Mad Scientist Journal Autumn 2018

I'm a few days late on this, but Mad Scientist Journal Autumn 2018 is now out! Inside it you will find lots of lovely stories and a short piece by me all about the troubles ghosts have with social media . . .(find it in the classifieds section). Happy reading!

(Dis)Ability Short Story Anthology now available

A short story of mine, A Rare Condition, is now available as part of a free anthology you can read here. The story is about someone with a fictional disability navigating her way through life; I was aiming to capture something of the disconnect and misunderstanding there can be surrounding issues of disability between people who experience it and people who don't.

The aims of the project, as described by editor Emily Dorffer:

"...to spread awareness of a variety of disabilities through accurate, heartfelt representations written by the people who live with them every day. I also hope to encourage more authors to write about disabled characters while avoiding stereotypes."

The project has gone ahead with the assistance and funding of staff from Johns Hopkins University.

I hope you enjoy reading the collection!

A Ghost's Guide to Getting Ahead in Modern Death

Image: AmberAvalona, modified by me.

If you are a ghost who likes Instagram then this is for you. Short piece to be published by the folks over at Mad Scientist Journal in September 2018.

Mad Scientist Journal: Winter 2018

Mad Scientist Journal Winter 2018 is now available to buy in ebook or paperback! (Warning: contains imaginary adverts, written by me.)

'A Rare Condition'

Loneliness and thwarted efforts at communication can make life difficult. The way you express emotion and the way your brain is wired can make it even more difficult.

'A Rare Condition', a very short story on these themes will be published in (Dis)Ability, an anthology released in March 2018.

Relics from the Battlefield, published by Helios Quarterly.

Image Alina Kuptsova

An ancient being roams another theatre of war. Read it over at Helios Quarterly Magazine.

Short fiction (not by me) that you should totally go read

So I thought I'd do a little mini round-up of short stories I've read recently that I really enjoyed, because they all deserve more readers:

Once I, Rose by A. Merc Rustad
Fenrir, by Christina Sng
The Wizard of 63rd Street, by Shane Halbach (this one also has an audio version)

Calvante's Maiden, by Bobby O'Rourke (takes a little while to get going, but totally worth it)

The Ferryman, by Siarhey Bulyha/Alex Schvartsman
On the Acquisition of a Very Fine Steed, by Virginia Mohlere

Enjoy!

Short fiction to appear in Mad Scientist Journal

Original images by Ryan McGuire, ruined by me

Excited to announce that some spoof classified ads I've written will be published in an anthology of Mad Scientist Journal this December. The anthology (Winter 2018) will be available to buy on Amazon in both ebook and print formats. Watch this space!

Records and Remembering

My grandparents' wedding day

I was very sentimental as a teenager. There were a couple of days of my life that were so important to me at one point, that on occasions when I had nothing better to do or when I was drifting off to sleep, I’d run through the order of events in my head exactly. I’d relive the smells, sights, sensations, feelings, trying to cling on to these few perfect days so I’d remember them forever, exactly as they were.

I did this mental regurgitation perhaps every few days for about a year. I can’t say it worked in terms of cementing those specific memories in my brain – all I have now are some hazy mental snapshots, but it was fun, and felt necessary at the time.

After a while my life changed, I grew up a little, I didn’t need those extensive experiential mental records to live in any more – I had a life instead. It appears that without my say-so, my brain chucked them out as so much rubbish, along with the memory of whatever I had for breakfast on April 16^th 2005, or the name of my Year 8 History teacher. Just irrelevant clutter. Thanks, brain.

With a paper or digital record, barring any accidents, we can choose what to retain or throw away, save or delete. When it comes to memories, it’s easy to forget that there’s ever a danger of completely losing important details of our own lives, because we’re busy living them. And if you can’t remember your own story, how do you know who you are? Are we all several selves, depending on those parts of our lives we can easily access at any given time?