My humor flash story “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Monsters” is live on the Daily Science Fiction website. Check it out! And if you prefer to hear it in audio, it will appear on the Far-Fetched Fables podcast sometime next year.
If you enjoy this story and the way it makes fun of movie tropes, you will probably also like “Worldbuilding” and the way that story satirizes science fiction tropes.
#SFWAPro
1 Comment | 
Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: daily science fiction, fantasy, flash, humor | 
Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
#SFWAPro
“A One-Sided Argument” flash story, originally published in Nature, appears on the second episode of the new podcast MedusPod. I listened to the first episode and was impressed with the voice acting and production values, so I sent in this story and they enjoyed it! Not only did D.E. Medus do a wonderful job of narrating, he also created a cool cover for it, above. Those are the two weapons mentioned at one point in the story (though I don’t want to spoil anything else for you).
MedusPod is just starting out, so give them a listen and maybe send them a story to help get them going.
Read “A One Sided Argument” in Nature
Listen to “A One Sided Argument” at MedusPod
Comments Off on Podcast: “A One-Sided Argument” at MedusPod | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: flash fiction, MedusPod. Nature, science fiction, short story | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
SFWA members received an e-mail this morning notifying them that the Nebula nomination ballot is now available, which signals the beginning of the 2015 award season.
Should you wish to consider any of my writing for your ballot, I had a total of 16 short stories published in 2014 (so far. There *may* be another flash piece forthcoming at DSF, but I don’t know if it will be this year or the next. No other longer stories are due out before 2015). Choosing among these is a little bit like choosing among ones’ children, but if absolutely pressed, I’d ask you to consider “Icarus Falls” as I feel it packs the most emotional punch. Here are a few of my own “top picks” for 2014:
“Icarus Falls” – Daily Science Fiction
The fist astronaut to travel beyond our solar system tries to reconnect with her estranged daughter as she is losing her memories.
“The Golem of Deneb Seven” – InterGalactic Medicine Show
A Jewish family immigrates to another planet to escape civil war on Earth, but the war catches up to them and they find themselves caught in the middle of the conflict.
“Fate and Other Variables” – Galaxy’s Edge
A computer hacker and a kabbalist team up to break into the metaphysical Book of Fate and rewrite their futures.
“High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity” – InterGalactic Medicine Show
A sequel to “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma.” A Pandora’s box shows up at the Pawn Shop while two factions of the Fae covet technology that would allow electronics to work in their realm.
“Doubt” – Galaxy’s Edge
A cybernetically-enhanced assassin who can’t feel pain faces off against his greatest adversary.
The complete list of my other stories is posted on my Bibliography page.
#SFWAPro
2 Comments | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: awards, Ballot, publication, science fiction, short stories | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
Various things have been keeping me extra-busy this week, but here’s a quick post so I can link to another one of my stories that was published this week — a flash piece “Letting Go” in Daily Science Fiction.
There are also a couple of nice new reviews for UFO3, including a Publisher’s Weekly review. I linked them on the UFO Publishing Facebook page.
#SFWAPro
Comments Off on New publication: Letting Go in Daily Science Fiction | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: daily science fiction, flash, science fiction, time travel | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
One of my all-time favorite stories is now live!
“Fate and Other Variables” is a story of a hacker who teams up with a kabbalist to break into the metaphysical Book of Life and alter their futures. It’s a cyberpunk and ubran fantasy mashup, and you can read it for free at Galaxy’s Edge magazine by following this link — but only for the next three months. After that it will remain behind a paywall. (You can and should, of course, subscribe to get full access to this and other stories).
And here’s the illustration for “Fate” by Barry Munden, which will appear in Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories.
#SFWAPro
10 Comments | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: cyberpunk, fantasy, galaxy's edge | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
I was recently invited to participate in one of the coolest writing contest I’ve had the privilege of competing in to date.
SF Comet invites popular Chinese and international authors to write stories (up to 2500 words) based on the prompt they’re provided. The stories are posted (and, in case of international authors, first translated into Chinese) on social media sites such as Weibao and WeChat. Readers are invited to judge the stories and vote — anonymously. Who wrote which story isn’t revealed until the contest is over. All authors are paid professional rates and the winner earns an additional $500.
I participated in the third such contest. I had big shoes to fill–the previous English-speaking authors invited to participate were Mike Resnick and Nancy Kress. The prompt for my contest was “breaking an egg” and my story is linked below:
Read THE GANTHU EGGS at SF Comet.
Although I did not win (the story placed third overall) it was a really fun experience, and I’m quite happy with the resulting story. I’m also excited to have my work translated into Chinese for the first time.
This month’s contest includes Australia’s Aidan Doyle and Great Britain’s Deborah Walker, and the theme is listed as “Part time beggar.” I can’t wait to see what they came up with!
Comments Off on New Publication: The Ganthu Eggs at SF Comet | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: contest, SF Comet, translation | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
Two more of my stories are available to read as of the last 24 hours.
“The Fiddle Game” is an urban fantasy/noir tale with some humor elements. You can read or listen to it at IGMS (but you’ll need a subscription).
“The Perfect Book” is a lightly humorous SF flash, and it’s free to read in the third issue of Fantasy Scroll Magazine.
#SFWAPro
Comments Off on Two New Publications | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: Fantasy Scroll, IGMS | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
“Icarus Falls” is one of my better non-humor stories and I’m thrilled to finally share it with the readers! Please check it out at Daily Science Fiction!
1 Comment | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: daily science fiction | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
My nearly-autobiographical story “Things We Leave Behind” is now live as a podcast at Cast of Wonders. In itself that’s very cool because COW produce great stories, and I have appeared there several times in the past. What makes this time special is that it marks my debut as a podcast narrator. That’s right — I read my own story!
When Cast of Wonders accepted “Things We Leave Behind” I asked if they had anyone with a slight Russian accent to narrate it. We listened to a few samples, but the narrators who were trying to fake a Russian accent didn’t sound very authentic; they tended to go overboard and sound like Chekhov on Star Trek. So we looked in vain for a while, and ultimately I decided to take a stab at it.
Narrating is definitely not one of my better skills. My diction isn’t great, I have an accent, and I have no training as a voice actor. But I do like to challenge myself and to learn new skills. So I decided to try my best, and let the editors decide if the narration is acceptable. What you will hear was recoded in many takes (I bought a special microphone recommended by Marguerite Kenner, this one if anyone’s is curious. I learned about using a sound popper and about leaning close into the microphone to speak, and about covering my PC with a thick blanket so the background whirr of the fan can’t be heard on the recording.
These things really do make the recording sound a million times better. I’m still no pro — but I think it came out okay. Give it a listen and see what you think!
#SFWAPro
2 Comments | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: Cast of Wonders, Podcasting | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
Artwork by Andres Mossa
What the title says. Edmund Schubert and his team very kindly set the story to a free read, as a way to celebrate its WSFA Small Press Award nomination. You can read it here.
This is also a good time to remind people that the sequel to this story, High-Tech Fairies and the Pandora Perplexity was also published at IGMS, early this year. Both stories will be included in my short story collection next year. But you can also subscribe to IGMS and read it now.
#SFWAPro
Comments Off on Read “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma” for free at IGMS | Acceptances & Publications | Tagged: Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma, IGMS | Permalink
Posted by Alex Shvartsman
You are currently browsing the archives for the Acceptances & Publications category.
Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction 