Category: fiction

Fledgling – magic realism at The New Flesh

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

All of my stories are special to me, for one reason or another, yet Fledgling is one of my personal favourites – perhaps the closest I’ve come to getting the whole thing right. If you were to ask me to recommend just one of my stories to read, this would be it.

My thanks to the editors of The New Flesh Magazine – William Pauley III and Brian Barnett for publishing the piece – I didn’t know if it was quite the right fit, but I guess it was. Also my indebtedness to Jodi MacArthur for her invaluable feedback on an early draft of this story.

Oh, what is magic realism anyway? I was looking for a way to describe this story quickly and that seems to describe it – real, but with the tiniest hint of magic.

Giant Mushroom Envelops Small WA Town – flash fiction in Antipodean Science Fiction, November

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

Another action-adventure Sci-Fi piece in Antipodean Science Fiction. Giant Mushroom Envelops Small WA Town is a quick shoot-em-up set in Western Australia (not Washington), which seems appropriate in AntiSF. Giant fungal invasions remain high on my list of fears, and it’s cool to smother Western Australia too, though I have another story on the backburner, with nasty fungus further east.

Antipodean Science Fiction publishes 10 stories monthly, each story around 500 words long.

These Things Are Illusions in Trunk Stories

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

Trunk Stories is another print anthology from Static Movement and editor Chris Bartholomew – an anthology of lost and forgotten stories.

My story – one of the longest I’ve ever had published at around 8000 words – was written about five years ago, went to a few publishers, and didn’t make it to print. I still like the story – about an older stepbrother visiting a blended family, initially grating on everyone, but eventually enthrally his younger stepsisters with an adventure story – and I’m stoked to see it in print.

Trunk stories is available from Amazon and also (at a discount, with reduced shipping for $ break spending) from the Pill Hill bookstore.

The heart of marking …

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My posts here have dried up a little, but I’ll be back soon, ranting and reviewing and linking. Marking is one of the funest things I do, but it’s something I do in my free-time, so somethings fall by the wayside. Mostly no TV, no movies, little of my own creative writing and pretty much no blogging. Part of my goal this year was to blog at least four times a week, but with a couple of hiatuses, that’s perhaps been a little less.

Still, grading papers is cool and it’s a good way to engage with other writers in a different way to the blog. I’m around three quarters of the way through now, with a deadline of Friday next week, so after that I should be back and adding to the morass that is the world of blogging once more.

Heading for Boise – flash fiction at MicroHorror

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

MicroHorror, run by the most esteemed Nathan Rosen, writer, musician and editor, publishes flash horror fiction no more than 666 words long.

My recent piece Heading for Boise appeared on the site on October 6th. This has some of my favourite (perhaps over-used) elements – fragmented narrative, shifting viewpoints, flashbacks, a car wreck and a bit of a haunting. I was pleased with the results but still I hope it’s still readable and makes sense to readers other than me.

The Path to Centauri in October 10Flash

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 4 Comments

My quirky sci-fi flash “The Path to Centauri” is in the October issue of KC Ball’s quarterly flash fiction magazine. 10Flash publish ten flash fiction pieces in each issue, all around a common theme. October’s theme is “stop me if you’ve heard this one” – as it implies, the issue is filled with some pretty humourous stories.

I seem to have a lot of publication announcements at the moment – one of those convergence things. I have a couple more to announce next week too, but then I should be back to my usual self of ranting about politicians and global warming.