Hello hello friends. Fictional Sarah here.
The best thing about starting this newsletter is all the stories people keep sending me to prove that whatever I’ve just said is wrong. Normally, being wrong is the absolute worst. But do I want to be wrong about my central thesis of humanity being unable to adequately engage in the fundamental problems of the climate crisis? Fuck yes. So please do keep sending me all the stories and let me revel in my wrongness.
In the meantime, here are 13 short stories and flashes about climate change that got yeeted onto my skyline when I skeeted about climate stories the other day. Yup, those are all words. Look at me, doing the lingo of the information superhighway like a pro.
If you have any stories you want to add to this list just whack ‘em in the comments down below, and if you need a Bluesky code so you can connect with these writers away from the horror show of ex-bird site also comment and let’s see if we can work something out.
Boys of Summer, by Jennifer R. Donohue (Corvid Queen)
A dreamy world where climate survivors are picked by fairies watching baseball matches between children. A pained cry about our attempt to maintain normalcy and humanity and the wish for a simple route out this madness
Find Jennifer R. Donohue at
Twitter @AuthorizedMusin
Bluesky @authorizedmustings.bsky.social
They Were The Years Of Fat Water, by Myna Chang (Cheap Pop Lit)
Dust Bowl inspired reminiscing about a pre climate change world when water was abundant
Find Myna Chang at
Twitter @MynaChang
Bluesky @mynachang.bsky.social
Adrift, by Kim Steutterman Rogers (Fractured Lit)
Three women lash their houses together to see out yet another flood. Melancholy but beautiful.
Find Kim Steutterman Rogers at
Twitter @kimsrogers
Bluesky @kimsrogers.bsky.social
Waters Are Rising, by Anita Goveas (Parenthesis Journal)
A chilling flash about the spectacle of nature and how human awe quickly turns to fear when we realise the danger and power that resides in the Earth
Find Anita Goveas at
Twitter @coffeeandpaneer
Bluesky @coffeeandpaneer.bsky.social
The Flavours We’ll Lose, by Brecht De Poortere (Reflex Press)
A mother cooks a cake for her child using the only ingredients that can be found in a speculative, parched world
Find Brecht De Poortere at
Twitter @brecht_dp
Bluesky @brechtdp.bsky.social
Oceans Under Threat Like Never Before, by Melissa Llanes Brownlee (Cheap Pop Lit)
Powerful flash about reclaiming stolen land only to have it taken again by the elements
Find Melissa Llanes Brownlee at
Twitter @Lumchanmfa
Bluesky @lumchanmfa.bsky.social
Midnight Serenade, by J. Dianne Dotson (Solarpunk Magazine)
Coming of age in a utopian, solarpunk future
Find J. Dianne Dotson at
Bluesky @jendiagammon.bsky.social
Five Things I Remember from the Anthropocene Age, by Kathryn Kulpa (MacQueen’s Quinterly)
Exactly as the title says - what will you miss when the apocalypse is done?
Find Kathryn Kulpa at
Bluesky @writesofkathryn.bsky.social
From Our Bones Will Blossom Coral Reef Kingdoms, by Timothy Boudreau (Trampset)
Humans humaning humanly during a natural disaster
Find Timothy Boudreau at
Twitter @tcboudreau
Bluesky @tcboudreau.bsky.social
First Time at Waffle House, as a Hurricane Approaches, by Abigail E. Myers (Milk and Candy Review)
Climate change, gun culture, meme culture...and waffles
Find Abigail E. Myers at
Twitter @abigailmyers
Bluesky @abigailmyers.bsky.social
Another Problem Eels Don’t Need, by Elissa Field (Smokelong)
Eels in the Thames having a wild old time after drug traffickers drop their stash of cocaine
Find Elissa Field at
Twitter @elissafield
Bluesky @elissafield.bsky.social
Tastes Like Salt, by Alison Woodhouse (Reflex Fiction)
Crushing anxiety and marital regret in a compact but powerful flash
Find Alison Woodhouse at
Bluesky @ajwoodhouse.bsky.social
We’ve Always Been Dying to Dance, by Kate Axeford (Brilliant Flash Fiction)
Literally dancing while the world burns
Find Kate Axeford at
Bluesky @kateaxeford.bsky.social
If you have any stories you want to add to this list just whack ‘em in the comments down below, and if you need a Bluesky code so you can connect with these writers away from the horror show of ex-bird site also comment and let’s see if we can work something out.
Okay bye
Sarah (Fictional)
Ways to share this newsletter
1. Click forward and send it to your ENTIRE INBOX. Or, ya know, a select few who will be into it
2. Get on you socials and share something like “Fictional Sarah is talking about how we write, tell stories and do culture about climate change over at fictionalsarah.substack.com and it’s GREAT. Super recommend”
3. Find me on socials (I’m everywhere as @fictionalsarah) and wave and give me some of that sweet, sweet engagement.
And well done for making it to the end. That’s some concentration span you got there, sweet child of the internet. You win a picture of Willow waking me up by crushing me under her vast chonk.
If you have any stories you want to add to this list just put them here, and if you need a Bluesky code so you can connect with these writers away from the horror show of ex-bird site also comment and let’s see if we can work something out.
Thank you for including Midnight Serenade! That’s my alt pen name and I am more active under this one. Everyone can follow me here and find my links in my profile. Including bluesky. (in case you want to include that information in the post about this pen name). I post regularly here on Substack as Jendia Gammon.
Note that this short story is the prologue of my Lunarpunk young adult novel coming out in October, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN; Mira’s back, while her cousin Gen is the main character. It turns out that Mira’s visit to the ball has long term consequences…