Publication – markwebb.name

Antipodean SF 300-25 on sale now

Last year I posted that one of my stories, “Indistinguishable from Science”, had been selected as a part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of Antipodean SF.

Ion “Nuke” Newcombe has combined the stories from the 25th anniversary edition with those from his 300th publication to create a book – Antipodean SF 300-25.

In the words of Nuke himself:

“AntipodeanSF 300–25 is a special dead-trees-and-ink anthology of stories from the online monthly magazine AntipodeanSF. This book celebrates two remarkable waystations: 300 issues and 25 years of publishing fabulous and original science-fiction, fantasy, and horror mini-stories from around the world, many of them by authors making their publishing debuts.”

It’s wonderful to have another short story in actual print. Most of my published stories have been online early, so to get something into a physical book is a rare treat.

If you’re an Antipodean SF fan and you’d like to buy a copy, you can order it here. All proceeds go to supporting Antipodean SF and keeping it free, and ad free.

“Indistinguishable from Science” in Antipodean SF #293

If any of my longer term readers are still looking at this website (I know, it has been literally years since my last post!), you might recall that I have published some flash fiction pieces with Antipodean SF.

Recently, the editor Ion “Nuke” Newcombe put out the call for stories for the 25 year anniversary edition of Antipodean SF (you read that right – 25 years!) and I submitted a story. And low and behold, it was accepted.

The story is called “Indistinguishable from Science”. A very short piece, which came from the thought that most science fiction postulates science that might as well be magic (artificial gravity, faster than light travel etc). So why not make it magic?

I’ve also always been interested in thinking about what role magic would have in a technologically advanced civilisation.

Issue 293 came out in February 2023, but you can still read it in the archive or by going to the page with the eBook version.

After a few years where writing had to take a back seat to life, I’m just starting to dip my toe back in the water. Hopefully this won’t be the last post you see on this poor, deserted website!

My story killed a tree…

Last post I mentioned that my story “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” had been published in AntipodeanSF issue 250. Well, the fantastic news is that Nuke, the editor, also released the edition using the dried out bodies of dead trees.

My very own copy of AntipodeanSF Issue 250.

It’s the first time one of my stories has appeared in an actual, real life book and I’m ever so chuffed. I may have even bought a copy for my parents. And my daughter. And one of my brothers. And an aunt who once said that she liked one of my stories. I was a little enthusiastic.

AntipodeanSF Issue 250 is available here if you’d like your own copy. With over 50 stories, it is definitely worth checking out. Otherwise, just go along to the AntipodeanSF website to read the stories online for free!

Where Everybody Knows Your Name – now available

Issue 250 of AntipodeanSF is out, and my short story ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name‘ is available for reading amongst over 50 stories and images produced exclusively for this edition.

Image by Michael Connolly https://www.antisf.com.au

AntipodeanSF was the first place I published a story, way back in 2012. Writers out there will know what that feels like, the first time someone believes in your work and likes it enough that they are willing to put their name to it as editor, and send it out into the world. AntipodeanSF will always have a special place in my heart as a result. But over the years, what has really struck me is how many authors I admire and respect have a similar story to tell about AntipodeanSF. So many excellent people producing work to this day in part because Ion “Nuke” Newcombe believed in them, and gave them an early credit. You only have to look down the table of contents of this excellent anthology to see what I mean.

Congratulations Nuke on 21 excellent years, with hopefully at least another 21 in front of you.

Publication news – AntipodeanSF issue 250

I received some very exciting news this weekend. A short story of mine, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, has been accepted for publication in the upcoming 250th issue of AntipodeanSF.

Long time readers will know that I’ve published quite a few flash fiction pieces in AntipodeanSF over the years, so when Ion “Nuke” Newcombe put out the call to the community of writers that have previously published with him to do a special, longer short story for the 250th issue I knew I had to try to be a part of it.

I snuck my story submission in with a whole hour to spare before the 31 March deadline, and I got the great news back today that my story made the cut.

AntipodeanSF has been going since 1998 – that’s 21 years ago – and Nuke was a pioneer of the internet age, back when most of us couldn’t even spell internet. He has given so many authors their first writing credit over the years, and is an absolute stalwart of the Australian speculative fiction community.

Issue 250 is exciting stuff. There will be over 45 stories (see the end of this post for a list of just some of the titles), and Nuke will be producing the issue as an anthology as well as an online read, so you can actually read your favourite AntipodeanSF authors in print, if you so desire!

There are so many stories that Nuke will be leaving them up for 3 months on the website, with issue 251 not appearing until August 2019.

I’m very excited, and proud, to be a part of such a fantastic milestone for AntipodeanSF. If you get a chance to read it, I hope you enjoy my story.

As well as my story, the issue will include excellent work such as:

10 To The Six And The Natural Order Of Things by Shaun A. Saunders
A Place Of My Own by Zebuline Carter
A Rift Of No Return by Laurie Bell
A Witch’s Place by Zena Shapter
Between The Ticks by Lynda Young
Beware! The Blab by Tony Owens
Cassini Falling by Cat Sparks
Cloned + Apocalypse by Eugen M. Bacon
Colour by Jason Butterfield
Dissonance by Jason Nahrung
End of Days by Ray O’Brien
Evidence Of A Dark Transformation by Phllip Berrie
Frank’s Best Friend by Col Hellmuth
Halloween Party by Kim Rose
Hatch by Trent Jamieson
In A Phobos Garden by Rick Kennett
In Salt And Starlight by Pamela Jeffs
Neanderthal by Edwina Harvey
Off Planet by Tony Steven Williams
Once Upon A Moonlit Clearing by Rebecca Fraser
Pictures Of You by Ishmael A Soledad
Possession by Lee Battersby
Sandbox by Kevin J. Phyland
Science Fiction by Jackie Hosking
Serratoria by Chris Gladstone
Sit Up And Beg by Michael T. Schaper
Slower Than The Speed Of Light by Kris Ashton
Soylent 7 by Shane Griffin
Sparks by Martin Livings
Special Delivery by Garry Dean
The First Law Of Havoc by David Kernot
The Forgotten Sea by Louise Zedda-Sampson
The Optimist by Simon Brown
The Past Begins by Jan Napier
The Slow by Antoinette Rydyr
Trespassing by Sue Clennell
when Willie came home from the war hoorah hoorah by Bart Meehan

And more…

The Reclaimers – out now in Dimension6 #13

Well, it has finally happened. My novella, “The Reclaimers”, is available in issue 13 of Dimension6.

I’m very excited to have this novella see the light of day. Regular readers might recall my post when the story was first accepted by Keith Stevenson. In that post I talked about some of the history of the story, and thanked a few people who helped along the way. Go back and have a read of that post if you’re interested. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

A little blurb to whet your appetite:

Ulanda wanders along the edge of civilisation, cleansing border towns of a deadly residue that lingers from the magical weapons of mass destruction that ended the war. It’s the only job still allowed for the paranormally-inclined and life is adequate, until an old girlfriend appears with a questing opportunity that Ulanda knows she absolutely should refuse…

Or the much more succinct:

Wizard garbage disposers – the pay stinks but the hours… yeah, they’re pretty bad too.

Not only will you get to read “The Reclaimers”, but you’ll also get to read two other excellent stories by Emilie Collyer and Robert Stephenson:

‘Reckoning’ by Emilie Collyer
The Earth was broken. Gia was broken. Could they save each other?

‘Water for Antiques’ by Robert Stephenson
Dravid couldn’t believe his luck. Maybe he was right not to.

And how much will these three stories cost you? Well, inexplicably Keith gives away Dimension6 absolutely free! Now you can’t ask better than that.

Go to the Dimension6 page at Coeur de Lion Publishing, or you can even get the issue here (this site is an affiliate for D6). I hope you enjoy reading “The Reclaimers” and would love to hear from you with feedback (good or bad!).

Great publishing news!

I had some exciting news a couple of weeks back. Dimension6, an excellent Australian speculative fiction magazine, accepted my novella, The Reclaimers, for publication.

The Reclaimers is a secondary world fantasy, where a magical weapon of mass destruction has left a world impacted by magical waste. The only use of magic now allowed is reclaiming, absorbing the magical waste to allow crops to grow, and people to not get sick. The story revolves around two reclaimers as they make their way around the edges of society where they are still tolerated.

I’ve had this novella kicking around for some time, but could never get it quite right. There also aren’t that many venues that take novellas, especially from little known authors. So, the story languished – sitting on my hard drive, enduring a little tinkering now and then but not really going anywhere.

And then, earlier this year, I decided I might self-publish it. I liked the story but I had got it into my head that no one would publish it. But only I had looked at it – and if I was going to self publish, I needed an external perspective. So, I put a call out for beta-readers and three people answered that call.

Ion “Nuke” Newcombe is the editor of Antipodean SF, who have published some of my flash fiction. Nuke gave some high level comments, and encouraged me to shop the story around before considering self-publishing. I’m very grateful for that friendly push – without it, I probably wouldn’t have made the effort to submit The Reclaimers to Dimension6!

Rhonda Selg also answered the call. Rhonda went through and provided some excellent, thought provoking comments that really helped sharpen the story. Rhonda has recently released her own book, Filigree Rings and other Fae things, which I’d encourage everyone to check out!

And finally, Kathryn Flaherty. Kathryn went above and beyond, and provided some of the most detailed comments anyone ever has for one of my stories. This feedback was invaluable, and really improved the quality of the story. If The Reclaimers is of publishable quality, it is in a large part because of Kathryn’s feedback. Kathryn recently had a flash fiction piece published at Antipodean SF, and also occasionally blogs.

If you eventually read and like The Reclaimers, it will be because of the excellent work of these three beta readers. If you don’t like it, you can definitely still blame me!

The Reclaimers is slated for release in Dimension6 in April 2018. I have nothing but appreciation for the most excellent Keith Stevenson, editor and publisher at Coeur de Lion (the creators of Dimension6) for the faith he has shown in my story.

The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair (a story)

A colleague and friend once said to me (in a moment of rare frustration) “You know Mark, you should write a story called ‘The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair’”. I really liked the title, so I decided to oblige.

At their worst, public service performance reviews can feel like being savaged by a pack of wild dogs. This story does not contain a particularly subtle metaphorical treatment of the subject.

It is, I guess, a sequel to ‘In the Service of the Public‘, if flash fiction can have sequels.

The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair

‘Oh god, performance appraisal time,’ Alison thought as the mauve indicator light flashed in the corner of the screen. It was her supervisor, T’ahmar.

Ever since Earth’s artificial-black-hole-induced implosion, Alison had drifted from job to job throughout the bureaucracies that made up the Interstellar Coalition Public Service. Initial sympathy for her plight had morphed into curiosity, which had then solidified into indifference.

The years danced by. No alien race was willing to take on the burden of the million or so human refugees who happened to be away from home when the accident happened. The reality of it was that governments only allowed proper citizens to take senior positions in their public services.

So Alison, once considered the bright future of the Earth Department of Foreign Affairs, was reduced to menial filing in a backwater colony of the Frusbian Empire — a grand name considering the Frusbians had colonised only three moons and a mining asteroid in their own solar system.

Still, human beggars like Alison couldn’t be choosers. With no place to call their own and so little in the way of aid from the other races, humanity drifted towards the edge of extinction. The Sol system had been evacuated and was still off-limits. Any habitable planets in what had been known as human space were claimed by civilisations with military capability. The few nascent human colonies were relocated, “for their own protection”. Humanity was the new underclass of the civilised worlds.

The indicator flashed again. T’ahmar didn’t like to be kept waiting. Not that her previous supervisor Z’utpok had been lenient, but he had at least recognised that Alison — despite being human — had significant skills to offer. Z’utpok had allowed her to help with issues of policy, and she had been instrumental in getting his bureaucratic pièce de résistance approved by the Frusbian government.

Flushed with success and singing Alison’s praises, Z’utpok immediately retired. Unfortunately, the senior bureaucrat brought in to replace him moved to populate senior posts with former colleagues selected more for loyalty than competence. Before long Alison found herself on the wrong side of her new boss T’ahmar through a combination of her connection to the previous regime, her non-Frusbianness, and her all too human tendency to speak her mind.

Now T’ahmar had insisted on a traditional performance review. While theoretically still legal, the orthodox Frusbian performance review was considered barbaric and tasteless by most modern commentators. Still, if Alison was going to save up enough money to get off this rock she’d have to go through with it.

Alison donned the traditional Frusbian review garb (which looked to her more like a hessian sack) and mentally reviewed what she knew about the D’armen attack dogs that T’ahmar favoured. Once she was as ready as she would ever be, she grabbed her favourite duelling dagger from her desk and headed out towards the Review Arena, trying all the while to think of a better way to earn a living.

THE END

‘The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair’ was originally published in Antipodean SF, in issue 171 (September 2012). It is also available in the free collection of my published flash fiction and short stories A Flash in the Pan?. See my bibliography for more details about my published work.

New story “Narration Blues” published on AntipodeanSF

One of my flash fiction pieces, titled “Narration Blues”, is in the latest addition of AntipodeanSF, an Australian publication.

It cannot be denied that “Narration Blues” is a silly story. I was listening to the voice over at the start of a fantasy television series, and I thought to myself “gee this is a lot of backstory – lucky they got the right person”. What if the hero died? Didn’t quite finish the quest? Gave up to become a carrot farmer? All that wasted destiny…

“Narration Blues” is the result.

As always, many thanks to Ion “Nuke” Newcombe, the editor of AntipodeanSF, for his support of my work. This is the 11th flash fiction piece that Nuke has published of mine, for which I am very grateful.

In the Service of the Public (a story)

To be honest, this story occurred to me as I sat in a prestigious program for promising public servants listening to a self important lecturer drone on about his own greatness. When I realised there was still an hour to go in the lecture I started to wish the world would end. So in some ways this story was semi-autobiographical. Sans the black hole of course.

In the Service of the Public

Alison’s vision blurred as she stretched the skin of her forehead towards the ceiling in a desperate attempt to stop her eyes from drifting shut. The eminent professor was pleased with his own accomplishments. He droned on, happy to let the audience bask in the light of his genius.

With an effort, Alison snapped the fuzzy image before her into a sharp, three-dimensional representation of the source of her lethargy. After all, it was an honour to have been selected for the Interstellar Coalition Public Service leadership development program. It offered Alison the chance to rub shoulders with colleagues from the seven Coalition planets, and it was a hopeful sign of things to come back on Earth.

Not to mention that the prestigious Hawker Memorial School of Interstellar Government was named after the woman who had bound the human race together after its first encounter with intelligent extraterrestrials — the reptilian Aazorks. As Earth’s inaugural President, Hawker had also negotiated the first Aazork treaties. That, in turn, had paved the way for the Coalition, and inevitably the ICPS.

Six months of dedicated training about the habits and cultural traits of the various species that made up the Coalition was a huge investment by the Earth bureaucracy. Alison’s heart swelled with pride just thinking about it. The trip out to this giant space station in the middle of nowhere had taken nearly three months, and the trip back would take just as long — a full year out of Alison’s life, but time well spent.

As the professor’s self-important drone continued unabated in the background, Alison couldn’t help but wonder what she would do upon her return. She certainly wished that a better faster-than-light drive had been invented, and that the relativity effects had been overcome. Being away for a year was difficult, but by the time she returned over 10 years would have passed on Earth. She’d been a perfect choice — no family, excellent at her job, and practical enough to see the time invested as worthwhile. This trip would propel her to the heights of the Earth Department of Foreign Affairs, but she didn’t even know who would be in charge when she returned, let alone what position she might hold.

A wave of muted noise suddenly rippled across the room. The professor stopped speaking, visibly struggling with the concept that anything could be more important than his lecture.

Alison turned to the man sitting beside her. He was staring at his datasheet in horror.

‘What’s going on?’, she asked.

Her fellow student’s face was ashen. It took him some moments to formulate a reply. ‘News just in on the quantum entanglement coms system. There’s been an accident back home. Scientists started that damn Extra Large Hadron Collider and the Earth has been swallowed by the black hole it generated!’

Alison slumped back in her seat trying to process the shocking information. She could only wonder what a career in the Aazork public service might be like.

THE END

‘In the Service of the Public’ was originally published in Antipodean SF, in issue 169 (July 2012). It is also available in the free collection of my published flash fiction and short stories A Flash in the Pan?. See my bibliography for more details about my published work.