Tag: allan kaster

Goldie shows up again

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

My novella “Goldie”, which was the cover story in Asimov’s January/February 2022 has been reprinted, again, this time in Neil Clarke‘s Forever Magazine.

This is its second reprint outing, following an appearance in Allan Kaster’s The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 7 last year.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great opportunity to pick up the story, along with “Jaunt” by Ken Liu, and “The Empty” by Ray Nayler. Man, I’m humbled by that company that’s for sure. The excellent cover art is by Ron Guyatt. At $2.99 for the ebook of the issue, it’s an awesome deal.

While I’m mentioning the story, I’ll note that it placed second in Asimov’s annual readers’ poll. Who remembers the second place getter, right? So I’ll mention that first place went to Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who is pretty much the champion of science fiction novellas. See her (now completed) Novella Kickstarter here – which funded tremenously well and pretty quickly. Yeah, she really knows her stuff with novellas.

Goldie has always been close to my heart, so it’s great to see her out and about strutting her stuff once again.

 

In other news, I have a new contemporary fantasy story out now – “Everything Has Cupboards”. A quirkly little piece that was fun to write and fun to put out. Here’s the Universal book link, though it may take a few days to populate.

Everything Has Cupboards

Learning her way around the office at her new job, Milly discovers a locked cupboard door. Well that just fascinates Milly. As a child she explored everything, and that desire stayed with her.

Sometimes her curiosity creates problems. Mostly, though it creates more curiosity.

This time, though, things might just get out of hand.

A simple, fantastical short story that asks: Do we really know ourselves?

As usual $2.99 for the ebook, and $6.99 for the print book. Drop me a line if you’d like a code for a free one (which will come from Bookfunnel, via Shopify).

Also, out just a few days back, book 11 in the Captain Arlon Stoddard Series Cradle Robbers.

Royd Melgrave slams himself into an emergency vacuum suit as klaxons blast around him. The refinery station seems doomed.

When Authority investigators Captain Arlon Stoddard and his crew arrive, the refinery wreck follows an erratic orbit and little evidence remains.

What they do find only raises more questions. Questions that might turn things inside out.

 

ebook for $5.99, and in print for $16.99

 

Thanks for reading. More news in a couple of weeks.

Sean

p.s. Goldie is named for her remarkable amber eyes (which Dominic Harmon captured so well in the original cover illustration), but also, as a nod to my New Zealand homeland, after C.F. Goldie, an artist of enduring renown.

 

A week of wonderful covers, with my stories somewhere behind

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

I’ve already leapt around excited about these, but I want to toss it out there again. This week sees the publication of two of my stories in volumes I’m humbled to be associated with.

First the July/August issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction with my story “Bridges”. The cover story, and let me tell you, the art by Eldar Zakirov cuts to the heart of the story so well. I’m pretty amazed.

[as a side note, Eldar also drew the internal illustration for my story “Single Point Failure”, from Analog in 2022].

An excerpt from “Bridges” is available now on the Asimov’s site here.

There’s also an except from Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s novella “Death Hole Bunker” which is definitely worth a read. But I also note this because, after many many years of reading Kris’s amazing fiction and learning so much from her, this is the first time, as far as I can tell, that I’ve actually shared a table of contents in Asimov’s with her. She seems to have a tale in every second or third issue, and this is my tenth appearance, so I’m surprised it’s taken so long. That said, I’m hugely honored to be published alongside Kris… and various other luminaries there.

Available from booksellers and ebook retailers.

Second thing, also out this week, and available to preorder now, is The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories edited by Allan Kaster.

I’ve already mentioned this here, I think, but this is release week after all. The volume includes my story “Goldie”, which was published last year, also in Asimov’s. Goldie was a finalist in both the Asimov’s readers’ poll (category won by Kristine Kathryn Rusch), and New Zealand’s Sir Julius Vogel Awards (category won by the remarkable Marie Cardno for “How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster)”), so the story is having something of a second life, which is nice.

Since I seem to jabber on about things, I’ll also mention that the cover art here is by none other than the remarkable Maurizio Manzieri, who some years ago produced the fabulous Asimov’s cover art for my story “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles”.

The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories releases on June 16th.

 

The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 7 – includes my novella “Goldie”

~ Sean Monaghan ~ Leave a comment

The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 7, edited by Allan Kaster is available for preorder now – out on June 16th. I’m honored to have my novella “Goldie” included in the pages. Talk about amazing company. Look at that contents page! Copied directly from Amazon:

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best hard science fiction stories and novellas published in 2022 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster.

 

  • “The Lichens” by Nina Allan — A 22nd century botanist asks a teacher in Scotland, at the time of Culloden, for help with her research.
  • “Beneath the Surface, a Womb of Ice” by Deborah L. Davitt — A biochemist involved in the search for underground water on Mars finds refuge in the mechanics of science.
  • “A Stone’s Throw” by Gregory Feeley — Romance burns hot amidst the cold moons of Neptune.
  • “The Wine-Dark Deep” by Sheila Finch — A cephalopod researcher discovers petroglyphs on the walls of a deep underwater cave.
  • “Cloudchaser” by Tom Jolly — A collector of rare artifacts hides his valuables on darkworlds.
  • “The Ploughshare and the Storm” by Gwyneth Jones — Post-humans find a time capsule on Europa.
  • “Nonstandard Candles” by Yoon Ha Lee — A cartographer and her apprentice map the outer darkness of space.
  • “Timekeepers’ Symphony” by Ken Liu — The colonization of the cosmos transforms humanity’s sense of time.
  • “Maryon’s Gift” by Paul McAuley — Set in the author’s Jackaroo series, monks fight to keep a newly discovered pristine world free of humans.
  • “Goldie” by Sean Monaghan — Scientists learn a lot about themselves while studying the ecosystems of an alien planet.
  • “The Abacus and the Infinite Vessel” by Vikram Ramakrishnan — A scientist recalls the struggles of her and her mother after immigrating to Mars.
  • “I Give You the Moon” by Justina Robson — A history student yearns for a dose of reality in an AR-immersed future.
  • “The Difference Between Love and Time” by Catherynne M. Valente — A woman has a relationship with the space-time continuum that’s a bit different than most of us.
  • “Critical Mass” — An avant-garde artist, past his prime, discovers his works are being vandalized.
  • “Communion” — A pilot is caught in a life and death struggle between his ship’s AI and an alien microbe after crash landing on an ice moon.

Talk about imposter syndrome. There are people there I’ve admired and idolized for years. If only I could write like them! This is another ‘knock me down with a feather’ moment.

I can’t wait to get my copy and immerse myself in all these wonderful universes.