Publications

This is a running list of my published and soon-to-be-published fiction.  I’ll add links to the books/magazines/webzines and stories whenever possible, as they become available. Stories not directly linked can be found in my 2011 anthology, Odd Little Miracles.

If you’ve read any of these, feel free to comment here on the blog, or contact me via e-mail: SFFWarren <at> gmail.com

August 2008: “Redemption” in Postcards From… (‘zine no longer available)
An alien delegation has arrived on Earth, but their intentions are anything but peaceful.  Can a time-traveling sniper change history?

September 2008: “The Devil’s Temp” in A Fly in Amber
An office temp gets an assignment that might just change his life…or afterlife.

October 2008: “Intervention” in Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales (Vol 2 & Year One Anthology)
A strange tale of greed, grotesquery, and alien abduction.

October 2008: “A Taste of Honey” in Residential Aliens
“Homemade with love since 1860,” the sign said, but there was something odd about the girl selling the honey. (A kinetic novel adaptation of “A Taste of Honey” that integrates pictures, text, and music is available for download here)

November 2008: “Belphemor’s Minion” in Sorcerous Signals (story no longer archived)
Every evil wizard needs a minion, but Belphemor’s new recruit might be more help than he wants.

December 2008: “Mound of Mud” in MindFlights (and in Residential Aliens Anthology, While the Morning Stars Sing, August 2011)
Two young boys try to build a solution to their problems, but Georgia mud sometimes has a mind of its own.

December 10, 2008: “Little Piece of Cloth” in Every Day Fiction (and in Best of Every Day Fiction Two anthology, January, 2010)
As alien artifacts go, it didn’t look like much, at first…

January 27, 2009: “For Fashion’s Sake” in Every Day Fiction
One day, you’re in…the next day, you’re out.  How far would Candace go to stay in?

April 2009: “Our Lady of Chagrin” in Beyond Centauri
The river had a magic, and she was part of it. Friendship and miracles in the woodlands of Ohio.

April 5, 2009: “The Time-Share” in Brain Harvest (republished in text and podcast at Wily Writers Speculative Fiction, June 2010, and in Future Imperfect, the Best of Wily Writers, Vol 2, January 2011)
They said he was lucky, but there are penalties worse than life in prison.

June 2009: “A Quiet Afternoon at the Alabaster County Ladies’ Sewing Circle and Patchwork Society” in Residential Aliens (and in ResAliens print edition, issue 6, coming soon)
“Tsk. It’s a shame, I tell you. Laura Parsons had her whole life spread out before her, and to lose her head over some young scoundrel…scandalous, simply scandalous.” A little gossip among friends over tea and needlepoint. If only.

September 2009: “Prison Dreams” in Niteblade Magazine of Fantasy and Horror
There are many ways to break a man’s spirit in this prison, and Davis Trent’s cellmate knows the only way to survive.

September 13, 2009: “Weightless,” in Every Day Fiction
Sharon thought it would be fun to live in Japan and teach English, but now she’s having a little trouble with gravity.

October 9, 2009: “One Smile at a Time” in MindFlights and in Aquasynthesis, August 2011
Everyone knew there was something special about Penny Williams. Could one little girl change the world?

October 10, 2009: “Of All Things, Seen and Unseen,” in Residential Aliens (and in ResAliens print issue #1, January 2010)
“Sister Claudia.” The voice flitted above the roar, dancing on the edge of audibility. A mishap in space creates a crisis of faith for a young member of a unique religious community.

October 10, 2009: “Flashback” in Everyday Weirdness
A brief descent into madness, reminding us that for every panacea, there’s a side effect.

November 2009: Novel Debut! The Muse, from Splashdown Books
Stan Marino needs a muse. He’s written himself into a corner again. A shot of inspiration is all he needs to finish his story…where will he find it? Stan doesn’t realize that inspiration has found him, and it’s about to take over his life.

December 2009: “Angel Wings” in Digital Dragon Magazine
Cyndi wanted to stand out from the crowd. It was just a tiny change, and besides, all the kids were doing it…

January 13, 2010: “Half” in Every Day Fiction (and in Best of Every Day Fiction Three anthology, May, 2011)
Two mercenaries ponder the contents of a wizard’s mysterious cask. Perhaps just one sip…

April 2010: “The Silver Tree” in Kaleidotrope
It didn’t look like a tree then, and she almost missed it–two fragile, lacy blades glistening a few inches above the sticky brown soil. A lost colony on an inhospitable world may be changed forever by a young girl’s discovery.

April 2010: “The Chamber of Doors” in Bards & Sages Quarterly (print edition here)
A traveling scholar steals a piece of fruit and discovers a unique flavor of justice.

May 2010: “Come You Back to Mandalay” in Allegory (story no longer archived)
In the depths of this forest, a legendary predator awaited, and silence was its ultimate weapon. A famous hunter and his loyal retainer pursue a mysterious beast in the Burmese jungle.

June 2010: “An Eternal, Unbroken Chain” in Digital Dragon Magazine (PDF version)
Something strange is happening in Farmer Johannsen’s cornfield, and it’s not crop circles.

June 29, 2010: “Bullies With Big Fat Heads” in Every Day Fiction
It’s hard to stand up to somebody who picks on you. It’s even harder when he’s an extraterrestrial.

August 2010: “Rubes” in Reflection’s Edge
A broken-down traveling circus encounters something very odd in a desolate patch of Kansas prairie.

November 2, 2010: “The Transfer” in Every Day Fiction (and in Best of Every Day Fiction Four anthology, Winter, 2012)
A new planet to explore…at a price.

December 2010: “Pilgrimage” in Other Sheep
The rituals will culminate tonight. The gods will speak, some pilgrims will be elevated, others will return, disappointed, but illuminated.

April 2011: “The Flying House” in Beyond Centauri
Jeremy had only one day left, but he was determined to see the house fly. In an alternate England, can a child prodigy’s dreams change his destiny?

July 2011: Odd Little Miracles
Twenty-two of my short stories, including “Sick to Death,” which debuts in this anthology published by Splashdown Books.

Winter 2011: “Old Wheezy” in ResAliens #6 (print ‘zine)
A short illustration of the dangers of overconfidence, and why it’s a good idea to start out with a slightly-used model of anything when you’re still learning.

July 2011: “Promises” in Big Pulp (Fall 2011 issue)
How do you talk to a girl who’s been gone for five years, then comes back a goddess? A superhero romance that begins in Kansas…as these stories usually do.

August 2011: “The Kissing Part” in Aquasynthesis
In this prelude to my novel, The Muse, aspiring author Stan Marino gets a little more creative help than he can handle from his eight-year-old daughter, Hannah.

August 2011: “Beatitude” in Residential Aliens
My second story in Rob & Karina Fabian’s Rescue Sisters universe. Sister Monica finds the rhythms of her life disrupted and the scars of an old tragedy reopened when a rival organization arrives to compete for the Sisters’ search and rescue franchise. Losing the competition may cost the Sisters their job, but failing to forgive could cost Monica her life.

November 2011: The Seer, from Splashdown Books
The Seer is a sequel to The Muse, and continues the adventures of Stan Marino, his daughter Hannah, and their friends, through realms of fantasy and imagination haunted by a deadly reality. As Stan and Hannah wrestle with a heartbreaking tragedy, a window into the future reveals a horrifying danger lurking in their past.

February 2014:  “Connection,” and narrative interludes in Aquasynthesis Again, from Splashdown Books

September 2014: “Not so Vast a Space,” in The Bonte’ Review, from Port Yonder Press

Ongoing: Avenir Eclectia
This is a shared-world microfiction project sponsored by Splashdown Books. I’m currently developing two story threads:

John Milton and the Dreamers – A bored aristocrat stumbles upon the true power behind the Avenir Eclectia colony, and they want to recruit him…but there’s a price to pay, and the colony’s fate hangs on John’s decision.

• “Aristocrat” (May 16, 2011)
• “Ghost” (June 1, 2011)
• “Dreamer” (June 20, 2011)
• “Anya” (August 5, 2011)
• “Nexus” (December 2, 2011)
• “Examination” (February 6, 2012)
• “Gamer” (March 14, 2012)
• “Folly” (April 6, 2012)
• “Expanse” (May 7, 2012)
• “Orca” (July 11, 2012)
• “Flatworm” (July 11, 2012)
• “Banquet” (August 3, 2012)
• “Download” (August 17, 2012)
• “Afterlife” (August 29, 2012)
• “Tea” (November 12, 2012)
• “Problems” (November 26, 2012)
• “Awakening” (February 28, 2013)
• “Door” (May 16, 2013)
• “Chaplain” (June 10, 2013)
• “Nightingale” (August 29, 2013)
• “Satori” (September 5, 2013)
• “Perspective” (September 30, 2013)
• “Conscience” (October 7, 2013)
• “Intersection” (October 14, 2013)
• “Bargain” (coming soon)
• “Template” (coming soon)

Smith, the Artful Dodger – A young man watches over a small community of orphans living by their wits in the bowels of the Avenir station.  He walks a fine line between criminal gangs, corrupt law enforcers, and desperate revolutionaries, using Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist as a handbook for life.

• “Dodger” (April 27, 2011)
• “Rose” (October 12, 2011)
• “Anthem” (December 26, 2011)
• “Proposition” (June 20, 2012)
• “Contraband” (October 1, 2012)
• “Doll” (December 10, 2012))
• “Options” (September 20, 2013)
• “Allies” (October 21, 2013)

A compendium of the Avenir Eclectia stories through August 2012, including my own, is now available in paperback and e-book from Splashdown Books.

UPDATE: Avenir Eclectia is in transition from a continually-updated online cooperative fiction project to a periodic compendium of related short stories. Details to follow.