I have started adding background notes to the individual stories listed in my publication history here.

Issue 109 of Hub magazine is now available, featuring my short story “Gonzo Laptop”.

Click here for free download options.

I am pleased to announce that my 4800 word short story “Gonzo Laptop” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Hub Magazine.

Here’s a brief snippet:

Her eyes were green and her lips red. When she moved, her pendant caught the light.

I walked with her to the door and unlocked it. As I pulled it open, she said: “Listen, I’m on my lunch break right now, but do you fancy meeting up later, for a drink or something?”

I glanced nervously up and down the corridor. I didn’t want to be seen. If we lost this place, we’d have to find somewhere else with privacy and free 24 hour Wi-Fi. I looked down at her. She was standing very close and her blue hair smelled of peppermint. Her black pendant hung in the cleavage of her low-cut top.

“S-sure,” I said, suddenly stuttering.

I’ll post a link and an update when the story’s published.

Apologies for the lack of writing updates. Trust me, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. I’ve been spending most of my free time hammering away at my next novel and I’ve made significant progress. At the same time, I’ve written detailed outlines for two brand new, action-packed short stories, and submitted a third new story to market.

With these new stories, I have enough material for a second short story collection.

Vaughan Stanger has included my short story ‘Ack-Ack Macaque’ in another anthology. This one’s themed around computers and virtual reality and goes by the title The Blue Screen of Death & Other Stories.

The collection also features stories by Cat Rambo, Eugie Foster, and Ben Jeapes, among others, and describes itself as: “strange tales of touchy-feely interfaces and animated monkeys, the ultimate botnet and the blue screen of death, plus many other humorous and thought-provoking stories.”

Order online here: Blue Screen of Death

Since the publication of my first short story collection in August last year, I’ve written five full-length stories and a number of flash pieces, with a total word count of over 32,000 words.

One of these stories has already appeared in Interzone, and another has been sold to a forthcoming anthology. Updates on the rest will appear on the “stories” tab as they happen: Link to Stories.

Interzone 220 dropped through my door this morning. The stories look great and there are some excellent illustrations. I particularly like the retro space ship in Daniel Bristow-Bailey’s accompanying illustration to my story Memory Dust, and the ruined city he’s drawn at the bottom of the precipice…

I’m pleased to announce that my short story Memory Dust will be published in January in issue 220 of Interzone. This is the third of my stories to appear in the magazine.

220 promises to be an excellent issue, as it also features stories by fellow writers Rudy Rucker, Jason Stoddard, Neil Williamson, Leah Bobet, and Eugie Foster.

Full details here: http://ttapress.com/575/interzone-220-goes-to-press/

The November issue of Concept Sci-Fi is now available to download as a free pdf file. The issue includes my short story Flotsam, set in Amsterdam and the Mediterranean. Flotsam originally appeared in my short story collection, The Last Reef, and is a sequel of sorts to the book’s title story.

While on the Concept Sci-Fi site, you can also check out the interview I did for them a couple of months ago: http://www.conceptscifi.com/igpowell.htm

My short story Flotsam will be published in the November issue of Concept Sci-Fi. It originally appeared in my short story collection The Last Reef (Elastic Press 2008) and is a sequel of sorts to the collection’s title story.