“Ride” is a short story about climate change, AI, and social credit. It’s set in Hawaii, in the same story world as my novel Pacific Storm.

“Ride” is part of the Future Tense science fiction series at Slate—and you can read it for free online!

Find it here.

Writing this one was an interesting experience, different from anything I’d done before. It’s a commissioned story. I was asked to submit ideas to the team at Future Tense on the general subject of transportation. For me, story ideas don’t come easily. I need to work out most of the plot and have a general impression of the character before I know if I have a workable idea. So I ended up submitting an outline for this story. Fortunately for me, the team approved it. I wrote a first draft—of course it was too long—and then worked closely with editor Joey Eschrich to trim the length and better focus the story. This was fun, because with short stories, I usually write and revise on my own, with just minor edits once I turn it in. This felt a bit more collaborative.

I hope you enjoy “Ride”!

My newest short story is out today!

It’s called “Devil in the Dust” and can be found in editor Jonathan Strahan’s newest short fiction anthology Mission Critical.

The story takes place on Mars at the end of a bitter war.

There is action.

Action was a requirement for this anthology. Mission Critical is about things that go wrong. Here’s the back-cover description:

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM…

Life is fragile. The difference between success and failure can come down to nothing – the thread of a screw, the flick of a switch – and when it goes wrong, you fix it. Or someone dies.

Mission Critical takes us from our world, across the Solar System, and out into deep space to tell the stories of people who had to do the impossible.

And do it fast.

Featuring stories by Peter F. Hamilton, Yoon Ha Lee, Aliette de Bodard, Greg Egan, Linda Nagata, Gregory Feely, John Barnes, Tobias S. Buckell, Jason Fischer & Sean Williams, Carolyn Ives Gilman, John Meaney, Dominica Phetteplace, Allen M. Steele, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Peter Watts.

“Devil in the Dust” is, for now, my last short story. I don’t have anymore in the publishing pipeline, and none under submission or in the files, and I don’t plan to write another one anytime soon. I talked about the reasons why in a post from last fall. You can read it here.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll look for Mission Critical. Jonathan Strahan is a terrific editor, and I’m looking forward to reading all the other stories in this volume myself.

Click here to purchase Mission Critical at Amazon.

All other vendors, click here.

Asimov’s Reader Award Finalist!

A few months ago, my newest short story “Theories of Flight” appeared in the November/December issue of Asimov’s Magazine. I just learned that this story placed in the top five in the annual Asimov’s reader-award poll. This is the first time a story of mine has received that honor from any magazine. Thank you, to everyone who voted for it! 🙂

Sheila Williams, Asimov’s long-time editor, asked if she could post PDFs of all the top-five stories in each fiction category so they could be easily read for Hugo (and Nebula) consideration. I agreed.

Read it online!
If you didn’t get to read “Theories of Flight” when it first came out, here’s another chance. Click here for the PDF. The story takes place in the world of my novel Memory. If you’ve read that, you’ll want to read this story. And if you read this story, I hope you’ll want to read Memory too.

Finally, if you’re eligible to vote in the Hugos or the Nebulas, I hope you’ll keep “Theories of Flight” in mind as you fill out your ballot. Later on, voting will open up for the Locus awards, and that is open to everyone, so expect another post on my eligible short fiction.

At the end of December I posted an assessment of my annual writing goals. I didn’t do very well with my goals in 2018, but happily, I now get to post an addendum.

Goal #5 was to write a hard SF short story, 7,000 words or less. In my assessment, I noted that I’d spent two or three weeks trying to write this story, before giving up on it in early December. In early January, I went back to work on it. Honestly, I spent way too much time on it, but by mid-January I finally had a complete draft. 7,300 words — so it’s a little longer than planned, but close enough.

I wrote the story for an anthology, and it’s been accepted by the editor. So hooray! That’s successfully done.

I expect the anthology will be formally announced in the next month or two; I’ll let you know. It should see publication in 2019.

Now I’m back to work on the sequel to Edges, and so far it’s going well.

First, a progress report on the novel…
The manuscript for my next novel is now in the hands of beta readers and editors. I’d originally planned to re-read and do a light edit before sending it out, but decided against it. Better to hear the criticisms first, address those, and then do the final polish.

In the meantime… that short story I’ve mentioned before still needs to be written. I’ve got all the elements — characters, story world, plot, theme, emotional arc — I just need to sit down and do it.

I’m stepping back from short fiction.
This story will be the last short story I’m planning to write for the foreseeable future. I think I’ve done some good short fiction over the past several years, but I’ve reached the point where the creative effort needed for each story far exceeds the returns — both emotional and financial.

Despite the short length, every story is a lot of work. Two fairly recent ones — “Diamond and the Worldbreaker” and “Longing For Earth” — plus the one I’m working on now, have led me to create entirely new future worlds.

Three new story worlds, that I may never write in again! That doesn’t seem very efficient.

I may get one more story out of the “Longing For Earth” story world, since I have a 9,000-word draft sitting on my computer that I may finish someday. That was my first attempt to write something for the Infinity’s End anthology, but the story grew too long, so I had to start over.

Anyway, even though I’ve been writing only one or two stories a year, it still feels like a distraction when I’m trying to get the next novel done — and of course the income from it isn’t much.

All of this would still be okay if short story sales helped me to sell more novels, but in my experience and that of other writers I’ve talked to, that is not the case. Many of you who read my novels like to read the short stories too, but very few of those who meet me through the short stories go on to look for the novels. I think short story readers are mostly a separate audience without a lot of crossover.

Given that I’m so far behind with the novels I want to write — the two I’m working on now, a military novella, and another near-future epic that’s hardly more than a vague thought balloon drifting on the horizon of my writerly ambition — I need to get serious about focusing my efforts. Once I get this next story done, it’s going to be all long-form, all the time.

Hey, unless maybe I decide to write that screenplay. 😉

Wish me luck!

My newest short story, “Theories of Flight,” is now out in the November/December issue of Asimov’s magazine. This is a big issue with an impressive roster of other contributing writers including Derek Künsken, Nick Wolven, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, William Ledbetter, R. Garcia y Robertson, and more.

Have you read my novel Memory? If so, you’ll want to read “Theories of Flight.” In Memory, one of the important characters is Yaphet. “Theories of Flight” takes a look at his early life and explores how he set out on the unusual road he was destined to travel.

If you haven’t read Memory… why not?! The ebook is only $4.99, and several readers have told me it’s one of their favorite novels. Memory is a far-future adventure set on a very unusual world — and I have plans to return again to this story world very soon. So you need to catch up! 😉 You can read more about the novel here.

If you don’t have a subscription to Asimov’s it might be a bit of a challenge to acquire a copy of the magazine. The website doesn’t offer individual issues. You might be able to find copies on the magazine racks of large bookstores, if you have the privilege of living near such a rare location. If you live in the USA, it looks like you can order the current issue from Barnes & Noble. (Caution! This link will be good only until the next issue comes out!).

Or you can subscribe and support the short story marketplace!

I hope you enjoy “Theories of Flight”!

My story, “Longing For Earth,” is part of this anthology of far-future stories, edited by Jonathan Strahan.

A new review of Infinity’s End just posted today over at Nerds Of A Feather. Joe Sherry praised the anthology while calling out “Longing for Earth” as “a true standout and the highlight of an already strong anthology.” Wow! Read Joe’s full review here.

And by coincidence(?), the ebook edition of Infinity’s End is on sale today for just 99¢. I encourage you to support short fiction and buy it. And if you like it, give it a review at your favorite ebook vendor.

I don’t know how long the sale will last, so go for it now. Here are some links:

Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
iBooks

Not all things are possible, even in the far future…

“Longing For Earth” is my newest short story. It’s out today, part of Infinity’s End, the final volume of the critically-acclaimed science fiction anthology series edited by Jonathan Strahan. It’s an honor to be included in the last edition of this long-running series!

Find the Infinity’s End print edition here.

You can find the Infinity’s End ebook edition at your favorite vendor:
Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
iBooks

I hope you’ll check it out!

Some good news…

While I was traveling last weekend, I learned that my short story “The Martian Obelisk” won the Locus Award for best short story. I’m honored! Very honored.

The Locus awards are determined by readers voting for their favorite fiction of the year. So I want to thank all of you who felt “The Martian Obelisk” was worthy of your vote. I truly appreciate it!

The story is also a finalist for the Hugo award, so if you’re eligible to vote for that, I hope you’ll consider it.

If you haven’t read “The Martian Obelisk” yet, you can find it online at Tor.com.

And follow this link for a list of nominees and winners in all categories.

Aloha!

Are you new to my work? Love short stories? If so, this post is for you.

The recent announcement that my short story “The Martian Obelisk” is a finalist for the Hugo Award, has brought a surge of visitors to my blog and website. If you’re among that number and would like to read more of my short fiction…

Here are some stories you can find online:

• “The Way Home” (Operation Arcana / Lightspeed Magazine)

• “Codename: Delphi” (Lightspeed Magazine / The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera)

• “Halfway Home” (Nightmare Magazine / The Best Horror of the Year Volume Six)

• “Nahiku West” (Analog Science Fiction / Republished at Clarkesworld
→ “Nahiku West” was the 2013 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award runner-up and selected for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Seven edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2013 Edition edited by Rich Horton, and The Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 5 (audiobook) edited by Allan Kaster.

Much of my recent short fiction is also available in a convenient collection, Light and Shadow, in both print and ebook editions.

– Here’s a link to Amazon

– Here’s a universal link that will get you to alternate vendors.

Enjoy!