Crafting strange fiction from stranger fact.
“The chemical messages came to her faintly, much-diluted and far away, like whispers on the breeze. She submerged her whole foot in the water and began to walk, dampening the nerve signals that screamed cold! as the waves lapped at her thighs.” One of the key plot points of my work in progress is that … Continue reading What If We Could Communicate Through Scent?
My top pick of short stories from the Clarkesworld December Issue is “The Names and Motions,” by Sheldon J. Pacotti. It should be no surprise that Pacotti’s work is stunning – he previously won an award for advancing the art of storytelling with his work as the primary script writer for Deus Ex. Still, as soon … Continue reading Review: “The Names and Motions,” by Sheldon J. Pacotti
Hello dear readers, I’m back from the whirlwind that was my Writers of the Future experience – but I’ve been doing so much writing about it between an upcoming article for Compelling Science Fiction and a Reddit AMA taking place tomorrow that I’m devoting today’s entry to an entirely different subject. One of the many … Continue reading Review: “He Who Shapes” by Roger Zelazny
© Nevit Dilmen, 04900 Toy Rabbit, Cropped, CC BY-SA 3.0 It’s review time again! I’ve been scanning the pages of Asimovs, Analogs, and others for particularly spectacular stories – and I’ve finally found one that I really want to talk about. You all know that Clarkesworld is my favorite free-to-read science fiction magazine – and … Continue reading “Goodnight, Melancholy,” by Xia Jia
It’s been a while, readers. Sorry about that. The New Year has been a whirlwind – two full manuscript requests, advance reading to do for the Writers of the Future workshop in April, and a surprise notification of publication from Compelling Science Fiction, I’ve been a bit busy. But about that surprise notification! Some of you are … Continue reading Publication Announcement: “Skychildren”
I’m pleased to announced that my short story, “The Drake Equation,” will be appearing in the 2017 Writers of the Future anthology! I first became acquainted with the Writers of the Future contest 10 years ago, when I stumbled across one of their anthologies in a used bookstore. From the very first story in Vol. 22 … Continue reading Writers of the Future Win!
Among 2017 movies, I’m most excited for this: As you might have guessed, it’s a zombie movie. A very different kind of zombie movie. When I discovered that this movie was developed in conjunction with a novel of the same name, I just had to read it. And the novel did not disappoint. I can best describe … Continue reading Book Review: The Girl With All the Gifts
This is the best story I’ve ever read from the viewpoint of a machine. There is growing consensus that automated drone warfare is the wave of the future, particularly in the conflict-torn Middle East. Malak’s viewpoint character, a next-generation drone named Azrael is “smart but not awake.” It is named after the angel of “a … Continue reading Malak, by Peter Watts
To start off this promising New Year of 2016, I submit for your consideration what we will call a shining vision of a better future. Fritz Leiber’s “Catch that Zeppelin!” is not in fact a shining vision of the future – but rather a shining vision of a better past. Written as the endearingly self-depricating … Continue reading Catch That Zeppelin! by Fritz Leiber
C. L. Kagmi 