The Science of Transient Cartography - Part One
By Nico Martinez Nocito
Happy New Story Sunday! This week, we are very excited to publish a brilliant young writer’s first sold story. Maybe you’ll find yourself in it. - The Editor
The Science of Transient Cartography
By Nico Martinez Nocito
Sketch, ink, color, polish. Repeat.
My pa likes to say, his curmudgeonly jaw working at the spoon he often inserts between his lips when he’s trying to suck the last vestiges of honey from the well-worn metal ornamentation, that when he was a boy, maps were static things, only changing when wars were fought and lost and won.
I usually like to remind him that we don’t have wars anymore.
Today, though, I know that old routine would just make him sadder, and so I tug the spoon from between his lips. He surrenders it grudgingly. His eyes are very tired.
“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m leaving.”
I own five pens, each a different color: black, red, blue, green, brown. I bundle all of them together into my cleanest roll of blue cotton and tuck them underneath my environmental science textbook, hoping that they won’t get crushed. They’re safer this way, I tell myself, but really, I don’t know the first thing about how to pack pens safely, or how to pack anything safely. I’ve never truly left home before.
No matter what I’ve told my pa, I’m not ready for the city.
Nico Martinez Nocito (they/them) writes speculative poetry and fiction, often with a queer and feminist bent. Their work can be found in Strange Horizons, Grimm Retold, and in Flame Tree Press’s anthology Morgana Le Fay, among others. Learn more about them and their writing on Instagram @nicowritesbooks.
Copyright © 2025 Nico Martinez Nocito