Matthew West-James

Welcome back to the Burning Salt – Jaka Cultural Exchange Archive. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about writing Burning Salt has been exploring not only how humans would misunderstand an ancient alien civilization, but how that civilization might misunderstand us in return. Every archive entry is an attempt to bridge that gap by presenting the Jaka’s own explanations of their history, culture, and society through documents prepared after first contact. This time, we turn to a subject…

The Mistakes We Never Stop Replaying Do you have one of those moments that your brain simply refuses to let go? Not the life-changing disasters. I’m talking about the little ones. Waving back at someone who wasn’t actually waving at you. Calling someone by the wrong name. Saying something awkward and wishing you could rewind the last thirty seconds. For years, those were the moments I replayed over and over. I suspect most of us have at least a few of them. The kind of memory that pops into…

Welcome to the first entry in what I hope will become an ongoing companion series to Burning Salt. While writing the novel, I developed far more of the Jaka civilization than could reasonably fit into the story itself. Rather than leave those ideas on the cutting room floor, I’ve decided to share them here as occasional newsletter pieces. These aren’t deleted scenes, nor are they required reading to enjoy the novel. Instead, they’re presented as documents from the Jaka Cultural Exchange…