Category Archives: News

Contributor copies of Life Beyond Us and Extraordinary Visions

My contributor copies of the anthologies Life Beyond Us and Extraordinary Visions, under the watchful visage of an extraordinary terrestrial lifeform.

Life Beyond Us is the new astrobiology-themed science fiction anthology from the European Astrobiology Institute and Laksa Media Groups, edited by Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law, and Susan Forest. The book features twenty-seven stories, each accompanied by an essay written by a scientist in a relevant field. Opening the collection is my new story “Hemlock on Mars” with the accompanying science essay “Planetary Protection: Best Practices for the Safety of Humankind (And All Those Aliens Out There)” by Giovanni Poggiali of Observatoire de Paris. Life Beyond Us will be arriving to our planet on Earth Day (April 22).

Extraordinary Visions is the first-ever fiction anthology presented by the North American Jules Verne Society, edited by Steven R. Southard and Matthew Hardesty. The book featuring thirteen stories inspired by the writings of Jules Verne including my story “Raise the Nautilus” which closes the collection. Extraordinary Visions is available now in paperback and hardcover. Check out the review on the Nerds of a Feather website.

While their themes are different, these books have much in common. Both are beautiful, with gorgeous cover art by Dan O’Driscoll and Amanda Bergloff respectively, and vividly illustrated interior designs. Both are ambitious, with terrific stories brought together by visionary editors who are passionate about the respective themes of their books. I am grateful and proud to be a part of these anthologies.

Holiday Reading

For your reading pleasure this Holiday season.

Just Like Being There
My first collection of short fiction featuring fifteen of my hard SF and alternate history stories including the Aurora Award winning “Crimson Sky”.

Brave New Worlds
Edited by S.C. Butler and Joshua B. Palmatier featuring fifteen original stories that follow humanity’s long dream of travelling to the stars including my story “A New Brave World”. [Reading Copy (for SFWA members)]

Extraordinary Visions
The first-ever fiction anthology presented by the North American Jules Verne Society featuring thirteen stories inspired by Verne’s work including my story “Raise the Nautilus”.

Other Covenants
Edited by A.D. Lobel and Mark Shainblum, this alternate history collection features stories and poems by thirty authors and includes my novelette “A Sky and a Heaven”. [Reading Copy (for SFWA members)]

20% Discount on Orders of Just Like Being There

Until October 20th, use the promo code CHOI2022 and get a 20% discount when you order my short story collection Just Like Being There from the Springer Nature website:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978–3‑030–91605‑3

The collection features fifteen of my hard SF and alternate history stories including the Aurora Award winning “Crimson Sky” and the new novelette “A Sky and a Heaven”. Story topics include space exploration, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cryptography, quantum computing, online privacy, mathematics (statistics), neuroscience, psychology, space medicine, extraterrestrial intelligence, undersea exploration, commercial aviation, and the history of science. Each story is followed by an afterword that explains the underlying engineering or science.

For more information, please visit the Just Like Being There page or download the brochure. Also check out my author Q&A on the Edelweiss blog, the review on AmazingStories.com, my interviews in Space.com and OverDrive: In the Know, or my conversation on the official podcast of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. 

Story Announcements

Beware the Glob!”, a new story about a dangerous extraterrestrial creature that is unleashed from its frozen Arctic slumber by climate change, will be appearing in a future issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Thank you Trevor Quachri for my fifth appearance in Analog as well as Julie Czerneda and Peter Watts for the biology help, and thank you to my beta readers Kate Story, Gillian Clinton, and Cordell Grant.

Raise the Nautilus”, about a salvage mission to retrieve Captain Nemo’s submarine, appears in Hungarian translation in the July 2022 issue of Galaktika magazine. The story was first published in 20,000 Leagues Remembered edited by Steven R. Southard and Kelly A. Harmon, and the July issue of Galaktika also features translations of “Water Whispers” by Gregory L. Norris and “The Silent Agenda” by Mike Adamson from the same anthology. Thank you Attila Németh for my third appearance in Galaktika and thank you Schubert András for the translation.

Just Like Being There...Is Here!

I am thrilled to announce that Just Like Being There, my first collection of short fiction, has been released and is now available in trade paperback (Amazon!ndigoBarnes & Noble, Waterstones) and ebook (Amazon, Barnes & Noble). The collection features fifteen of my hard SF and alternate history stories including the Aurora Award winning “Crimson Sky” and the new novelette “A Sky and a Heaven”. Story topics include space exploration, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cryptography, quantum computing, online privacy, mathematics (statistics), neuroscience, psychology, space medicine, extraterrestrial intelligence, undersea exploration, commercial aviation, and the history of science. Each story is followed by an afterword that explains the underlying engineering or science.

For more information, please visit the Just Like Being There page or download the brochure. Also check out my author Q&A on the Edelweiss blog, the review on AmazingStories.com, or my interview in Space.com.

Raise the Nautilus” to appear in Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne

I am pleased to announced that my story “Raise the Nautilus”, which was first published in 20,000 Leagues Remembered edited by Steven Southard and Kelly A. Harmon, will be reprinted in the upcoming anthology Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne from the North American Jules Verne Society. This will be the first collection of short fiction ever sponsored by the Society.

Raise the Nautilus” describes an attempt by the Royal Navy to salvage Captain Nemo’s submarine and retrieve an artefact that could turn the tide of the First World War. You can read an abridged excerpt from the story here.

Seasons Between Us

I am delighted to have received my contributor copy of the new anthology Seasons Between Us edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law and published by Laksa Media Groups Inc. featuring new stories by Maurice Broaddus, Vanessa Cardui, C.J. Cheung, Joyce Chng, Divya Srinivasan Breed, Alan Dean Foster, Bev Geddes, Maria Haskins, Tyler Keevil, Rich Larson, Karin Lowachee, Brent Nichols, Heather Osborne, Y.M. Pang, Karina Sumner-Smyth, Amanda Sun, Patrick Swenson, Bogi Takács, Hayden Trenholm, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Jane Yolen, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, and yours truly.

This picture is of course totally posed. The cat cared less for the book than the box it came in.

The Greatest Day” is a Finalist for the 2020 Analog Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Award

I am honoured that my short story “The Greatest Day”, an alternate history about the Space Shuttle Columbia accident that appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine, is a finalist for the 2020 Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Award in the category of Best Short Story as voted by readers of Analog. Thank you to Trevor Quachri and Emily Hockaday for publishing the story, and thank you to all the Analog readers who voted. The winners will be announced in the July/August issue of Analog.

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