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! 

Pre-order! Martian Magazine Issue 7

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 for pre-order now! 

New Story! On Blackened Wings in Keys to the Highway (Gravestone Press), Sep 22

The key is the empowerment, those who hold the key to the car has the keys to the highway... here are stories of haunted roads and strange vehicles, of wild driving and those driven by the need for revenge... follow the wheels, see where they take you - just beware which way you come back...

Keys to the Highway, Out now from Gravestone Press, including my apocalypse road trip story 'On Blackened Wings'

New story! The Voices of the Dead in Tales from the Moonlit Path

 A wee ghost story out now, in the summer edition of Tales from the Moonlit Path.

The Voices of the Dead (500 words)

It’s not uncommon, apparently, for the newly bereaved to hear the voices of their dead. All the counsellors said so...

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Inside (Horror) appeared in Drabbledark II (Ed. Eric Fomley, Shacklebound Books), May 2022

Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors (Comic Fantasy) appeared in DreamForge Magazine, Jun 2022

Organic Materials (Comic horror) appeared in Daikajuzine Issue 10, Jun 2022

Apples and Trees (Crime) appeared in Jacked: a crime fiction anthology (Ed. Vern Smith, Run Amok Books) Jul 2022

FORTHCOMING:

Never Meet Your Heroes (Comic Fantasy) will appear in The Fifth Di... 2022

Where There's Magic (Fantasy) will appear in Dragon Gems (Water Dragon Publishing), 2023

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

Reprint! 'Congratulations on Your Apotheosis' in The Lorelei Signal

 

More art! I adore this one, by Lee Ann Barlow for my story 'Congratulations on Your Apotheosis' in Lorelei Signal. Fab superhero style, and I love the little glimpse of Cthulu and his pizza 😁

New story! 'Apples and Trees' In Jacked (Run Amok Books)

Out now! This excellent anthology features my story 'Apples and Trees,' in which Nika teaches her mob-boss father a lesson about the modern world. 'Adapt or die, you know? It's just the way shit goes.'

'Jacked: a crime fiction anthology' edited by Vern Smith (Run Amok Books)

https://runamok.news/jacked-bookshop

https://runamok.news/jacked-indiebound

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jacked-Anthology.../dp/1733352694

Reprint! Organic Materials in Daikajuzine

 

Issue 10 of the marvellous Daikajuzine is out now, featuring my comic horror story 'Organic Materials' 

Keith, my main character, isn’t exactly a hero, but I think anyone who’s ever entertained a revenge fantasy on a Neighbour From Hell can probably sympathise...

Reprint! Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors in DreamForge Magazine

One of my favourite things is getting art with my stories, and this has to be one of my absolute favourite illustrations. Pictured below, from 'Light Winds with a Chance of Velociraptors' in DreamForge Magazine: Elsie, Harry, Flora, and the tiger that ate Jeremy Clarkson...

Drabble! 'Inside' in Drabbledark II, Shacklebound Books

 

Out now!

Drabbledark II is an anthology of dark science fiction, dark fantasy, and dark horror drabbles, stories of exactly 100 words. Within its pages are dark morsels of other worlds by Michelle Ann King, Liam Hogan, Ai Jiang, Dorian J. Sinnott, Joachim Heijndermans, Jacob Steven Mohr, and many others!

Includes my drabble 'Inside,' originally published by Postcard Shorts (Jan 2012)

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