Story: If you Know of Excess

I have written a new short story, with the title: If you know of excess, you must tell. As always, it has gone to some magazines and anthologies first to see if they will publish it. If I have no luck there, I will put it out myself. 

UPDATE: (April 2025) This story has been rejected by two magazines, but is under consideration at another two. I've also have very positive feedback on it from an editor at one of those, so holding thumbs that it may get published soon.

It is a short story which was inspired by my reading Testament to the Bushmen, by Laurens van der Post and Jane Taylor. That book lovingly recreates the lives of the nomadic, hunter-gatherer bushmen, living in the Kalahari desert in South Africa. As we try to imagine more sustainable ways of life, I think there are lessons to be learned from our records of these people.

The bushmen, who lived in small family groups, were skilled in sustainable living, making use of the meagre resources around them to support a life that included not only the tasks related to survival, but also a rich culture of art and play. 

I have tried to imagine a world in which people might live in small, apparently self-sufficient extended families. I have, however, taken some creative liberties and, although not obvious, there are advanced technologies supporting them. The story is set in a unspecified future and does not form part of my 2500 series. 

My young protagonist is torn between the social injunction to curb excess and a love of beauty. There are lots of blue feathers.