Ancient Logic

Gehenna and Hinnom's "Year's Best Transhuman SF" anthology is now available! This awesome collection just so happens to include my story "Machinery of Ghosts," a story set on an abandoned space station years after a traumatic, system-wide nanological war. Long after peace has been declared, a different sort of war endures within the station, one threatening to claim the station and everyone inside of it. Purchase "Year's Best Transhuman SF" paperback Purchase "Year's Best Transhuman SF" e-book I am so grateful to C.P. Dunphey and the entire team at Gehenna and Hinnom for choosing my story for this collection. Seeing it along side such excellent authors as Julie Novakova, Jeremy Szal, and Sheldon Woodbury is an amazing honor.  Read Gehenna and Hinnom's press release I will release story notes for "Machinery of Ghosts" in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Gehenna and Hinnom has released the cover and table of contents for their " Transhuman SF " anthology which just so happens to include my story "Machinery of Ghosts." Could you check out this cover for a second? Total sci fi awesomeness! The presale for the digital version goes out Nov. 15th and both book and e-book will be available for purchase Nov. 30th.  Awesome cover to Year's Best Transhuman SF 2017 Anthology In any case, my story is about a long is a SF thriller set in a decaying space station in the grip of a nano-technological cold war. Thank you again to C.P. Dunphey for giving this story the perfect home! Expect a few more words about the story once pre-orders are available as this story has a bit of a back story attached to it. November promises to be a busy month as I also have a flash piece appearing in Collateral Journal, an online magazine devoted to exploring the consequences of war outside of battlegrounds. My story, "The Ferry...

Weird Fiction, I think by definition, is a hard genre to describe. Still, I think it's possible to point to a couple of major strains - Classic and New.  Cover Image for "Speaking to Skull Kings and Other Stories" by Emily B. Cataneo On one hand you have the heritage of Machen, Blackwood, Gilman, Ligotti, and of course the decrepit and dark idol of HP himself. These are tales almost like ghost stories, where protagonists brush up against the uncanny and either survives or succumbs to bleak fates. These tales tend towards a morose and gothic atmosphere and describe worlds I'd definitely avoid in real life. Then you have the bizarre stuff like Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Michael Shea, and China Meiville where weirdness is something plastic and garish. Often referred to as the "New Weird," these are works where the universe keeps warping chromosomes and shoving disparate genres into weird hybrids. I'm not sure if I'm that keen to visit B...

Alright, first full disclosure. The author of " And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe ," Gwendolyn Kiste, asked me to contribute a blurb to this collection. So let's classify this review as not entirely unbiased. I have enjoyed her stories since the first one I've read and my fandom of her work has only grown since. But I will plow ahead regardless because the simple fact is I would like you to buy this book and read it.  I say that because I figure if you're reading these words, what with all the innumerable blogs, e-zines, and pod casts to enjoy then we may share some interests. Perhaps a similar taste in the strange and macabre. Maybe a desire to read and appreciate works crafted with subtly, passion, and power. If you like to think and feel deeply about the weird quiet places of the world, then Gwendolyn Kiste's work is for you. It was written for you. You should read it. The anthology includes fourteen of her best short stories. Most of them ha...

I am happy to announce that I have a flash fiction piece appearing in the new A Murder of Storytellers anthology, "The Book of Blasphemous Words." The story, "Killing the First Gods," is about a woman in the upper Paleolithic trying to survive in world filled with the ghosts of slaughtered gods. This is one of my favorite flash pieces, and I am very excited to have it appear in such illustrious company. Pre-orders available now. The book will ship Jan. 31st. Thank you to Adrean Messmer for choosing this story! https://www.amurderofstorytellers.com/shop/pre-order-the-book-of-blasphemous-words Table of Contents: A Hole in the Head Reveals the Secret Nature of All Things by Joseph Shelton Sack Race To The River by Chris Kuriata Holy Fire by Tracy Fahey The Order of the Night Moose by Jonathan Raab Hare Hill by Kristin J. Cooper The Holy Filth by Tom Breen Madness by Morrison Hero Worship by Adrian Ludens An Adventure in Wootton by Colin Harker Meant to Be by Kelly G...

I received a preview copy of "Stone Work" in order to complete this review. Mirror Matter Press' "Stone Work" is a collection of three novellas written by Dominic Stabile, all concerning the travails of a disfigured assassin/bad-ass named Stone. The world Stone inhabits is one part Blade Runner and one part Mad Max with a helping of Steven King for good measure. For aficionados of pulp horror thrills this anthology brings the goods. Stabile writes in a hyperbolic and pop-literate style that emulates the splashier elements of a Frank Miller graphic novel while giving nods to horror, science fiction, and noir classics from the last century. The final and longest story, "Godless City," is my favorite of the collection. It has the most interesting set-up; a man hires Stone as a bodyguard as he tries to bring a sacrilegious documentary to light. I dig world-building and this story explores in detail an intriguing element of Stabile's wor...

Now that I've returned from camping for the Fourth, I've got a new chapter up for "Agent Shield and Spaceman." How was my Fourth you ask? Perfectly patriotic, of course. My wife and I stayed at the Great Bay Camping grounds which is a little north of the border in New Hampshire. Beautiful location, impressive fireworks (which freaked Finn out thoroughly), and - for the most part - chill fellow campers. I hope wherever you found yourself this weekend you were with family, friends, and plenty of good food. I used the occasion to write ahead a few chapters in the web fiction as well as get some details ironed out for a new short fiction piece I'll start later this week. I also finished reading a Lovecraft anthology "Future Lovecraft" which I can partially recommend for fans of Mythos literature. Personally, my preferred mode of Lovecraftian writing is cosmic horror clearly inspired by HP's work, not slavishly devoted to it. My favorite stories in the ...

As mentioned previously in Ancient Logic, my space opera story "Distractions," found a home in the Game Fiction Volume 1 anthology published by Gold Shader. I received my author copy today and I have to say I think the whole production impressed me. There's just something reassuring about holding a copy of your story in print especially when it sits along side such other excellent stories. A print copy of the book is available through the following link . " Distractions " is also available for free online at the Gold Shader homepage.

It looks like Goldshader's website, which features one of my stories " Distractions ," is now up and running. I could not be more pleased with the awesome presentation for my story, including the evocative animation for a scene in the story. "Distractions," as befitting its inclusion in the First Volume of the Game Fiction anthology, concerns augmented reality games played between young explorers on the fringe of the known universe. My story is available in full on the website, but it is also available for purchase in print and e-copy formats. I'm extremely happy with how this website came out and I hope you have a chance to check out the other stories featured on the site!

Occultation, the short story anthology by Laird Barron, both broadens and deepens the author's approach towards horror fiction. In comparison to his work in The Imago Sequence, stories such as the title work and Broadsword examine similar themes, but through different voices. These stories are also longer, for the most part, than the stories in the first collection, allowing for a more nuanced exploration of worlds that always seem just on the verge of becoming something else. Consumption plays a big role in Barron's stories, which is something commented on before. However, the carnivorous monsters of these stories are not simply interested in sustenance. Each story describes a destructive process where an old state is broken down and reassembled into something alien. This process might be supernatural in origin (The Forest) or vaguely extraterrestrial (The Broadsword) or it may even be the product of a depraved creativity (Strappado - probably my favorite story in the collec...

While all the pieces came together, I’ve been maintaining radio silence on some happy news. Now I can finally tell you that my story “Distractions” was accepted for the first volume of the “Game Fiction" from Gold Shader press and will be available September 1st. I am very pleased “Distractions" found a home there and I look forward to reading all of the other contributions. Here’s the information I have as well as the cover design. The resistance builds an MMORPG to remind future generations of what life was like before first contact with the spacefaring Corpuchi civilization- A space between levels torn open by hundreds of gamers ‘looping the glitch’ causes time itself to contort into an infinite recursion- Elite Mine Sweeper Ray Esposito discovers that the undead workers he’s been hired to clear carry his employer’s dirty secret in their veins! These are just three of the thirteen stories found in our inaugural collection. GAME FICTION VOLUME O...

Anthologies like the Year’s Best Weird Fiction are a great place to catch up on favorite authors and discover new favorites. This anthology took a rather broader look at the meaning of weird fiction than I initially figured it would. Not much of the work was explicitly or even subtly Lovecraftian, which probably increased my enjoyment of it honestly. Tim Jeffrey’s offering, for example, was a twilight zone-style puzzle box rather than anything resembling his Punktown stories. The stand-outs: "Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks" by Paul Tremblay. I really liked this story, from the compelling point of view character to the dread filtered through a broken soul. The way Tremblay walks up to the edge of an impending apocalypse without ever letting us look straight at it, is masterful. "Bor Urus" by John Langan: Stylistically Langan’s offering was in keeping with the beleaguered protagonists of other works I’ve read from him, but perhaps the work was...

I’ve learned that my story “This Beautiful Creature,” will appear in an upcoming science fiction anthology “Second Contacts,” published by Bundoran Press. Second Contacts explores what happens after humans make contact with aliens, each story set a couple of generations after the initial encounter. I’m including the table of contents below: Roof of Casa Batllo (taken by Morgan Crooks 2014) Introduction by Hayden Trenholm The Susans Come Home by Barry King Connoisseurs of the Eccentric by Jetse De Vries Soil of Truth by Nicole Lavigne Wash Away on Fiant Lux by Robin Wyatt Dunn Free Radical by David Tallerman Between the Worlds by Jordon Moore A Girl and Her Tentacle Monster by Naomi Libicki As Below, So Above by Matt Moore This Beautiful Creature by Morgan Crooks Translator by Albert Nothlit Grief by Karen Anderson Strong Arms Be Our Conscience by Andrew Barton Windigo by David Yeh The Peace of the Worlds by Jaime Babb Get the Message by Peter Wendt Scar Tiss...

As announced recently, I had two accepted by publication: "Belongings" a flash sci fi story on the Themes of Absence website and "War-Zones" in the second The New Accelerator anthology. I'm enormously pleased to have both appearing this weekend, available for reading. I'd love to hear what you think of them. Please comment on the websites they appear on, or here at Ancient Logic. I'm planning a few more updates in coming days, including my write-up of the winter finale for Agents of SHIELD, as well as some thoughts after reading the History and Horror, Oh My! Anthology my story "What the Pridigy Learns" Links: "Belongings":  http://www.themeofabsence.com/2014/12/belongings-by-morgan-crooks.html  Note: Theme of Absence also posted an interview of me talking about writing and speculative fiction. I want to give Jason Bougger my thanks for accepting the story and for running a great website.  "War-zones" availabl...

My story “What The Prodigy Learns” was accepted for publication by Mystery and Horror, LLC for an upcoming anthology called “History and Horror, Oh My!” I have been kicking around this idea for a horror story set in Pax Romana since last year and I’m glad that it’s found such a perfect home. Thank you to Gwen Mayo and Sarah E. Glen for selecting this piece for publication. http://www.mysteryandhorrorllc.com