These are my stories published before 2009 – that I’m willing to admit to, anyway – including my winning story from the Writers of the Future contest. There’s a bunch more coming – or already out – in 2009 (see my Bibliography). These ones below span a few years, so hopefully you can see some improvement from the oldies to the newest. The red titles link to pages on this website.
The Alchemical Automaton Blues – fantasy, 2500 words, published 2004
This story got me my first ever paying fiction publication, in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Issue #15, after it won the short story contest at Conflux, the Australian national SF convention in 2004. It also got an honourable mention in The Year’s Best Australian Science-Fiction and Fantasy, Vol #1 and can be heard free online at Drabblecast, issue 107. Along with ‘The Last Day of Rea’, ‘The Alchemical Automaton Blues’ belongs to an early iteration of a fantasy world I’ve been kicking around for a while. ‘Angel Dust’, a more recent vision of this world, will appear in Clockwork Phoenix 2 in mid-2009, and a fourth story ,’The Gifts of Avalae’, will hopefully appear in the revived Blood & Devotion anthology at about the same time.
Bitter Dreams – fantasy/horror, 12600 words, published 2008
This story was the 2008 gold prize-winner in the Writers of the Future contest, published in Writers of the Future, Vol #24. It was a finalist in the 2008 Aurealis Awards and got an honourable mention in The Best Horror of the Year #1. It was the first story I wrote at Clarion West in 2006. As such, I’m grateful to my classmates and teachers who had a hand in what it became, and to Tony Daniel – who I’ve never met, but this story wouldn’t exist if Paul Park hadn’t read us his story ‘A Dry, Quiet War’ in week one. I’ve started work on a graphic novel version of ‘Bitter Dreams’ with Bob Hall (hallhammer.deviantart.com), who illustrated it in the WotF anthology. A second story set in this world, called ‘Once a month, on a Sunday…’, was published in Andromeda Spaceways #40 in September 2009 and a podcast of ’Bitter Dreams’ will be coming out at SFZine.
The Dao of Stones – science-fiction, 4500 words, published 2007
This was one of my audition stories for Clarion West. It was subsequently published in Challenging Destiny, Issue #24. The poems quoted in the story are Tang-era (8th-9th century), obtained with permission from Mark Alexander at www.chinese-poems.com.
Grace – science-fiction/horror, 1800 words, published 2007
This story was published in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Issue #28, and received an honourable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Vol #21. It began with the bit about sitting at the front of the cable car, which was part of a strange and vivid dream I had one night, that was otherwise nothing at all like this story.
The Greatest Adventure of All – science-fiction/horror, 5200 words, published 2007
This is the first story I managed to sell twice. It’s currently free to read online at http://coyotewildmag.com/autumn2007/adventure_mchugh.html and to hear online at http://pseudopod.org/2009/02/20/pseudopod-130-the-greatest-adventure-of-all/. It received an honourable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, Vol #21, and is basically me giving two fingers to metaphysics (sorry, Ben).
The Last Day of Rea – fantasy, 7000 words, published 2006
This story first appeared in Twenty Epics, edited by David Moles and Susan Marie Groppi, which was a finalist for Best Anthology at the World Fantasy Awards. Before buying the story, David was kind enough to track me down in order to request a rewrite, because I foolishly left my contact details off the top of my manuscript. Not every editor will do that. The Tangent Online review of this story started with, “Despite its slow beginning,” but also said “this fine tale”, “shows his gift for elegant yet witty prose” and “ends up anything but [slow]“.
Requiem in D-minor (for prions, whale and burning bush) – science-fiction, 2800 words, published 2007
This story is still free to read at Hub Magazine, but since they’re currently refurbing their website, I’ve put a copy here for the time being. It was written after reading a wildly alarming article about prion diseases, and stumbling across the art exhibition mentioned in the story at an alarmingly pretentious gallery in London. It’s my attempt at ‘classic pulp SF’, and got an honourable mention in The Year’s Best Australian Science-Fiction and Fantasy, Vol #4. An audio version of the story can be found at http://escapepod.org/2009/06/25/ep-205-requiem-in-d-minor-for-prions-whale-and-burning-bush/.
