Reprint! 'In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey' in Silver Blade

'In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey,' (dark fantasy, 1,500 words) originally published in the late, lamented Black Static, has been reprinted in Issue 58 of the wonderful Silver Blade Magazine. 

This is a pending-apocalypse story taking place during an epidemic of amnesia, and is about finding out who you are by watching what you do... 

Nobody’s gone in or out of the pub for a long time, so it makes us all jump when the door opens. I hadn’t even realised it was unlocked. 

‘Here comes trouble,’ Gil says.

 He says that about everything, from Chrissie coming back from the Ladies to pigeons landing on the roof, but this time I think he could be right — there’s something about this newcomer that sets my spidey-sense humming. I can’t put my finger on what, but sometimes that’s how it is: the eyes send a message straight to the hairs on the back of the neck, bypassing the brain completely. Which maybe isn’t such a bad thing, considering the brain’s not the be-all and end-all it used to be.

Read the full story here

Reprint! 'Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors' in Sages of Metaphorosis anthology

 

Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors (comic fantasy, 2,578 words), originally published by Metaphorosis Magazine in June 2017, has been reprinted in their latest anthology 'Sages,' a collection of 20 terrific stories by authors who were over 50 at the time of writing. Old farts unite! 

Find the anthology here 

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

We're All Friends Here (SF) appeared in Phantom Vol 5 (Black Hare Press), Nov 2023

Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition (Fantasy) was podcasted by Chris Herron for Tall Tale TV, Mar 2024

At the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole, Proceed to Checkout (Fantasy) appeared in Volume 40 of Paranoid Tree, April 2024

Howling at the Waning Moon (Fantasy) appeared in Calliope Interactive, May 2024

FORTHCOMING:

In the Fog, There's Nothing But Grey (Horror) will be reprinted by Silver Blade, Winter 2024

New story: 'At the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole, Proceed to Checkout' in Paranoid Tree

 

'At the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole, Proceed to Checkout' is out now in issue 40 of Paranoid Tree, a terrific lit/art magazine that produce gorgeous print editions that open out into little posters. Check out the online and print versions! 

New Podcast! Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition at Tall Tale TV

 

My whimsical fantasy story ‘Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition’ has been podcasted by the talented Chris Herron of Tall Tale TV. He did a terrific job, and I absolutely love the artwork that went with the story. Give it a listen! 

Latest Story News!

 

OUT NOW:

I Am Not Your Doppelgänger (fantasy) appeared in Flights of Fantasy (Ed. Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Iron Faerie Publishing), Oct 2023

Supply, Demand, and Armageddon (comic SF) appeared in Androids and Dragons, Nov 2023

The Restoration of Carrion Cottage (horror) appeared in Dark Moments Year 5 (Black Hare Press), Dec 2023

The Day My Mum Chucked a Bloke From the Government Through the Wormhole in Our Garden (comic fantasy) appeared in Impossible Worlds Issue IV, Dec 2023

FORTHCOMING:

Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition (comic fantasy) will appear on Tall Tale TV

New story! The Day My Mum Chucked a Bloke From the Government Through the Wormhole in Our Garden in Impossible Worlds

 

Out now! Impossible Worlds Issue IV, featuring my comic fantasy 'The Day My Mum Chucked a Bloke From the Government Through the Wormhole in Our Garden' 

Six stories of wonder, amazement, and just straight up oddities! From a cat obsessed with Duchovny to government interference in spatial anomalies, this 4th edition of Impossible Worlds is sure to please any SFF Fan. 

Find it here: Impossible Worlds Issue IV, Dec 2023

New story! The Restoration of Carrion Cottage in Dark Moments

My short horror The Restoration of Carrion Cottage is out now in the  Black Hare Press YEAR FIVE anthology: a culmination of all the nano-tales published in the Dark Moments online archive during 2023, and the PATREON stories. 

A perfect restoration project, the estate agent called the place. Well, the website did. Nobody actually bothered coming out there with us, just left the keys and directions at the office. I suppose didn’t see the point; there was little to vandalise and nothing to steal, and if someone had burned it down it would probably have done them a favour.

Available for download here 

Reprint! 'Supply, Demand, and Armageddon' in Androids & Dragons

 

My science-meets-capitalism comic SF story, 'Supply, Demand, and Armageddon,' first published by Wyldblood Magazine in April 2022, has been reprinted by new spec fic journal Androids and Dragons. 

 'Seriously? Have you never watched a single science fiction film in your entire life?' She shook her head. 'I've seen this story before, Remi, and it doesn't end well.' 

 Read it for free here

Reprint! I Am Not Your Doppelgänger in 'Flights of Fantasy'

My fantasy flash piece 'I Am Not Your Doppelgänger,' originally published by The Flash Fiction Press, is out now in the new anthology 'Flights of Fantasy' from Iron Faerie Press.

Dive into a realm where magic knows no bounds, and legends come to life. From the mystical depths of ancient forests to the soaring heights of dragon filled skies, these tales will transport you to worlds where heroes rise, kingdoms clash, and the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Whether you seek epic adventures, tales of mystical creatures, or stories of unlikely heroes, this anthology has it all! Prepare to be spellbound and experience the magic of an entire universe in a single book...

Flights of Fantasy on Amazon UK 

Flights of Fantasy on Books2Read

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror) appeared in Dark Tales 4 (Ed. Dorothy Davies, Gravestone Press), July 2023

You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance (SF) appeared in audio at Manawaker Studio Flash Fiction Podcast ep 0823, July 2023

Not the Pizza Girl (Comic fantasy) appeared in The Best of Metastellar Year 2 (Ed. Geordie Morse, Maria Gringa, Melody Friedenthal, Metastellar Press)

FORTHCOMING:

Supply, Demand, and Armageddon (SF) will appear in Androids & Dragons Magazine

At the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole, Please Proceed to Checkout (SF) will appear in Paranoid Tree 

The Day My Mum Chucked a Bloke From the Government Through the Wormhole in Our Garden (Comic Fantasy) will appear in Impossible Worlds Quarterly 

Reprint! Not the Pizza Girl in Best of Metastellar Year 2

Out Now! The Best of Metastellar Year Two, featuring my comic fantasy 'Not the Pizza Girl' 

Forty-eight enthralling stories from the most talented new science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers. 

MetaStellar is an online publication focusing on science fiction, fantasy, and horror launched in September 2020, founded by a dozen speculative fiction writers, editors, and artists from around the world. Since then, it's published hundreds of short stories by hundreds of writers, both original fiction, reprints, and excerpts. 

The proceeds from this anthology will help pay for even more original fiction in years to come.

Ebook links here!

Reprint! We're All Friends Here in Dark Matter 16

 

Thrilled to announce that issue 16 of the wonderful Dark Matter is now available, featuring a reprint of my story 'We're All Friends Here' 

Aliens! Gangsters! Existential philosophical dilemmas! Check it out in Dark Matter 16 

We're All Friends Here - SF - 4,385 words 

In the old book our film's based on, Kip has a different reaction: he becomes more determined than ever to go out swinging, and the story ends with him getting killed during a huge shootout with the police in a third act packed with gunfire and explosions. Violent nihilism was popular in the twenty-first century.

New Podcast! You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance at Manawaker Studios

 

My SF story You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance, about gambling with the sands of time, is out in audio now at the Manawaker Studios Flash Fiction Podcast, ep 0823. Listen to it here!

Reprint! Dead Bodies Don't Scream in Dark Tales 4

 

Out now, including my story 'Dead Bodies Don't Scream' - Dark Tales 4 from Gravestone Press. This volume brings you another superb collection of evil thoughts, nasty people, blood guts and torment, in no particular order. Not For Late Night Reading.

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW

The Bad Ones are Always the Best (Horror) appeared in episode 468 of Drabblecast and the second issue of The Tentaculum

Nor Any Drop to Drink (Horror) appeared in The Flash of Fangs (Ed. Parth Sarathi Chakraborty, Wicked Shadow Press) 

FORTHCOMING

Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror) will appear in Dark Tales 4 from Gravestone Press

Not the Pizza Girl (Fantasy) will appear in Metastallar Year 2 anthology

Reprint! The Bad Ones are Always the Best in The Tentaculum

 

The second issue of The Tentaculum, the Drabblecast's quarterly magazine of weird fiction, has been released under a creative commons license. That means it's available for everyone to download and read for free! Features my story 'The Bad Ones are Always the Best'

Grab it here: 

Reprint! Nor Any Drop to Drink in The Flash of Fangs

 

My wee vampire story  'Nor Any Drop to Drink' appeared in a new anthology 'The Flash of Fangs'  from the fine folks at Wicked Shadow Press. Out now!

Paperback

Ebook

New podcast! 'The Bad Ones are Always the Best' at Drabblecast

 

Glorious artwork by Sheryl Schopher

My horror story 'The Bad Ones are Always the Best' (first published Kzine) has been produced by the fine folks at Drabblecast - take a listen here!

THE BAD ONES ARE ALWAYS THE BEST - 2.409 WORDS

Marty’s grandson takes the cup of tea he’s offered — without saying thank you, mind — and stares at it dubiously, as if he doesn’t know what it is. Marty wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t; kids all seem to be brought up on vitamin water and kale juice, these days. 

‘Drink up,’ he says, nodding encouragingly. Marty’s cuppas are the real thing: brewed until they’re the colour of brick dust and made with full-fat milk, four sugars and a thimble of whisky. ‘It’ll put hairs on your chest.’

Continued in Drabblecast episode 468 

Latest Story News!

 OUT NOW:

'What Do You See in This Picture?' (Crime) appeared in The Dark City Magazine, Jan 2023

'Where There's Magic' (Fantasy) appeared in Dragon Gems, Jan 2023

'Inside' (Horror) appeared in Love Me Love Me Not (Black Hare Press) Feb 2023

FORTHCOMING:

'We're All Friends Here' (SF) will appear in issue 16 of Dark Matter Magazine, Jul 23

'The Restoration of Carrion Cottage' (Horror) will appear in the Black Hare Press Patreon and Year Five anthology, 2023

'Howling at the Waning Moon' (Fantasy) will appear in Calliope Interactive, 2023

Reprint! 'Inside' in Love Me, Love Me Not from Black Hare Press

 

Very pleased to announce my little 100-word horror story 'Inside' is now available in the marvellous dark drabbles anthology 'Love Me, Love Me Not' from Black Hare Press!

https://www.blackharepress.com/love-me-love-me-not/

Reprint! Where There's Magic in Dragon Gems Winter 2023

 

Out now from Water Dragon Press! Dragon Gems (Winter 2023): tales to warm your imagination during the cold winter months.

I'm thrilled to be included in this inaugural edition with a reprint of my dark fantasy story 'Where There's Magic,' (first published in Kaleidotrope April 2016), about warring twin sisters using the power of death magic in a cycle of murder and revenge.

The anthology also features stories by Christina Ardizzone, Matt Bliss, Gustavo Bondoni, Micah Castle, Nestor Delfino, C. M. Fields, Andrew Giffin, Emma Kathryn, Jason Lairamore, Eve Morton, Lena Ng, S. Park, Arlo Sharp, Mar Vincent, and Richard Zwicker. 

Dragon Gems (Winter 2023) is available now in hardcover, trade paperback, and digital editions from most online booksellers.

New Story! 'What Do You See in This Picture?' in The Dark City Magazine

The latest issue of The Dark City crime & mystery magazine is out now, featuring my story 'What Do You See in This Picture?'

Available for:

Kindle

Paperback

Magzter (pdf)

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW

What Doesn't Kill You (Horror) appeared in Dark Tales 1 (Ed. Dorothy Davies, Gravestone Press) Nov 22

Sale or Return (SF) appeared in Planetside (Ed. Eric Fomley, Shacklebound Books) Nov 22

Balloons (SF) appeared in Martian Magazine Issue 7, Nov 22 

Gifted (SF) appeared in Eidolotry Issue 2, Jan 23

FORTHCOMING

The Bad Ones are Always the Best (Horror) will appear at Drabblecast 

Inside (Horror) will appear in Valentine from Black Hare Press

Reprint! 'Gifted' in Eidolotry Issue 2

From Psycho Toxin Press: This month we shine a spotlight on the darkness that is unique to the United Kingdom. We've got five horrifying tales from the hottest voices across the pond.

Featuring my story 'Gifted' 

Francie sat cross-legged on the floor. The rough carpet scratched her legs and she shifted position. 

‘Concentrate, please, Francie,’ Dr Lomax said. 

Concentration was a virtue. So was obedience. Francie sat still and focused on the items in front of her: a cotton wool pad, a fifty pence piece, a yellow tennis ball and a large textbook called Gifted: Developing Extraordinary Potential in Ordinary Children by Dr Paulina Lomax. Francie had tried to read it once, to be polite, but she didn’t get very far. She liked the photos of all the brains, though.

Read the rest in Eidolotry Issue 2 from Psycho Toxin Press!

New drabble! 'Balloons' in Martian Magazine

Out now! Read my story 'Balloons' in Issue 7 of Martian Magazine!

Martian is a magazine of science fiction drabbles, stories told in exactly 100 words. Each quarter, we'll bring you twenty-six new, evocative science fiction micros from new and award-winning authors. Our seventh issue features stories from Rich Larson, Michelle Ann King, Liam Hogan, Marisca Pichette, Christopher Rowe, Adriana C. Grigore, James Van Pelt, Jason Burnham, Marc A. Criley, and many other writers from around the globe.

Available now

Reprint! 'Sale or Return' in Planetside

Out now! My SF drabble 'Sale or Return,' previously published at Scribes Micro Fiction (Apr 2021) has been reprinted in the wonderful collection 'Planetside' (Ed. Eric Fomley) from Shacklebound Books. 

Planetside is an anthology of drabbles, stories of exactly 100 words. Within these pages are micro science fiction stories from Liam Hogan, Marc Criley, Michelle Ann King, Marisca Pichette, Anna Madden, and many, many others!

Available for Kindle now

Out Now! What Doesn't Kill You in Dark Tales from Gravestone Press

 

The latest publication from Gravestone Press, Dark Tales Volume 1, brings you another superb collection of evil thoughts, nasty people, blood guts and torment...

In this volume we have:- Night In Our Veins (Paul Edwards) The Quiet Ones (Liam A. Spinage) Culprits (Olivia Arieti) Neon Fly (S J Townend) Judge's Decision (Rickey Rivers Jr.) Radium Cigarettes (Gary Budgen) The People of the Desert (Jason R. Frei) A Lonely Place (Dorothy Davies) Succulent (Brooke MacKenzie) Eve of Destruction (Liam A. Spinage) The Players' Requiem (Olivia Arieti) Loot Crate (Jason R. Frei) Dolls Don't Cry (Brooke MacKenzie) Maggots and Marriage (Rickey Rivers Jr.) Warm Hugs (S J Townend) Four Sided Bottle (Rickey Rivers Jr.) Deep Town (Dona Fox) What Doesn't Kill You (Michelle Ann King) Closer (Carrie Mills) Bequeathed (Paul Edwards)

Available now from Gravestone Press! 

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

The Voices of the Dead (Horror) appeared in Tales from the Moonlit Path, Aug 2022

On Blackened Wings (Horror) appeared in Keys to the Highway (Ed. Dorothy Davies, Gravestone Press) Sep 2022

Never Meet Your Heroes (Comic Fantasy) and The Logistics of the End of the World (SF Horror) appeared in The Fifth Di... (Hiraeth Publishing), Sep 2022 

And in the End They All Lived Happily Ever After (Fantasy) appeared in Bards & Sages Quarterly, Oct 2022

FORTHCOMING:

Balloons (SF) will appear in issue 7 of Martian Magazine, Nov 22 

In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey (Dark fantasy) will appear in Silver Blade, 2022

Where There's Magic (Fantasy) will appear in The Storyteller Series, Jan 2023

Gifted (Horror) will appear in Eidetic issue 3, 2023

What Do You See in This Picture? (Crime) will appear in The Dark City Magazine, 2023

Reprint! 'And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After' in Bards & Sages

Out now! The October 2022 issue of Bards & Sages Quarterly. 

Includes my mini fairy tale story 'And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After,' in which they very much didn't...

Get the issue at:

https://books2read.com/b/4D6jXD 

New stories in The Fifth Di...

 

My first double-header! Two of my stories, Never Meet Your Heroes (Comic Fantasy) and The Logistics of the End of the World (SF Horror) appear in the current issue of The Fifth Di... from Hiraeth Publishing, out now!