Posts Tagged ‘short fiction’

FREE FICTION: “Hell Rode With Her”

“Hell Rode With Her,” an original novelette excised from the manuscript of The Midnight Front, details events that befall Russian-born sorceress (aka “karcist”) Anja Kernova after she deserts from the Red Army in late 1943.

This was in fact the first part of the Dark Arts series that I wrote, and Anja’s confrontation with her countrymen during the Great Patriotic War sets the stage for the series’ second book, The Iron Codex, in which Anja is the chief target of an international magickal arms race in 1954.

The good folks at Tor Dot Com are hosting the publication of this story, which first appeared in the anthology Apollo’s Daughters. Please head over to Tor Dot Com, enjoy the story, and leave a comment so that the good folks at Tor will know people are actually reading it.

The Iron Codex will be published on January 15, 2019, and is available now for pre-order in both trade paperback and eBook formats.

#SFWApro

2113, the RUSH anthology, is here at last!

Good news! 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush shipped early on April 1 (no, it wasn’t a joke).

2113 Stories Inspired By The Music of Rush

I know, I should have posted about this sooner. This anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson and John McFetridge contains my second professionally published work of original short fiction, a trippy little SF short story titled “Our Possible Pasts.”

About My Story

Here’s a brief description of my story (inspired by the song “Show Don’t Tell”):

An assistant U.S. attorney must prosecute for murder and fraud a woman who claims to have invented a machine that enables people to send their consciousness and memories back in time to their younger selves, but kills their bodies in the present.

About the Anthology

I’m only a bit more than halfway through this densely packed tome. It contains 18 tales in a variety of styles and genres by an all-star lineup of bestselling and award-winning authors. It’s always an honor and a pleasure to be on a table of contents alongside fellow New York Times bestselling author and my frequent literary partner-in-crime Dayton Ward. His gripping tale “Day to Day” immediately precedes mine in the book.

So far I know “The Burning Times V2.0” by Brian Hodge (inspired by “Witch Hunt”) will be one of my favorites from this volume. My story and John McFetridge’s “Random Access Memory” (inspired by “Lakeside Park”) could almost be set in the same fictional universe. I was also fascinated by the visuals evoked by Greg Van Eekhout’s “On the Fringes of the Fractal” (inspired by “Subdivisions”) and I dug the modern-day noir of David Farland’s “Players” (inspired by “Tom Sawyer”).

I for one am definitely looking forward to reading Kevin J. Anderson’s titular novella, “2113,” which closes out the book.

Get Your Free eBook of 2113

If you buy a print copy of the book from any retailer, keep your receipt! The publisher, ECW Press, will give you a free eBook version of 2113: Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush (in PDF or ePub format) just for e-mailing them with your receipt info and asking nicely. Look inside the back cover for details.

Bottom line: If you’re a fan of any of the authors in this anthology, or a fan of the Canadian rock trio RUSH, or know someone who is, pick up a copy of this book today!

A novelette for your consideration… (#SFWApro)

To my peers in SFWA and the greater SF/F community, I would just like to let you know that while I had two awards-eligible works published in 2015, a novel and novelette, it is only the latter that I wish to bring to your attention.

The novelette is entitled “Hell Rode With Her.” It was published in January of 2015 by the small press Silence in the Library Publishing, as the second story in the Kickstarter-funded anthology Apollo’s Daughters.

Apollo’s Daughters is an anthology of speculative short fiction featuring strong female main characters, written by male authors. It is a companion volume to the Athena’s Daughters anthology, which contained tales of strong female characters written by female authors.

My novelette was written as a prelude to my upcoming Dark Arts trilogy, coming in 2017 from Tor Books. I plan to include a slightly edited and modified version of the novelette within the text of the trilogy’s first novel, The Midnight Front.

I am rather proud of the way this story turned out, and I would be keen to share it in PDF format with eligible SFWA and Hugo voters.

If you are a registered attending or supporting member of Worldcon in 2016, and/or an active member of SFWA, and would like to receive a copy of the free PDF of “Hell Rode With Her,” please contact me via my website’s Contact page. If I don’t already know you, please be prepared to send me proof of your membership status vis-a-vis Worldcon and/or SFWA.

If, after reading it, you feel it worthy of being recommended to SFWA’s Suggested Reading List, or of your nomination for the Nebula or Hugo in their respective novelette categories, I would be honored and grateful.

#SFWApro