A Droid by Any Other Name

 My short story Romeo and the Robots is out now at Nature.com, along with my brief 'story behind the story' article. It's my fifth story in Nature, and my second story published in a week!

Living on the Edge of Darkness

The Spring 2025 edition of Dragon Gems is now out, including my short story Living on the Edge of Darkness. This story was partly inspired by a short story by Jason Sanford that I read in Interzone years ago, and also partly by an episode of the remake of The Prisoner.

The Camel Goes to India

In belated news, I heard today that the Hindi translation of my short story Englebert was published in the December 2024 issue of popular science magazine Vigyan Sampreshan.

It's the 9th language for this story, my second story in this magazine and my third in Hindi.

The Second Week of Quarantine

 I've sold my short story The Second Week of Quarantine to Black Cat Weekly, an online mixed-genre magazine that published new and classic stories. Not sure of the publication date yet, but soon I guess...

Romeo and the Robots

I'm very pleased to announce that I've sold my short story Romeo and the Robots to Nature magazine, my fifth sale to that august publication. I don't have a publication date yet, but presumably some time this year. 

This is my third Shakespearian science fiction story.

Galaxy's Game, Part 2

Part two of my serialised novel Galaxy's Game is now out at Aphelion. A Line of Dominoes continues the story of interplanetary businessman Brett Hawks and his flying jellyfish-like companion Nirf as they travel from planet to plant in a chaotic series of misadventures.

Romanian Haggis

The Romanian translation of my story Haggis, Rhino and Other Unexpected Wildlife is out in the new issue of Galaxia 42 magazine. 

 This is the fourth language for this story, my fifth story in this magazine, and my ninth story in Romanian altogether.

Races of Galaxy's Game

 

Antovian

Home Planet: Anto

Around 1.5m tall humanoids with reddish brown wrinkled skin that makes them appear ancient and wise. 

Blumen

Home Planet: Bluz

Blue skinned humanoids.

Coraylian

Home Planet: Coray IV

Blue humanoid race with 4 legs, giving them a very steady stance, 4 arms and a triangular head.

Glossy

Home Planet: Unknown

Tall, thin humanoids with glossy, red skin.

Human

Home Planet: Earth

Hopefully you know what they look like.

Kropask

Home Planet: Antorashus

2.5m tall humanoids with green-black fur. Generally known to be confrontational.

Parralli

Home Planet: Parall X

3m tall, luminous pink humanoids. Generally muscular and wide, with a pair of horns on their head.

Tsimskan

Home Planet: Tsimk

Resemble a flying jellyfish, approximately 1m across, generally in shades of purple, lilac and the like.

Zurspo 

Home planet: Zrsectirapar

Around 1.5m tall reptilian humanoids with golden scales.

Galaxy's Game: Table of Contents

Part I: Launching the Pinball

1.1 Arrival

1.2 Capture

1.3 Amazed

1.4 Company

1.5 Revolution

Part II: A Line of Dominoes

2.1 Interruption

2.2 Red Tape 

2.3 Déjà vu 

2.4 Trouble on Coray IV 

2.5 Stowaway Escape 

2.6 Brief Encounter 

2.7 Delay on the Way

Galaxy's Game Arrives!

The February 2025 issue of Aphelion magazine is out today, a webzine that is now in it's 28th year and has published several of my stories in the past. This issue includes Part I of my novel Galaxy's Game, and also the first Galaxy's Game side story, entitled The Last Noodle.

Galaxy's Game Side Stories

Between myself, Alex and Haydn, we've written several Galaxy's Game side stories. These are flash fiction length stories about side characters in the novel, either about what they were doing just before they turned up in the story, or what they did afterwards.

The first of these, The Last Noodle, has been accepted by Aphelion magazine. Hopefully the others will be too.

Greek Observations

My first publication of the year is here! The Greek translation of my short story Observers appears in issue #46 of Ef-Zin magazine, the 4th language for this story. 

It's my 7th appearance in this magazine, and my 10th story in Greek altogether.

Slovenian Canines

 A day after my 2nd Yorick story was accepted by a Romanian magazine, my 4th Yorick story has been accepted by Supernova magazine to be published in Slovenian. No confirmed date yet, but some time later this year I guess. 

Romanian Haggis

 My second Yorick story, Haggis, Rhino and Other Unexpected Wildlife will be appearing in Romanian in the February issue of Galaxia 42 magazine, several years after the Romanian translation of the first Yorick story. Hopefully the rest of the series will follow on too. 

This will be my 5th story in Galaxia 42 and my 9th in Romanian altogether.