New Story "Downsizing in the Technopoly" in SF Anthology Tides of Possiblity

I’m appearing in a new anthology out later in the year, Tides of Possibility, formulated from the idea that the rise of the indie author is upon us, that many of those authors write science fiction. This is an anthology to celebrate the success of the new form of 21st Century SF writer, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

 

 

 

A science fiction anthology from the rising stars of indie-publishing in Texas and beyond, edited by K.J. Russell with cover art by David Sidebotham.

 

This is a description of my story: “Downsizing in the Technopoly”, is an intimate look at the tragedy inflicted on one man's life when the coming of generous extra-terrestrials upends the global economy of the planet Jharkhand. One of millions suddenly unemployed, Yusuf McCredie finds no comfort in the utopian technologies meant to uplift his species. He is a corporate man, and if he cannot manage others, how can he be happy? The only intellect that understands his plight — an extra-terrestrial being calling itself a Skin Hitcher — has a proposition for him: "You want to become the biomass/intellect contribution to my micro-farm/eco-genesis?"
 
Here is a list of many of the authors and stories I’ll be appearing along side in the anthology:
 

• “The Color of Silence” by Mandy Broughton, a terminally ill woman sends her best friend-nanny-android on a mission to answer a question to heal her of her sickness.
• “Part of a Whole” by Carolina Dolislager, is about life in the Society, a far-future setting where people follow step-by-step instructions to wake up, eat breakfast, and go to work.
• “House of Tin” by L. Fabry, presents a world where a new law, Ordinance 93, can render unapproved pregnancies illegal.
• “A Loveable Face” by C Stuart Hardwick, Alain Delacort is proud of his team's success in engineering what he calls Flying Wolves, an adorable winged canine pet.
• “Reaction” by Kelly Horn, in a space station in the far future a servant of the elite class knows things she shouldn't, like how to read and think.
• “The Black Prince” by Erin M Kennemer, shows us a future in which there are no stars in the sky above Earth, and people don’t think that's strange.
• “The Woman Who Wanted to Play Miss Havisham” by Haralambi Markov, the bankrupt nation of Bulgaria has been purchased in its entirety by Britain, and is being renovated into the largest stage in history.
• “The Commitment” by E.L. Russel, is about an aging woman who is struggling to manage her husband's degenerating health.
• “A Perfectly Stable Dataglobule” by K.J. Russell, where the meaty brains of fighter pilots are having their dreams crafted artificially by external forces.
• “Imperfection” by Jay Wilburn, presents a post-cataclysm world wherein organic people don't last very long.
• “The Reader” by D.L. Young, portrays the deadly negotiations for control of the natgas fields in Texas.

World War Cthulhu "The Bullet and the Flesh" Promo Video

I’ve recently been involved in a Indiegogo sponsorship campaign for a new anthology I’m appearing in:

World War Cthulhu

A Collection of Lovecraftian War Stories to the forefront with 19 war stories rooted deep in the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Wars and battlefields written by top names in the industry like John Shirley, Tim Curran, W.H. Pugmire, William Meikle, Cody Goodfellow, Jeffrey Thomas, David Kernot, Konstantine Paradias, C.J. Henderson, Peter Rawlik and many more featuring original illustrations by artist M. Wayne Miller, front cover artwork by award-winning artist Vincent Chong and edited by Brian M. Sammons and Glynn Owen Barrass.

“The Bullet and the Flesh” by David Conyers and David Kernot

My contribution is modern day tale of horrors perpetrated by man against man. The use of child soldiers in Zimbabwe are not the worst things to be encountered as lives are given less worth than shiny baubles from the earth. Evil men mess with things unpredictable, and brave men such as Major Harrison Peel (from Cthulhu Unbound 3) are forced to fight for justice and balance.
Here is my promo video, to learn more:



Support the World War Cthulhu campaign by following this link.

Undead & Unbound on the Shelves

My latest anthology edited with Brian M. Sammons, Undead & Unbound, has just been released on Amazon.com.

 



 

 

Undead & Unbound  celebrates those who have returned from the grave — in all their glory and in whatever form they take. You will find the famous blood-drinkers and flesh eaters here, but also ghosts, patched-together reanimates, fiends of myth and folklore, and some not-so-easily-identifiable creatures from beyond the grave.

Nineteen tales take the undead to their limits. From the distant past to the far-flung future, and to all corners of the Earth, the undead are eternal and everywhere: symbiotes, parasites, monster mash-ups and ghoulish grins, bleak tales of inescapable dread, an ancient evil from a far-away land with unspeakable dietary needs, a boy and his…well, it’s not a dog. History is brought to (un)life. Ghosts, specters, phantoms and haunts of every sort. Not-so-easily-classifiable stories that do new things with the basic premise of what’s alive, what’s dead, and what’s neither.

And yes, you lovers of all things zombie—fear-not, for your favorite flesh eaters are here but, thankfully, not exactly as you would expect them.

Undead & Unbound celebrates all things from beyond the grave, the different, and no matter how old the bones, new life can always be found.

Selected and edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers. Cover art by Paul Mudie. 288 pages. Trade Paperback.

The Tales Included:

• Blind Item by Cody Goodfellow
• Dead Baby Keychain Blues by Gary McMahon
• A Personal Apocalypse by Mercedes M. Yardley
• The Unexpectedby Mark Allan Gunnells
• Incarnate by David Dunwoody
• Marionettes by Robert Neilson
• Undead Night of the Undeadest Undead by C.J. Henderson
• I Am Legion by Robert M. Price
• When Dark Things Sleep by Damien Walters Grintalis
• Descanse En Paz by William Meikle
• Thunder in Old Kilpatrick by Gustavo Bondoni
• Phallus Incarnate by Glynn Owen Barrass
• Wreckers by Tom Lynch
• Scavenger by Oscar Rios
• In the House of Millions of Years by John Goodrich
• Romero 2.0 by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers
• Mother Blood by Scott David Aniolowski
• The Unforgiving Court by David Schembri
• North of the Arctic Circle by Peter Rawlik

New Harrison Peel tale “The Road to Afghanistan”

My latest Harrison Peel adventure, “The Road to Afghanistan” has just been released in the anthology What Scares the Boogeyman? Edited by John Manning and published by Perseid Press. This story takes Peel to Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan in his hunt to track down Taliban controlled weapons of mass destruction of the otherworldly kind.

Here is the line-up for What Scares the Boogeyman?:

• “Boogeyman Blues” by Janet Morris
• “The Boogeyman’s Wife” by Nancy Asire
• “The Road to Afghanistan” by David Conyers
• “The Fear of the Lord” by Robert M. Price
• “The River Witch” by J.D. Fritz
• “The Cold” by Jason Cordova
• “Blood and Ochre” by Thomas Barczak
• “Testament of Tuff” by C. Dean Andersson
• “Night of the Bettys” by Beverly Hale
• “Jack the Raptor” by Chris Morris
• “Failure to Comply” by Michael H. Hanson
• “The Shadow of a Doubt” by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• “L’Uomo Nero” by Richard Groller
• “Bad Mustard” by Bill Snider
• “Grandma” by Wayne Borean
• “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” by John Manning
• “Apis Primatus” by Bettina Meister
• “Under the Bed” by Shirley Meier

 Here is an excerpt from “The Road to Afghanistan”:

THE ROAD TO AFGHANISTAN

David Conyers

 The three days it took Harrison to flee the black desert of western Pakistan, he barely slept. When the saw the dusk lights of Rawalpindi he felt relief; street lights meant normalcy and a safe place to rest.

When Peel drove into the city’s heart he was forcibly slowed, melded with the busy evening traffic. Despite the late hour, he passed busy bazaars and crowded alleys. Hindu temples and Muslim shrines were clean and complete compared to cheaply constructed apartment blocks and government offices, with their rusting reo jutting from upper unfinished levels. Mounds of stinking garbage piled against chipped walls. Woman’s faces on billboards were ‘veiled’ with black paint while men were left untouched.

Peel reached the Hoodbhoy Orphanage as it was closing. Identified by his National Security Agency employers three days earlier, he had been assured the institution’s reputation was sound. Foreign and local journalists’ accounts spoke highly of their director, a Muslim who accepted all wards, regardless of their religion, gender or ethnicity.

Peel parked in the courtyard. His aching muscles protested as he clambered from the old Soviet Army truck. As he unlatched the rear door, two dozen red and blinking eyes stared back. It took the first child several minutes to shuffle forward and step into their new home, and into a new life.

“Mr. Peel?”

“Yes Sir?” he snapped in a moment of disorientation. Embarrassed, he scratched at the dirt caked to his millimeter thick hair. He felt drunk. He wasn’t. He was dead tired.

“Thank you for saving these children, Mr. Peel.” Rashid Hoodbhoy spoke softly, with a formal and precise command of the English language. He watched, with a gentle smile, his volunteers aid the children as they clambered from the stolen truck. Many had to be carried. All needed water. A few with infected wounds were attended to with bandages and disinfectant.

Scorecard 2012

Every year I like to compile a summary of my writing, editing and publishing for the year that was. 2012 unfortunately wasn’t as productive as past years for me, at least not in terms of publications. It was the year of collaborations too. That said I do have A LOT of projects under development that I can’t talk about yet, but hopefully I will soon.

I had two new stories published in 2012, “Expectant Green” with John Kenny, a science fiction novella appearing in Jupiter 35 and “The R’lyeh Singularity” with Brian M. Sammons appearing in Cthulhu Unbound 3, from Permuted Press which was released as an e-book. This anthology I also co-edited Brian and featured Cthulhu Mythos novellas from Cody Goodfellow, D.L. Snell and Tim Curran, as well as our contribution. I’ve been informed the print version will be released in 2013.

On the reprint front, “Winds of Nzambi”, a Cthulhu Mythos horror novella concerning the Portuguese slave trade in the Congo which I co-wrote with David Kernot, appeared in two ‘Best of’ collections, The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011, edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene, and Award Winning Australian Writing 2012. My other reprint was “The Swelling” which appeared in Innsmouth Magazine Collection Issues 1-4 making it one of my most reprinted stories.

My illustrations appeared on the cover of Jupiter 38: Pasithee and Jupiter 36: Spond. “The Masked Messenger” co-authored with John Goodrich that appeared in Andromeda Spaceways last year, received an honourable mention from Ellen Datlow in Best Horror of the Year Volume 4. Midnight Echo 6 which I co-edited last year received another honourable mention in the Australian Shadows Awards. I also interviewed Iain M. Banks for Albedo One Issue 41.

Anthologies that I have been editing this year are Undead & Unbound (horror) with Brian M. Sammons, Extreme Planets (science fiction) with David Kernot and Jeff Harris, and Cthulhu’s Dark Cults II (Cthulhu Mythos). None are yet released. I’m also editing a sourcebook for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

Publications coming out next year are all in anthologies and include “The Road to Afghanistan” (What Scares the Bogeyman?), “Romero 2.0” with Brian M. Sammons (Undead & Unbound) and “Playgrounds of Angolaland” (Eldritch Chrome).

That’s it. Thanks especially to David Kernot, Brian M Sammons, Jeff Harris, Cody Goodfellow, Paul Drummond, Jeffrey Thomas, CJ Henderson, David Brin, Julie Czerneda, Glynn Own Barrass and the team at Albedo One for their support this year.

Jupiter 38: Pasithee

The latest issue of Jupiter magazine is out, issue 38 with my illustration on the cover.

The issue features fiction by Alex Weinle, Lou van Zyl, Jon Wallace, Colum Paget, Rosie Oliver and Allen Ashley, and a poen by Ian Sales.

Available for your Kindle direct from Amazon. Also available from Jupiter in pdf mobi, epub format and print format.

Albedo One 42

The latest issue of Albedo One is out, 42. It features fiction from Todd McCaffrey, Priya Sharma, David Murphy, Craig Saunders, Donna Thorland, Lawrence Wilson, Jean Michel Calvez and Douglas Thompson.

Included are the three winning stories (by Lauren Mulvihill, Aaron Elbel and Kathy Cronin) of the 2010 John West Brainfood.i.e. Fantasy Competition and an in-depth interview with John Meaney.

Buy issue 42  in print and digital versions.

It feels strange, but I'm not in this one. No reviews required from me in this almost exclusive fiction issue.

The 2011 Scorecard

At the end of year I like to do a writing retrospective of the year that was and a look forward to future publications. Previous year scorecards can be found here.

I’m still managing to achieve around five short story / novella publications a year. This year they comprised of four horror, one science fiction and one sf/horror blend. I’m writing far more science fiction these days but I’m obviously selling more horror, hopefully that balance will change. The first two stories are part of my Harrison Peel series, the first original Peel stories since The Spiraling Worm came out in 2007:

• The Eye of Infinity (Perilous Press, USA)
• “The Masked Messenger” with John Goodrich in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #53 (Australia)
• “The Advertising Imperative” in Ticon4
• “Winds of Nzambi” with David Kernot in Midnight Echo #6 (Australia) which incidentally won the Australian Horror Writers Association’s Short Story Competition
• “The Nightmare Dimension” in Rage Against the Darkness (Brimstone Press, Australia)
• “An Angel of Frequency” in Melbourne by Dusk (Australia).

My favourite of my own work of this year would easily be The Eye of Infinity.

On the award front of was nominated for the Australian Shadows Award with my horror short story “Dream Machine”, published in Scenes from the Second Storey from Morrigan Books in 2010.

I also co-edited with David Kernot and Jason Fischer Midnight Echo 6, the Science Fiction Horror Issue, which is now my second edited publication. I interviewed Charles Stross and Chris Moore for this issue.

 

For Albedo One #40 I reviewed Wireless by Charles Stross, Year’s Best SF 15 by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, Cosmos #36 by Wilson da Silva, plus some online reviews. I also participated in Shane Jiraiya Cummings’ online discussions of the future of e-publishing, and provided cover art for two issues of Jupiter Magazine.

 

I didn’t write that much this year, and still didn’t get started on my novel. I put that down to turmoil in the global markets which forced me to move jobs and cities against (Sydney back to Adelaide), and settling into a new job. My situation is much more stable than it has been in about six years.

 

Publications coming out in 2012 that I can talk about include:

• “Expectant Green” with John Kenny in Jupiter #35 (United Kingdom)
• “The Road to Afghanistan” in What Scares the Bogeyman? (Fantom Enterprises, USA)
• “Romero 2.0” with Brian M. Sammons in Undead & Unbound (Chaosium Inc., USA)
• “The R’lyeh Singularity” with Brian M. Sammons  in Cthulhu Unbound 3 (Permuted Press, USA)
• “Nomad Flora” in Darwin’s Evolutions (USA).

I’ve also got two anthologies coming out in 2012, the first is Cthulhu Unbound 3 which I co-edited with Brian M. Sammons and features novellas from Cody Goodfellow, D.L. Snell, Tim Curran and a Harrison Peel collaboration with Brian M. Sammons. The other is Undead & Unbound also co-edited with Brian M. Sammons which will feature horror stories from authors such as Cody Goodfellow, Gary McMahon, C.J. Henderson, Damien Walters Grintalis and others. I’m also co-editing with David Kernot and Jeff Harris Extreme Planets, a science fiction/space opera anthology for which we are currently seeking submissions.

 

Thanks this year to David Kernot, Cody Goodfellow, Olivia Kernot, Brian M. Sammons, Paul Drummond, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, John Kenny, Frank Ludlow, Bob Neilson, Peter Loftus, Angela Challis, Marty Young, Jason Fischer, Jacob Kier, Jeff Harris, Glynn Owen Barrass, C.J. Henderson, Ian Redman, and many others too numerous to name here. 

"The Masked Messenger" in Andromeda Spaceways 52

The Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, ASIM, Issue 52 is about to go to print.  It is edited by David Kernot and features a new Harrison Peel tale, "The Masked Messenger" co-authored with John Goodrich.

This tale takes Harrison Peel to Morocco investigating temporary improvised explosive devices, and an encounter with another well-known deity of the Cthulhu Mythos. As a bonus, I have an illustration included, but they will pale in comparison to the works of Olivia Kernot (who also did the very striking cover illustration) and Kathleen Jennings.

David Kernot is a very talented author and I had the priviedge of working with him on Midnight Echo 6: The Science Fiction Horror Special, so I'm looking forward to what he has come up with this issue.

The line up for Issue 52 is as follows:

Stories:

• A Routine Diplomatic Incident by Ray Tabler
• Eternal Youth by Melanie Typaldos
• First, Do No Harm (Unless They’re Zombies) by Rachel Kolar
• Golden Years in the Paleozoic by Ken Liu
• I am Nano by Sean Monaghan
• Love As You Find It by Margaret Karmazin 
• Midnight Rhino by Brenda Anderson
• Ronnie Linton, High School Flame by Dominik J. Parisien
• Taking Care by Pam L. Wallace
• Taking Over by Felicity Pulman
• The Last Resort by L.K. Pinaire 
• The Masked Messenger by David Conyers and John Goodrich
• The Speed of Darkness by G.R. McLeod
• The Undying Fans of an Unknown Cover Band by Nicky Drayden
• The Unseen Truths by Liz Colter
• Undine Love by Kathleen Jennings
• Vivienne by Natalie Nikolovski
• Wonder In Alice Land by Linda Jenner 
• Zombie Dreams by Peter Cooper

Poetry:

• Babylon by Alexandra Seidel
• Broken Towers by Alexandra Seidel
• City of Clay by Alexandra Seidel
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Singer by Jack Horne

Non Fiction:

• (H)ER(G)E, Now and Forever by Jacob Edwards

Illustrations by:

• Olivia Kernot
• Kathleen Jennings
• David Conyers

Cthulhu Akrikus published by Rainfall Books

Just learnt today that my third chapbook with Rainfall Books, was released between Christmas and New Years, Cthulhu Afrikus. It features three stories, all concerning my "Masked Messenger" cycle of tales within the subgenre of the Cthulhu Mythos.

All three stories, "The Faceless Watchers", "Screaming Crawler" and "As Above, So Below" are amongst my earlier works, hence they've been published before but often in sources that are not easy for the casual reader to find, but not any more.

Thanks to for Steve Lines and his great job and editing and producing this chapbook, and for seeing this project through to completion.

The 2010 Scorecard

The end of the year approaches and it is time again to reflect on my writing achievements for the last year. I've been doing the same for three years, mostly as a self assessment of how I'm tracking publishing-wise. This year (2010) I can't say I've done much better than the last two years, with on average five short stories being published each year since I started down this track (with serious fiction publications commencing around 2005).

This year my new short stories are:

• "Emergency Rebuild" in Andromeda Spaceways #43 (Australia)
• "Sister of the Sands" in Cthulhu's Dark Cults (Chaosium Inc, USA) (an anthology which I incidentally edited)
• "Dream Machine" in Scenes from the Second Storey (Morrigan Books, Sweden)
• "Sweet as Decay" with David Witteveen in Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Fear (Brimstone Press, Australia)
• "The Uncertainty Bridge" in Jupiter #24 (UK).

I'd say "Dream Machine" is my best piece this year, but I am also particularly proud of Cthulhu's Dark Cults, which has received some very nice reviews, and an accomplishment considering the whole thing was on hold from early 2008. I had some reprints this year including:

• "Black Water" appearing on the Albedo One Fiction Highlights website, which was also nominated for a Ditmar Award this year, and remains one of my favourites of my own work
• "The Swelling" appearing in Innsmouth Free Press #3.

I did six reviews for Albedo One issues #38 and #39, more online reviews for the same magazine, was interviewed by Innsmouth Free Press and by Jeff W. Edwards for Shroud Magazine.

For 2011 (or later, depending on how long these things take) I have the following coming out:

• The Eye of Infinity chapbook published by Perilous Press and edited by Cody Goodfellow, which incidentally is a new Harrison Peel adventure
• "The Hag of Zais" Lovecraftian fable appearing in Ancient Shadows (Elder Signs Press)
• "The R'lyeh Singularity" co-written with Brian M. Sammons appearing in Cthulhu Unbound 3 which is also another Harrison Peel tale
• Another Harrison Peel tale with a publisher I cannot yet disclose
• "Subtle Invasion" appearing in Best New Tales of the Apocalypse (Permuted Press) (incidentally this is one of my most successful short stories, appearing now in two best of anthologies, being shortlisted for an Australian Shadows Award, and being read on The Writing Show)
• Midnight Echo 6, edited with Jason Fischer and David Kernot, featuring science fiction horror stories
• Cthulhu Unbound 3, edited with Brian M. Sammons featuring four Cthulhu Mythos novellas
• Cthulhu Afrikus, a chapbook from Rainfall Books featuring reprints of "The Faceless Watchers", "As Above, So Below" and "Screaming Crawler"
• On going reviews for Albedo One.

I had intended to start my space opera novel this year, but frankly that didn't happen, primarly because I just didn't get the head space with changing jobs and states (South Australia to New South Wales), and because I still believe my short fiction needs to kick up a notch before I am ready to tackel a 150,000 word manuscript. So 2011 will be focused on editing Cthulhu Unbound 3, Midnight Echo 6 and getting some science fiction short stories and novellas together, and finishing off the Harrison Peel series with at least one more novella, because I have a very keen publisher interested in the series that began with The Spiraling Worm (Chaoiusm, 2007).

Of course, there are always other projects going on in the background, but I don't like to talk about them in an open forum until something is definite. However, any news I always post here first.

I'd particularly like to thank the following people in the industry for their help this year, including Frank Ludlow, John Kenny and the rest of the team at Albedo One, David Kernot, Cody Goodfellow, Brian M. Sammons, Jacob Kerr, D.L. Snell, Tim Curran, Glyn White, Brian Courtmanche, Shane Jiraya Cummings, Amanda Pillar, Angela Challis, Pete Kempshall, Jason Fischer and everyone at the Australian Horror Writers Association, although this is in no way a complete list of those individuals whose support I have been grateful for this year.

One can only hope, and strive, for the next year to be even better than the last.

The Eye of Infinity

At a remote radio telescope facility in New Mexico, an astrophysicist commits suicide after contracting a hideous mutative plague caused by something he saw… and he won’t be the last.

Major Harrison Peel has witnessed his share of cosmic mutations before, but now, he faces a threat worse than death, and a powerful enemy that hides behind a human face.

When a top secret NASA program refuses to heed his warnings, Peel is catapulted into a nightmarish government conspiracy that takes him from Ft. Meade’s Puzzle Palace to the launchpads of Cape Canaveral; from the desolate Atacama Desert of Chile, to the very heart of the universe itself, all in a desperate bid to shut…

The Eye Of Infinity.

Perilous Press announces the release of The Eye of Infinity, the first Harrison Peel tale in three years, released as a chapbook this Halloween. The Eye Of Infinity will feature a Mike Dubisch cover and a dozen illustrations by Nick Gucker, and it’ll be available from the Perilous Press store the week of Halloween.

The Eye Of Infinity continues the saga of Harrison Peel, a veteran of covert wars against alien invaders, and fuses Mythos horror, quantum physics and interstellar cloak and dagger action into an instant pulp classic.

"The Uncertainty Bridge" released and "Dream Machine" Reviewed

Two exciting pieces of news for me, my post-apocalyptic science fiction novella "The Entropy Collapse" comes out soon in Jupiter 30 : Hermippe, which becomes my fourth consecutive sale for the magazine edited by Ian Redman.

Second piece of news, "Dream Machine" in Scenes from the Second Storey has just been positively reviewed at The Specusphere. Here is what Katherine Petersen and Damien Smith, the reviewers said about my story:

“Dream Machine” by David Conyers opens the literary concert and sets the mood wonderfully with a tale of the creation of Hell’s Assassin. Being the opening story of a compilation such as this was a hefty ask, but Conyers succeeds in not only conjuring up a dark and sinister atmosphere for the next stories to follow, but also gives a nod to several other stories through his hall of painting stalked by the assassin himself.

“The Uncertainty Bridge” to appear in Jupiter 30

I just learnt that Ian Redman, editor of Jupiter Magazine has accepted my science fiction novella “The Uncertainty Bridge” for Issue 30, out later in the year. That’s three publications in this magazine now, my first short story sale for 2010, and it puts me on six new short stories out for this year.

“The Uncertainty Bridge” is set several hundred years from now, set in an isolated community suffering a severe winter in the aftermath of a distant apocalyptic catastrophe. A pandemic sends almost all the citizens into comas, but not before they start remembering technical details about Earth’s previous accomplishments.

"The Octagon" in Jupiter #26

I'm on a real roll this year with publications, already outstriping my output of 2008 with another story scheduled for release this year. Ian Redman, editor of Jupiter Magazine just accepted my space opera tale "The Octagon" for issue 26 out in November. The tale concerns a reality game show held inside an alien artefact the size of a city and is set in the same future series as "Terraformer" and "The Entropy Collapse". More news when it is published.

Sci Fi is Go: "Black Water" in Jupiter #24

On the short story front I’m doing really well this year, with five tales out already and it’s only the start of April. Today saw the release of “Black Water”, my future Africa novella published in Jupiter #24: Locaste, a UK science fiction magazine edited by Ian Redman. “Black Water” was short-listed for the Aeon Award in 2006-2007, and now finally it is in print in none other than prime position in the magazine: the opening story. This is one of my personal favourites of my own work, even after three years when I wrote it. Also of interest to some, it’s in the same setting as “Aftermath” which was a Ditmar and Aurealis short-listed novella also set in Africa.

This is what the judges of the Aeon Award said about "Black Water":

“Black Water”, for me, stood out almost immediately from the several hundred other entries I read for the Aeon Award [2006-2007] this time around. Not that the bulk of the entries I read were bad, in any sense, just that this story was better than the “good” stories. What more can I say to explain that? The confident style, pacing, and the motivations of the characters. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget the tension in the story, that sense of will he or won’t he get away with it. Excellent work.

[Black Water] exhibited a great sense of place. Read it and you’ll see. It isn’t for me to try and out-do the story with my own words here. What I will say is that not many of us will ever get the chance to experience Africa, but this story will certainly take you a long way towards experiencing it as it is now, and unfortunately, where it may be headed in the future. This holds true not only for place, but character, and the interaction between Donna, the privileged white lady and the down and out Nuwangi is thoroughly convincing, and regrettably, probably not too far away from the truth of things.

Table of contents for Jupiter #24: Locaste is as follows:

• Black Water - David Conyers


• Sides of the Coin - Gustavo Bondoni


• Our Man in Herrje - Andrew Knighton


• The Ninth Circle - A.J. Kirby


• If You Can’t Beat Them... - James McCormick


• Dog’s Best Friend - Gareth D Jones

If you want to read my story and the rest Jupiter #24 (and back issues) can be purchased here (with a very nice cover by S. Cerulean). The opening scene to “Black Water” follows:

BLACK WATER

Dust blown from the arid interior rained on the streets of Dar es Salaam. Vendors and buyers in the Kariakoo Markets looked to the skies, the hope in their eyes sought rain. They were to be disappointed, but not surprised. It had not rained along the East African coast in five years.

Joseph Nuwangi pushed through the crowds of African faces. Most slung deteriorating gas masks about their belts or necks, prepared when the dust became too thick to breathe. Masai cattle-bleeders offered dirty cups of bovine blood with chiseled plates of goat cheese. Somali traders pressed wares of cheap electronics, second-hand guns and faulty robotic machines. Nuwangi sought the water sellers, and of these there were many. He selected a Hehe trader, whose water sloshed in a heavy translucent canister precarious upon the trolley of a rusted tricycle.

“What’s the quality?” Nuwangi asked glancing at the digital clock embedded in his cybernetic arm. The metal prosthetic groaned as he swung it near his face, ached where it gripped the flesh just below his left shoulder.

The water seller spoke through rotten teeth. “Grade A effendi, pure water from the snows of Kilimanjaro.”

Nuwangi laughed. “Kilimanjaro hasn’t had snow since before you were born, old man, and I don’t for a second believe that’s Grade A.”

Across Africa all water was dirty and polluted. Inevitably Grade A water had become the continent’s rarest commodity. If properly recycled in a closed system Grade A was more pure than the mountain springs of old. It couldn’t be produced cost-effectively anywhere in Africa, so where it was available it was protected by the strictest security measures. If the Hehe man’s water proved pure, then he had no need to hawk in a dirty market, he would be wealthy beyond measure. In the Kariakoo Markets the freshest water was found in the guts of flies feeding on human tear ducts, and even this water wasn’t worth drinking.

“I don’t believe you.”

"The Lord of the Law"

Another short story is out today, "The Lord of the Law" in The Fourth Black Book of Horror edited by Charles Black and published by Mortbury Press. This is my second story in the this series, and it seems, the last story in the book. "The Lord of the Law" received a commendation in the Australian Horror Writers Assocation's Short Story Competition 2008. So I'm on track for this year's goal of getting one story published each month.

Here is the blurb and table of contents:

A tale of shear terror, a witch's curse, the horror of Halloween, the phantom in the priory and other unspeakable evils haunt the pages of The Fourth Black Book of Horror.

• Soup - Craig Herbertson
  
• Words - Paul Finch
  
• A Cry For Help - Joel Lane
  
• With Deepest Sympathy - Johnny Mains
  
• Many Happy Returns - Carl T. Ford
  
• All Hallow's Even - Franklin Marsh
  
• Dead Water - David A. Sutton
  
• And Still Those Screams Resound...'- Daniel McGachey
  
• Love is in the Air - Gary McMahon
  
• The Head - Reggie Oliver
  
• The Devil Looks After His Own? - Ian C. Strachan
  
• Bad Hair Day - Gary Fry
  
• Flies - Hazel Quinn
  
• Nails - Rog Pile
  
• The Lord of the Law - David Conyers

"The Garden Fortress"

2009 is definitely turning out to be a good year for me. I've just learnt that a story I wrote about five years ago is about to see print in Thrilling Tales #4 from Rainfall Books. The Chapbook produced by Steve Lines and John B. Ford features two other tales from Lee Zumpe Clark and Pierre Comtois.

Steve and John previously published two chapbooks of my Cthulhu Mythos fiction, Cthulhu Australis 1 and Cthulhu Australis 2. One of those stories, "From the Sick Trees" went on to get honourable mentions in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008 and the Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol 4.

"The Garden Fortress" is a dark fantasy piece set in the Garden of Eden. Eve discovers that all is not well outside the walls that protect her and Adam in paradise, and that nothing is as it seems, even the people she trusts are hiding grave secrets from her.

First Publication for 2009: "Six-Legged Shadows"

Just got news today from Permuted Press that Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror will be in bookstores in the coming weeks, and it includes my first published short story for 2009. My contribution is “Six-Legged Shadows” co-authored with Brian M. Sammons is a space opera tale set in the far future. Humans have returned to Earth after an absence of tens of thousands of years to find no traces of their ancestors, and in their place giant creatures rule the world.

The Monstrous anthology is edited by Ryan C. Thomas and features a story by another writer I respect and who I have worked with many times in the past, Cody Goodfellow. If you enjoy your giant monster stories, then I highly recommend this collection.

On related news I recently learnt that the other Permuted Press anthology that I’m appearing in this year, Cthulhu Unbound 2, will go to print soon. Purely by coincidence this short story “Stomach Acid” is another collaboration with Brian M. Sammons. Set in the Amazon jungle, this is a new Harrison Peel tale and his first encounter with Lovecraft’s aliens from “The Whisperer in Darkness”.