Maker, writer, player.
I’m very happy to announce the publication of The Devil and the Drum, a scenario for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. I’d like to thank all of my play-testers, especially my family and the folks at Grogmeet November 2022.
This scenario is set in Devon, 1946. The investigators are National Trust volunteers asked to survey an old ruined abbey. Events unfold amidst an unnatural storm wreaking havoc across the United Kingdom.
Continue reading “The Devil and the Drum”
Revolutions is an anthology of speculative fiction set in Manchester: seventeen stories of science-fiction, horror, dystopian and weird fiction.
I’m very happy to be wearing two hats for this project as both writer and editor.
As writer, Revolutions includes my short story Traveller. This is an unusual departure for me: time-travel. I am probably the world’s worst sceptic when it comes to this particular subject so I’d like to think that my story explores a new approach to how it might all work in a believable, if slightly cynical, fashion. No bootstrap paradoxes here. In fact, no paradoxes at all.
Scarecrow is a new anthology of speculative fiction about to be published by World Weaver Press and it includes my short story Truth About Crows. That cover art is fantastic!
Truth About Crows is a standalone story with a very subtle link into the same universe as my Canton Station series of novels. If you like low-fi sci-fi and an independent young female protagonist with a knack for fixing tech then you might enjoy Truth About Crows.
Scarecrow is due for publication on the 4th of August, edited by the wonderful Rhonda Parrish.
Competition time! And not just one competition . . . but two!
In a few week’s time my short story Truth About Crows will be published with the Scarecrow anthology from World Weaver Press. Scarecrow is one of two related anthologies; the other is called Corvidae and it’s due out in just a couple of weeks.
The covert art for Corvidae — as you can see on the left — is absolutely gorgeous! I can’t wait to see Scarecrow!
You can pre-order copies of Corvidae right now direct from the World Weaver Press website or it will be appearing on the 7th July in all the usual places: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and so on.
It is time, once again, for me to don my editor’s hat! Over the next few months I’ll be teaming up with fellow writers Graeme Shimmin and Eric Steele to produce the Revolutions anthology, a collection of Manchester-themed speculative fiction short stories due for publication later this year. Submissions are open right now through to the 1st May (that’s this year, 2015, for you time travellers).
We are a paying market and we are looking for speculative short fiction — that’s science fiction, fantasy, horror, dystopian fiction, slipstream and so on — with a link to the Greater Manchester area. That’s a pretty wide remit. Feel free to mix it up. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the more interesting interpretations.
This year’s Worldcon — the appropriately named LonCon3 — was held in London over the weekend, so I popped along on Saturday to have a look.
WorldCon is a science fiction convention that’s held every year in a different city, different country, and has done so since 1939. Worldcon also hosts the Hugo Awards.
The convention was huge! Multiple discussion panels, a Fan Village with gaming tents and its very own library, an Exhibits Hall with tons of loot for sale. Slightly daunting at first and so much to do that I barely scraped the surface. Continue reading “LonCon3”
Very happy to announce that my short story Glass Fifty-Three has been published with the Happily Never After anthology from Fey Publishing. It’s available on Smashwords as well as Kindle from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. It’s also sitting pretty over at Goodreads.
Glass Fifty-Three is a standalone story set in a dystopian future and based around the reworking of a rather well-known fairy tale. There’s a gun, a flying car and a talking hoover. Fellow students and lecturers from the 2010-2013 Creative Writing MA might recognise this story from one of the workshops.
So check out the anthology and let me know what you think. Here’s the blurb . . .
I’m pleased to announce the publication of my short story Spindle Pickers with British SF magazine Jupiter. This is Jupiter’s 43rd issue titled ‘Arche’. Each issue is named after a Jovian satellite: Io for issue #1, Europa for #2 and so on.
Jupiter is edited by Ian Redman. This issue also features stories from John Davies, Adam C. Richardson, Carmelo Rafala and Neil Clift. Cover art by David Conyers.
You can buy paper copies from the Jupiter website. It’s also available on Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon in the US.
Thanks again to Pat, Eric, Graeme and Luke from the Manchester Speculative Fiction writers’ group. This story was critiqued during our January meeting last year.
Today is not only the shortest day of the year but it’s also National Short Story Day. I was recently asked to recommend two science fiction short stories, one classic and another modern, to appear on the National Short Story website. Click on the link if you’d like to hear what I had to say about Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick and The Calorie Man by Paolo Bacigalupi.
This was a difficult decision to make. My tastes vary from month to month depending on what I’m reading / writing / playing at the time. Ask me next year and I’ll probably give you a completely different answer!
Continue reading “SF Short Stories for National Short Story Day”
I’m very pleased to announce that my short story Silver Sixpence has been published in the Daily Science Fiction anthology Rocket Dragons Ignite: DSF Year 2. This anthology is a huge read at 870 pages with over 260 stories and 425,000 words — that’s the size of four typical novels in a single volume!
Silver Sixpence is what I would call mundane science fiction, a sub-genre which focuses on a believable use of science and technology as available at the time of writing. That means no faster-than-light travel, no aliens, quite possibly no lasers or robots, although that’s a changing arena right now.
Craig Pay 