Standalone short stories

This is where I’m gathering one-off short stories. Organised loosely by genre and theme.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, K. Noll. Used under CC-BY 2.0 licence.

Science Fiction

Deep Calls to Deep, in which the citizens of New Deep deal with an unexpected threat — or is it an opportunity?

The Potentate. Each year, one person is selected for an audience with the Potentate, but in the last ninety-seven years, the chosen Pilgrim hasn’t returned.

The Labyrinth (Part 1 and Part 2), in which two exogeologists make a strange discovery in the rings of Saturn.

Phobia, in which Mars colonist Asaph Stickney develops an unexpected fear.

Psychoflage, in which a young particle physicist makes an accidental discovery with wide ramifications.

The Nativity Scene, an advent-themed story about life and birth.


Supernatural

An Account of a Singular Event in the Parish of Ey, where seventeenth-century scholar Martin Martin experiences a strange happening on the Isle of Lewis.

Penter Painter’s Holiday Haunts: Last Job of the Season, part of Cole Noble’s spooky Christmas anthology.


Fantasy

Prince Shisin’s Revenge, an action adventure tale inspired by the Chinese wuxia tradition.