Welcome to 2026

On By Jayde HolmesIn My Stories, Reading Challenges, Somewhat Offtopic

Hello everyone, Happy New Year. Hope there were fireworks. I’m wrapping up a really busy 2025, so we have a lot to talk about there. Most of it I’ve already touched on during earlier posts this week, but I want everything in one post for those who have missed last week’s announcements. I’ve got some big plans for 2026, and I am super excited to talk about them.

BOOK BINGO

As for 2025, I’ve already done my yearly wrap up (Click HERE to read it) so I’m not going to repeat myself too much. All I want to do for now is look at my Book Bingo Card.

A five-by-five bingo card with the following challenges, In the heading is the title ‘2025’, and the website address jaydeholmes.com/book-bingo-cards/ It has the following challenges, listed row-by-row and left-to-right: Row One: 1. Written by Terry Pratchett (Hogfather) 2. Locus Award for Best Horror Novel Winner (What Moves the Dead) 3. Breaking a Curse (Someone You Can Build a Nest In) 4. Translated from Russian (Monday Starts on Saturday) 5. Written in Your Year of Birth Row 2: 1. Set on a Spaceship (Murder by Memory) 2. Told from a ‘Villain’ POV (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) 3. World Fantasy Award Winner (The Tainted Cup) 4. Been Adapted into a Movie (Redwall) 5. Been Sitting on the Shelf for More Than a Year (Runaways: Teenage Wasteland) Row 3: 1. Title Starts with O (One Step From Earth) 2. Has Dragons (Onyx Storm) 3. Free Square 4. Afrofuturism (After the Flare) 5. Written Between 1930 – 1950 (The Case of Charlse Dexter Ward) Row 4: 1. Set During the Cold War (Three Miles Down) “ 2. King Arthur (Retelling, Inspired, or Original) (Spear) 3. Has Witches (The Summer War) 4. Has Immortality (A Court of Mist and Fury) 5. Australian, Canadian or New Zealand Author Row 5: 1. Translated from Japanese (The Liminal Zone) 2. Non-Marvel or DC Superheroes (Dreadnought) 3. Has Ghosts (Haunt Sweet Home 4. Title Starts with P (Penric and the Bandit) 5. Short Fiction Magazine (Dirty Magick Magazine Jan 2025)

I did really well this year, with the only two tiles missing being the “Written in your Year of Birth”, and “Australian, Canadian or New Zealander Author”. I do have a whole page of reviews, so check that out (by clicking HERE) to see more information about all these books.

I’ve also made my 2026 Book Bingo Card. I think it looks pretty cool. You can click HERE for more information.

A five-by-five bingo card. Colour scheme is orange and grey and there are gears in the background. In the heading is the title ‘2026’, and the website address jaydeholmes.com/book-bingo-cards/ It has the following challenges, listed row-by-row and left-to-right: Row One: 1. Written in the 90s 2. Miliary Science Fiction 3. Translated from Spanish 4. Title Contains the Letter ‘X’ 5. Written in the 80s Row 2: 1. Psycological Horror 2. Recommended by a Friend 3. Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel Winner 4. Set on a Spacestation or Space habitat 5. Own Voices Row 3: 1. Has Non-Humanoid Aliens 2. Set in the Ocean/Under the Sea 3. Free Square 4. Has Werewolves 5. Post-Apocalyptic Row 4: 1. Tittle Starts with ‘J’ 2. Alternate History 3. Written in the 1920s 4. Isekai 5. Start or Continue a Series with Six Books or More Row 5: 1. Hugo Award Winner 2. Non-Fiction 3. Hard Science Fiction 4. Animal Protagonist 5. Twenty Flash Fiction Stories.

Featured Stories

All this year, I have been showcasing one featured story every month. Most of these stories I wrote as part of Reedsy’s Weekly Writing Prompts Challenge, and while I’m happy with the stories, I’m not that fond of Reedsy and would like to give them less publicity. Besides, pushing the same stories all the time is getting boring. This year, instead of promoting existing stories, I’ll be writing a NEW story every month and posting it online.

And no, I do not already have these stories written. They will be monthly writing challenges, with the prompt being given to me at the start of every month. So far, my husband has been the one prompting me, but I am open to public participation later in the year. The first story is already up: Anomalous.

A drawing of four orange buildings floating in the air, with pipes coming out of the bottom of them. Three of the buildings are attached to each other, with a small one on the side the the main building, and the roof of another building. Verandas attached to these buildings have tables set up with waiters and diners around. One couple sits together on the veranda of the main building. Trees, a small park, a flying person, and upside-down birds surround the buildings.

This is a flash length piece about the implications of certain anomalies popping up. Basically, the universe may not be what we thought it is, and people don’t react well to that revelation. The prompt for this story was “Anomalous”. I’m going to try and make the prompts the titles where possible, but I don’t want that rule to be too strict.

Anomalous is up on my site right now, and you can read it by clicking HERE. I hope you all enjoy it, and I hope next month’s story can be just as good.

The World of Green and Black

Unfortunately, I do have limited time, so as hinted during my last Featured Creature, I will be taking a break from adding new entries to the Bestiary so I can focus on the monthly stories. This isn’t to say there won’t be any new creatures, but that won’t be a regularly scheduled thing this year.

I will be easing up on new World of Green and Black content, but I’m not forgetting about the series. I plan to re-release Neighbour entirely in UK English and with a new cover, and will create something special to celebrate that. I’m also making a World Anvil page to keep track of this world, and once that’s more presentable I shall share it here.

What Else is On?

Well, some of you may remember how earlier in the month I said I was going to have a go at 100% Ocarina of Time. Did not end up finding the time for that, and might not for a while because the Scrubs Winter Wonderland is about to start. These are special challenge races that use unusual settings and have puzzle elements. Go follow the Scrubs Central channel at Twitch (Click HERE) to maybe catch some. I still want to do a 100% speedrun, so keep an eye out for any announcements about that if you would like to catch up with me on Twitch.

There are also more short stories of mine out there, some of which might get published very soon. Very, very, very soon. At Kaleidotrope. Click here to go read my new story, Anything Not Impossible

2025 was a hard year, and 2026 is going to have a ton of challenges too. But I’m excited to face those challenges with all of you, and I hope that with my art and stories, I can make the world a happier place for you all.

~ Jayde

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