September continues to treat me kindly. The wonderful Chris Herron at Tall tale TV has adapted a third short story of mine into a podcast audio. This time it’s the cosmic sci-fi story Vox Nihili, Vox Dei, and you can listen to it for free here.
I love Chris’s tag line for the story: “Gideon has the power to do anything. But can even he catch God?” I also think of it as “Gods behaving badly.” Once you listen to or read the story, you’ll understand why. Expect aliens, parallel worlds, the search for the divine, and a supervillain “god” going completely off the rails. (Also, isn’t that art really great? Love the picture.)
If you would like to learn more about this story, it has a dedicated page here, with its inspiration and a run-down of all its Easter eggs.
Lots of news this month. First, I am very happy to share that I have a new science fiction short story released. The Book of Utopias is part of the excellent anthology Fathoms in the Earth from the always-astonishing Air and Nothingness Press. The book is available for purchase here, and I hope you will consider buying a copy.
In this story set in the far future, the abhorred and much-put-upon Cal must catalog an infinite series of utopias before the end of her own world catches up with her.
This collection features 24 short stories inspired by Wiiliam Shakespeare’s The Tempest by way of the film, Prospero’s Books. Here is the publisher’s description:
The Tempest entered the consciousness of Western Civilization with themes of magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. It is a singular work ripe for reinterpretation with archetypal characters of: the scientist/the mage – Prospero the apprentice/the familiar – Ariel the maid/the innocent – Miranda the hero/the fool – Ferdinand and the monster/the primitive – Caliban.
This collection of 24 stories, with titles taken from the film Prospero’s Books by Peter Greenaway, explores these five fundamental characters and their interactions, placing them in new contexts, and inventing new narratives for their relationships.
You can read more about this story and this anthology here.
More Good News
That’s not all. I’ve just heard that the publisher Nomadic Delirium Press has accepted a collection of my short stories! This book will be called We Are Not All Right and will feature 10 of my short science fiction stories. Nine of them are previously published, while one – The Sepulcher of Staxis Prime – will be printed here for the first time. We are aiming for a release date near the end of this year.
To say I am over the Moon is an understatement. I am very excited to have my first short story collection published, and we are working hard to make it as good as possible.
As always, thank you reading my writing-related updates. I really appreciate it.
July was a month that saw many upsetting and strange things occur in the world. On a personal note, a tornado came close to my house and I wasn’t sure if I was going to lose my job. Fortunately, everything worked out on those fronts (my house is still standing and I am still employed), and the month is ending with more good news: JayHenge Publishing have released a new short story of mine in their anthology, The Kafka Protocol & the Burden of Compliance. The collection is edited by the always-wonderful Jessica Augustsson.
My particular sci-fi tale is called Everything You Say. This short story follows a writer on the day his first novel is released. His happiness is soon ruined by a violent arrest and the discovery that he is being charged with incitement to murder. It seems an AI has taken his writing too literally and he is on the hook for the consequences…
You can buy the book from Amazon here. I hope you will give it a try as JayHenge’s books are great.
Wonderful Review for “Insignificant”
More recent good news: the science fiction review website SF Crowsnest published a glowing review of my debut novel, Insignificant (which you can buy here). Reviewer (and author) Eamonn Murphy had this to say about my novel:
Insignificant’ is a solid story based on sound science, with a great cast and a possible doomsday scenario to make you worry. Even so, the novel isn’t preachy. It just lays out the facts in a fast-moving narrative that will keep you turning the pages. The writing is smooth as glass because, although this is his first novel, Morgan has been producing quality short stories for a long time and knows his craft. A lot of invention, thought, and hard work have gone into this, and it deserves a wide readership. Recommended.
You can read his full review for free on SF Crowsnest here. Those of you who know sci-fi will know Eamonn’s name, since he is quite the writer himself. Garnering this level of praise from someone like Eamonn is just terrific. I hardly know what to say!
“Stolen History” Accepted for New Librarian Anthology from Air and Nothingness Press
And… even more good news for the month-end. My short science fiction story Stolen History has been accepted by the very talented Todd Sanders at Air and Nothingness Press for the upcoming collection, Inter Librarian Loan, a collection of stories that retells earlier installments in the adventures of the continuum-hopping hero, the Librarian. This book is expected out in November (it may be separated into two volumes).
I think that’s most of the news for right now. I hope you are all well, and – if you live in the USA – that you have checked you are registered to vote.
Hi everyone! Hope you are all well and enjoying the first stirrings of summer. I’m happy to share that my first novel, Insignificant, has been published this month by Nomadic Delirium Press. It is available for purchase here, both as an ebook and as a paperback. Oh, I should probbaly also boast that I painted the cover. 🙂
Here is a short taste of what it’s about:
It’s almost Christmas, 2127. Too bad the Earth is dying. The United States is an authoritarian regime controlled by the Patriot Party. It decides what the truth is, and it doesn’t want anyone to know how bad the environment is getting. The fascist dictatorship saved the world years ago with Project Erebos, an immense Solar Parasol that blocks sunlight. They can’t admit it failed. They can’t confess their solutions don’t work. One man has worked it out: the billionaire environmentalist, Thiago Castillo. He has spent years struggling to save the world. That mission has failed. Now he’s turned his massive yacht into an air-tight ark that a few hundred men, women, and children hope to live out the end of the world on. But the CIA has plans of its own. Paranoid, blind to reality, they’re convinced Castillo is planning a terrorist attack, so they’ve sent one of their best case officers to uncover his secret plan. What will happen when that agent discovers the truth…? Can she admit she’s been wrong her whole life? Because she must; there’s an ark full of innocents depending on her. Her mission now is to keep them alive through the apocalypse and, most of all, see them through to one final Christmas. It’s going to take every ounce of ingenuity and grit she has to steer them through a world gone mad, and there is no guarantee of a happy ending.
Partly a warning about environmental catastrophe, partly a warning about the easy slide toward fascism (and how it can happen anywhere), and partly a farce, Insignificant combines action, the joys of Christmas, and dark humor to produce a story you won’t soon forget. (And for you romantic types, there’s a light seasoning of love story too.)
If you are interested in learning more about Insignificant, and hearing all about my novel’s long road to completion and publication, please click here. With any luck, this won’t be my last novel!
“Divided We Stand” Reprinted in Sci-Fi Lampoon
This month also sees some news on the short story front, that being the long-awaited latest issue of Sci-Fi Lampoon, the magazine of comedy science fiction. Its Spring 2024 issue includes a reprint of my short story Divided We Stand, a tale of an accidental robot revolution and AI inheriting the worst aspects of human nature. If you would like a copy of this issue, it is available here.
There’s plenty more to announce about other short stories coming soon, but I’ll save that for another time.
It’s not even the end of February yet and my sixth short story of the year is already out: this time it’s the turn of We Shall Abide in JayHenge Press’s latest anthology, AI, Robot. This story is a short science fiction tale of retirement homes and the AI afterlife. You can purchase the book here, and you can learn more about my story here.
As you can see from the publicity materials provided by JayHenge, this book includes some names familiar to sci-fi short fiction fans in the twenty-first century. So, it’s a no-brainer that editor Jessica Augustsson has knocked it out of the park again.
As a bit of a round up of the year so far, here are my other recent published stories:
It wasn’t intentional that I have two stories out in the same month with “Abide” in the title, honest. But it’s funny how these things work out. By the way, I hope you click the links for “Please Hold” and “In the Shadows of the Stromatolites…,” because those stories are available for free.
At this point, I’m not sure what story will be released next. I am expecting a podcast from Gallery of Curiosities out sometime this year, but I’m not sure exactly when. Other acceptances have longer wait times on them, so it could be a while before I have another announcement of a story being published… you can never tell when it comes to publishing.
As always, I’ll let you know as I know anything. Hopefully, within a year or two I can start claiming that I have a 100 published stories. That would be nice. I mean, it wouldn’t mean anything, but it would be a fun number to throw around. (Yes, I am easily pleased.)
In the meantime, I’ll be busy trying not to worry about war in Europe, war in the Middle East, climate change, our ongoing mass extinction event, and the ever-present threats to democracy in the US. Maybe I’ll even get some writing done.
February continues to see more of my short stories released. This time it’s the turn of my short fantasy tale First Witch on Mars in Pulse Publishing’s collection 99 Fleeting Fantasies, edited by Jennifer Brozek. The book can be purchased from Amazon here. I hope you give it a look – it seems to be selling well, and contains stories by many well-known writers.
This particular story is the tenth in my Age of Asmodeus series. In this latest one, we see magic being applied to space exploration, with NASA exploiting a type of sorcery to reach Mars. The only problem is… Mars sees them coming. As always, you can read more about the story on its dedicated page here (and there are links to the others in its series).
Coming Soon
In the next few weeks, expect to see an anthology called AI, Robot from JayHenge Press. This will include my story We Shall Abide. I’m excited to share this story of artificial intelligences and their views of the afterlife with you. JayHenge do a terrific job with their anthologies.
After that, there could be something of a gap… although there is a podcast in the works I am not sure when to expect that one. As always, these things come as a surprise to me – but I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s out.
This month sees a second short story of mine released, and you can read it for free! In the Shadows of the Stromatolites, Kindness Abides is a science fiction tale that takes in the entire history of life on Earth, from the earliest bacterial colonies (the stromatolites of the title), to dinosaurs, up to the height of human civilization, then through our extinction, and finally up to the rise of the next intelligent species – who are descended from squirrels! You can read it here in Issue 28 of the online magazine 4 Star Stories.
Note: There is a link at the beginning of the story that should take you to an explanation of the squirrel people’s calendar – the link on the webpage seems broken. The editor advised me to give out this link, so that is what I’ll do. The linked note I’ve provided also then takes you back to the story when you’re ready.
I enjoyed writing the story and I’m glad people have the opportunity to read it now. With any luck, it will raise a smile.
Guest Artist Spot
The magazine has also done a feature on my art on their Guest Artist page, which was nice of them. In return, I painted a piece of digital art for them, which is the first one shown in the feature. I hope you enjoy it! There is a range of art included, from sci-fi pieces to Doctor Who illustrations from various unofficial publications. Click the link to go straight to the Guest Artist page.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day tomorrow!
Another month and a few more updates on the writing front. Let’s start with a story released into the wild today. Please Hold is a tale of mobster hits gone wrong (with a sci-fi twist and a few jokes along the way). It is released as an excellent podcast on the Tall Tale TV site and is narrated by the talented Chris Herron. You can listen to it free here.
99 Fleeting Fantasies Out Soon
Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I sold a short fantasy story called First Witch on Mars to the anthology 99 Fleeting Fantasies. The book is now almost ready to buy from Pulse Publishing. The publishers have set a release date of February 15th for both paperback and ebook, and you can pre-order the ebook version now here.
First Witch on Mars is an oddball tale of magic and Mars exploration and is part of my Age of Asmodeus series.
“This Far and No Further” Sold to New Science Fiction Anthology
This month also saw JayHenge accept my novelette This Far and No Further for their anthology The Apparatus Almanac: Gizmology & Technomancy. Depending on publishing schedules, this book will probably be released in 2025. My story features the parallel-reality-spanning civilization of the Pax, last seen in Ghost Dimension, as they encounter their worst nightmare. I am thrilled to be part of this book; it looks to be another wonderful collection in JayHenge’s range.
There are more things in the works too, but I’ll talk more about them later, once contracts are signed. I’m very excited about some of the stories coming out soon.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you listen to the podcast (it’s free).
January is turning out to be quite the month, with two short stories of mine published already. The first one I was expecting to be out this month, since I’d seen the galley proof not too long ago. It’s my optimistic tale about a married Iranian couple’s love for each other, searching for ancient remains on the Moon, and an outer space King’s Speech (sort of): To the Moon and Back. I am pleased to say it’s included as part of JayHenge Publishing’s superb anthology Sunshine Superhighway: Solar Sailings, which you can buy here.
If you’d like to read more about this story, here is its dedicated page. I am fascinated by the Francevillian biota and was really glad to be able to work them into a story.
Also Out This Month
January also sees the release of my living-in-a-climate-change-wracked-world story, Dunkirk Spirit. This short story (which takes place mainly in London) is included in Ill Winds and Wild Weather, released by Smoking Pen Press. This is an ebook, but printed editions are due in a month or so. To get the kindle version, click here. I hope the story makes you laugh because, if we can’t laugh about rising temperatures and increasingly common extreme weather events, the only other choice is to cry…
The journey for this story was, appropriately enough for a tale about rough weather, a little bumpy. So, I hope you like it. More on this story can be found here.
January’s not over yet and, depending on how quickly another publisher can finalize things, I may have a third story released before month-end.
Hope these tales help distract you from the cold weather – stay warm, everyone!
This is a very quick blog post as I get ready for the big day, just to update everyone on a couple of fun announcements with my writing. First: the wonderful people at JayHenge Press accepted another story of mine this month! Everything You Say will be released as part of their anthology The Kafka Protocol & the Burden of Compliance. The book is expected out sometime in late 2024 or early 2025. My story is a short sci-fi tale about artificial intelligence, red tape, and finding yourself unexpectedly accused of murdering someone you’ve never heard of. I’m excited this story found a home!
More good news: my poem Choose Your Own Extinction has been included in Little Blue Marble’s 2023 compendium of the best of their online magazine. You can buy this wonderful collection here. I hope you’ll give it a look.
Well, that’s about it for right now. Santa is on his way, and we’ve all got lots of things to do.
perpetual state of mild panic 