It’s always boom or bust for me and after having a quiet year in 2021 with regards to short stories, I’ve had quite a few out this year which I want to highlight – for eligibility purposes, if you’re involved in reading/voting for awards, but also for anybody who may be interested and is looking for a quick read. Also, it’s honestly just quite satisfying to line up all your publications in one place like this and take stock.
In order of publication date:
YE TAK THE GHOST ROAD, Ghostlore Part 2: Hauntings, Alternative Stories Podcast, Ed. Lyndsey Croal
Read by the brilliant author (and viral sensation) Lindz Mcleod, YE TAK THE GHOST ROAD is a horror flash fiction piece inspired by the ghostly visions seen on the A75, the most haunted road in Scotland. [Free to listen]
FOREVER IN SCOTLAND, Night, Rain, and Neon, NewCon Press, Ed. Michael Cobley
This piece was commissioned by Scottish SF legend Michael Cobley for an anthology celebrating cyberpunk, seeking to prove the genre is still relevant today. For my part, I imagined a Scotland of the far future where the singularity, the ability to live forever through technology, has already come and subsequently been banned.
FILL TO THE LINE, Instant Noodle Literary Review Issue One, Ed. Sean Wai Keung
To give this it’s full title, FILL TO THE LINE: INSIDE SCOTLAND’S INSTANT NOODLE MUSEUM, was huge fun to write, and once again goes into the far future. This time, rather than a cyberpunk tech utopia/dystopia, we find ourselves post-apocalypse in a flooded Glasgow now recovering from the ‘Dark Ages’. The museum of the title is a testament to these lost years and the importance instant noodles held for people then, both as sustenance and currency. [Free to read]
CHILDREN OF THE NEW FLESH, 11:11 Press, Ed. Chris Kelso & David Leo Rice
Rather than a short story, in CHILDREN OF THE NEW FLESH – an anthology of fiction, essays, and poetry reacting to and discussing the early short films of David Cronenberg – I took part in an interview with the excellent author/editor/scriptwriter/curator/dreamweaver Chris Kelso where we discussed The Lie Chair. The interview appears in Kelso’s distinctive creative non-fic style, which is loads of fun to read.
This short story is a grand literary work of magical realism – a guy finds a genie in a can of Irn Bru who grants him unlimited wishes, with a few stipulations, of course. A return to one of Scotland’s best arenas for new writing, this had me absolutely stoked.
I also have a couple squeaking in at the end of 2022 next month, of which I have to be a little more mysterious:
FAR FROM THE TRAILS, BFS Horizons Issue 15, British Fantasy Society
CRADLE, Shoreline of Infinity 33
My big news for 2023 is that my debut novel SQUEAKY CEAN is coming out on 2nd March, published by Pushkin Vertigo, and I’m awaiting the day with equal parts excitement and nervousness. Onwards!
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