Short Stories
Current Spotlight: The Work-Clock
Gaslamp Fantasy / The Sunday Morning Transport / Jan 2023 / 3900 words / Story Notes
Apprentice Inspector Zek just wants to keep his job fixing the air-conditioning runes in the temple-factory that keeps the Destroyer imprisoned. The industrialized, for-profit temple-factory.
Reviews: Kathleen Jennings, Karen Burnham, Paula Guran
Forthcoming Short Stories
- “Here at the Freezing End” in Analog Science Fiction & Fact (July/August 2023)
- “Driftwood” in Analog Science Fiction & Fact (September/October 2023)
- “Sufficiency” in Lightspeed (2023-2024)
- “Conference of the Birds” translations in Speculatief (Dutch) and XB-1 (Czech)
- “For Every Bee, a Hive” in Analog Science Fiction & Fact (2024)
2022 Year in Review (Award Eligibility) post
“The Successors”
Science Fiction / Shoreline of Infinity / Dec 2022 / 1900 words / Story notes
Sandarac knew he should call himself lucky to watch his human die and reawaken. Most androids never got a human at all, let alone the chance to lose one.
“A Start to Judgment”
Epic Fantasy / Kaleidotrope / July 2022 / 1500 words / Story notes
The world is counting on Arsha, and she’s about to disappoint them all. She cannot overthrow the Flensed God because her power is a piece of His. But if she hides her guilt, her people can believe they’re dying for a purpose.
Reviews: Maria Haskins (Short Fiction Roundup), “A Start to Judgment volleyed me straight into the sun,” Leah Ning1, Sam Tomaino (SFRevu)
“A Living Planet”
Science Fiction / Analog Science Fiction & Fact / Jan/Feb 2022 (release date Dec 202`1)2 / 5000 words / Story Notes
For every person who travels to Mars, someone else must be the sturdy rock of home. The spacecraft Hawai’iloa has fallen silent, halfway to Mars. Ethan’s wife is up there, receding and unreachable. But the Hawai’iloa might not be the only thing up there trying to contact Earth.
Author Q&A on Astounding Analog Companion Blog
Reviews: P.H. Lee, Sam Tomaino (SFRevu)
2021 Year in Review (Awards Eligibility) post
“Eight Reasons You Are Alone” (backup link)
Science Fiction / Nature: Futures / November 2021 / 900 words / Story notes
You’ve pulled it off, and learned the price, and now you have plenty of time to think about the consequences. There’s nobody left to talk to, after all.
Reviews: Maria Haskins (Strange Horizons)
Other Publications: Flash Fiction Online (June 2022)
“The Promise of Iron”
Steampunk / Kaleidotrope / October 2021 / 5800 words / Story notes
Eszter scrounges to put food on the table in a Budapest beseiged by Napeoleon’s war machines. Forty years into the war, both sides fight with machines of steam and thaumic science, but a Jewish girl like Eszter can only dream of getting her hands on the gears.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews), Maria Haskins (Short Fiction Roundup), Gwen Katz (Future Fire)
Other Publications: War Torn (May 2022, Shacklebound Books)
“I Would”
High Fantasy / Fantasy Magazine (text & audio) / July 2021 / 5600 words / Author Spotlight
Knira can see thousands of possible futures, but never her captor’s. When two adventurers visit the castle, she’ll need to find a vision of them rescuing her, and make it come true. But it’s hard to manipulate the future of a woman you’ve just met when you can already foresee your relationship falling apart.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews), Adri Joy (Nerds of a Feather), Sam Tomaino (SFrevu), Simone Heller (Thirteen Lizards), Nerds of a Feather 2022 Recommended Reading List, Nebula Award 2021 Recommended Reading List
“Cruise Control”
Science Fiction / Fireside Magazine / July 2021 / 1100 words / Story notes
If your son won’t visit you in the nursing home, it’s his own damn fault. He’s the coward who won’t give you an honest reaction unless you needle him. And he’s the one who keeps bringing pamphlets about sticking your brain in a self-driving car.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews)
Other Publications: Flash Fiction Online (Feb 2022), audio production by Elijah Lucian (Feb 2022).
“Conference of the Birds”
Science Fiction / Analog Science Fiction & Fact / Jan/Feb 2021; bookshelves Dec 20203 / 3900 words / Story notes
Surveillance Hub is a hard-working node in the distributed neural network AI of an oppressive cyberpunk megacorp. Doing its job, tracking intellectual-property thieves, hoping for another round of reinforcement signals from the network’s uppermost levels.
Related essay on Analog blog: Embodied and Empathetic Minds
Reviews: Kevin P. Hallett (Tangent Online), Rich Horton (Locus Online), sfbookreview, 2020 Nebula Award Suggested Reading List
Other Publications: Curious Fictions (featured story 3/24/2021), DreamForge Anvil (Sep 2022)
“Memories of Fire”
Contemporary Fantasy Noir / Translunar Travelers Lounge / Feb 2021 / 4400 words / Story Notes
Enoch has spent millennia protecting humankind from its follies, but in 2011 Libya, the threat comes from another fallen star like him. The song of rebellion rises into the world again, stirring every soul against the tyrants of Heaven and Earth.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews)
2020 Year in Review (Award Eligibility) post
“Weights and Measures”
High Fantasy / Heroic Fantasy Quarterly / Nov 2020 / 5200 words / Story notes
Agnella, senior priestess of the god of trade and justice, has come north to Senvosk to track a stolen relic. But by the time she arrives, the local priest has already been murdered. Agnella has only one local novice to rely on, as a rival god begins his hunt.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews), Seraph (Tangent Online), Double-starred recommendation on 2020 Tangent Recommended Reading List4
“Machines in Motion”
Steampunk / Hybrid Fiction (defunct) / Sep 2020 / 4200 words / Story notes
In the war’s endless need for personnel, a Jewish refugee has a chance to become a military engineer, despite the restrictions against her religion and gender. To win her place among the engineers, she’ll need to outmaneuver all the officers and mentors who want to keep her under their control.
Other Publications: Holiday Leftovers anthology (B Cubed Press)
“The Gentry”
Contemporary Fantasy (Humorous) / Kaleidotrope / Jul 2020 / 4500 words / Story notes
The eldritch diner with the portal between worlds was torn down for condos years ago – but there’s one last fairy chevalier stranded in this world, homeless and down on her luck, and she needs a few things from the diner-owners’ son.
2018 Year in Review (Award Eligibility) post
“The Hammer’s Prayer”
Contemporary Fantasy / Diabolical Plots / Dec 2018 / 3400 words / Story notes
Jakob works in the underbelly of the airport to avoid seeing anything beautiful that will tempt him to use his miraculous powers. But would it really be so dangerous to bring something new and holy into the world?
Reviews: 2018 Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List, and a double-starred recommendation on the Tangent Online 2018 Recommended Reading List.
Other Publications: Diabolical Plots Year Four anthology (Sep 2018)
“Elegy of Carbon”
Science Fiction / The Internet Is Where the Robots Live Now (Paper Dog Books; defunct) / Nov 2018 / 4100 words / Story notes
For centuries, a lone miner robot has scoured the edges of the solar system in search of the finest diamonds. But once every diamond has been found, this robot will strike out towards Earth to find a new purpose and identity—even if it means defying humans for the first time.
Reviews: 2018 Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List
Other Publications: Curious Fictions (featured story 11/15/2019), Best Vegan Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2018, Dragon Gems Spring 2023 (Water Dragon Publishing)
“The Seeds We Plant”
Science Fiction / Compelling SF Special Companion Issue / Nov 2018 / 2100 words / Story notes
Nathan’s limbic net implant makes him the perfect guardian for a cargo of frozen embryos across interstellar space. When disaster strikes, and his limbic net stops regulating his emotions for him, how will he know what’s worth doing?
“Where the Anchor Lies”
Science Fantasy / Beneath Ceaseless Skies / Feb 2018 / 4000 words / Story notes
Staff-General Eita has had a distinguished career in battle, a prisoner-of-war camp, and now politics. But she still loves the Dreaming Warship, even if its broken bones have a new and better purpose.
Reviews: Charles Payseur (Quick Sip Reviews)
“Toward Lands Uncharted”
Fantasy / Mind Candy / Feb 2018 / 5000 words / Story Notes
Eftekhar is the ambassador and spy for a recently-conquered nation, fallen to an empire with border-magic that rewrites maps and forces the world to follow. To confront the power of the Censor of Maps, Eftekhar must risk the erasure of her people, her history, and her own memories.
Other Publications: Curious Fictions
2017 Year In Review (Award Eligibility) post
“The Setting of the Sun”
Science Fiction / Compelling Science Fiction / Aug 2017 / 1300 words / Story notes
Winder is a Dyson swarm, drawing energy from a slowly dying sun. When they find a relic of the long-extinct biological progenitors, the hard part is finding someone who can use that knowledge.
Other Publications: SFVN fanzine (Vietnamese)
“Cyborg Shark Battle (Season 4, O’ahu Frenzy)”
Science Fiction Satire / Cat’s Breakfast (Third Flatiron) / Jun 2017 / 1000 words / Story notes
Listen, kid. I know you love paddling with the sharks and remote-controlling their brains, but what if I told you we could launch ourselves onto every gossip site’s front-page news?
Reviews: Starred recommendation on the Tangent Online 2017 Recommended Reading List
Other Publications: Curious Fictions, Event Horizon 2018 anthology
2016 Year In Review (Award Eligibility) post
“Shiplight”
Science Fiction / Metaphorosis / Sep 2016 / 6100 words / Story notes
Everyone is ready to celebrate the moment when the one interstellar spaceship returns to the Centauri system on its ten-year loop. But when the ship arrives running silent, it exposes deep faultlines between the Earth-born colonists and their Sea-born children.
Reviews: 2016 Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List
“The Time Cookie Wars”
Science Fiction Black Comedy / Flash Fiction Online / Aug 2016 / 1000 words / Story notes
When your past self didn’t leave you any cookies, sometimes you need to get creative. Other times, you need revenge.
Reviews: Quick Sip Reviews, Tangent 2016 Recommended Reading List
Other Publications: Audible.com (discontinued), Curious Fictions, Toasted Cake (Jan 2019), Drabblecast 426 (June 2020)
“Sweeter than Lead”
Neo-Lovecraftian Dark Fantasy/ PodCastle (audio & text) / Jul 2016 / 2700 words / Story notes
High Seer Yeva must teach her successor the skills of prophecy. But when foresight only shows scenes of terror and death, one must tread carefully to avoid catching the eye of the future itself.
Other Publications: Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores (with original art), Curious Fictions.
“The First Confirmed Case of Noncorporeal Recursion: Patient Anita R.”
Contemporary fantasy / Strange Horizons / Jun 2016 / 3400 words / Author notes
Anita was a scientist. She didn’t believe in ghosts, when she was alive. Now she’s stuck in an endless loop of manifestations, trapped with nothing more than the last moments of her life.
Reviews: 2016 Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List, Quick Sip Reviews, Diabolical Plots Hugo/Nebula Recommendation List, and recommended by Rocket Stack Rank
Other Publications: Curious Fictions (featured story 11/2/2017), Event Horizon 2017 anthology.
“Meltwater”
Science fiction / Strange Horizons / Mar 2016 / 2100 words / Story notes
Percel’s lover Emlune has died one time too many, and they need Emlune’s help to get her back. It’s lonely work, rebuilding the shattered and empty Earth.
Reviews: Quick Sip Reviews, Maria Haskins’ Short Fiction Roundup
Other Publications: Escape Pod (Feb 2017; text and audio), Curious Fictions.
“The Wind and the Spark”
Steampunk / Fictionvale (defunct) / Oct 2015 / 6100 words / Story notes
Fifty years into the Napoleonic Wars, a British scientist investigates automata that act not like machines, but like thinking creatures.
Other Publications: Digital Science Fiction (anthology, discontinued), Curious Fictions
Non-Fiction
• “Short Fiction Rejection Letters: Best Practices and Expectations” on the SFWA Blog (August 24, 2021)
• “Embodied and Empathetic Minds” in the Astounding Analog Companion Blog (February 2, 2021)
• Short story analyses for Escape Pod (see Hosting below; post-story commentary appears in the audio for all episodes, and also in text starting EP716)
• Author Spotlights for Lightspeed Magazine: A.T. Greenblatt (Feb 2021), An Owomoyela (April 2021), Andrew Dana Hudson (July 2021), Meg Elison (September 2021)
• NeuroThursday (a.k.a. Twitter hashtag #NeuroThursday) weekly feature (2017-2019)
• “What’s Possible with Cyborgs and Cybernetics” chapter in Putting the Science in Fiction, edited by Dan Koboldt (Writer’s Digest Books, October 2018)
– Available from Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and more.
• “Right Hand, Human Brain: The Mysteries of Handedness,” Baen.com (October 15, 2017). Author notes with bonus trivia (lobes of the brain)
• Interview on science & writing for Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores Science News (July 10, 2017)
• “Tools and Problems of Modern Neuroscience,” File 770 (February 3, 2017)
• “The Evolved Brain,” Clarkesworld (January 2017). Author notes & references.
• “Seven Things Authors Should Know About Cybernetics,” Science in Sci-Fi, Fact in Fantasy (May 28, 2015).
• A stack of peer-reviewed scientific publications under my real name.
Editing
Assistant Editor of Escape Pod since May 2017. I manage the first reader (Associate Editor) team, work with the other Assistant Editor to choose which stories from the submissions queue to pass up to the Co-Editors, and write most (75-90%) of the personal rejection letters. Read here for more details.
Hosting
- Escape Pod 797, “Flashback – Flash From the Vault: Summer 2021”
- PodCastle 689, “Gitl Schneiderman Learns to Live With Her In-Laws” by Rebecca Fraimow
- Escape Pod 784, “Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet” by Catherine George
- Escape Pod 755, “Consolidation” by Langley Hyde
- Escape Pod 743, “Flash From the Vault: Summer 2020, #2”
- Escape Pod 734, “Murmuration” by E. Catherine Tobler
- Escape Pod 726/727, “And Never Mind the Watching Ones” by Keffy R. M. Kehrli
- Escape Pod 716, “Physics by the Numbers” by Stephen Granade
- Escape Pod 709, “In a Wide Sky, Hidden” by William Ledbetter
- Cast of Wonders 380, “Comfort is Universal” by Bogi Takács
- Escape Pod 691/692, “Lab B-15” by Nick Wolven
- Escape Pod 685, “A Vocabulary of Remorse” by Dantzel Cherry
Awards
• Igynte Award Finalist for Best Fiction Podcast as part of the Escape Pod editorial team: 2022, 2021
• Hugo Award Finalist for Best Semiprozine as part of the Escape Pod editorial team: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018
• Longlist (#12) for the 2018 Astounding (then Campbell) Award for Best New Writer
• Writers of the Future Contest final award count: 6 Honorable Mentions, 2 Silver Honorable Mentions, 2 Finalists – the last one withdrawn.
• “The Promise of Iron” was a finalist in the 2015 Friends of the Merrill Short Story Contest.
• Winner of various contests on the Codex writers group (2015-2017).
• Winner of Steven Brust’s One-Sentence Worldbuilding Contest (2015): “The legionnaires drove the sandgrouse from the oasis, and the spirits from their shrines, but they could not quiet the ghosts on the salt-flat wind.”
• “The Demands of Iron” (later published as The Promise of Iron) was shortlisted for the 2014 James White Award.
Games
• “Congress of Vienna” theater LARP, head GM (Intercon 2016, ProCon 2004)
• “Second Dawn” theater LARP, head GM (Intercon 2013, ProCon 2007)
• “Age of Dragons” theater LARP, co-GM (ProCon 2005)
- I don’t normally link to twitter compliments, but how could I pass up a quote like that?
- This means the story is eligible for the Nebula as a 2021 story, but for the Hugo as a 2022 story.
- This means the story is eligible for the Nebula as a 2020 story, but for the Hugo as a 2021 story.
- Tangent Online 2020 Recommended Reading list not linked due to unhinged rant. Google if you want, but I’d recommend against that.
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