So got some big news about a little story. And some little news about a big social media network. I’ll start with the former, since that is a lot more exciting.

I have managed to get a new story published in someone else’s publication. ‘A Short Guide to Lost Literary Works’ is a flash fiction piece that explores how we understand our past through the study of history, and how lost works impact what we can and cannot know about the past. It’s the writings of someone who lived through the collapse of our modern society and wants future generations to know about all the things that they’ve lost, and also about the narrator’s own times, which have been deemed unworthy of being documented. It’s a reminder that just because people, events or stories haven’t survived in the historical record – whether because they have been lost to time or happened in a society that didn’t have writing – does not mean that such events haven’t shaped us in anyway.

Basically, it’s a tribute to everything in the past that we’ll just never know about.

Even besides my story, the magazine it appears in is worth checking out. It’s called New Maps Deindustrial fiction, and is edited by Nathanael Bonnell. As the name suggests, New Maps specializes in deindustrial fiction. That is, fiction set in a future where our industrial, fossil fuel-driven age has pretty much run out of fuel and people have to deal with the fallout and find new ways to live. Whilst that sounds grim – and indeed, some of the stories can depict rather dire consequences of us running out of our fossil fuels – there is still optimistic deindustrial fiction that shows people adapting to this new future.

You can check out the latest issue featuring my story HERE. New Maps also offers some free sample works HERE if you want to check it out before ordering a copy.

I’ve always struggled with flash fiction, but fingers crossed selling ‘A Short Guide to Lost Literary Works’ is a sign of that changing. But so thankful for New Maps for believing in this little piece. You should all go check them out.

In other news, I got a Blue Sky account this week. You can follow me over at @jaydeholmes.bsky.social and keep up-to-date with all my work. And also maybe see a few cute photos of my cat Knight.

With that, I’m signing off. But I’ll be back soon to talk more about science fiction and fantasy. Both mine and others.

Happy Reading,

Jayde