Latest Story News!

 OUT NOW:

Tomorrow, We'll Go Yak Herding (Fantasy) was podcasted by Chris Herron at Tall Tale TV Apr 2022

The Five Stages of Grief (Fantasy) appeared in Etherea Magazine Issue 9, Apr 2022

Supply, Demand, and Armageddon appeared in Wyldblood Magazine Issue 8, Apr 2022

FORTHCOMING:

Calliope's Lament (Fantasy) will appear in the Shacklebound Books Newsletter

Inside (Horror) will appear in 'Drabbledark II' from Shacklebound Books

Sale or Return (SF) will appear in 'Planetside' from Shacklebound Books 

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

New story! Supply, Demand, and Armageddon in Wyldblood Magazine

 

The latest issue of Wyldblood Magazine is out now, with ten new stories of science fiction and fantasy, including my science-meets-capitalism story, 'Supply, Demand, and Armageddon'.

'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 the story in Issue 8 of Wyldblood Magazine! 

Reprint! 'The Five Stages of Grief' in Etherea Magazine

 

My superhero fantasy 'The Five Stages of Grief,' originally published in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, is out now in the new issue of the wonderful Etherea Magazine

I’ve always thought the superhero/nemesis relationship is a fascinating one, and probably more complex than it’s sometimes presented. If you’re defined by being the opposite of someone else, who are you without them?

Follow Safeguard through those five stages in Issue 9 of Etherea Magazine... 

New Podcast! 'Tomorrow, We'll Go Yak Herding' at Tall Tale TV

 

We all know what to do when life gives you lemons, but what about yaks? 

Jessica's on a road trip through a reality-bending apocalypse in this story, narrated by Chris Herron at Tall Tale TV!

'Tomorrow, We'll Go Yak Herding,' originally published at Strange Horizons, out now at Tall Tale TV:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/KdyY_0UNhKs

Facebook

https://fb.watch/cp2CwS3IIu/

Website

https://talltaletv.com/tomorrow-well-go-yak-herding/

MP3 (podcast)

https://pinecast.com/listen/027073c1-1f95-4d11-b8e9-f9b1fcb327fc.mp3

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

What Doesn't Kill You (Horror) in Tales to Terrify  episode 524 Feb 2022

Let the Buyer Beware (Comic fantasy) in Cast of Wonders episode 487, Feb 2022

Not the Pizza Girl (Comic fantasy) appeared in Metastellar Reprints, Feb 2022

FORTHCOMING:

Tomorrow, We'll Go Yak Herding (Fantasy) will appear on Tall Tale TV, 2022

Apples and Trees (Crime) will appear in Jacked by Run Amok Books, 2022

On Blackened Wings (Horror) will appear in Keys to the Highway from Gravestone Press, 2022

The Logistics of the End of the World (SF/Horror) will appear in The Fifth Di... Sep 2022

Reprint! Not the Pizza Girl at Metastellar Reprints

 

Read the origin story of Eddie's Ethereal Emporium and the Great Gidea Park Demon Disaster of 2013  (from Let the Buyer Beware, recently podcasted by Cast of Wonders) in Not the Pizza Girl, out now at Metastellar Reprints.

'You might just be trying to raise an imp to clean the toilet, but you end up with the legions of Beelzebub pouring out of the u-bend. Trust me, I've seen it happen.'

New Podcast! Let the Buyer Beware at Cast of Wonders

 

Ellie and Akyxgruxthragoth by Cast of Wonders artist Katherine Inskip

In the latest in an ongoing series of 'Things I never considered an audio narrator having to say out loud,' listen to the adventures of Ellie and Akyxgruxthragoth, her friendly neighbourhood Lovecraftian horror, at Cast of Wonders! 

'Let the Buyer Beware,' (first published at Kaleidotrope July 2021) narrated by Eve Upton for Cast of Wonders episode 487

 '...We're gonna need a bigger banishing kit...'

New story! What Doesn't Kill You at Tales to Terrify

 

New story out now: What Doesn't Kill You in episode 524 of Tales to Terrify! When Olivia meets a little girl managing to live, maybe even to thrive, in the contaminated Blight, she hopes to find a way for her unborn child, at least, to survive in this strange and terrifying new world.

Read by Georgia Cook: listen to the story here

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

To Haunt His Own Exhausted Heart (Supernatural) appeared in  The Stray Branch, Oct 21

We're All Friends Here (SF) appeared in Fusion Fragment Issue 9, Nov 21

The God of Blood and Bone (Horror) appeared in Dipping Into Blood (Ed. Dorothy Davies, Gravestone Press) Dec 2021

FORTHCOMING:

Congratulations on Your Apotheosis (Comic fantasy) will be reprinted in The Lorelei Signal, Apr 2022

What Doesn't Kill You (Horror) will be podcasted by Tales to Terrify, 2022

Let the Buyer Beware (Fantasy) will be podcasted by Cast of Wonders, 2022

Supply, Demand, and Armageddon (SF) will be published in Wyldblood Magazine, 2022

Reprint! The God of Blood and Bone in Dipping Into Blood

Dipping Into Blood, a new horror anthology out now from Gravestone Press! Includes my story 'The God of Blood and Bone;, which originally appeared in Liquid Imagination, Nov 2015. 

THE GOD OF BLOOD AND BONE

The phone rings at three o’clock in the morning. It’s on the coffee table, face down. Light leaks from underneath it. If I turn it over, it’ll be flashing Vince’s photo. At three o’clock in the morning, it’s always Vince. 

At least it didn’t wake me up; one of the upsides of insomnia. There aren’t many, so I’ve learned to take what I can get. 

I look at the phone and the familiar fear crawls out of my chest: does he know? 

We’re good friends, that fear and I. It gnaws on my ribs, sticks icy claws into my heart. It’ll freeze it before too long, kill it completely. But maybe that would be a kindness. No heart, no capacity to love. My family aren’t built for love. It goes bad.

Read the rest in Dipping Into Blood... 

Reprint: To Haunt His Own Exhausted Heart in The Stray Branch, Fall/Winter 2021

 

My ghost story 'To Haunt His Own Exhausted Heart', originally published in Scarlet Leaf Review (Feb 2016) is now available in the Fall/Winter issue of The Stray Branch 

Reprint! We're All Friends Here in Fusion Fragment

 

Fusion Fragment Issue 9, out now! Includes my 'film-making in the future' story We're All Friends Here, first published in The Sockdolager, Oct 2016

Download Fusion Fragment #9 for free or pay what you want! You’ll receive two PDFs in different colour schemes, plus an EPUB.

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

A Partial Inventory of Things I Have Loved (Fantasy) was podcasted by Manawaker Studio, Sep 21

Send in the Ninjas (Fantasy) appeared in Speculative North Issue 5, Sep 21

The Glorious Protection of Angels appeared in The Lost Librarian's Grave (Ed. Ann Wycoff, Redwood Press), Oct 21

The Bad Ones Are Always the Best (Horror) was reprinted in Previously Used (Ed. Dorothy Davies, Gravestone Press)

FORTHCOMING:

I Am Not Your Doppelganger (Urban Fantasy) will be reprinted in Flights of Fantasy (Iron Faerie Publishing) 

The God of Blood and Bone (Horror) will be reprinted in Lucky Dip (Gravestone Press) 

Reprint! The Bad Ones are Always the Best in Previously Used

IT'S SECOND TIME AROUND FOR THESE GREAT HORROR STORIES. Did you miss these great stories when they were first published? Here’s your chance to catch up with an overload of blood, gore, death and destruction, all in the name of entertainment… 

Includes my story 'The Bad Ones are Always the Best', originally published in Kzine, May 2020.

Previously Used (Ed. Dorothy Davies) out now in ebook and paperback from Gravestone Press!

New Story! 'The Glorious Protection of Angels' in The Lost Librarian's Grave

'Travel through blood-stained vistas set in forgotten pasts, along rolling centuries of iron and pain, into the strange apocalypses of our present day and several possible near futures. Enjoy this diverse collection of horror, occasionally mixed with other ingredients of speculative fiction and leavened with an osseous dusting of bizarre adventures, verse, and weird fiction, written by a loose cabal of thirty-nine authors from around the world. Unearth… The Lost Librarian’s Grave!'

The Lost Librarian’s Grave: Tales of Madness, Horror, and Adventure (Ed. Ann Wycoff, Redwood Press) is out now! 

New Reprint! Send in the Ninjas in Speculative North

First published by Podcastle in Feb 2016, Send in the Ninjas (Fantasy) is out now in Speculative North Issue 5, available in paperback and ebook format from Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon Canada 

It'll be available as a free download this weekend (4-5 Sep 21) so check it out!

New Podcast! A Partial Inventory of Things I Have Loved at Manawaker Studio

A Partial Inventory of Things I Have Loved (Fantasy, 1000 words)

First published in Flash Fiction Online and now podcasted by the wonderful Manawaker Studio! And it does, indeed, feature a keyring in the shape of a banana 😃🍌

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Let the Buyer Beware (Comic Fantasy) was published in Kaleidotrope, June 2021

Best Friends Forever (SF) was reprinted in Orchid's Lantern Flash Showcase, July 2021

Not the Pizza Girl (Comic Fantasy) was podcasted at Manawaker Studios, July 2021

FORTHCOMING:

The Glorious Protection of Angels (Horror) will be published in The Lost Librarian's Grave from Redwood Press, 2021

New podcast! Not the Pizza Girl at Manawaker Studios

 

The wonderful Manawaker Studios have podcasted one of my favourite stories, the comic fantasy (and original story to Let the Buyer Beware, published in Kaleidotrope) Not the Pizza Girl. Give it a listen here 

Reprint: Best Friends Forever in Orchid's Lantern Flash Showcase

Is friendship rooted in feelings or actions? Suelita and her robot bestie examine the question in 'Best Friends Forever', first published in Daily Science Fiction and now featured on Orchid Lantern's inaugural Flash Showcase...

New story: Let the Buyer Beware in Kaleidotrope

Kaleidotrope Summer 2021

Don't try this at home, kids! A money-making scheme involving dodgy DIY spell kits leads to magical shenanigans, dislocated intradimensional apertures, and a day trip to the inside of HP Lovecraft's head in comic fantasy 'Let the Buyer Beware', out now in the summer issue of Kaleidotrope. 

And if anyone wants to read the origin story of Lisa and the Gidea Park Demon Disaster of 2013, you can find it at Every Day Fiction: Not the Pizza Girl or listen to the podcast by Manawaker Studios

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

When it's Time to Start Re-examining Your Life Choices (Fantasy) was published in the Crystal Lake patreon flash fiction challenge, Mar 21

Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors (Fantasy) was reprinted in Daikajuzine issue 5, Mar 21

The Fine Art of Fortune-Telling (Horror/Fantasy) was reprinted in The Fox Spirit Book of Love (Ed. C.A. Yates, Fox Spirit Books), Apr 21

Sale or Return (SF) was published in Scribes Micro Fiction Issue 4, Apr 21

WOO! (Fantasy) was published in Curiouser Magazine Issue 1, May 21

Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror) was podcasted by Tales to Terrify episode 485, May 21

FORTHCOMING:

We're All Friends Here (SF/Crime) will be reprinted by Fusion Fragment, Nov 2021

New podcast: Dead Bodies Don't Scream by Tales to Terrify

My story 'Dead Bodies Don't Scream' originally published in Tales from the Lake Vol 5 (Ed. Kenneth W Cain, Crystal Lake Publishing) has been podcasted by Michelle Kane for the wonderful Tales to Terrify. Check it out!

New story: WOO! in Curiouser Magazine

 

Hurrah for a new speculative lit magazine all the way from Australia! 

Curiouser Magazine is a bi-annual journal specialising in magical realism. Read my weird little multiverse story WOO! -- plus many other fine stories and poems -- in Issue 1, available now.

New Story: Sale or Return in Scribes Micro Fiction

My story 'Sale of Return' is featured in Issue 4 of Fairfield Scribes Micro Fiction (100 word stories), alongside an interview about the story - free to read now!

Reprint: The Fine Art of Fortune-Telling in The Fox Spirit Book of Love

 

These are probably not the love stories you are looking for….. …. but they should be.’ 

Love. That many-splendoured thing. It can move mountains and make fools of us all, but what is it? Does it come courtesy of a cherub’s bow? Is it a battlefield? Endless? Crazy? Only available on a Friday? Well, the answer might be between these covers. Inside you’ll find stories from fantastical worlds to fairy tales, from dark places to virtual reality, tales of transformation, hope, and despair. Above all else, each one is, at heart, about love.

The Book of Love, out now from Fox Spirit Books! Featuring my story 'The Fine Art of Fortune-Telling' 

Available in kindle from Amazon, or from the Fox Spirit website.

Reprint: Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors at Daikajuzine

Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors (Fantasy) has been reprinted at the wonderful Daikaijuzine, issue 5.

I love end-of-the-world stories, but so often the characters who fix it are soldiers, scientists, or superheroes. I thought it would be fun to let someone else have a go at saving the world...

‘That’s the worst thing about the end of the world,’ Elsie said, staring mournfully into a teacup that had long ago been licked clean of every last drop of Tetleys and soggy crumbs of custard cream. ‘Routines go straight out the window.’ 

Harry glanced away from the TV, which was showing aerial footage of a tiger chasing pigeons in Trafalgar Square. ‘Really? That’s the worst part? It’s not the deaths of millions and the imminent fall of civilisation, it’s that nobody’s been round with the tea trolley for a couple of hours?’

Read the rest here

New story: When it's Time to Start Re-examining Your Life Choices at Crystal Lake

Clowns! Fire! Crocheted models of E.coli bacteria! What's not to love? 😀

Check out my latest flash at the Crystal Lake patreon

When it's Time to Start Re-examining Your Life Choices (Fantasy) 705 words

I never meant to get a clown, but she came with the flat and clearly had no intention of leaving, so what was I supposed to do?

Read the rest at Crystal Lake...

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Kind Hearts (Horror) was reprinted in The Sirens Call  Issue 52, Dec 2020

Always Room for More (Paranormal) was reprinted in the LTUE Benefit Anthology Twilight Tales from Hemelein Press, Feb 21

They Do Things Better in Albuquerque (Crime) was reprinted in Crimeucopia - The Lady Thrillers from Murderous Ink, 2021

FORTHCOMING:

When it's Time to Start Re-examining Your Life Choices (Dark Fantasy) will be published for Crystal Lake Publishing's Clowns, Carnivals & Sideshows flash fiction challenge, March 2021

Sale or Return (SF) will be reprinted in Scribes Micro Fiction, April 2021

WOO! (Fantasy) will be published in Curiouser Magazine, April 2021

Send in the Ninjas (Fantasy) will be reprinted in Speculative North, 2021

To Haunt His Own Exhausted Heart (Horror) will be reprinted in The Stray Branch, Fall/Winter 2021

Reprint - 'They Do Things Better in Albuquerque' in Crimeucopia: The Lady Thrillers

Out now from Murderous Ink Press! Crimeucopia: The Lady Thrillers - 16 Countesses of Crime recount tales of Murder, Mayhem and Revenge - with tales ranging from the 14th through to the 21st Century.  Includes my short tale 'They Do Things Better in Albuquerque' along with some tremendous other offerings. 

Reprint - Always Room for More in Twilight Tales (LTUE Anthologies)

Out now from Hemelein Press: the Twilight Tales LTUE anthology, including my story Always Room for More (originally published by Unsung Stories, Feb 2016)

Things that go bump in the night, mysterious portals to other dimensions and places, bones that know who killed them, seductive vegetation, ghosts that have a tale to tell, and even unexplained behavior in the far reaches of the universe. Twilight Tales contains thirty-one stories each taking you just beyond reality, reminiscent of the rich and uneasy stories by A. Merritt or episodes from the classic Twilight Zone television series. 

In honor of Betty Pope, a former librarian at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, Twilight Tales contains stories we think she would have loved. Proceeds from this volume support LTUE’s continuing missions of educating and helping writers, artists, editors, and other creatives in honing the skills needed to achieve success in the field of speculative fiction.

Available in ebook and paperback from Amazon

Reprint: Kind Hearts in The Sirens Call magazine

Available now:  The Sirens Call Issue 52, free to read online -- a bumper edition that includes my rather nasty little ghost story 'Kind Hearts'