Tag: Short Stories

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Going Interstellar II!

Last year, I heard that two of my space opera short stories were due to be included in Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission 1 Launder to the Moon. In a payload of memory card with many other authors. #writersonthemoon

THIS YEAR I got the news that my first two stories PLUS the third in the series, Imperatrix, Tertius, which was published in ‘Beyond the Stars: Across the Universe’ in 2021, are going to be added to a ‘Lunar Codex’ in the Polaris Collection – which will be sent on Astrobotic’s Mission 3 Griffin Lander. Scheduled for launch 2023/24. This will be sent to the Lunar South Pole, Polaris. So all three in my series are heading to the Moon. This is so exciting! Already on the 2022 Peregrine mission, all authors’ stories are now included in the 2023/24 Astrobotic Griffin/NASA VIPER/SpaceX mission to the Lunar South Pole!

As I’m a tag along to an official manifest place, I’m also, technically, a stowaway… I quite like the sound of that too. 😉 Now indexed in the Lunar Codex.

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Yearly Review 2021

There have been a fair few this year. And ‘Beyond the Stars: Across the Universe’ even reached #1 on several Amazon Bestseller lists, which was amazing! All titles listed below, more details on the Published Works page.

1. ‘Dream Eater’ podcast due Jan 2022.

2. ‘A Study of Mesozoic Schistosoma of the Late Cretaceous Period and their Abundance in Large Theropods’ re-released in Cossmass Infinities: The First Year, Dec 2021. REPRINT.

3. ‘Dream Eater’ in Third Flatiron’s Things With Feathers, Oct 2021.

4. ‘Routes Best Left Untaken’ in Love Letters to Poe: A Toast to Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 1, Sept 2021. REPRINT.

5. ‘What If?’ in Martian Magazine, Sept 2021.

6. ‘Imperatrix, Tertius’ in Beyond the Stars: Across the Universe, Aug 2021.

7. ‘Weave Us A Way’ in Speculatively Queer’s It Gets Even Better: Stories of Queer Possibility, August 2021. REPRINT.

8. ‘Matchbox Daemons’ in Broken Eyes Book’s Cootie Shots Required, Aug 2021.

9. ‘Routes Best Left Untaken’ in Love Letters to Poe, July 2021. Print and audio.

10. ‘Imperatrix’ in 2019 SLF Grant Winners’ Anthology, Feb 2021. REPRINT.

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Things With Feathers

Here it is! The Things With Feathers anthology. ? My quirky little steampunk-esque story, Dream Eater, was accepted for this earlier this year by Third Flatiron Publishing. And the cover art? It’s from my own story! Ahhh! My story has art on the book’s cover and is leading the anthology! This has made me mega happy. See it? That crow is Leith, and he’s holding a dream worm – the story is one of my stranger creations. I am so happy it found a home here. Even the title page has a little crow silhouette on it – so cute. This is an author first and it’s just so awesome! ?

Other recent acceptances are: Matchbox Daemons to ‘Cooties Shot Required: There Are Things You Must Know’ by Broken Eye Books – a cosmic horror market I’ve admired for years, and ‘What If?’ drabble to Martian Magazine. And I received a lovely contributor copy of Speculatively Queer’s It Gets Even Better. An awesome postcard even came with it! ?✨ It’s now available for purchase on Amazon.

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March 2020

Well, writing-wise so far 2020 has been very productive. I can now announce 2 professional level short story acceptances. Both will appear in publications later this year. And there is a third piece of news… that for now will have to remain under-wraps. But I hope to announce it soon.

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Image: Flame Tree Publishing

Firstly, though. After having to keep quiet for a few weeks, I can now gleefully announce that my original, contemporary, short horror ‘You Think You Are Safe’ will be appearing in Flame Tree’s ‘Footsteps in the Dark’ – one of the newest additions to their Gothic Fantasy range. And isn’t that cover just gorgeous? This will be my seventh appearance in their range, and it will be the second ‘second person’ horror story I’ve sold within a year. It’s a rather dark tale which revolves around a young couple in hiding: a researcher who is trying in vain to keep under control his lycanthrope girlfriend whilst feverishly searching for a cure. FT announcement link here. Amazon link here.

Image: Cossmass Infinities

My second short story sale is with Cosmass Infinities! A new SFF magazine. My story… deep breath… ‘A Study of Mesozoic ‘Schistosoma’ in the Late Cretaceous Period and their Abundance in Large Theropods’ will be appearing in the venue’s second issue, due out in May. I’m thrilled about this, especially seeing the table of contents… and because the editor hasn’t mentioned anything about cutting such a stupendously long title (Shh! I love him a little bit for that). This story proves I actually used my parasitology Master degree for something, although probably not what my folks expected. Amazon link here.

It’s a humorous SF loosely based on that time Robyn and I took that time travelling research course at uni, where I was stuck shovelling dino-dung while she went off to fight krackens… which may or may not have actually happened… (Thanks for the beta read, Robs).

Image: the current selection of Flame Tree’s Gothic Fantasy which include my work, beautifully showcased by my fabulous new bookends.
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Spotted in the Wild

This was so awesome! Walked into Keele University’s Blackwell’s yesterday and released squeals of writerly joy. A WHOLE shelf given over to the four Flame Tree books I have short stories in, along with a lovely little note underneath. They’re sat up there with the likes of ‘The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe’, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales’. Although I’ve always known they were ‘out there’ this is the first time I’ve ever personally seen them in the wild (before now I’ve just seen other people’s photos from far and yonder, which, while wonderful, don’t quite compare to seeing the real thing yourself), so this has been a major highlight of the week. Big thanks to Cathrene Rowell who, I’m sure, played a pretty big role in bringing this about. Continue reading “Spotted in the Wild”

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July 2017

Two pieces of news this month. Firstly, my prize-winning story is officially published! Huzzah! ? Curiosus Cattus, which was selected as this year’s Northwich LitFest Short Story Competition winner, is out now in July’s edition of Ourtown magazine. It’s illustrated (eee!) AND the editor very kindly put in a mention for Paws Inn Rescue, Weaverham ?, the residents of which inspired the story. They’re in need of donations so hopefully this will be some good PR for them. More information about the rescue can be found on their website.

Secondly, I’ve been doing the author happy dance because my historical cryptid short story, ‘Spring Heeled Jack: The Terror of London’ has been accepted for ‘Hidden Animals’ – an upcoming charity anthology by Dragon’s Roost Press which includes stories about cryptids (such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster) from around the globe.

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