AWP’s 17th Writer to Writer Mentorship Program, and in 2024 was invited to the Chateau d’Orquevaux for a 4-week writing residency. She is currently an MFA student at Emerson College with an expected graduation of 2026.

Most of C.E. McKenna’s work focuses on the untold stories of the American West. Her short fiction and research often deals with the dangers of western environments—particularly wildland fire. Her long-form work combines deft historical research with speculative fiction, resulting in vivid, thrilling pageturners. Her debut novel, The Primary Source, is about the murderous origins of Stanford University.

C.E. McKenna lives in Boulder, Colorado, where she works as a software developer and spends her free time traipsing local hiking trails, attempting to avoid moose.