Lies We Will Tell Ourselves
A spin doctor forced to deal with aliens who loathe lies.
A squad of soldiers torn apart by the fiction in their midst.
A hunting submarine with its dead captain strapped to the prow, the crew promising that one day they’ll revive him.
We all tell lies to get through the day, some of them to ourselves, some to other people. Now read the extraordinary lies of the future in these nine short science fiction stories, available on Amazon. You canread more about the collection here.
Silence on Second Street
Foul mouthed Holden Flynn is a policeman on the rocks. His marriage has fallen apart, and now he’s the only detective in occupied Greykirk, a city scarred by interplanetary war. Trusted by no-one, supported by no-one, Flynn is faced with the tangled loyalties of an occupied planet and the broken technology of a shattered city. Everyone knows who killed Annie Talbot, but can Holden Flynn work out why, and catch the man responsible before another tragedy takes place?
Silence on Second Street, a science fiction short story, is available as a free ebook on Amazon and Smashwords.
Diplomatic Baggage
A series of flash science stories about lies, spin, and diplomacy:
What Lies Behind Us – On the alien planet of Herrje, Julian Atticus rushes to save the British embassy from a public relations disaster.
The Best Laid Plans – An encounter at the spaceport ruins Julian’s day.
Friday Night on Herrje – The fallout from a theft ruins Julian’s Friday night.
Making New Friends – PR man turns spy as Atticus tries to dig himself out of a hole.
Things in Common – The aims of the criminals are revealed and Julian takes a bold step.
Revelation – It’s time to face the truth.
Meet the Press – Can Atticus save the day through spin?
Free Flash Stories
As Cool as Elvis – who wouldn’t want dinosaur hands?
Babysitter 73X – a robot bodyguard is left holding a baby.
Bodies in Space – a scavenger of dead spaceships finds something strange floating in space.
Broken Phones and Empty Bellies – a young woman scrabbles to make a living amid the technology others have thrown away.
Building a Better Time Machine – changing the past proves difficult for two inventors.
The Buried Past – hunting for memories in a spaceship graveyard.
The Colour of the World – will terraforming end in beauty or disaster on a distant world?
Comatose in Zimbabwe – waking up in a strange and terrifying place, Sarai must run for her life.
The Computer Whisperer – Liv manipulates a computer’s emotions in a high tech heist story.
Davey in the Machine – a prisoner grapples with a broken machine AI.
A Deadly Blight – a doctor finds a strange disease in famine-ridden Kenya.
Digits – a robot because fascinated by human hands in a story from my collection Lies We Will Tell Ourselves.
Divided by a Shared Language – diplomat Julian Atticus faces language barriers as he negotiates with an alien race.
Faces – a spy’s life is threatened when technology fails her.
Friend / Not Friend – a mine disposal expert risks death defusing artificially intelligent explosives.
Genre in a Bottle – a romantic artificial intelligence causes problems for lawyer Roz.
Ghosts of the Space Lanes – fear blights the superstitious crew of a space freighter.
In the Blood – on a planet scarred by man-made disease, a pharmacist faces a difficult future.
I’ve Written a Little Code – a programmer fights the forces of oppression in a deep space action story.
The Long Dark to Io – fear and doubt plague a refugee seeking safety for his himself and his baby.
Memories of Innocence – when memories can be changed, guilt becomes a difficult question for a detective and her suspect.
Money for Nothing – what could go wrong with renting out part of your brain?
My Origami Heart – a love story on the way to the stars.
Policemen With Six Legs – alien criminals try to extort a British embassy.
The Price of Living – at war with the machines, freedom fighters must choose whether to trust medical technology.
Quarantined – NASA struggles with a disease from space.
Skin in the Game – in a world where cancer has been cured, a dermatologist gambles for a precious sample.
Songs of a New World – songbirds bring beauty to a terraformed world.
The Suit – a biohazard suit becomes an orphan’s only hope for survival.
Sunflowers in the Snow – when Neanderthals are cloned, new social divisions arise.
Sweetpeas – out of control plants threaten an innocent looking old lady.
When Lunch Fights Back – the survivor of a crash searched for food on alien planet.
The Wonders of Earth – a traveler finds wonders and friendship as he returns to humanity’s roots.
Short Stories Elsewhere
Habits – lawyer Gail Whitman faces an old addiction as she seeks justice in a near future sci-fi story – Triptych Tales.