New Publication: Fate and Other Variables in Galaxy’s Edge

November 1, 2014

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

fate

 

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

New Publication: Doubt in Galaxy’s Edge, plus bonus!

May 6, 2014

GalaxysEdgeMay

“Doubt” is a near-future SF story about the battle between two cybernetically enhanced assassins! It went live on May 1 and you can read it online for free. but only for the next two months. After that, the new issue of GE will be released and the story will only be available for purchase in the GE archives as an ebook or physical magazine.

Edited by Mike Resnick, GE features a mix of work from the SF masters and neo-pros. In this issue you can read stories by Bob Silverberg, Nancy Kress, David Brin, and others. They recently became available by subscription, so please consider supporting this worthy publication.

You can also support GE’s publisher by purchasing the Book Bale bundles. This month’s bundle features books from George RR Martin, Mike Resnick, and others!

BTS

And now for the bonus. Last year, I had a short story appear in the “Beyond the Sun” anthology from Fairwood Press. edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt. The e-book distribution for this anthology is handled by Baen, one of the largest publishers in SF-dom. But it wasn’t until today that I learned that mine and several other stories are available as teasers for the anthology and can be read online! So if you’d like to read a very grim space opera tale of seeking paradise, check out “The Far Side of the Wilderness” at Baen Books web site! It also links to several other stories available as teasers. I highly recommend Jamie Todd Rubin’s “Flipping the Switch.”

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

New Publication: Bedtime Story on Christmas Eve, 1,000,000 AD in Spark IV

January 17, 2014

spark

My humorous flash “Bedtime Story on Christmas Eve, 1,000,000 AD” appears in the current volume of Spark: A Creative Anthology.

In addition to my humble story and the great cover art, this volume is packed to the gills with amazing speculative fiction, including stories from my friends and fellow Codexians  like Brad Torgersen, Alex Kane, Annie Bellet, Erica Satifka, Alexis Hunter, Anna Yeatts, and Michael Hodges. And, to put the icing on the cake, the foreword is by Kevin J. Anderson.

A large percentage of my stories are published in online zines and can be read for free. In this case, you’ll have to actually buy the book. But you can get a nice discount — 35% off, until January 31, if you use a coupon code SHVARTSMAN-FRIENDS.

So there. Don’t say I never gave you anything.

Seriously though, editor Brian Lewis has produced a really nice-looking book, and you would do well to support Spark by picking up a copy if you can spare a few bucks.

In other news, I’m thrilled to have made my third sale to Mike Resnick’s Galaxy’s Edge magazine. After a tough-but-necessary rewrite, Mike accepted “Fate and Other Variables” — a story of a hacker and a kabbalist teaming up to alter what’s written in the metaphysical Book of Fate. What can possibly go wrong?

I’m very excited to share this story with the world, but there is no release date yet. Should be sometime this year, but likely after another story of mine (“Doubt”) sees the light of day at GE.

 

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New Publication: An Indelible Feast (aka the Kosher Pig story) at Stupefying Stories Showcase

November 15, 2013

I don’t remember exactly how it came about, but one day I got it into my head that I should write a kosher pig story. Challenge accepted! From this silly notion, “An Indelible Feast” was born.

I’m a foodie. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t party — but I love a good meal. So it was only natural for me to write a story laden with foodie references.  Ferran Adria is a real chef, by the way. I guess he better open a fancy molecular gastronomy restaurant by 2015, or my story will become dated!

Read the story here:

Stupefying Stories Showcase #10

Some other exciting news to report:

Mike Resnick accepted my cybernetic-assassin-who-can’t-feel-pain story “Doubt” for an upcoming issue of Galaxy’s Edge magazine.

“Coffee in End Times,” a story I co-wrote with Alvaro Zinos-Amaro was accepted at Nature and will run sometime in early 2014.

“The Keepsake Box” was accepted at Daily Science Fiction and will also likely appear in early 2014 (though their schedule varies).

My volume of sales is likely to slow down a lot in the near future, as I concentrate on the novel instead of pumping out more short stories and I will miss it terribly. Because receiving that acceptance in my inbox never gets old!

#SFWApro

 

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Publication: “Requiem for a Druid” in Galaxy’s Edge

February 28, 2013

GalaxysEdge001

 

The inaugural issue (March 2013) of Galaxy’s Edge magazine edited by Mike Resnick is now live, and I’m honored to have a story included in the distinguished company of some amazing authors whose work is featured in this volume. My story in this issue is called Requiem for a Druid. It is the second Conrad Brent adventure, and although it stands fine on its own, I do recommend that you read A Shard Glows in Brooklyn first.

In Requiem for a Druid Conrad goes up against New York’s best-known real estate developer with a penchant for stamping his name on everything and a bad hairdo. You know. That guy.

In other news, I recently made appearances on two blogs.  Susan J Voss was kind enough to interview me on her blog, Deb of Darkness and  I wrote a mini-essay about the slush-reading process for Unidentified Funny Objects for Anne E Johnson’s blog. I appreciate the opportunity to talk up Unidentified Funny Objects an extra time. The e-book sales have been steady and I hope to move forward on the second volume sooner rather than later.

Finally, I’m going to be publishing several of my stories as eBooks on Amazon and other e-reader platforms. I have already lined up some absolutely amazing cover art which I can’t wait to share with everyone in the coming days.

Last but not least, check out an in-depth review of Unidentified Funny Objects by Mieneke van der Salm at the Fantastical Librarian blog.

 

 

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“Requiem for a Druid” accepted at Galaxy’s Edge

December 24, 2012

Arc Manor is launching a new pro zine called “Galaxy’s Edge” in March of 2013, edited by Mike Resnick. I’m thrilled to announce that the premier issue will include “Requiem for a Druid.” My story will get to rub shoulders with works from Lou Berger, Robert J. Sawyer, Jack McDevitt, Kij Johnson, James Patrick Kelly, and Barry Malzberg!

“Requiem for a Druid” has quite a history. This is a second story in the urban fantasy series about Conrad Brent. I love writing Brent stories, which combine urban fantasy, noir, and humor with the Brooklyn setting which is so familiar to me.  And I title them with horrible puns of iconic books and movies set in Brooklyn, too. The first story in the series, A Shard Glows in Brooklyn, was published by Buzzy Magazine earlier this year.

“Requiem” was a story that got me into the Viable Paradise workshop. It was read and critiqued by brilliant writers and editors such as Patric Nielsen-Hayden, Sherwood Smith, Elizabeth Bear, Steven Brust, and Jim McDonald. Also, many of the students at the workshop.  I sent it there because it was my favorite story, and one of my strongest.

And now it’s been accepted by Mike Resnick, a writer and editor whom I admire greatly and have been a fan of for many years.

I plan to write one or two more Brent stories next year. I also hope to complete the first draft of a Brent novel in 2013. But for now, I leave you with the opening line of “Requiem”:

My job that morning was to banish a demon, but I was determined to finish my cup of coffee first.

Be sure to check out Galaxy’s Edge and read the rest of it in a few months!

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