Pimping my wares

In keeping with the recent theme (in my garret anyway) of short(ish) stories rather than novels, I thought I’d mention the excellent variation on a POD that is AnthologyBuilder. The site is great for writers, as it lets them keep previously published short stories ‘alive’, and great for readers, as they can create bespoke anthologies of otherwise hard-to-get works from their favourite authors. As I’ve recently added some new stories to the site, I thought I’d list them here, in case anyone was interested. Other authors – many other authors – are of course available.

‘The Path to the Sun’ – my first professional sale, and a story I still have a soft spot for, this is alt. history inspired by my interest in pre-Columbian American culture. It’s also quite steampunk, though that was almost an accident

‘Paying for Rain’ – another pre-Columbian inspired story, though it’s set in the here and now and is not, strictly, SF at all (in the same way that Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon is not SF – not that I can in any way compare).

‘The Chatterslee Circle’ – my one and (so far) only stab at humour, done for a bet. It’s contemporary weird, and I had a lot of fun playing with Fortean phenomena

‘High Ground’ – definitely not funny allegorical SF inspired by the Summer War in Israel a few years back: I asked myself what it would feel like to be a soldier whose capture sparked a war, and this was the somewhat dark result

‘Fear Not Heaven’s Fire’ – dubbed ‘the naughty nun story’ by my crit group; this time I was exploiting my (scanty) knowledge of early medieval history. This isn’t a story for devout Christians.

‘Death on Elsewhere Street’ – unlike the above, this one is set in the Hidden Empire universe, specifically in Khesh City. It’s the second of what I pretentiously refer to as ‘the downside girls triptych’. The first one, ‘Collateral Damage’ is still in print in Ian Whates’ Subterfuge anthology.

‘Angel Dust’ – this is the third of the three, and also the longest story I’ve had published so far. Like the other two it features characters who turn up in Principles of Angels as seen from the perspective of characters who don’t.

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