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Game Fiction Volume 1

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...
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What I Read in June

Another tough month to whittle my favorite stories to five or so I prefer for this column. In particular Nightmare and Clarkesworld offered several fine stories. The Wanderer, in the Dark of the Year by Kris Millering (Clarkesworld) Now this is why I read Clarkesworld. Fantastically invasive story that reminds me of Michael Swanwick’s Passage through Earth last year. A kidnapped correspondent bonds with an alien taken in by anti-Roma terrorists. The alien described as a kind of mitochondrial mat and the unusual structure of the narrative: multiple beginnings and endings communicates effectively how much was lost and gained during the encounter.  Five Spikes by Nicholas Diehl (DSF) Excellent macabre story about a boy, a witch, and zombie spikes. The closest thing I’ve read to a Shirley Jackson story in a while. The Cellar Dweller by Maria Dahvana Headley (Nightmare) Another great story from Headley. This dark fantasy is a little bit Gaiman, a little bit Barker, and a whole ...
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Getting Ready for Thursday's Reading

Now that school's out for the summer, I turn my attention to tomorrow's reading at the Woburn Public Library. In case you're interested, I'll be reading first (my friend Nick Mancuso will read later in the evening). At the moment I've got the two flash pieces I'll be reading: "Children of Frogs" and "Belongings." I'm sort of torn between a sci-fi piece called "Distractions" and a ghost story called "Those in Exile." "Exile" is a bit shorter which might be better for the evening but I really like the other story. I might just call an audible when I get there. Anyway, if you're interested in listening to a few stories, turn out at the Library at 7:00 pm (45 Pleasant Street, Woburn, MA 01801). There will be refreshments.
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Cyberpunk!

Way back in the 80s I'd treasure the few moments I could convince my parents to drive the 15 minutes or so to the local bookstore so I could slip to the back, find the science fiction section and read a few RPGs in the half hour or so it took them to circumnavigate our very small, very sad mall. One of the games I looked for was Cyberspace, which had an 80's awesome cover, truly inexplicable rules, and a courageously specific future-setting. Last night, my good friend  +Alex LaHurreau  found a nearly mint copy of this classic RPG in a Worcester used book store. The feelings came in waves. The cover is every bit as epic as I remember but the true gift was flipping through the timeline the creators put on nearly every page. I've included a few below. The predictions range from comical to poignant. Having hacked a few RPGs myself, I don't post this in the spirit of mockery but in a legitimate sense of awe. I remember reading these pages with absolute credulity and ...
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What I Read in May

This list will be a bit longer than previous post if only because there was so much I read this month that really appealed to me. I think two or three of them were instant favorites for the year, but I’ll withhold judgement until a few months have passed. As always, the list presented below is in no particular order. Pacific Flotsam (2015 Morgan Crooks) The Two Weddings of Bronwyn Hyatt by Alex Bledsoe (TOR.com) Bledsoe’s story is the kind I normally skip as the first scene involves a girl trying on an beautiful dress and making wedding plans. However, something about the protagonist's flinty dialogue kept me reading. I'm glad I did as within a few swift pages I was hooked. Bledsoe sets his fantasy pageant in a backwoods Virginia rife with European fairies intriguing with indigenous fey. The bride, the Bronwyn of the title, navigates through the needs of her own family and the machinations of rivals. This is a genuinely tense scenario with clever tw...
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