A New Story

I’m delighted to report that another story of mine has just gone live on Daily Science Fiction and you can read it online here. DSF have a very intense publication schedule so there’s not always time for them to contact authors to provide story notes, author bios or even run through edits of the story. I’ve therefore provided a note on the story below:-

Going Back for Seconds started life as an opening line/image (as do several of my shorter pieces). I then followed things to see where they’d lead me. Sometimes this fizzles out like a damp firework, but sometimes it shoots up and explodes (and concludes) nicely. The story offers a nice contrast to my space opera comedy series DSF recently ran.

In other short story news, “Box, Set” is due to appear in August in the anthology All Hail Our Robot Conquerors!

With nothing else to report, let me just squeeze in a shout for a fellow writer’s project. Andrew Leon Hudson and a couple of enthusiastic collaborators are launching a ‘shared world’ project soon. ‘The Archipelago’ promises to be interesting both as a read as well as a new way to offer fiction for the e-generation. Their media campaign hasn’t exploded onto the net yet, but here’s a twitter link to bookmark for news of when it does.

Warmest regards,

Jez

Certainly NOT a Habit

Don’t worry, I’m not making a habit of these posts, and certainly not “blogging” (the very idea!) haha 🙂

This is just to mention that a new story has gone live at one of my favourite sites: Perihelion SF. The title of the piece is Last Times.

In the last month, Stupefying Stories published a fun story of mine called The Hair-raising Spike. I have an added soft spot for this one because it’s set in Spain. Despite spending a lot of time in Spain, I’ve set very few stories there.

Another (ir)regular e-haunt of mine is Mythaxis. This time with a story called Timed Out. The site is a labour of love run by a friend of Andrew Leon Hudson (another Spain-based Brit). Both Andrew and Gil (the editor) have stories there, so go on–indulge yourself.

Thanks and warmest regards,

Jez

 

 

Free Story

My first self-published work consisted of two long stories playing with the theme of fairy tales. The blurb is below. As an enticement to look a little closer at the book, I’ve written an extra, short tale using the characters in the second story. It’s a crime story whose inspiration will be quickly apparent. I’m calling it “Under the Hood” (UPDATE: sorry, folks, this is no longer available)

Twice Into The Woods

 

Now available via Amazon.

Twice Into The Woods presents two stories in which we revisit the characters of traditional fairy tales and nursery rhymes in two very different woods.

In ‘The One In The Woods’, a young boy spends a terrifying evening listening to new versions of the fairy tales his mother would tell him, in order to solve the mystery of why she abandoned him in the woods.

In ‘The House That Jack Bulldozed’, Detective Andersen investigates the death of Jack and Jill Green in a case that will show a famous Los Angeles fairy tale town to be anything but full of happy endings.

Now tell your children
For them to be good
All brave children go
Once into the woods.
But warn your children
To stay where they should
For none return from
Twice into the woods.

(The cover on the right was my draft cover for the book…the one on the left is the one ALH skilfully redesigned.)

 

LIO and LIO 2

Happy New Year!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything, so I’ll be brief…

Last year saw me briefly return to submitting fiction to magazines. I had some successes, a couple of which you can catch this week.

Captain Percina Saunders is a comedy space opera series running on Daily Science Fiction. Each adventure is a self-contained story, but you can read them in order here.

Tells of the Block Widowers is appearing right now in Perihelion SF. The title is a pun-laden nod to two strands of Isaac Asimov’s prodigious output.

Last year I joined the self-publishing masses by putting some of my short fiction into volumes. I used several pen-names so I could split the genres. Here’s a selection if you want to check out the free previews on Amazon…

   

I gave my alter-egos their own sites: James Livermore (Horror), John Retford (Sci Fi, Superhero), Douglas Minton (Fantasy), PJ Atterton (Crime). That’s about as far as my marketing efforts went.

I’m hoping to focus on longer works in 2017, so feel free to remind me that’s what I promised to do. The nudge will be appreciated.

Have a great 2017!

Warm regards,

Jez Patterson

(Ah yes, the title above? Un lio = a disorganised mess (in Spanish). Lio 2 is its sequel. Written as LIO2 on a calculator,  it reads as 2017 upside-down. I know, I know…  🙂 )