Category: fiction

The New Flesh, best of 2009

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 4 Comments

William Pauley III, editor extraordinaire of The New Flesh Magazine has selected the ten best stories of 2009. There are some extraordinary stories in there, including some of my favourite writers like Jodi MacArthur, Angel Zapata and Laura Eno. And, to blast my own trumpet (after all, that’s a big part of blogs, right?), my own story “Submissions” has made the list.

I’ve got to say, I’m honoured, again. The New Flesh has very quickly proven itself to be a quality site, with some excellent stories. I’m sure that Mr Pauley’s job in putting together this list was a tough one.

venusvulture.com clean-up happening

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment
This is the old site
How the site looks

My website venusvulture.com has been a little neglected, I must admit, probably in favour of this blog.

I do my own coding and uploading, which takes time and effort and I’ve been slack – there are some broken links (the Resting Bell netlabel releases are out of print now, and Bookhabit sold to Smashwords, so my eBook Habitat is also unavailable*), and my publications list is out of date, so there’s lots of clean-up to do.

I’ll be launching the new site in early January with a new look (which I’ve already designed and laid out) with active links.

*I did have the option to move Habitat to Smashwords, but the process is complex and given how little response I got through Bookhabit, I’m not convinced it’s worth it. I also think that Habitat is dated now, in terms of my writing, so it’s probably good to be out of print too.

Kim Wilkins at work on a new book, yay!

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 4 Comments

One of my favourite authors Kim Wilkins has taken herself and her family from Brisbane to England to research and write her new novel. I can’t wait to read it. I know she has been busy, but it’s been a while since her last adult fantasy – Rosa and The Veil of Gold (just The Veil of Gold in the US, I believe). While I’ve enjoyed her young adult books on a level, I couldn’t quite get into her “Kimberley Freeman” romances, so I’m excited that after some years we’ll be getting another thick and well-researched adult fantasy.

Kim was studying at the University of Queensland, ahead of me as I was beginning my masters. She had already published a couple of novels then and won the Aurealis Award in 1997 for The Infernal. My favourite of her novels is The Autumn Castle, which is a complex and dark almost Gothic romance with parallel worlds and devious, devilish plot twists. She’s published something like 20 books now.

The Stinger, by Asher Ellis on Flashes In The Dark

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

(If I’ve figured out how to stop trackbacks, finally, then this shouldn’t appear on the Flashes In The Dark site like this. If it does, I’ll have to come up with another way for posting links to blogs … )

Asher’s wicked flash horror story has just appeared on Flashes in the Dark. This is a very cool story, which reminded me of inadvertantly waiting until the end of the credits in Zombieland, just way creepier.

Asher builds the tension so well … you’ll just have to read it yourself

Fiancées Among Us published in Flashes in the Dark

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My latest story ‘Fiancées Among Us’ has been published in the fabulous Flashes in the Dark. It was intriguing to write something more supernatural again, lots of my recent stories have been a bit more reality based. Or not. Anyway, this is my entry for their Worst of Love contest.

Yay, I think I’ve figured out how to stop the pingbacks happening – if this appears as a comment under the story, sorry I really didn’t mean it to. Whew, technology (wordpress having been invented after I was born).