As we’re getting towards the end of 2019 and the season of awards eligibility posts, I thought I would join in and recap the stories I’ve had published this year.
Though certainly not reaching the quantity of last year’s published output, this year I’ve had some longer work published (two novelettes that I’m really proud of) and had a short story appear in one of my all-time favourite magazines, Shoreline of Infinity, which has been on my author’s bucket list for ages.
This year I also began doing live readings, with appearances at Event Horizon, Cymera Festival, Ness Book Fest, and on the air at Subcity Radio. This is something I’m keen to do more of in 2020, nerves be damned!
Also, as I may have let slip to one or two people – and everyone who follows me on social media – I signed a book deal for a novel in October, which has absolutely made my writing year! More info on this soon.
And in other novel news, my unpublished novel Green Ink was shortlisted for The Big Issue Crime Writing Competition in October, one of six novels selected from hundred of entries. A serial killer story set in Victorian-era Glasgow, one of my big tasks for next year is to start looking for a home for it.
That’s enough bragging for now, here are this year’s published works:
Secret Ingredients (short story) – Shoreline of Infinity 15, Jun 2019
On a distant planet, line cook Grith gets tangled up kitchen espionage when his chef wants him to find out the secret to a rival restaurant’s signature dish. Out of control aliens and out of this world food, Secret Ingredients is Monsters, Inc. meets Kitchen Confidential.
The Brothers Oe (novelette) – The Society of Misfit Stories Vol. 1 Issue 3, Bards & Sages Publishing, Sep 2019
Sumo wrestler Yogi is due to face off against his brother Matsushima in the grand final of the Honbasho in the great dragon city of Edo. That is until Matsushima is found dead in his bathtub, having apparently committed ritual suicide. The story is set in an imagined version of feudal Japan where myths and folktales are real, which may (or may not) have something in common with the aforementioned novel I’m being deliberately cryptic about.
The Lunatic Song (novelette) – Exquisite Aberrations, FunDead Publications, Sep 2019
Pianist Charles Hale returns from a tour in Europe in disgrace following a romantic scandal with another man. His chance for redemption in the eyes of polite society comes in the form of a dicey bargain with a notorious mass-murderer – and gifted musician – called Lawrence Roper. Piano lessons will be held in Bedlam.
Baby on Board (short story) – Tech Noir, Switchblade Magazine, Oct 2019
Ex-cop Oink, having returned from Mars to his hometown on Earth, Belt City, gets embroiled in a kidnapping scheme (mostly) against his will. There are digital ghosts, physical augmentations, eating noodles outdoors in the rain – all the classic cyberpunk moves! – and more.
callummcsorley.com 