Tag Archives: stories

Short Stories

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A quick round-up of short fiction that’s currently out in the wild, hunting for readers. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

First off, there’s another Lovecraft-inspired anthology from PS Publishing, Cold War Cthulhu, edited by Darrell Schweitzer. It’s a hefty volume even in paperback, and with some great writers involved. In “The Well”, I finally get to tell what William Burroughs was up to in Ecuador, and for once, it had nothing to do with drugs.

https://pspublishing.co.uk/cold-war-cthulhu-trade-paperback-edited-by-darrell-schweitzer-6542-p.asp

A further volume should be out in the not-too-distant future, Lovecraft’s Dark Dreamlands, which I was also lucky enough to get a piece in. “Mapping the Dream House” is a kind of re-take on HPL’s “Beyond the Wall of Sleep”, with the death of Queen Elizabeth thrown in. Again from PS Publishing, probably later this year or early next.

Ruádan Books is a relatively new company, based in Boston, MA. Their anthology Winter in the City (https://ruadanbooks.com/product/winter-in-the-city/), edited by R.B. Wood and Anna Koon, is an absolute gem. The brief was simple — a city, a season — and it’s produced some fine work from some excellent authors. For a city, I picked Amsterdam, and you can learn all about the Ahn, annoying supernatural creatures  who appear to the lost, the hopeless and the unemployed, utter a little saccharine advice, then vanish, leaving no-one better off… maybe. For Spring in the City (https://ruadanbooks.com/product/spring-in-the-city-a-collection-of-dark-speculative-fiction), from the same folks, I wrote about my old home town, and revealed a little of the secret history of Manchester. Despite the fantastic elements, these are two of the most autobiographical pieces I’ve ever published.

What else? Well, available online, there’s “The Zee” (https://www.unchartedmag.com/stories/the-zee/), the tale of a TV cryptid investigator, which earned a few nice comments recently; and, away from the fantastic, Syncopation Literary Journal Vol 4, Issue 2, has “Starstruck” (https://syncopationliteraryjournal.wordpress.com/short-stories-8/), a tale from the Manchester music scene. So you wanna be a rock’n’roll star? You might prefer to think again…

If you like any of these, you might want to try the collection, The Ice Plague and other inconveniences, available here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/tim-lees/the-ice-plague/paperback/product-m22g9kv.html?q=the+ice+plague&page=1&pageSize=4

The Ice Plague — a new book!

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I’m hugely excited to have a new book out, this one from Incunabula Media. The Ice Plague and other inconveniences (to give it its full title) is a story collection, my first in a few years — “tales of cognitive dissonance and dark fantasy,” as the publisher’s blurb has it.

Here’s the back cover copy:

Tim Lees’s fiction has been compared to that of Michael Moorcock, Ray Bradbury, Franz Kafka, Ted Chiang and Mervyn Peake. In this, his latest collection, you’ll meet a couple of artistically-inclined hit-men (“Scenes from Country Life”), a woman caught up in an interdimensional war, whose friends are far worse than her enemies (“Love and War”); you’ll visit a Heavenly realm invaded by monsters (“Gumps”), and witness a terrifying ritual which nonetheless sustains the peace and stability of the world – and causes hell when it’s disrupted (“The Shuttered Child”). From familiar city streets to strange, inhuman landscapes, from the fields of England to the unknown cities of America, these are stories which push the boundaries of genre and show human life adapting to the weird, the alien – and the outright terrifying.

You can buy this directly from https://www.lulu.com/shop/tim-lees/the-ice-plague/paperback/product-m22g9kv.html?q=the+ice+plague&page=1&pageSize=4, and I’d recommend a visit to the Incunabula site https://incunabulamedia.com/ just to check out everything else they have on sale. It’s an eclectic range, from classics through gritty realism to the fantastic and surreal. I’m very happy to be included in their catalogue. The cover illustration, up above, is by the very talented Mr David Mitchell.

It may take a while to get posted, but the book should also be available at the Barnes and Noble website, and on Ingram — and, eventually, Amazon (though it may cost a little more there).

Happy reading!

New stories…

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I’ve been a bit negligent of this poor website recently, so I’m taking a moment to plug some new stories that are out now or due out in the near future.

First of all, and because it has a wonderful Richard Wagner illustration, there’s “Vermin Control” in IZ Digital:

IZ Digital is the online spin-off of Interzone, Britain’s longest-running SF mag, now edited by Gareth Jelley — check out https://interzone.press/iz/ for details. Meanwhile, “Vermin Control” can be read for free at https://interzone.digital/vermin-control/. I was really impressed with the illustration for this, which captures the spirit of the piece perfectly.

Andrew Hook published my first story collection, The Life to Come, and he’s back with a new crime-oriented imprint, Headshot Press https://headshotpress.com/. Bang! is an anthology of modern noir, opening with my piece, “Out of Town”. Get your cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity right here, folks:

https://headshotpress.com/store/

Andy Cox is another editor who’s played a significant part in my life. Andy published my first story in The Third Alternative, and went on to publish a fair quantity of my work in both Interzone and Black Static. Sadly, all good things must end, and he’s now retiring from the fray, leaving behind a legacy of extraordinary fiction and criticism. The final Black Static, a double issue comprising 82/83, includes my story, “Summer of Love”, a kind of meta-horror piece that… well, you can find it yourself here:

https://shop.ttapress.com/collections/black-static

I had a few stories in PS Publishing’s excellent Postscripts some years ago, and now I’m in their anthology of Lovecraftian tales, Shadows Out of Time, edited by Darrell Schweitzer. PS has really grown in the last few years and is well worth checking out. My story here is a short one — “Genghis at the Gate of Dreams” — but the good news is, there’s going to be a sequel, Cold War Cthulhu, featuring a very odd Lovecraft/William Burroughs mash-up… of which more news later.

https://www.pspublishing.co.uk/shadows-out-of-time-trade-paperback-edited-by-darrell-schweitzer-5960-p.asp

Then we’ve got a reprint. “Soldier’s Things” appeared in Interzone, got some kind reviews, and even a little Hollywood interest (which came to nothing, as these things do). Still, it was nice to be noticed — it doesn’t happen often. Now Shacklebound Books have reprinted it for Eric Fomley’s SFF Excursion series. If you like military SF, this is the one for you. You can find it on Amazon — type “War Pawns Fomley” and it should show up.

All the above anthologies contain stories by other authors, most of them far more illustrious than I am. Aside from the sheer entertainment value, it’s worth checking them out to see what’s happening in the field as a whole. Personally, I’m delighted to be included in these publications, and share shelf-space with so many great writers. Thanks to all the editors involved.

There’s more to come, but for now I’ll just plug Sophie Essex’s upcoming anthology At the Lighthouse, due from Eibonvale Press https://www.eibonvalepress.co.uk/index.htm. Also, take a look at Incunabula Media https://incunabulamedia.com/. If your taste runs to the weird, the off-beat and the just plain odd, you should find something here you’ll love. I’ll tell you more later…

Thanks for reading, and take care of yourselves — it’s a rough old world out there.

And still MORE stories…

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Firstly, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year Volume 12 is now out in all formats, containing a (small) story by me, and a whole load of amazing authors. leaving me mildly shocked to be in their company. Remember that, in the current climate, independent bookshops, like all small businesses, are finding it tough going. If you have one near you, please use it. If you don’t, I might suggest www.bookshop.org as an alternative to… um, you know who. For the Datlow, that’s https://bookshop.org/books/the-best-horror-of-the-year-volume-twelve/9781597809733.

Secondly, a new story in Interzone, following my long piece in issue 287. “Cryptozoology” appears in issue 289, and it’s the story of a marriage… with monsters. “Like a collaboration between John Updike and Bernard Heuvelmans,” said no critic ever. It has a great illustration by Richard Wagner:

Plus, this rip-roaring cover by Warwick Fraser-Coombe:

Find that at https://shop.ttapress.com — you might want to consider a subscription to Interzone and Black Static, both of which publish some extraordinary work.