A Short Story Collection

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been busy pulling a number of my short stories together into a collection. This is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, especially since a good number have already been published but have now gone out of print. I originally thought I might self-publish them, but then a friend of mine told me about a publisher he had been doing some work with, CFZ publishing. Like many small publishers they are quite niche, but their niche is one that fits well my style of fiction. So I’m going to give them a try.

But pulling your short stories together into a collection isn’t such an easy task, and here are a couple of things I’ve had to take into account:

Running order: This is a tricky one. The stories need to be sufficiently distinct from the ones they are adjacent to but not so different as to be jarring. I also wanted to mix up the previously published with the new material.

Opening stories: These are the ones that will appear on the kindle ‘look inside’ option and will determine whether the reader clicks the buy button or not. Therefore they need to give a good representation of the anthology and also be some of my better stories.

Final story: The collection needs to finish on a high note so the final story needs to pack a punch. This was quite easy. I have a piece of flash fiction that I feel rounds off the collection quite well.

Character names: I never noticed before that I have a tendency to reuse names. So for example where I had two stories featuring a character called Lucy, one of these needed to be changed, otherwise the reader might think the characters and the two stories are connected.

Editing: Some of my earlier stories, when I re-read them, needed a bit of tidying up since my writing has improved a lot over the years. Even some that have previously been published!

Title: Finally what should I call my collection? I thought about using the title from one of my short stories but none really stood out. Then my friend suggested I use the title from this blog. It is certainly fitting with the style of stories – science fiction and mild horror that could well be described as ‘weird fiction’, as well as echoing the cryptozoological bent of the publisher. So The Scribbling Seaserpent it shall be.

Early days yet – but I’ll keep you up to date with developments.

Footprints Signing Pictures

Last night myself and David L Clements met at Waterstones in Dorchester to read from our 'Footprints' stories, answer questions and sign copies.

There event was well attanded and there was a lively discussion afterwards - inevitably the question of whether the Apollo landings really actually happened came up :-) - and my thanks to everyone who attended.

I've posted some pictures over on my website -

Here.

Footprints Signing Reminder

Don't forget to get your tickets for Thursday's Footprints signing at Waterstones in Dorchester at 7:30pm - see post below for details.

You can either buy them in the shop or give them a call on 01305 257123 to book your place.

Hope to see you there!

Footprints Signing in Dorchester on the 27th August

On the 27th August myself and fellow UK author David Clements will be in Waterstones in Dorchester, Dorset at 7:30 pm.

We will be reading from Footprints, and anthology of science fiction stories from Hadley Rille Books to which we are both contributors, and will be answering questions about the anthology, our stories or anything else you care to ask.

Footprints is an anthology of science fiction stories based around the fact that, long after our civilisation has crumbled to dust the Apollo astronauts’ footprints will still be there on the surface of the moon, and the stories it contains explore how visitors from distant worlds might interpret this evidence. Footprints has been released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

I do hope that anyone reading this who might be in the vicinity of Dorchester on the 27th August will join us. Tickets can be purchased beforehand from Waterstones and are £1 which is redeemable against the cost of the book, or you can pay on the door. Refreshments will be available.

But above all it will be a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow authors, and it would also be great to meet any of my virtual friends if you can make it.

I do hope to see you there.

Footprints Story Published

It's out - the Footprints anthology from Hadley Rille Books which contains my short story 'The Last Traces' This looks like it is going to be a fantastic anthology - I'm eagerly waiting for my copy to arrive - can't wait. This is my 9th published story and my third in a Hadley Rille Books anthology.

You can buy it here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, and if you are likely to be in the Dorchester vicinity next month we're trying to get a signing set up - watch this space!!!

In the meantime - I hope you enjoy the stories!

40 Years Ago

40 years ago today Apollo 11 was launched. On Monday it will be the 40th anniversary of the first men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the surface of the moon.

I’m not old enough to remember the moon landings, but it must have been a fantastic time. People must have looked at the stars and thought ‘Our children will be out there’.

Except we’re not. Why not? Why did we take that first step – knock at the door of space exploration and then back away to the confines of our one small fragile world. I can’t help feeling that we should have gone forwards – we should have gone on!!

But in my imagination I’m out there, in the stories that I write. And one of these stories will be coming out soon, for with the anniversary of the Apollo landing comes the launch of the Footprints anthology from Hadley Rille Books.

Watch this space…

Voices Across the Pond

Anyone who is looking to sell their short fiction, particularly if, like me you are writing in the SF/horror genres, will sooner or later start to submit to markets based in the States. In fact, although there are some excellent small UK based magazines, over in the States the short fiction scene in these genres is positively flourishing, so really you’d be daft not to.

Now as a UK based writer who writes in UK English, I used to spend many a long hour painstakingly converting all my UK spellings to US ones to have a version of my story to send across the pond, but after a time I stopped doing it.

The main reason behind my rationale is that UK and US English seem to differ in more than just spelling. There are all sorts of words and phrases that exist over here but not over there, and I’m sure – in fact I know that I use a lot of these in my writing, without even being aware.

So out they go in UK English and you know, I don’t think it makes any difference. I’ve sold a number of stories now to markets in the States.

It is interesting though, some of the words and phrases that differ. Okay, we all know the obvious ones such as ‘flashlight’ for ‘torch’ or ‘sidewalk’ for ‘pavement’, but a new one on me, which Eric over at Hadley Rille Books pulled me up on in the edits of my ‘Footprints’ story, was the phrase ‘as of old’. (Which for any American reading this blog means ‘as in the past’.)

It had never occurred to me that this might be a very English turn of phrase. I wonder what other phrases and words I use that leave our American cousins scratching their heads in confusion.

Footprints Sale!

I’ve just heard from Eric T Reynolds over at Hadley Rille Books that my short story ‘Last Traces’ has made the line up for their forthcoming ‘Footprints’ anthology.

This will be my third story to be published by Hadley Rille Books and I am, needless to say, delighted. They produce some fabulous books and it’s great to be a part of it!

In fact, if anyone reading this is on the lookout for a great market, they’ve just announced a new call for submissions for a new anthology, ‘Destination: Future’. I’ll certainly be sending something in for this one!

Results of 'Return to Luna'

The 'Return to Luna' contest run jointly by Hadley Rille Books and the National Space Society has announced it's results - here - and I'm pleased to report that my Story 'Moondust' recieved an Honorable Mention.

And check out the Hadley Rille Books website for their latest call for submissions - a new anthology called Footprints, also with a lunar theme:

Long after our species and all its works have turned to dust, the moon landing sites will still show evidence of our time here on Earth. Imagine future explorers from among the stars interpreting that. The astronauts’ footprints should last longer than the fossils in the Olduvai Gorge have.

The story I already have that fits the theme is far too short, but I think I've another idea brewing. :-)