Salazar in Perihelion

13 January, 2015 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My short story “Salazar” has just come out in Perihelion, January 2015 issue. Aura’s got a mission in the sliceworlds, to track down Gideon, but it turns out Gideon might not even be the man he seems.
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AURA STEPPED FROM THE SHADOWS, feeling the shimmer off her steppingcloak glide and fade into the air behind. The brickwork wall loomed over her as she trudged through moonlight beginning her search for Gideon.

This was an unfamiliar realslice. She could sense cats, and baking. Stepping into the slices often reminded her of Middle Eastern countries. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan. Cooking smells and shouting and animals lurking, usually blasting horns from distant traffic, but it was quieter here.
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For those who are interested, this story was my first semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future contest. I’m glad it’s found a home.

2014 in review

23 December, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

2014 has been kind to me. I’ve acheived a couple of lifelong goals: having a story published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, and winning a writing competition – The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.

I also wrote more than ever before. In 2012 I first took on measuring my output and writing every day. That year I managed around 507,000 words. 2013, still writing everyday, I hit 519,000. Last year I also made sure I only submitted stories to paying markets (that’s a long story for another time).

This year my current count is over 566,000 words and I might even hit 590,000. As well as the two pro “sales”, I sold numerous stories to semi-pro markets (some of these publishers have been very supportive as I’ve developed my writing: I have a soft-spot for them). The second half of the year has seen a slow-down on acceptances, but I keep writing new stories.

As well as numerous short stories and collections published indie, I managed to get out The Deluge, the sequel to The Tunnel in my Hidden Dome universe. Current writing plans have the third book The Eye out next year.

Speaking of next year: more focus on novels; more focus on getting things to publication; still writing every day; still learning about craft; more learning about business; less goofing off – I might have to give up a block of time to the new Tomb Raider game due out in 2015, but writing will still happen :-).

Overall a pretty good year (actually, an astoundingly good year). It’s given me a lot of energy to push on and feel confident I’m on the right course.

The Man with Fountain Fingers in Strangelet issue 0

6 October, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

Strangelet Journal is a new publication, and their first issue (number 0) includes my story “The Man with Fountain Fingers”.

It’s a short piece I initially wrote thinking of a local short story contest, so it’s kind of a mix of literary and science fantasy. Or is that urban fantasy? Or something else? I sure know when I write hard sci-fi, but sometimes I don’t know exactly how to classify some of my other stories. Anyway, the editor told me the story exemplified what they were looking for, so sometimes I guess it’s a matter of finding the right match of story with publication. I think it fits well in its new home.

It’s available both in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.

1000 days of writing every day

29 September, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

In 2012 I took on some new challenges with writing. One of them was to write every day. Not that before then I written lots, though I probably missed many days, just that on January 1st 2012 I started recording my writing. Last Saturday (if my math is correct) marked 1000 consecutive days of writing every day.

There have been some challenges. I crossed the International Date Line four times in that space (so gained a day going one way, and lost a day going the other – I wrote on the plane and in the terminals, so counted writing days). Some days I’ve had computer fritzes. Thank goodness I learned how to hand-write. Some days I wrote very few words (132 is the lowest I see on my chart), some days I wrote very many (1 day of 7928). Overall I’ve averaged around 1400 words a day – over 500,000 words in both of 2012 and 2013, and so far this year 394118.

I’ve published far fewer words, but have changed up a few things in the process from now so should be getting far more of those words out into the world. Fortunately some of those published words have realized some of my dreams – a story in Asimov’s, a competition win (and a couple of 3rd placings), a story in New Zealand’s premier literary magazine Landfall, among other things.

Inevitably life may throw something at me so the run of consecutive days will need resetting, but you know, that’s all right. At the moment I feel like my momentum is up and I’ll keep learning, practising and striving.

Lightning Strikes in Perihelion

15 September, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

My hard sci-fi story “Lightning Strikes” has just appeared in the current issue of Perihelion.

David Bron’s on a mission to stop his son from getting killed for the sake of an electrical art piece. Bron’s got a bounty hunter on his tail and an out of whack ship. And the electric art is about to begin.

There are some other top stories in the issue too, and a great editorial from editor Sam Bellotto.

This is my third story in Perihelion, after “Stone 382” last year, and “Quisic Smith and the Russian Puzzle Doll” in January.

Yet Another Invader – in Fiction Vortex

8 September, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My short piece “Yet Another Invader” appeared in the July issue of Fiction Vortex. This is an odd one, less adventure oriented, but still science fiction. Fex is stuck out in the wilds, trying to figure out how to remove an alien invader lodged in a piece of equipment. Somehow I missed the publication on the day it came out, but I got paid today so that jogged my memory. Fiction Vortex published my dieselpunk story “Memory Book” in August last year.

Here’s the opening of “Yet Another Invader”:

Night came quickly out this way. Always did.

It felt like the sun blasted the desert clean all day, as if some spectacular furnace was set on high and aimed right at this one spot before dropping off the side of the world.

I’d been here sixteen years now, at altitude, watching the sun pass overhead each day. When I arrived they called me Mr. Harding, but now I’m just Fex. I guess I can fix your stuff up better than most.

The Helmet – in Black Denim Lit

5 September, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My story “The Helmet” has just come out in the August issue of Black Denim Lit. There’s been some delay with the issue (BD is still pretty new), but it’s nice to see it out now. “The Helmet” is a hard science fiction story set on a ship in the Kuiper Belt.
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Baz liked it out this way, among the Kuiper belt planets. He imagined the vacuum quieter, the light dimmer, the drift through the cosmos more peaceful. They’d left Chuapa behind a day ago, and were six days out from Sarinne. Lilly’d come to Baz with another offer. Come out with her ice gathering for three months and she’d forgive his debt.

How could he refuse?

Read on at Black Denim Lit.

Alecia in the Mechwurm in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

3 July, 20143 July, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 4 Comments

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #59

My short story “Alecia in the Mechwurm” has just come out in the latest issue (#59) of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. ASIM, along with Aurealis, carries the banner for Australian (and NZ, and well, I guess all of Oceania) Science Fiction. This is my second story with them (following “I am Nano” a couple of years ago). This issue is edited by the inestimable David Kernot, and I’m honored to be included in his issue.

“Alecia…” is another story under the Michael Shone penname (probably the last), and is set in the same universe (i.e. Mechwurms) as last year’s “The Flower Garden” which appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of The Colored Lens. If you’ve read that story, “Alecia…” is a slightly different tone – more hard sci-fi compared to “The Flower Garden’s” more literary leaning.

Interesting side-note: also on the contents page is Australian writer Steve Cameron, with whom I’ve shared a previous contents page, just this year in Outposts of Beyond.

“Low Arc” available at Baen Books

17 June, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 4 Comments

My short story “Low Arc” is now available at the Baen Books website. This is the story that won this year’s Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest, run by Baen Books and the National Space Society.
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Colin Bertelli thought that he’d left the dangerous work behind him when he quit his job as an ice miner at the Lunar South Pole and joined NASA. But Bertelli is about to discover that, on the moon, even the most routine work can be perilous and life on the lunar surface demands heroes. The pulse-pounding winner of the Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.
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Also at the site is Marina J. Lostetter‘s wonderful second place story “Balance”.

My thanks to William Ledbetter, and Jim Minz and Tony Daniel at Baen for all their work with this.

“Mars Bomb Bound for Titan” in James Gunn’s Ad Astra

16 June, 2014 ~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

My science fiction political environmental thriller short “Mars Bomb Bound for Titan” has just come out in issue 3 of James Gunn’s Ad Astra from the Kansas University Center for the Study of Science Fiction.

What if authorities thwarted your plans to seed Mars with algae and higher forms? What if you went to prison for it? When Carmen gets out she’s ready to take a quiet research assistant job and put all that behind her. Except the group who want to see Titan need her expertise. And if they have to they’ll take it at gunpoint.

Ad Astra is an annual publication. K.C. Ball*, had a story in last year’s edition. I seem to follow her around a bit – I had a story in Perihelion not long after one of hers. Hopefully I can tag along to Analog, Lightspeed and Writers of the Future.

*K.C. published one of my stories in her online flash fiction publication 10Flash a few years back, so I remain grateful and admiring.