Friday, December 8, 2017

Latest Story News!

Out now

1. Light Winds With a Chance of Velociraptors (Fantasy, 2,592 words) - was published in Metaphorisis Magazine

2. Never Leave Me (Fantasy, 1,281 words) came out in audio at Far Fetched Fables

3. 15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes (SF, 520 words) came out at Daily Science Fiction 

4. Where There's Magic (Fantasy, 6,980 words) came out in audio at Far Fetched Fables.

5. Failure's Not an Option (Horror, 1,997 words) came out in Bourbon Penn issue 14

6. The World Doesn't End, Even When it Should (Horror, 2,460 words) was reprinted in The Misbehaving Dead from A Murder of Storytellers


Forthcoming

1. Not With a Bang (SF, 1,275 words) will come out in audio at Tales to Terrify

2. Dead Bodies Don't Scream (Horror, 4,032 words) will come out in Tales from the Lake Volume 5, from Crystal Lake Publishing

3. Behind Glass (Horror, 2,127 words) will be reprinted in The Sirens Call eZine.  

Thursday, September 28, 2017

New story at Bourbon Penn - Failure's Not an Option

Very pleased to announce I have a new story out now in the latest issue of the marvellous magazine Bourbon Penn.

 'Failure's Not an Option' is probably best described as a dark workplace comedy, and I suspect anyone who's ever been faced with an impossible-to-meet target might feel a tiny twinge of sympathy :)

Failure's Not an Option - Horror/Comedy - 1,997 words

It’s the first of the month and we’re ready to crack on. Our target’s only gone up by five percent, so we’re not panicking. It’s fine. We can do that.

Read the full story at Bourbon Penn

Also available in kindle or print form at Amazon UK / Amazon US



Bourbon Penn's devotion to visionary storytelling continues with issue #14: nonhuman species pursuing questionable agendas provoke two minimum-wage workers into doubting their own humanity … a small town fraught with economic despair, where mothers mysteriously die, drives boyhood pals into an emotional quest for meaning through building their own fortress … a college janitor seeks redemption through confrontation with parallel selves … corporate co-workers take hyper-efficiency into a new brutalism where failure is not an option … a wandering girl and her intended rescuer might've simply run away, or do they wait in cold river mud to reunite with the anguished living? For connoisseurs of the liminal whose appetites exceed the offerings of traditional speculative fiction, follow these explorers of existence into landscapes emotional and mysterious … return with artifacts stranger than love, but hauntingly intimate.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

New podcast - Where There's Magic at Far Fetched Fables

Where's There's Magic, my fantasy about sassy witches, doomed lovers, and evil twins (originally published at Kaleidotrope, April 2016) has is now available in audio at Far Fetched Fables,

Magic! Betrayal! Blood-drinking cats! What's not to love? Listen to the story here, narrated by Nikolle Doolin.


Where There's Magic - Fantasy - 6,980 words

The witch had a favourite saying: where there's life, there's magic. There was a second part — where there's magic, there's death — but she usually kept that to herself.

Read the original at Kaleidotrope or listen to the audio at Far Fetched Fables

Saturday, July 15, 2017

New Story at Daily Science Fiction - 15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes


My SF story '15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes' came out this week at Daily Science Fiction, and is free to read on their website here.

I love list stories because so much is told between the lines — each statement needs to carry a lot of backstory and worldbuilding, which is fun to work out. I also love aftermath stories, where it's not about the big events so much as the 'what do we do now?' that comes when it's all over. Sometimes, in the case of a successful invasion, the answer to that question might have to be 'exactly what we're told.'

15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes - SF - 520 words

1. Technically, you don’t have to. The Special Ambassador programme is for people who can embrace the future in a spirit of friendship and harmony, and our Allies do realise not everyone is ready to do that yet. So they’ll understand if you say no, although it will upset them. 
 2. You don’t want to upset them. 

Read the rest at Daily Science Fiction

Sunday, June 18, 2017

New story at Metaphorosis - Light Winds With a Chance of Velociraptors

My comic fantasy Light Winds With a Chance of Velociraptors is free to read in the June issue of  Metaphorosis Magazine!

Like Harry in the story, I also once read a piece about the 'what happens after you die is what you believe' theory, and decided it could create a different, and interesting kind of apocalypse. I LOVE end-of-the-world stories, but so often the characters who fix it are soldiers, scientists and superheroes — and they're almost always young, fit and gorgeous. I thought it might also be different, and fun, if this time it was a bunch of irreverent pensioners in an old folks' home who saved the world. Plus, I couldn't resist the idea of killing off someone in a tidal wave of hamsters. I think that might be my favourite fictional death yet.

Light Winds With a Chance of Velociraptors - Fantasy - 2,592 words

‘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 crumb of custard cream. ‘Routines go straight out the window.’ 

Read the rest of the story at Metaphorosis Magazine now!


Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Latest Story News!


Out Now:

1. Harmonious Music and the Spawn of the Devil (Crime, 500 words) was published in Crooked Holster: Treachery

2. Responsible Employers Take Care of Their People (Horror, 1,467 words) was published in Dark Moon Digest Issue 26

3. Waiting to Burn (Fantasy, 700 words) was reprinted in Spirit's Tincture Issue #2

4. When I Loved Him, it was Forever (Horror, 388 words) was published in Fifty Flashes from Whortleberry Press

5. The Five Stages of Grief (Superhero Fantasy, 2,172 words) was published in InterGalactic Medicine Show Issue 55

6. For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times (Fantasy, 3,210 words) was reprinted in the March 2017 issue of Strange Constellations.


Forthcoming:

1. Of Course You Think He's a Monster (Horror, 2,241 words) will be published in the Spectral Book of Horror Volume 5, from Tickety Boo Press.

2. Light Winds With a Chance of Velociraptors (Fantasy, 2,592 words) will be published at Metaphorosis

3. 15 Things You Should Know Before You Say Yes (SF, 520 words) will be published at Daily Science Fiction

4. Failure's Not an Option (Horror, 1,992 words) will be published at Bourbon Penn

5. Never Leave Me (Fantasy, 1,281 words) will be podcasted at Far Fetched Fables, 7 Jun 3017

Monday, March 20, 2017

Story at Strange Constellations -

The March issue of Strange Constellations is out now, including a reprint of my story For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times (definitely one of my favourite titles!). You can read it for free here

This is a story about finding God. Not in the usual sense of undergoing a religious conversion, but literally discovering the omnipotent creator of the universe. During a house clearance in Balham.

For Your Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times  - Fantasy - 3,215 words

'God,' Katie said. 'Actual, biblical God.' 
'I know. But it's amazing what you can find tucked away in these places, sometimes. And that old lady was one hell of a hoarder. I wouldn't exactly say biblical, though―we're not talking about the old man in the flowing robes and long white beard. It's more of a... well, a...' she trailed off.
'A trickster coyote? A shower of gold? Alanis Morisette?'
'No, no,' Lia said. 'Nothing like that. It's more like... okay, remember my Great Aunt Doris, the one with all the tea cosies? Try to imagine a cross between her, that security guard who arrested us for shoplifting eyebrow pencils out of Superdrug when we were kids, and the Grand Canyon.'
Katie dutifully tried to imagine this. She failed. 


Read the rest of the story at Strange Constellations 

Monday, February 20, 2017

New story at InterGalactic Medicine Show - The Five Stages of Grief

My superhero fantasy story 'The Five Stages of Grief' is out now in Issue 55 of the InterGalactic Medicine Show!

I've always thought the superhero/nemesis relationship is a fascinating one, and I suspect it would probably be a lot more complex than it's sometimes presented. If you're defined by being the opposite of someone else, who are you when they're gone?


The Five Stages of Grief - Superhero Fantasy, 2,172 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. 

 Published in InterGalactic Medicine Show Issue 55, Feb 2017

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

New story in Dark Moon Digest - Responsible Employers Take Care of Their People

My workplace-horror story 'Responsible Employers Take Care of Their People' is out now in Dark Moon Digest issue 26 from Perpetual Motion Machine!


I love horror set in mundane, everyday scenarios, with characters who take it all very much in their stride. Dr Harper, in this story, is a classic example -- someone for whom it is, literally, just part of the job...

Responsible Employers Take Care of Their People - 1,467 words - horror 
‘I’m Dr Harper,’ she says, holding out her hand and offering him a professional smile. He ignores both and spits on the office floor, missing her shoe by an inch. Good start.

Read the rest of the story in Dark Moon Digest Issue 26 at Amazon US or Amazon UK