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

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