Split City Waltz

Goodness, it’s been a while. Do pardon the dust in here, but I thought I’d stop by to make a quick post about a story of mine that’s being released tomorrow.

Split City Waltz is a short LGBTQ novella starring the rather conflicted private investigator Allyn Morgan. Capable, curious, flirtatious and practical, she’s a really fun character to write about, and hopefully to read about too!

She’s been hanging around inside my head for a while now, but to be honest, I just couldn’t find a world to put her in. Thankfully, an anthology call over at Less Than Three Press helped solve that problem.

Living in London was always fun, and I miss it in a lot of ways – the fast flow and constant noise. And one of the things that always struck me about being there was how divided it was between the waking hours and the darker ones. It was incredible watching as one part of society headed indoors while another slipped out into the evening light.

It was as though the whole vibe of the city changed, as the tourists made their way back to their temporary beds and the locals came out to play after a hard day’s graft.

This novella was very much inspired by the idea that a single city can have two very different sides. In this world, London is inhabited by two very different societies – one basking in the new technological advances being used above ground, and another taking refuge from it in the former underground network below.

There are two types of people in the world these days; ones who feel safe knowing someone’s watching them, and those who don’t.

Allyn couldn’t imagine a world without the chip that rests just underneath the skin of her right wrist, while a mysterious hacker named Terminal couldn’t think of anything worse. This story is about what happens when they’re forced to work together.

The London of tomorrow is a city that couldn’t care less what you do – as long as everyone can see you doing it.

It’s available from tomorrow from Less Than Three Press, Smashwords, All Romance and more!

Click here for an excerpt and links to reviews!

All I’ll Ever See

From Sean Creamer’s ‘Crystal Castles’ collection, via hongwrong.com.

The world is very small.

It’s the bed you woke up in and the number of contacts in your phone.
The friends you meet for lunch and the TV shows you talk about.
It’s your mother reminding you of birthdays and the line at the bus stop.
Your most visited websites and the paper cut you didn’t realise you had.
It’s the ads you ignore as you cook and the song stuck in your head.
The characters you want to be and the ones you know you are.
It’s the faces of those who reject you and the words of the ones that don’t.
The light that flickers and the floorboards that creak under your feet.

It’s intricate and fragile.
Singular and certain.
It’s life.
And it’s the truth.

But it’s not the only one.

Bragging Rights

Screenshot via Star Citizen

“Okay, listen up,” says a voice in your ear. “As of thirty seconds ago you are the last remaining Bouncer pilot in this system. Reroute on vector 4.96 and await further instructions.”

The Dark Room

Nobody Behind the Door by Nicolas Gouny

You know exactly what they look like; black and shimmering, with big long jaws full of bright white teeth. They stretch their arms out, but never come closer than you allow them to.

You stand there and wait, using the light beyond the door to study every shiny scale. They growl and sniff and howl, restless in the dim.

You think they’re the reason you’re still here, that you can’t leave until they are gone. They know better.

Our New Pet

A little mushroom alien by Zeldacw

Flangiprop n. a small, “mushroom-like” carnivorous mammal found native to a cave network on DK-233. Appears to possess an acute sense of smell, not unlike an Earth dog. Communicates in high-pitched squeaks.

“It’s a stupid word,” he told her, staring into the cage.

“Well, I think it suits him,” she replied, tapping at the glass.

A series of low, happy sounding chirps echoed around the small container as the… Flangiprop sat down and blinked up at them. One of it’s his short little arms made a sort of waving motion. He watched her coo at it out of the corner of his eye. “I can’t believe they let you keep it.”

Her smile was like something out of an old holograph, bright and stunning and a tiny bit irritating. “I know, right!?”

The little brown and red thing let out a long, cheerful squeak in response. He was gonna have to run a neuroscan on the damn thing later, make sure there wasn’t some sort of telepathic link going on. He leaned back against the hull of the carrier, watching the techs load up the rest of their equipment. She was too busy making weird ass baby noises at the thing to pay any attention to them tipping her core samples the wrong way up.

“That thing is messing with your mind,” he said, crossing his arms.

He thought she was ignoring him until –

“I think I’m gonna name him Henry!”

He sighed. It was gonna be one hell of a long ride back to base.

Just Beyond

Grey World via Josiah Munsey on Flickr

“Think the sky is grey because we want it that way?” she asks.
Hell of a way to speak to someone on the other side of the line.
“Suits the mood, whatever the reason.”
She ain’t wrong, us facing each other in the misty quiet.

Above us it’s all spinning off, breaking up – reforming.
“Are you afraid of what comes next?”
She’s difficult to ignore but impossible to cut down.
“I’m not.”

Now that, I do believe.
They’ve the light of a million righteous souls behind them.
But us?
All we’ve got’s the guilt.

Reinventing Reality

Very quick post today just to direct you to one of my short stories, Expendable, which I entered into a writing competition over on Inkitt! You can find it under the science fiction section or by clicking this link!

An unnamed mall mechanic faces the harsh realities of the far future when he’s falsely accused of bioterrorism…

The story is a quick read (about 1000 words) and it would be fantastic if you could spare a minute to vote for it as well. Thanks guys! :D

EDIT (8/9/15)

Thank you so much to anyone who took an interest in Expendable, but I’ve taken it off the Inkitt website. You can still read it here on my blog though!

Slumland Symphony

Under a Rock, by Jonone (click-through for full size!)

Garrett watched the sunrise from behind an old beaten up carrier that had been gutted decades ago. All that was left was the shell, a blistered, broken mass of metal that once knew how to fly. Sad, he thought, tipping back his hat and squinting into the wind. Time was he’d have maybe been a pilot himself. Sat behind a board full of pretty blinking lights and taken off, broken atmo with a smile and a purpose and money in the bank.

There was a creak followed by a muffled snap, distant and quiet, off to his left. Someone was trying to get closer. Garrett sniffed the air, and settled his hat back firmly on his head, down over his eyes. His back was aching, pressing into the ship’s old carcass, heating up with the sun as it rose.

Another creak, light footfalls skittering over the ruins of the graveyard. Woman maybe, or a boy. Young either way, starving like the weeds that sprouted up from between the cracked dirt just to wither. Whoever they were, they were getting closer and moving faster. Figured him for an easy mark, sleeping under the sky, miles from anyone who might give a fig about justice or the proper way of settling things…