Month: May 2018

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Sigmund Seventeen: Another ‘Way’ Story Finds a Home

It’s turning out to be a good week. First a story comes out on Starship Sofa’s podcast, then a sale to Intergalactic Medicine Show…and now another of my ‘Way’ story cycle has found a home.

‘Sigmund Seventeen’ should be out at the end of this month, in the online speculative fiction magazine, Electric Spec.

‘Sigmund’ is the second in a linked series of tales in which the stories play out against alternate versions of reality, reached by walking a mysterious path known as ‘The Way.’ Only some people can see and use the Way, and it’s hard to travel it with another person. These awkwardnesses fuel much of the narrative.

Another ‘Way’ story, ‘Hard Times in Nuovo Genova’ is due out with Intergalactic Medicine Show in August. (See 8th May.)

A third ‘Way’ story, ‘Once There Was a Way’, looks like it has also found a home (more on that soon). It’s in many ways a mirror image of ‘Sigmund’, and I’ll be interested in readers’ thoughts if they read them both.

A couple more ‘Way’ stories and I’ll have a book!

I had a story in Electric Spec a year or so ago. That was ‘Lenin’s Nurse’, a historical horror story, in issue Volume 11, Issue 4, at the end of 2016.  You can still read it for free online (click the link!)

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Hard Times in Nuovo Genova

It’s always lovely to be able to let you know that another story has found a home. And this time I’m really thrilled that I will have a story in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show  probably in August.

The story is called ‘Hard Times In Nuovo Genova or How I Lost My Way’ (sadly, titles aren’t part of the word count!). It’s one of a series of what I think of as my ‘Way’ stories. I’ll write about the series soon, when I’ve got a bit of time, because a couple of other stories from it are also coming out this year.

The story takes place in one of a number of different versions of Chicago, in this case one where North America was largely settled by Italians (Columbus having got funding from his native Genoa instead of Spain). It’s a simple enough tale: guy meets girl, guy loses girl, but with multiple universes.

As I say, it’s due in August, so plenty of time to brag yet!

 

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Starship Sofa – Podcast Debut

My story, “When I Close My Eyes” (see July 17th 2017) is the gift that keeps on giving. It earned me my debut in the rather wonderful Interzone magazine last year. Then it landed a berth in the recent (and also wonderful) ‘Best of British Science Fiction 2017’, edited by Donna Scott.

And now the story has popped up in a podcast – it features in episode 534 of Starship Sofa.

I confess, I was unsure how it would be, hearing my story read by someone else. But narrator Gareth Stack has done a bang-up job. I really enjoyed it, and I knew what happened! I heard little details in his narration that I didn’t even realise I’d put in the story.

Check it out, and subscribe to Starship Sofa while you’re at it. They’ve got a huge back catalogue of great stories, and it’s really worthy of your time.

The podcast is part of the District of Wonders stable, which also produces Tales to Terrify (if horror is your bag) and Far Fetched Fables (if you like fantasy)