My name is Justin Ocelot (website: justinocelot com). After years of doing other things, I'm writing stories again and feeling like an absolute beginner, which is a good feeling. I see a lot of advice about how to write fiction, most of it focusing on things like plot, character, pacing, hooks, twists, beats, and so on. I don't pay too much attention to those things. They just seem to trip me up. For now I'm keeping my eyes on the words. Watch the road when traveling; watch the words when writing; don't look at the map.
The danger of looking at the map is you might end up where you intend to go.
Here are some notes on the stories I finished in 2025. None of them arrived where I thought they would.
1. Murmansk on the Nile (Finished January 2025; Not yet published)
Many years later, Cleopatra and Napoleon would both be famous generals, fighting each other for supremacy over the lands around the sea, but for now they were just kids, working at a drive-in movie theater.
A strange sickness has descended on the city of Murmansk on the Nile and Cleopatra suspects it may have something to do with the reclusive inventor Galileo.
2. A Letter from Burrowdeep (Finished January 2025; Forthcoming in Zooscape Magazine)
He got to his feet, thanked the two mice for their kindness, including not subjecting him to terrible tortures, and headed back glumly the way he’d come. But just as he arrived at the edge of the bluff and was about to descend, a small note hove into view above him, carried aloft on a seed of thistledown.
This story is scheduled to appear in Zooscape Magazine in August 2026.
3. Splinter Hunter (Finished January 2025; Not yet published)
Over the years the mirror has been handed down from sibling to sibling, each vowing to do the deed, and each in the end giving up and passing the burden on. And now it rests with him, the last splinter hunter. And there is no one else to take it.
Tris must rescue his mother from a splinter of a broken mirror so she can lead the resistance against an enemy trying to take over their world.
4. A Kiss and a Key (Finished February 2025; Available at Merganser Magazine)
She ran a hand through that dark hair, then kissed the mermaid like she’d never kissed anyone before or ever would again, the salt of her lips tasting as sweet to her as raw honey.
Read this story at Merganser Magazine (Published April 2026)
5. In My World (Finished February 2025; Available at Night Shades)
“In my world,” she explains, “we use the alphabet only to spell disaster, and numbers only to count ourselves lucky. Here everyone is an honored guest. Everyone gets a parade, a motorcade, a medal.”
Read this story at Night Shades Magazine (Published March 2026)
6. Here, We Are New (Finished March 2025; Not yet published)
One day we’ll meet on an abandoned stretch of shore, rocks as big as whales breaking the backs of the waves, clouds running overhead, scattering like clowns in an old-time rodeo.
This story describes the experience of a man who remembers the future as easily as the past.
7. A is for Anesthesiologist (Finished May 2025; Not yet published)
I am only seven years old, but I know what’s happening. The cancer will kill me soon, but my parents have a plan to save me. It’s an experimental procedure, never tried before.
In this tale a seven-year-old girl becomes a cyborg and must choose a side in the war between humans and machines.
8. Raven and Rose (Finished July 2025; Not yet published)
Henrik’s father and Unda’s father are shipmates. They have gotten into an argument and one of them is about to push the other overboard. Below the waves, the octopus queen waits, hoping to entangle the loser in her embrace.
I wrote this fairy tale for the Orange & Bee, but they didn't want it so I'll have to find somewhere else to send it.
9. A Year in Ono Sa (Finished July 2025; Not yet published)
The turning never stops. The leaves of the plum trees fall and are swept away by the wind. One morning there is snow, white and silent on rooftops and walkways. Azra walks to the studio, watching the smoke from many chimneys snake up into the sky.
This is the story of one year in the city of Ona Sa, a place that is in some ways similar to the world we know and in some ways very different.
10. The Sea of Cities (Finished July 2025; Forthcoming in Newmyths Magazine)
Rielle, in a kind of trance, stepped out onto the span and walked along it. Oddly, the stars stretched not only overhead, but also below, where water might be on any normal bridge. If you were going to die, Rielle decided, this was absolutely the way to go.
This tale is scheduled to appear in Newmyths Magazine in Summer 2027.
11. Storm Makes Wings Strong (Finished August 2025; Not yet published)
Mika executes a final loop, showing off, then comes in for a landing. When she’s just inches from the ground, her body shifts and shimmers from jaeger to human, beak becoming mouth, wings shifting into arms, feathers turning to clothes.
The story of a young woman and the challenges she faces in a world where people can shift into the shapes of animals.
12. When We Were Young in Andanda (Finished August 2025; Not yet published)
We parted at the crossing. We worshipped different gods, lived in different neighborhoods, but could still be best friends. Such things were possible in those days. My daughters don’t believe me when I tell them.
This story tells of two friends separated by war.
13. The Jack of Frost (Finished September 2025; Not yet published)
Oldest story in the book. The Jack of Frost and the Queen of Flames hooked up, each attracted to its opposite. And the king was pissed.
The gods play a strange poker and the cards come to life in this story.
14. Ever, Never, Always, Once (Finished October 2025; Not yet published)
Heading up the steps, he took a peek at his watch and came to a sudden stop. The hand had shifted again, moving from ‘never’ to ‘always.’ What did that mean, he wondered. Had he been too slow? Had he missed his chance to kill the usurper?
A bounty hunter carries a watch that is tied to his fate in this fantasy story.
15. The Poison Singer (Finished October 2025; Not yet published)
The poison singer runs alone and barefoot down the non-Euclidean streets of Lodrys. One day, he is sure, he will be famous, his verses repeated in the Spiral Cities that pirouette far overhead. But today he is just an assassin on the run.
What happens when a starving poet becomes so desperate he uses his verses for murder?
16. The Red Bird (Finished November 2025; Not yet published)
Tanyra tucked her dark curls behind her ear and carefully cut out the shape she had drawn on the red construction paper. It was a bird. To her delight, it instantly took wing and flew out the window.
This story explores one woman's unusual skill and its effect at various points in her life.
17. The Ballad of the Blind Cat (Finished December 2025; Not yet published)
There’s a wall, he thinks. And I can’t get through. But where there’s a wall, there will always be a door. Clues gather round him, whispering. The King of Smoke. The Queen of Rain. Was that in some book he read? A song he can’t quite recall?
In a city haunted by demons, Jaguar James must wake their ancient enemies, the wizards.