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' 

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW

You Don't Want What I Get (Horror) was reprinted in the anthology Greed from Black Hare Press, Sep 2021 

Ghosts in the Psycho-Surgical Transmutation Machine (SF) was published in Issue 22 of Bourbon Penn, Nov 2020

Organic Materials (Comic Horror) was reprinted at Fiction on the Web, 11 Dec 2020

FORTHCOMING

The Kind Hearts of Children and the Sprit of the Season (Horror) will be reprinted in the December 2020 issue of The Siren's Call

We're All Friends Here (SF) will be reprinted in the anthology Phantom from Black Hare Press

The Fine Art of Fortune-Telling (Dark Fantasy) will be reprinted in the anthology The Fox Spirit Book of Love, 2021

Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror) will be podcasted at Tales to Terrify, 2021

New story - Ghosts in the Psycho-Surgical Transmutation Machine at Bourbon Penn

 It's always a good day when there's more Bourbon Penn in the world! Issue 22 of this great magazine is out now, including my dark-comic-SF story 'Ghosts in the Psycho-Surgical Transmutation Machine'

It was nearly eleven by the time I managed to get myself going that morning, so I thought about the pub — but the state of my finances was even worse than my hangover, so I gave it a swerve and headed for the drop-in centre next to the library instead. It was a pretty good place to blag a free cup of coffee without having to suffer too much preaching and do-gooding in return, which suited me fine. I’d had just about all the do-gooding I could stomach for a while. 

It was practically empty when I got there; just Flea, sitting on the ratty little sofa with her head down, intent on rolling a joint. 

‘Greetings,’ she said, without looking up. ‘Enter and be welcome, fellow traveller on the hard road of life.’ ‘Whatever, Flea.’ 

The coffee pot was down to half an inch of burnt sludge. I eyed it with trepidation, then took a mostly clean mug off the side and poured it out anyway. Beggars, choosers.

Read the full story in Issue 22 of Bourbon Penn

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW

The Five Stages of Grief (Fantasy) was made free to read online at the Intergalactic Medicine Show

The Bad Ones Are Always the Best (Horror) was published in Issue 27 of Kzine


FORTHCOMING:

The God of Blood and Bone (Horror) will be reprinted in Terror Tract

Supply, Demand, and Armageddon (Fantasy) will be published in Rogue Star Stories issue 1

You Don't Want What I Get (Horror) will be reprinted in the anthology Greed by Black Hare Press

New story in Kzine - The Bad Ones Are Always the Best

Issue 27 of Kzine, a wonderful British genre mag featuring SF, fantasy, horror, crime, and mixtures thereof, is out now - including my homicidal-grandpa story The Bad Ones Are Always the Best. Who says sociopathy is a game for the young, right?


The Bad Ones Are Always the Best - horror - 2,500 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.’ Gary — no, Garrett; Marty’s been corrected on that point at least twice already — doesn’t seem impressed by the thought. No doubt he’d just have to wax them off afterwards, because God forbid he should spoil any of the smooth surfaces and rounded corners. The kid looks like he’s been popped out of some kind of designer mould, all rough edges pre-sanded off. Model no. 87: Corporate Tax Consultant.

Read the rest at Kzine now!

Free to read - The Five Stages of Grief at The Intergalactic Medicine Show

My superhero story The Five Stages of Grief was published in issue 55 of The Intergalactic Medicine Show back in Feb 2017. Since the magazine has subsequently made their back issues available online, the story is now free to read here!

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?

The Five Stages of Grief - Fantasy - 2,174 words

The news breaks at half past ten in the morning. At first I just snort and dismiss it, because faking her own death is exactly the kind of thing she does all the time. But it’s coming from multiple sources, including some usually reliable ones, with witness reports and footage of what does actually look very much like a body. Her body.

Read the rest at IGMS online

Latest Story News!

Forthcoming:

Always Room for More (supernatural, 1,723 words) will be reprinted in the LTUE benefit anthology Twilight Tales from Hemelein Publications, 2020

Ghosts in the Psycho-Surgical Transmutation Machine (SF, 4,700 words) will be published in Bourbon Penn, 2020


Out Now:

Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings (crime/horror, 3,775 words) was reprinted in the debut issue of The Macabre Museum, Nov 2019

Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition (fantasy, 2,600 words) came out in audio at Drabblecast, Oct 2019

New podcast - Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition at Drabblecast

Bit of a late update, but my fantasy story Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition was podcast by the wonderful folks at Drabblecast. Inspiration for this story came from the finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when the town of Sunnydale gets [!Spoiler Alert!] destroyed and turned into a giant crater. I often wondered what happened to it afterwards, and came to the conclusion that some enterprising soul would undoubtedly have turned it into a tourist attraction.

Take a listen to the story here.


Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition - Contemporary Fantasy - 2,600 words - originally published at Interzone, March 2016

Damita managed The Fracture’s visitor centre and gift shop, while Jem took the guided tours. There was also a cafe, which always had fresh coffee and an inventive selection of hot sandwiches, although Damita had never met anyone who worked in the kitchens.

‘They’re all very industrious, just highly introverted,’ Jem said. ‘You should go and get one of today’s specials — Cajun pheasant and fried pickles on a toasted sesame seed bagel. Marvellous.’

‘Sounds a little rich for breakfast,’ Damita said. ‘Maybe later.’

A stock delivery had arrived in the night, and she was working her way through the boxes. They contained fridge magnets, earplugs, bandages with pictures of cacti on them, and snowglobes. Damita picked one up and shook it. Black glitter fell on a scale model of the visitor centre, and lightning flashed.

‘Food is important,’ Jem said. ‘Blood sugar should be kept within optimum parameters to ensure emotional stability. It says so in the Employee Handbook.’

Listen to the full story at Drabblecast 

Reprint - Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings in The Macabre Museum

Out now: Vol 1, Issue 1 of The Macabre Museum - The debut issue of indie horror lit's newest journal! From the genre's freshest (and most disturbed) minds come 10 dark tales, 12 twisted poems, and 3 pieces of demented art... including my paranormal crime story Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings.

I always think there’s great fun to be had with characters who think they’re the Big Bad, only to run into someone worse. This story is a kind of horror take on Groundhog Day, without the possibility of the escape-through-self-improvement ending. It’s no wonder she’s gone homicidally insane, but at least she kept her sense of humour. I think you have to admire that.


Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings - 3,775 words 

Dom doesn’t lose his temper as easily as his brother, so normally he’s the one who deals with it when shit goes pear-shaped. But shit has been going pear-shaped a lot lately, and by the time Dom gets to the warehouse Marc is already in full swing. Literally—he’s gone after poor Jimmy with a nine iron. 

Dom picks his way across the warehouse floor, cursing under his breath. His shoes are new, and it’s a fuck of a thing to get blood out of tan leather. He puts both hands up, palms out. ‘Marc. Take it easy.’ 

On the floor, Jimmy groans. He’s pulled into a foetal position so Dom can’t tell the full extent of the damage, but his clothes are soaked in just about every bodily fluid there is. At first guess, Dom would say the kid’s lost his teeth, his fingernails, his bollocks and at least a couple of internal organs.

Read the full story in Issue 1 of The Macabre Museum !

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Garden of Fog and Monsters (SF, 2,089 words) was reprinted in First Contact from Indie Authors Press, Apr 19

Sometimes You’re the Windscreen, Sometimes You’re the Fly (Fantasy, 877 words) was published in audio at Toasted Cake, May 2019

For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times (Fantasy, 3,210 words) was published in audio at The Overcast, Aug 19


FORTHCOMING:

Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings (Horror/Crime, 3,775 words) will be reprinted in issue 1 of The Macabre Museum, 2019

Let the Buyer Beware (Fantasy, 4,700 words) will be published at Kaleidotrope, 2021

Possibly Nefarious Purposes will be reprinted at Strange Constellations, 2019/2020

New podcast - 'For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times' at The Overcast

The podcast of my fantasy story 'For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times' is now live at The Overcast!

One of my favourite stories, and definitely one of my favourite titles, this was written for Penumbra Magazine’s ‘Utopia’ issue, and reflects my belief that you don’t have to scratch a utopia very deeply to find a dystopia underneath.


For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times - Fantasy - 3,210 words

Lia waved a hand. ‘Hon, I’m sorry, but you’ve just got to hear this.’ She grinned and leaned back in her seat. ‘I found God.’ 

Katie stared at her. ‘I’m sorry, you did what?’ 

‘I found God. And I don’t mean I became a born-again Christian or anything, I mean I literally discovered the omnipotent creator of the universe. While I was doing that house clearance in Balham.’


 Listen to the story at The Overcast now!

New Reprint: Garden of Fog and Monsters in First Contact

I have a reprint in First Contact: A Science Fiction Anthology from Indie Authors Press, out now in ebook and paperback.

Garden of Fog and Monsters: They pitch it to the volunteers as a contest that can be won, but there’s no such thing as a free paradise.

They created a whole new branch of physics to make sense of it, but everybody was way more interested in the practical applications than the theorems. Rolling green hills and crystal blue lakes? You got it. A skyscraper fifteen miles high? You got it. Furry purple dinosaurs? You got it. In this garden, everybody’s God.

Read the rest of the story in First Contact

New Podcast! Sometimes You’re the Windscreen, Sometimes You’re the Fly at Toasted Cake

Sometimes You’re the Windscreen, Sometimes You’re the Fly (Fantasy, 877 words) has been published in audio at the marvellous Toasted Cake.

Life -- especially a very long one -- is nothing but a game...

Listen to the story here.

Latest Story News!

OUT NOW:

Wolf, or Faith in the Future (SF, 621 words) was podcasted at Manawaker Studio

In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey (Horror, 1,437 words) was published in Black Static Issue 67

God State (SF, 1,299 words) was reprinted in Sins and Other Worlds edited by Eric S Fomley

FORTHCOMING:

Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition (Fantasy, 2,600 words) will be podcasted at Drabblecast, 2019

Reprint - God State in Sins and Other Worlds

Sins and Other Worlds is a dark Science Fiction short story anthology comprised of reprint stories from 30 talented authors. The stories range from deep space, alien planets, alternate realities and beyond. Most stories within are flash fiction interspersed with several longer works from both emerging authors and titans in the field. The anthology collects some of the best dark sci-fi in recent memory.

Includes my story God State (1,299 words) Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.

When you get to a certain age, conversations with your mates often turn into a nostalgia-fest about The Good Old Days. Is the past better than the present? Maybe. Maybe not.

On the way out of the gig, I stop at the merchandise stall to get a t-shirt. I find one in my size and pull out my wallet, then hesitate. It looks good quality, but the colour — almost exactly the same blue as a scanner booth — puts me off. I read somewhere they call that shade ‘Spectral Indigo,’ and ever since then it’s given me a slight case of the creeps. On the way out of the gig, I stop at the merchandise stall to get a t-shirt. I find one in my size and pull out my wallet, then hesitate. It looks good quality, but the colour — almost exactly the same blue as a scanner booth — puts me off. I read somewhere they call that shade ‘Spectral Indigo,’ and ever since then it’s given me a slight case of the creeps. 

Read the rest in Sins and Other Worlds, available in ebook now.

New story in Black Static -- In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey

I have a new story in Issue 67 of the always-marvellous Black Static!

 In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey 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...

In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey - 1,437 words

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 rest of the story in Black Static 67, available now from TTA Press.

Latest Story News!

Out Now:

For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times (Fantasy, 3,210 words) was reprinted in Issue 3 of The Weird Reader.

The Visiphorical Art (Supernatural, 917 words) was podcasted at Manawaker studio.

One Free Go (Horror, 2221 words) was reprinted in Issue 41 of The Sirens Call, October 2018

And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After (Fantasy, 500 words) was reprinted in Issue 24 of Three Drops from a Cauldron, Nov 2018

Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror, 4,033 words) was published in Tales from the Lake Volume 5, from Crystal Lake Publishing, Nov 2018

Forthcoming:

Sometimes You’re the Windscreen, Sometimes You’re the Fly (Fantasy, 877 words) will be podcasted at Toasted Cake, May 2019.

In the Fog, There's Nothing but Grey (Horror, 1,437 words) will be published in Black Static

Reprint: And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After at Three Drops from a Cauldron

My fairy-tale flash 'And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After', a different view of the Cinderella story, is available to read in the latest issue of the marvellous Three Drops from a Cauldron, full of weird and wonderful, magical and mystical prose, poetry, and art.


And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After - Fantasy - 500 words

The coachman knows his place, so he stays outside, even though the music swirls in his head and tries to draw him into the ballroom, with all its vibrant colours and beautiful dancers — glamorous, graceful people whirling around the floor in complicated patterns, not needing to look where they’re going because they fit so perfectly into the shape of this grand, wonderful design; people who belong, who follow their steps and play their roles and smile so gloriously because they know, they all know, that they are precisely where they are meant to be.

Read the rest in Issue 24 of Three Drops from a Cauldron

New story: Dead Bodies Don't Scream in Tales of the Lake Volume 5

Tales of the Lake is a marvellous horror anthology series from Crystal Lake Publishing, and the latest volume is out now -- including my story 'Dead Bodies Don't Scream,' which is a variation on one of my favourite themes: Be careful what you wish for...


Dead Bodies Don't Scream by Michelle Ann King (Horror, 4,033 words)

Allie wipes her eyes, then stands up and kisses Rae’s hair. ‘I’ll be back soon,’ she says. 

Because the universe doesn’t care about right and wrong; she’s always known that. It doesn’t care about fairness or justice or providing miracles. 

If you need any of those things, you have to go and get them for yourself. 


Read the full story in Tales of the Lake Volume 5:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2q8Edtz
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2O01VBx
Universal Link: http://getbook.at/Lake5
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42425396-tales-from-the-lake-vol-5

New reprint: One Free Go in The Sirens Call

My Halloween story 'One Free Go,' along with a ton of other dark and creepy stories, his available to read for free now, in Issue 41 of The Sirens Calls 👻 🕷️💀

One Free Go (Horror, 2,221 words)

When I was a kid, a Halloween party meant a couple of ghost stories, some bat-shaped gingerbread, and a bag of fun-sized Mars bars. That was it, job done. These days you have to decorate the whole house, get everyone fancy dress costumes, lay on enough chocolate to sink a battleship and buy boxes of specially-made black cupcakes topped with fondant-icing eyeballs.


Read the story for free in Issue 41 of The Sirens Call now!

Kickstarter for The Weird Reader

Kickstarter for volume three of The Weird Reader, which includes my story 'For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times' -- this is the cheapest option for print copies, so if you fancy one, get in now!

New podcast! The Visiphorical Art at Manawaker Studio

My domestic ghost story The Visiphorical Art has been podcasted by the fine folks at Manawaker Studio. To listen to the story (9 minutes) click here.

The Visiphorical Art (917 words)

There are remnants of lives all over the house, drying out and growing mould like abandoned plates of half-consumed meals. They lie in wait under the surface of reality like landmines, like unexploded bombs. Waiting for the unwary, the ones who don’t watch their step, to explode them back into the world...

New story at The Weird Reader

One of my favourite stories (definitely one of my favourite titles), 'For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times' has been reprinted in Issue 3 of The Weird Reader a literary magazine of the strange, disturbing, fantastic, and otherworldly.

This is a fabulous publication with lots of stories and poems, and some marvellous art, too (I particularly like the illustration for Horseface by Justin Tolman). It's free to read, so check it out here!


For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times (Fantasy, 3,210 words)

Lia waved a hand. ‘Hon, I’m sorry, but you’ve just got to hear this.’ She grinned and leaned back in her seat. ‘I found God.’

Katie stared at her. ‘I’m sorry, you did what?’

‘I found God. And I don’t mean I became a born-again Christian or anything, I mean I literally discovered the omnipotent creator of the universe. While I was doing that house clearance in Balham.’


Read the full story at The Weird Reader!