Micro-interview with Shelly Jones

We welcome Shelly Jones, author of “In the Field” in TFF #71, for a short chat about her story, aliens, writing and cosy mysteries!

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Art © 2024 L.E. Badillo

TFF: What does “In the Field” mean to you?

Shelly Jones: My day job is as a professor at a small college. I wrote “In the Field” thinking about how future AI/robotics might change my day to day life as an educator. I am forever fascinated by the persistence of life, of the ways we can continue despite the world crumbling around us. I am also interested in the ways we need to pivot and re-define what's been in front of us the whole time as a method of survival, of resistance.

TFF: Would you like to meet aliens from another world?

SJ: While I don't believe in little green men versions of aliens, I do believe there must be some kind of other life out there in the vast beyond. If they ever encountered earth, I hope they'd find humans to be kind and empathetic creatures.

TFF: What is the most important thing to remember about writing?

SJ: To be persistent and remember to just get words on the page. You can always go back and change those words, find shinier, prettier, more perfect words—but you can't if there are no words to begin with.

TFF: What are you working on next?

SJ: A bit of a shift in genre! I'm working on my cozy mystery series about a board game shop owner and her femme gaming group. If you like nerdy, game-related puns, look for the first in the series, which debuts in Fall 2025.

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Extract:

The professor pulls down a shoebox of cassette tapes from the bookcase. Her office is full of boxes like this on every shelf, stacks in the corner waist-high. Her life’s work: collecting the voices of people who no longer exist. I look at the delicate ribbons loose in their cartridges and consider that my ancestors were once made of such crude materials, reels of magnetic tape spooling their thoughts.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2024/10/new-issue-202471.html.

New issue: 2024.71

“Europeans brought with them the view that men were the absolute head of households, and women were to be submissive to them. It was then that the role of women in Cherokee society began to decline. One of the new values Europeans brought to the Cherokees was a lack of balance and harmony between men and women. It was what we today call sexism. This was not a Cherokee concept. Sexism was borrowed from Europeans.”

—Maria Mankiller

Issue 2024.71

Short stories

• ‘Whiskey Mud’, Jonathan Olfert - art by Cécile Matthey
• ‘Deep Sea Baby’, Faith Allington - art by Sebastian Timpe
• ‘That Small, Hard Thing on the Back of Your Neck’, Vanessa Fogg - art by Ellis Bray
• ‘In the Field’, Shelly Jones - art by L.E. Badillo
• ‘Deirdre’s Skin’, Amalie N. Ingham - art by Sarah Salcedo

Poetry

• ‘A Moon Witch Seeks a Shell’, Devan Barlow - art by Melkorka
• ‘Two Hybrids’, Rachel Rodman - art by Fluffgar

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Micro-interview with Shelly Jones

We welcome Shelly Jones, author of “A Sea Change” in The Future Fire #63, to join us for a few words.

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TFF: What does “A Sea Change” mean to you?

Shelly Jones: I originally wrote “A Sea Change” for the Boundaries themed issue of Myriad. I liked the concept of Boundaries and, because my spouse is a math professor, I wanted to incorporate the mathematical notion of boundaries in the piece. After some initial research and many after-dinner conversations about math, I knew I wanted to write about hyperbolic crochet. I love to knit and crochet and I was drawn to the idea of interweaving math and fiber arts and climate change. In “A Sea Change” I hoped to explore how relationships evolve, how love is not always picture perfect, and how we hold on to one another, even if we don't always understand what we need.

TFF: Do you ever switch off, step away from the machine?

SJ: I do, but I should do so more. I try to hike or take long walks in my small town, and these allow me to unplug, give myself permission to not answer an email that just landed in my inbox. These walks also let my brain think in a different way, stepping into a different rhythm of birdsong and wind instead of keyboard clacking and discord dinging. I usually bring a tiny notebook and pen in case a phrase or idea sprouts and I want to capture it right away, afraid I'll lose it by the time I've returned home.

TFF: What are you working on next?

SJ: I always have a few different works in progress that I'm poking at, some with more fervor than others. At the moment, one of the (many) tabs I have open is a sci-fi short story set during the Cold War. Like many of my stories, it deals with loss and a woman making her own path (in this case: to the moon).

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Extract:

Like many obsessions, yours started as a distraction, a way to keep your mind off the pain. The doctor said crocheting would be good for your arthritis, the gentle movement keeping your fingers limber. As we drove home from the appointment, we stopped at a craft store, despite our lingering doubts.

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Reminder: You can comment on any of the stories or illustrations in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2022/10/new-issue-202263.html

New Issue: 2022.63

“Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.”

—Angela Davis

Issue 2022.63

Flash fiction

• “A Sea Change’, Shelly Jones (illustrated by Dr T Eratopo)
• ‘AITA for throwing away my wife’s haunted dolls?’, Annika Barranti Klein (illustrated by Dr T Eratopo)

Short stories

• ‘Spindle House’, Jennifer Hudak (illustrated by Eric Asaris)
• ‘Bridge’, S. Brackett Robertson (illustrated by Josep Lledò)
• ‘Treacle Blood’, Joyce Chng (illustrated by L.E. Badillo)
• ‘Seams of Iron’, Adriana C. Grigore (illustrated by Katharine A. Viola)

Poetry

• ‘charybdis’, Marisca Pichette (illustrated by Fluffgar)

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Editorial by Djibril al-Ayad

New Issue: 2021.58

“I said, ‘I’m not in trouble about being gay but I do have trouble identifying with those queens,’ and then a queen overturned that police car and changed my life.”

—Edith Windsor

Issue 2021.58

Flash fiction

• ‘The Bone Prophet’, Hester J. Rook, illustrated by Dr. T. Eratopo
  

Short stories

• ‘Stitched’, Sarah Salcedo, illustrated by Sarah Salcedo
  
• ‘The Derelict’, Nicasio Andres Reed, illustrated by Eric Asaris
  
• ‘The Mountain’s Wife’, Jennifer R. Donohue, illustrated by Katharine A. Viola
  
• ‘Desolation Corner’, William Squirrell, illustrated by L.E. Badillo

Poetry

• ‘Not for Sale, Used Asteroid, One Owner’, Mary Soon Lee, illustrated by Fluffgar
  
• ‘Until a Hundred Generations of People Have Departed’, E. Saxey, illustrated by Cécile Matthey
  
• ‘Of Weeds and Witches’, Shelly Jones, illustrated by Jason Baltazar
  

Full issue and editorial at futurefire.net/2021.58

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New issue: 2020.54

“It hurts me that, if global warming still continues, if global warming continues on a large scale, it’s going to affect our future only; we the children and the coming future generation is going to suffer. So I wanted to do something about that, and that’s why I sued my government.”

—Ridhima Pandey

Issue 2020.54

Flash fiction

• ‘Dragon Years’, Juliet Kemp (illustrated by Martin Hanford)

Short stories

• ‘A Stereoscopic Landscape View of Torino with Damsels and Distress’, Celia Neri (illustrated by Josep Lledó)
• ‘The Foraging’, Shelly Jones (illustrated by Joyce Chng)
• ‘Strange Engines’, Jordan Taylor (illustrated by Eric Asaris)
• ‘The Facts Are These’, M. Bennardo (illustrated by Cécile Matthey)
• ‘The Shadow Catchers’, Vanessa Fogg (illustrated by Katharine A. Viola)
• ‘Cascade’, A.J. Fitzwater (illustrated by Fluffgar)

Poetry

• ‘Demon Summoning for the Modern Femme’, Avra Margariti (illustrated by L.E. Badillo)
• ‘This Soundless Murk’, Hester J. Rook (illustrated by Miguel Santos)

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New Issue 2020.52

“No, our fight to save the planet didn't start today with the #ClimateStrike and it doesn't end today either. Many of us have been putting in the work for years to save our planet. Don't just amplify our voices today but every day, and support our solutions to save us.”

—Mari Copeny (“Little Miss Flint”)

Issue 2020.52

Flash fiction

• ‘The Lime Monster’, Shelly Jones (art by Martin Hanford)

Short stories

• ‘Pleiades for a New Generation’, Kathryn Allan (art by Grace P. Fong)
• ‘The Third Angel Poured’, Julie Reeser (art by Katharine A. Viola)
• ‘La ruta de la sal’, Malena Salazar Maciá (art by Jason Baltazar)
• ‘The Salt in Her Kiss’, Malena Salazar Maciá (translated by Toshiya Kamei) (art by Jason Baltazar)
• ‘The Wasteland Review’, Aurelia Gonzalez (art by Cécile Matthey)

Poetry

• ‘Spare the Fire, Spoil the Brute’, Gerri Leen (art by Rachel Linn)
• ‘Lost’, Adele Gardner (art by Toeken)
• ‘Drown Me’, Hester J. Rook (art by Carmen Moran)
• ‘Eden’, Stephen Whitehead (art by Dr. T. Eratopo)
• ‘Lucky Fact’, Stefani Cox (art by Dr. T. Eratopo)

Full issue and editorial

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