Correction - This is the Final Publication of the Year!

 My flash fiction story Cat Burglar is out now in Argentina-based blog Sinergia, topping off the year at fifteen publications.

This is the first translation for this story and my sixteenth story in Spanish.

Final Publication of the Year, Probably

 The reprint of my steampunk novelette The Journey Within appears now in the anthology Dickensian Steamfantasy, from Rogue Planet Press, making a total of fourteen publications this year.

This story was first published in the anthology Ancient New and has also been published in German.

Camels and Mole Rats in Russia

 I'm very excited to have stories accepted in a Russian magazine for the first time! Both Englebert and The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rat will appear in the Aelita section of Ural Pathways magazine early next year.

Frozen in Argentina

The Spanish translation of my flash fiction story Frozen now appears in Argentina-based ezine Sinergia.  It's edited by Sergio Gaut vel Hartman, who published several of my stories in Spanish a number of years ago. In fact, as a lesson in patience to my fellow authors, Sergio had actually accepted this story for one of his previous ezines before it went on hiatus. It has now finally been published fifteen years after being accepted.

This is the first translation of this story. It has been published in English, and was the first story I converted into comic strip script, which was then illustrated and published in Murky Depths magazine.

It's my fifteenth story published in Spanish.

A Response in Hindi

The Hindi translation of my story 'In Response to Your Reader' which appears now in Vigyaan Sampreshan (Science Communication) magazine is my second story in Hindi, and the fifth language for this story, following on from English, Greek, Dutch and Romanian. 

 It is also my 200th publication!

A Response in Dutch

The Dutch translation of my short story In Response to Your Reader appears in issue #283 of SF Terra magazine.

This is my second story in Dutch, and the fourth language and fifth appearance for this story.  

A Response in Romanian

 The Romanian translation of my epistolic story In Response to Your Reader is now out in issue #6 of ArtZone SF magazine.

This is the third language and fourth appearance for this story, my second story in ArtZone SF and my seventh in Romanian.

Dickensian Steamfantasy Anthology

 The people behind last year's Shakespearian speculative fiction anthology are back this year with a Dickensian anthology: Dickensian Steamfantasy - A Very Unexpected 1800.

A reprint of my novelette The Journey within has been accepted for the anthology which could be out by the end of the year. 

Slovenian Megafauna

 It's been a busy week for translations! The third of my Yorick stories, Aurochs, Cave Bears and Other Charismatic Megafauna, has been accepted by Slovenian magazine Supernova, to be published next spring. 

Return of the Welsh Gondolier

Issue #7 of bilingual speculative fiction magazine Gwyllion is out this month, and it includes both the English and Welsh versions of my very short story The Gondolier. 

This is my third story in Gwyllion, my fifth appearance in Welsh and the 21st language that The Gondolier has been published in.

Hindi Response

 I'm very pleased that my story In Response to Your Reader, first published in scientific journal Nature, will now also be published in Hindi in scientific journal Vigyan Sampreshan. This follows on from the Greek translation, the English reprint and an expected Romanian translation. It will be my second story published in Hindi.

The Gondolier Remix - Shakespeare Edition

The second author I decided to attempt to emulate with a remixed version of The Gondolier is none other than Shakespeare.

The black prow of my gondola so swift,

Cut smoothly through the waters o so calm,

Upon canals the craft gives me a lift

It’s many years of service like a charm.

 

For many passengers along the way

Through city’s waters I have been a guide

For generations of the service pay

To ancient kin of mine who have now died.

The sun sank down upon the city old,

And turned the water to a lane of ink

Of ribbon lain between the bricks of gold

Of sandstone buildings warm and gold and pink

 

I breathed in deeply of the evening breeze,
No city stands that is more beautiful

This wondrous city of canals doth please

So never is a day within it dull

 

As the boat into its mooring eased

I stopped to gaze with satisfied huzzahs

Another day in which I was so pleased

To be beneath the darking skies of Mars.

Greek Mole Rats

 I'm very pleased that my short story The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rat has been accepted by Greek magazine Ef-Zin, to be published next year. This will be the sixth language for this story.

Spanish Anthology Award

The anthology Cuentos para Algernon: Ano X, which includes the Spanish translation of my story Five Ways to Accidentally Save the Earth from Alien Conquest' has won the Ignotus award for Best Anthology.

The Ignotus awards are the premier Spanish speculative fiction awards. Along with the other 12 authors and the editor, this means I can happily claim one fourteenth of the award.

Escapades in Romania

The Romanian translation of my dialogue-only story Escapades in Time is out now in issue #39 of Galaxia42 magazine.

This is the fifth language for this story, after English, Galician, Spanish and Catalan, my third story in Galaxia42 and my sixth in Romanian altogether.

A Response in Greek

The Greek translation of my story In Response to Your Reader is out today in issue #43 of Ef-Zin magazine.

This is the second language and third appearance for this story, my fifth story in Ef-Zin magazine and my eighth story in Greek.

The Gondolier Remix - Wodehouse Edition

My very short story The Gondolier has been translated into 56 languages so far, but I wondered what it would look like in English had it been written by somebody else. There are a few authors I like who sprung to mind that I could try to emulate. Here's the first of the remixed versions of The Gondolier.

The Gondolier Remix – Wodehouse Edition

 

The black prow of my gondola, if prow is what I mean – I’ve never got the hang of port and starboard, prow and whatnot - cut smoothly through the calm waters of the canals. The sleek craft had served me well for many a year, carried hordes of chums through the city’s waterways under the guiding hands of generations of my forebears. Or rather, my forebears’ valets.

The sun was preparing to say toodle-pip as it sank over the ancient city, turning the water to an inky ribbon lain between rather spiffing sandstone buildings. I took a good lungful of the cool evening breeze.

If anyone were to ask me, I should say there’s no place more beautiful than this wondrous city of canals. As Jeeves eased the boat into its mooring I stopped to gaze with satisfaction up into the darkening skies of jolly old Mars.

Letter to the Editor

I recently discovered The Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Weird Fiction Magazine Index, which has an entry for my publications.

Amazingly, it includes the long-forgotten fact that I had a letter to the editor published in issue #97 of Interzone magazine, back in July 1995 - my earliest appearance in print!

Slovakian Fantazia Award

I'm honoured to have been invited to serve on the jury for this year's Fantazia award, the Slovakian speculative fiction awards. I don't speak Slovak, but I'll be helping judge the 'Best story translated into English' category.

The Man from Chateaulin

 The annual summer holiday collaborative story writing projects with Alex and Haydn has produced such anarchic stories as A Detective Inspector, a Week-Old Haddock and the Means to Destroy Paris and The Good Ship Munders.

The earliest of these collaborations, and probably the most bonkers, was The Man from Chateaulin, written while on holiday near Chateaulin in France. I decided to give Wattpad a go and I've published it as a serial there. If you like Inspector Clouseau, this might be for you.

You can read it here. 

In Response to a Reprint

My short story In Response to Your Reader, which was published last year in Nature magazine's Futures feature, gets a second outing today as one of three stories chosen as the Best of Futures for the Concatenation website.

Haggis, Rhino, and Other Unexpected Wildlife

The second of my Yorick stories is out today as a podcast from Tall Tale TV. It has previously been published in Hungarian and Slovenian.

Haggis, Rhino, and Other Unexpected Wildlife follows on from  Squirrels, Foxes and Other Fine Specimens that was podcast by Escape Pod.

Escapades in Catalonia

The Catalan translation of my short story Escapades in Time is now out in issue #32 of Catarsi magazine. I was last in this magazine in issue #1 back in 2009. 

 This is the fourth language for this dialogue-only story.

The Hungarian Afternoon of Sir Rupert Moncrief

Issue 398 of Hungarian magazine Galaktika is out, including the translation of my time travel story The Long Afternoon of Sir Rupert Moncrief. 

This is the first translation of this story, and my tenth appearance in Galaktika.

Moncrief first appeared as a podcast from Gallery of Curiosities, and was shortlisted for a Parsec award. It was later printed in the anthology The Chorochronos Archives.

Romanian Response

 I'm rather pleased that my short story In Response to Your Reader will be published in Romanian fanzine ArtZone SF in the autumn. The story fist appeared in Nature magazine, and will also be published in Greek this summer.

This will be my second story in ArtZone SF and my sixth in Romanian.

The Sound of Cosmic Crime

 The March 2023 edition of Cosmic Crime stories is out, and includes a reprint of m alien murder mystery story The Sound of Death.

Book Review: Flux by Jinwoo Chong

There’s a fascinating juxtaposition of high-tech thriller and noir detective tale in Jinwoo Chong’s debut novel Flux. Three strands of the tale are woven together with references to the hard-boiled 80s detective show Raider, whose iconic storylines are seemingly reflected in the events of the novel’s protagonists Bo, Brandon and Blue.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

This is my 324th review, and my last for the foreseeable future. Suffering from reviewing fatigue, I've decided to take a break.

Book Review: A Candle for Malka by Louise Carey

I enjoyed Louise Carey’s debut solo novel Inscape a year or two back, a sparkling mix of cyberpunk, espionage and post-apocalyptic social stratification. This new novella, A Candle for Malka is more of a hard-SF, near-space corporate saga which I imagined from reading the blurb was going to have an Alien vibe. I was intrigued to see whether the brightness and freshness of Inscape would be reflected in this book.

Read the rest of my review in ParSec issue #6.

Greek Response

 My short story In Response to Your Reader, first published last year in Nature magazine, has been accepted by Greek magazine Ef-Zin, to be published later this year. This will be the first language other than English for this story. I shall now send it off to some other international markets...

In Response to a Request

Long-running fanzine Concatenation has an arrangement with Nature magazine to reprint their favourite three stories of the year on their website. I'm rather thrilled to have been asked if my story In Response to Your Reader can be among them. It will be appearing there some time later this year.

Book Review: Karma of the Sun by Brandon Ying Kit Boey

When nuclear war destroys most of the planet, the Tibetan plateau is spared, sheltered by surrounding mountain ranges. A century later, it has become a place of superstition and legend, of bandits and warlords and, still eking out a living, poor villagers living their traditional lives.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.