Jessica Sirkin
@jessicasirkin.bsky.social
Fantasy, science fiction, and horror writer. Technology and TTRPG writer and editor. Working on a novel. Tries too hard. Reads too much. Probably dressed weird.
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Jessica Sirkin
@jessicasirkin.bsky.social
· Oct 16
ECO24 Microfiction Contest - First Place! - "Angels in the Forest" by
In honor of Violet Lichen's upcoming collection, ECO24: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction, out on November 18th, we hosted a microfiction contest inviting you to draw inspiration from our natural...
www.apexbookcompany.com
My story, "Angels in the Forest," won first place in @apexmag.bsky.social and Violet Lichen Press' ECO24 microfiction contest. I'm very excited to see it published. www.apexbookcompany.com/blogs/frontp...
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
How Translation Works, Book Title Edition
As any translator will tell you, translating a piece of fiction isn’t about simply transcribing words one-to-one from one language to another. It’s about capturing a vibe — making…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one:
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
This was an editor's pick after it didn't quite make top 3 in a Podcastle flash fiction contest. I'll probably never publish anything else this short that isn't a poem. I struggle with 1,000 word flash, let alone this shorter length. Immensely proud @podcastle.org like it enough to publish.
12. WYSR “The Cost of the Revolution in Three Marvelous Confections”
What would you give up to overthrow a fascist regime?
inkfoundry.net/review/why-y...
What would you give up to overthrow a fascist regime?
inkfoundry.net/review/why-y...
inkfoundry.net
January 14, 2026 at 3:26 PM
This was an editor's pick after it didn't quite make top 3 in a Podcastle flash fiction contest. I'll probably never publish anything else this short that isn't a poem. I struggle with 1,000 word flash, let alone this shorter length. Immensely proud @podcastle.org like it enough to publish.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
New poem! "No Kings / No Soldiers" by A.M. Tuomala! www.uncannymagazine.com/article/no-k...
January 6, 2026 at 11:00 PM
New poem! "No Kings / No Soldiers" by A.M. Tuomala! www.uncannymagazine.com/article/no-k...
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
*gloatily* V. pleased to have written two entire books about how terrible empires are (THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS, containing two extremely stupid and self-destructive empires, and ONE MESSAGE REMAINS, containing, mostly, one, but in active acquisition mode)
Read enough science fiction, and you'll start to notice that many authors seem pretty invested in the idea of galactic empires (clearly based on real-world empires); @jdnicoll.bsky.social asks just what the hell such authors are thinking.
Side-Eyeing Science Fiction's Love of Empire - Reactor
...Wait, we're supposed to believe that it's the rebels who are wrong?
reactormag.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:24 PM
*gloatily* V. pleased to have written two entire books about how terrible empires are (THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS, containing two extremely stupid and self-destructive empires, and ONE MESSAGE REMAINS, containing, mostly, one, but in active acquisition mode)
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Patrons of the dark arts will undoubtedly enjoy “Demons in Glass,” the fantastic new poem by @writerjencrow.bsky.social.
kaleidotrope.net/winter-2026/...
kaleidotrope.net/winter-2026/...
January 14, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Patrons of the dark arts will undoubtedly enjoy “Demons in Glass,” the fantastic new poem by @writerjencrow.bsky.social.
kaleidotrope.net/winter-2026/...
kaleidotrope.net/winter-2026/...
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Goodnight from Brighthaven’s Princess Caroline Hotel, gaunt and uneasy on a night when its ghosts outnumber its guests. Goodnight from Chris Bowland, encountering the plough light spilling through the windows of St. Berenwald’s as a profound blessing. Goodnight from Hookland.
January 13, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Goodnight from Brighthaven’s Princess Caroline Hotel, gaunt and uneasy on a night when its ghosts outnumber its guests. Goodnight from Chris Bowland, encountering the plough light spilling through the windows of St. Berenwald’s as a profound blessing. Goodnight from Hookland.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Tablet found in Hittite region, new Indo-European language.
January 13, 2026 at 11:51 PM
Tablet found in Hittite region, new Indo-European language.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
I've been reading the Nausicaä manga for the first time 💙 (MS paint drawing)
January 13, 2026 at 4:39 AM
I've been reading the Nausicaä manga for the first time 💙 (MS paint drawing)
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
New poem! "Time loop for the day I die." by Abdulrazaq Salihu! buff.ly/aaYBYJF
April 1, 2025 at 9:05 PM
New poem! "Time loop for the day I die." by Abdulrazaq Salihu! buff.ly/aaYBYJF
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
January 13, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Beautiful story.
What secrets would the bones of your house reveal to the future? Walk through "Scrimshaw" by Stephen James today, and consider what we leave behind and the world we shape for those who come after:
Scrimshaw - Small Wonders
She finds the house at night, in what were once suburbs. Now just another skeleton with bones bleached pure by the Great God-Sun.
smallwondersmag.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Beautiful story.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Daily bunny no.3192 is tampering with the past
January 7, 2026 at 4:52 AM
Daily bunny no.3192 is tampering with the past
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Daily bunny no.3194 makes a perfect pancake
January 9, 2026 at 5:04 AM
Daily bunny no.3194 makes a perfect pancake
Locked Rooms & Lizards
Slightly diminishing games
Vampire: The Costume Party
Werewolf: The "Emergency"
Mage: The Climbening
Wraith: The Marginally Dark Place
Vampire: The Costume Party
Werewolf: The "Emergency"
Mage: The Climbening
Wraith: The Marginally Dark Place
Slightly diminishing games
The Rumor of Zelda
Unremarkable Mario Bros
Interestbike
Mike Tyson's Slapfight
Penultimate Fantasy
The Rumor of Zelda
Unremarkable Mario Bros
Interestbike
Mike Tyson's Slapfight
Penultimate Fantasy
January 13, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Locked Rooms & Lizards
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
I used to teach an autobiography of an AI engineer in my robots in literature class where he supposed that all medieval monks could imagine as progress would be a bigger pen and parchment, but we know that the monks were conceiving of worlds insane enough to melt your eyeballs out of your head
This failed capacity to imagine the future is a logical result, ironically, of a generalized condescension towards the past. Whole sets of ppl have been told that the history of human culture doesn’t matter, & that for anything to be worthwhile it needs to be “new.” It is a special form of naïveté.
Every future imagined by a tech company is worse than the previous iteration.
January 12, 2026 at 9:45 PM
I used to teach an autobiography of an AI engineer in my robots in literature class where he supposed that all medieval monks could imagine as progress would be a bigger pen and parchment, but we know that the monks were conceiving of worlds insane enough to melt your eyeballs out of your head
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Excited to say that my flash piece "As You Were" is out in Small Wonders today! It's a bit about grief and a bit about regret and a lot about the narrator eating their relatives.
It is very different from my other work, but please give it a chance nonetheless.
It is very different from my other work, but please give it a chance nonetheless.
"I remember you as you were: strong, beautiful, screaming that you didn’t want to eat Grandma."
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
As You Were - Small Wonders
I remember you as you were: strong, beautiful, screaming that you didn’t want to eat Grandma.
smallwondersmag.com
January 12, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Excited to say that my flash piece "As You Were" is out in Small Wonders today! It's a bit about grief and a bit about regret and a lot about the narrator eating their relatives.
It is very different from my other work, but please give it a chance nonetheless.
It is very different from my other work, but please give it a chance nonetheless.
Really interesting conversation about writing about empire and colonialism in space operas with two of my favorite writers of the genre.
... always worth re-upping this one: I am still delighted I was able to bring these two legends together to talk about a topic that always fascinates me.
I am SO EXCITED to share this Fifth Saturday extra: @annleckie.com and @byzantienne.bsky.social in conversation about questions of empire and imperialism in their respective novels.
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com/extras/leckie-and-martine
Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com/extras/leckie-and-martine
January 12, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Really interesting conversation about writing about empire and colonialism in space operas with two of my favorite writers of the genre.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
"I remember you as you were: strong, beautiful, screaming that you didn’t want to eat Grandma."
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
As You Were - Small Wonders
I remember you as you were: strong, beautiful, screaming that you didn’t want to eat Grandma.
smallwondersmag.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:12 PM
"I remember you as you were: strong, beautiful, screaming that you didn’t want to eat Grandma."
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
The opening line of "As You Were" by Adrian Ward grabs you hard and doesn't let go. Find out what happened next here:
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
"After Ever, Happily" is free to read now in @heartlines-spec.com! Which happy endings are forever? 💕💀💐
www.heartlines-spec.com/after-ever-h...
www.heartlines-spec.com/after-ever-h...
January 7, 2026 at 10:42 PM
"After Ever, Happily" is free to read now in @heartlines-spec.com! Which happy endings are forever? 💕💀💐
www.heartlines-spec.com/after-ever-h...
www.heartlines-spec.com/after-ever-h...
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Today's reprint is a story of history, discovery, and clearing way for something new. Read "Speaking for Those With Obsidian Tongues" by Wendy Nikel here:
Speaking for Those With Obsidian Tongues - Small Wonders
Time passes slowly for those made of stone. Each day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. At least that's what they tell us.
smallwondersmag.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Today's reprint is a story of history, discovery, and clearing way for something new. Read "Speaking for Those With Obsidian Tongues" by Wendy Nikel here:
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
This is one of my favorite short stories.
This is genuinely one of my favorites of my own stories, or anything I’ve written.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
For a short fiction throwback, we recommend @catvalente.bsky.social's Hugo-nominated "L'Esprit de L'Escalier," a zombified retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice edited by @datlow.bsky.social
January 12, 2026 at 1:05 AM
This is one of my favorite short stories.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
This is genuinely one of my favorites of my own stories, or anything I’ve written.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
For a short fiction throwback, we recommend @catvalente.bsky.social's Hugo-nominated "L'Esprit de L'Escalier," a zombified retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice edited by @datlow.bsky.social
L'Esprit de L'Escalier - Reactor
In this provocative and rich retelling of the Greek myth, Orpheus, the musician son of Apollo and Calliope, successfully rescues his wife Eurydice from Hades after her untimely death. First Step ...
reactormag.com
January 10, 2026 at 7:19 PM
This is genuinely one of my favorites of my own stories, or anything I’ve written.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
I had the idea for *seven years* before I wrote it down.
Reposted by Jessica Sirkin
Because it's absolutely true: if there's no point in doing anything at all, why would you do it? It's humans who make meaning. The events are just events. We make them mean something. What that is is entirely up to us. Story is uniquely human. Story is our one superpower.
January 11, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Because it's absolutely true: if there's no point in doing anything at all, why would you do it? It's humans who make meaning. The events are just events. We make them mean something. What that is is entirely up to us. Story is uniquely human. Story is our one superpower.