Curious Fictions

I very recently – as in, an hour ago – signed up to use a new author platform called Curious Fictions. Like I said, I’m very, VERY new to it, so I’m still figuring out exactly how it works, but as I understand it so far, published authors can list short stories, excerpts from longer works, and post other information with the aim of getting their work out to a wider audience and as another potential revenue stream. Readers can follow their favourite authors to get updates when they post new material, or pay a small subscription fee to access subscriber-only content. So I guess that makes it a little like Patreon, a little like a blog, a little like Wattpad, and a little like a few other platforms I’ve seen come and go.

Browsing through the list of authors, I noticed a number of familiar names; Jason Franks, Alan Baxter, Sean Williams and Trent Jamieson are just a few of the authors using Curious Fictions whose work I admire. They’re all Australian, by birth, or like the first two (and like me), by residence. But it’s no big surprise that the Aussies would be first in line to give things a go.

The handy Best Practice guide that Curious Fictions provides to authors suggests that you don’t just load up all your reprints all at once – spread them out regular intervals, ideally one post a week. I’ve started with “Ghosts Under Glass”, which was first published in Horror Library Vol. 4.  As with many of my stories, the seed for this came from a dream about a very angry spectre on one side of a pane of glass, and a young woman on the other. I have no idea what my subconscious was trying to tell me, unless it was, “Hey! This would make an interesting premise for a short story!”

Anyway…if you’re interested in reading some of my work, pop on over to Curious Fictions and follow me. And while you’re there, have a little poke around. You never know what you might find.

I’m ba-ack!

I’ve been on a hiatus from blogging for over two years now, and I have no good reason why. No personal catastrophes or life-changing events (not unless you count both daughters entering adolescence in one or both of those categories) – I just wandered away from my blog one day, got lost, and took a circuitous and scenic route getting back.

Anyway…here I am. I’ve returned to announce the release of a new anthology from IFWG Publishing, in which I have a story – Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud.  This is an anthology of Lovecraftian themed short stories with South Pacific settings penned by New Zealand authors, and serves as a companion to the IFWG’s Cthulhu Deep Down Under series.

Lovecraft has such an influence on modern horror fiction, it’s possible to incorporate his themes in one’s writing without even being familiar with his work – which is, I am slightly embarrassed to say, what happened when a writer friend recommended I submit a story to The Lovecraft E-zine back in 2013. Since then, I’ve read ALL the Lovecraft, and penned several more Cthulhu Mythos-inspired tales (on purpose, this time).

My story in this anthology is entitled Shadow Over Tarehu Cove. Lovecraft fans will probably guess which of his stories provides the inspiration from the title alone. The monsters described in the source story bear a striking resemblance to certain amphibious creatures from Maori mythology. The Miskatonic University makes an appearance. Also borrowed from Lovecraft are themes of hopelessness, fragile sanity, and small town secrets. What I deliberately set out NOT to borrow were Lovecraft’s infamous racism and misogyny. Hence we have two Maori women, deeply in love with each other, front and centre in this tale.

 

 

New Release: The Refuge Collection Volume 3

The Refuge Collection Volume 3 was released in e-book format yesterday. It contains my short story “The Lizard and the Maiden”, and sits alongside tales from Ramsey Campbell, Kaaron Warren, Steve Dillon and E J McLaughlin. The Refuge Collection is a project edited by Melbourne-based writer Steve Dillon. All the stories are set in the mythical Australian town of Refuge. They can be read as stand-alone pieces, but ultimately when the project is completed (Steve is looking at 6 volumes with a total of 36 stories) they will combine to build an overarching plot. All the proceeds from the e-book sales go to help refugees via registered charities Sanctuary Australia Foundation and Refugee Action UK.

A long time ago when I first started submitting stories for publication, an editor told me that I ought to be writing stories based on my culture and using New Zealand mythology. Ironically, the longer I live away from my country of birth, the more I look there for inspiration. Like my stories “The Touch of the Taniwha” and “Father Figure”, “The Lizard and the Maiden” incorporates elements of Maori myths, legends and spiritual beliefs. This fits with Steve’s vision for The Refuge Collection, as he aims to curate a collection of stories from a variety of cultural backgrounds and perspectives.

You can purchase Volume 3  for $5 from Smashwords in several different electronic formats to suit your reading device of choice. Alternatively, and as with most of the other individual stories in the collection, “The Lizard and the Maiden” is available as a standalone piece for a mere 99 cents.