Time for my next monthly story. This one is called Interface, and the prompt for it was of course, “interface.” My goal this year is to write a short story a month, and so far I’m two for two. Though it was looking a bit dicey with this one. When I came up with this challenge, I was planning to write twelve flash fiction pieces. By the time I was finished with the first draft of Interface though, I had over 8000 words. I’m happy to have written so much, but it hasn’t left me with much time to edit the story.

I did consider delaying the release of this story until the middle of the month, but in the end I decided to go ahead after only a couple of days of extra editing. I’ve trimmed some of the fat, and I think the story is ready to go. The climax felt amazing to write, and I really want to see if it lands. And I must also make some practical considerations. It’s February, the shortest month. And I am going on an overseas holiday at the end of the month, so I have very little time to write the March story. If I keep working on Interface, there won’t be a March story. So Interface is out now. Depending on the feedback I get from it, it may get re-released with some extra polish at a later date, butt I think I did a good job fixing it up over the past couple of days.

So what’s this story about? Well, it’s a mecha story, focusing on the disabled and despondent pilot Seth Knightly and the Red Comet mech, which is made with the nervous system of a mysterious alien creature. As Seth struggles to safely master the controls of the mech, Red Comet feeds off of his thoughts, and slowly unlocks new parts of its own mind. Here’s the intro:

Interface

By Jayde Holmes

Seth’s arm shook as he lifted a gauntlet laden with cables. As he did the arm of the Red Comet covered its face cameras, and he felt the impact of his opponent’s strike on his mech’s protective gauntlet. Only one impact, despite Blue Comet being a dual wielder. He checked the air-current monitor, felt for mass pulling on Red Comet’s gravity core, and found a disturbance to his left. He felt a twinge from the port on the back of his neck as he blocked Blue Comet’s second strike with the sword in his off hand.

“DISENGAGE!” Sargent Hedley shouted from the passenger seat behind him. Her voice boomed over the field, and the fighting mechs backed away from each other, retreating to separate edges of the running track.

Click here to read the whole story.

What do you all think of the awesome art for this story? My husband made it. Check out his Instagram HERE

Next month, I know I will be late. I’ll be on holiday in Sri Lanka until the 6th of March, so there will be a week’s delay on the release of the story. The prompt for the March story is “Vault”, and now that Interface is live, I’ll get right into writing it. I already have a few ideas.

I’ll see you all then. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Interface

– Jayde