Category: Short Fiction

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Sigmund Seventeen: Another ‘Way’ Story Finds a Home

It’s turning out to be a good week. First a story comes out on Starship Sofa’s podcast, then a sale to Intergalactic Medicine Show…and now another of my ‘Way’ story cycle has found a home.

‘Sigmund Seventeen’ should be out at the end of this month, in the online speculative fiction magazine, Electric Spec.

‘Sigmund’ is the second in a linked series of tales in which the stories play out against alternate versions of reality, reached by walking a mysterious path known as ‘The Way.’ Only some people can see and use the Way, and it’s hard to travel it with another person. These awkwardnesses fuel much of the narrative.

Another ‘Way’ story, ‘Hard Times in Nuovo Genova’ is due out with Intergalactic Medicine Show in August. (See 8th May.)

A third ‘Way’ story, ‘Once There Was a Way’, looks like it has also found a home (more on that soon). It’s in many ways a mirror image of ‘Sigmund’, and I’ll be interested in readers’ thoughts if they read them both.

A couple more ‘Way’ stories and I’ll have a book!

I had a story in Electric Spec a year or so ago. That was ‘Lenin’s Nurse’, a historical horror story, in issue Volume 11, Issue 4, at the end of 2016.  You can still read it for free online (click the link!)

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Hard Times in Nuovo Genova

It’s always lovely to be able to let you know that another story has found a home. And this time I’m really thrilled that I will have a story in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show  probably in August.

The story is called ‘Hard Times In Nuovo Genova or How I Lost My Way’ (sadly, titles aren’t part of the word count!). It’s one of a series of what I think of as my ‘Way’ stories. I’ll write about the series soon, when I’ve got a bit of time, because a couple of other stories from it are also coming out this year.

The story takes place in one of a number of different versions of Chicago, in this case one where North America was largely settled by Italians (Columbus having got funding from his native Genoa instead of Spain). It’s a simple enough tale: guy meets girl, guy loses girl, but with multiple universes.

As I say, it’s due in August, so plenty of time to brag yet!

 

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Starship Sofa – Podcast Debut

My story, “When I Close My Eyes” (see July 17th 2017) is the gift that keeps on giving. It earned me my debut in the rather wonderful Interzone magazine last year. Then it landed a berth in the recent (and also wonderful) ‘Best of British Science Fiction 2017’, edited by Donna Scott.

And now the story has popped up in a podcast – it features in episode 534 of Starship Sofa.

I confess, I was unsure how it would be, hearing my story read by someone else. But narrator Gareth Stack has done a bang-up job. I really enjoyed it, and I knew what happened! I heard little details in his narration that I didn’t even realise I’d put in the story.

Check it out, and subscribe to Starship Sofa while you’re at it. They’ve got a huge back catalogue of great stories, and it’s really worthy of your time.

The podcast is part of the District of Wonders stable, which also produces Tales to Terrify (if horror is your bag) and Far Fetched Fables (if you like fantasy)

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Best of British SF 2017 – When I Close My Eyes

It would be exciting enough that a book is coming out, containing the best British science fiction of last year.

But I confess I am beside myself that my story ‘When I Close My Eyes’ has somehow managed to sneak into the book. Where you will find it gazing around in awe at the illustrious company of fantastic writers like Adam Roberts, Eric Brown, Jaine Fenn and Ken MacLeod…  and the list goes on.

The collection is edited again by the marvellous Donna Scott, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I loved the 2016 collection, and this one looks even better.

You can order it here, from New Con Press. Go on, you know you want to.

The story first appeared in Interzone #271 last summer. It was my ‘hardest’ SF story yet – with a bereaved astronaut trapped by a rockfall in a cave on Titan, encountering some fragile but peskily well-organised Titanian aliens. (He was however helped out by a ghost, so I guess it is not that hard SF!)

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My first eligibility post – 2017

I confess it feels almost un-British to draw attention to my own work, but it is the season when people are considering what’s eligible for various awards.

I’ve not had much out in 2017, while slaving in the book caverns. But – hey – if not me, who?

So, for your consideration, I humbly offer:

When I Close My Eyes (Interzone #271, July/August 2017)

Interzone 271

I was pitifully proud of this, and so pleased to get my first story in the UK’s premier SF magazine. It’s my ‘hardest’ SF story yet – with a bereaved astronaut trapped by a rockfall in a cave on Titan, encountering some fragile but peskily well-organised Titanian aliens. (But he’s helped out by a ghost, so it’s not that hard SF!)

It’s eligible for Hugo and WSFA awards (and BFS – but I’m not canvassing!)

How to be Invisible (Cold Iron – Ghost Stories from the 21st Century, IRON Press, UK June 2017)

coldiron

You’ll have to search this out, but I was pleased to get a berth in an intriguing collection of ‘modern’ ghost stories, published by the small but enterprising Iron Press, from England’s chilly but beautiful north east. The story concerns a man who quite literally fades away from shame and guilt.

Eligible for Hugo and British Fantasy Award.

 

There you go. This time next year, I hope to be pestering people about my forthcoming novel, Fifty-One. But that’s not (quite) out yet!

 

 

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When I Close My Eyes – New Story in Interzone

It’s always a kick to have one of your stories hitting print, but I’m especially pleased that my latest story, ‘When I Close My Eyes’ is out this month in the UK’s longest-running (and best) science fiction magazine, Interzone.

I will confess: I’ve been trying to get a story in Interzone for ages, but they kept turning me down. The editor, Andy Cox, is rightly a demanding man. Anyway, you know the old saying: if at first you don’t succeed, make a bloody nuisance of yourself!

The story is probably my ‘hardest’ SF yet; set on Saturn’s moon, Titan, and featuring some fragile but peskily well-organised alien lifeforms. (There’s still a ghost in it, though, which I guess means that as SF goes, it isn’t that hard!)

You can buy Interzone here. If you subscribe – which you really should – you can even get this issue free.