Publishers Weekly

It's not a full review per se, but the reviewer at Publishers Weekly called Chromatophoric Histories of the Sepiidae a standout story of Tesseracts 18: http://reviews.publishersweekly.com/978-1-77053-068-3#path/978-1-77053-068-3 

SpaceBox

One of my new projects this year will be an ongoing webcomic I'm calling SpaceBox.
It will detail thrilling adventures through time and space coupled with the claustrophobic frustration of being confined in a propulsion-less escape pod that's not much larger than a phone booth (and not bigger on the inside.) Enjoy!

Wrestling With Gods - Tesseracts Eighteen



The Kindle-exclusive version of Wrestling with Gods - Tesseracts 18  is out now, just in time for Christmas shopping (and print versions should be out by Easter.)


My story in the anthology, Chromatophoric Histories of the Sepiidae, is in there somewhere (about three quarters of the way through if I have the right information.)


I'm looking forward to reading all the other contributions tand am pleased to have contributed a few pixels to the picture Jerome and Liana have put together.

Tesseracts 18

I'm pleased to announce that my short story, "Chromatophoric Histories of the Sepiidae" will be a part of the Tesseracts 18: Wrestling With Gods anthology by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.

The Tesseracts anthology has featured some fantastic writers and stories over the years and I'm looking forward to seeing how my odd, little post-human story fits into this year's collection. Thanks to editors Liana K and Jerome Stueart for giving this story a home...and what looks to be some amazing (and even more interesting) neighbours.

Mazes and the Futility of a Controlled Life: "Thirteen Generations" Reviewed

I am humbled at being read at all  and just about speechless on the handful of occasions when people have publicly shared their thoughts on things I've written. I've realized (probably a bit later than most people) that being a reader is really is a type of co-conspirator to text. To describe it in the loose-analogy of film-making: If a writer is providing a script then the reader must provide the rest of the production to create the particular experience in their mind: Actors, sets, camera-angles, CGI effects and other post-production, etc. It is the most flattering thing to be read and yet, one can never take too much credit for someone else's good experience in reading as they've obviously brought something special to the transaction themselves.

Derek Newman-Stille's pensive and insightful review of "Thirteen Generations" at Speculating Canada has me in such place. His piece "Mazes and the Futility of a Controlled Life" leads me to thinking about aspects of the story in ways I hadn't fully considered. I think he may understand this story better than me.

"Thirteen Generations" is up at AE: Science Fiction Review.

AE Micro 2013 - Elements

I've loved the whole concept of the AE Micro anthologies since coming across them at the Friday night party of SF Contario 2: A collection of five very short stories (all less than 200 words) printed in a tiny point-size onto a sheet of 8.5 x 11 that could be cut and folded into a tiny booklet.

So, I was more than delighted when I found out the other week that my story "Dig for Fire" was to be included in AE Micro 2013 - Elements. The theme was open to interpretation: classic elements, periodic table, fundamental particles or the more general idea of things being reduced to more abstract essences. For my story, I chose the made-up element of phlogiston. Hardly my own creation, phlogiston theory was all the rage for explaining heat in the 17th century, prior to the discovery of kinetic-molecular theory. Phlogiston itself was allegedly a flammable substance that was otherwise undetectable essence inside things. When it was released it transformed into heat and fire. This attempted to explain why phlogiston-rich substances like wood and coal would weigh significantly less after burning, having just lost their reserve of phlogiston. It's all very quaint in light of current knowledge, but the question rose: What if this were actually true? How might the pursuit of energy (particularly on the scale of a country or empire) change as a result of this...especially if certain astronomical theories of the time also held?

It's a similar approach to an idea I first encountered in the too-obscure Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle. His conceit was to take Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic astronomy and write a novel within those constraints.

Suddenly, I had pages upon pages of notes about alternate histories, scientific theories and Austro-Hungarian navy vessel names. There was more information that would fit into a 2000 word story that was heavy on exposition, much less fit comfortably in a 200 word piece.

So, there was "process" and after leaving behind many darlings--like descriptions of calculating the epicycles on epicycles of the different spheres' rotations and the physical conditions on the island-like sunspot--the story was hewed to be within limits and submitted with a few minutes to spare.

And so it's here and readable in less time that it takes to listen to its namesake Pixies song.