I recently partnered with Story Tale Podcast, a brand new show specializing in presenting audio versions of short stories from great authors. I met the narrator, KC Johnson, at a convention back in 2017, and I now find myself as the lucky author who is his inaugural episode. It’s both an honor and a privilege.
But the awesome doesn’t stop there. He’s also got a great list of other authors lined up behind me, including Aaron Michael Ritchey, Lou Berger, Travis Heerman, Dave Butler, Sally Hamilton, Christopher Robin Negelein, John Hartness, Marie Whittaker, Kevin Ikenberry, A Lee Martinez, and Mario Acevedo. I think KC is onto something special. Short fiction rarely gets the traction it deserves, and his efforts will make it easier for folks to find great new voices in both short and longer fiction.
KC picked my story “Sol Crystalis Myricalis,” which is about an ex-marine turned xenogeologist who goes up against corporate mercenaries to protect a rare geological find inside an asteroid. Things turn south quickly, and this tough-as-nails space marine finds himself fighting for his life. It reads like a cross between Hammer’s Slammers and Star Trek, and is sure to please fans of either.
KC’s podcast is like a readers’ version of a Scooby-snack. It lets readers get a free taste before they move on to buying the whole sandwich.
KC is working hard to load upcoming weeks with all sorts of fantastic fiction, and it is my sincerest hope that my story “Sol Crystalis Miricalis,” the opener for his new podcast, will help him get things moving. Here’s his description of my story:
“Sol Crystalis Miracalis is a deliciously gritty story set a few hundred years in the future on an asteroid mine in the Hilda’s Asteroid Belt… It’s a fast paced and wonderfully written story with dips and dives that will draw you in and take you by surprise! I don’t want to give too much away, so you’ll just have to take a half hour and listen!”
So, if you’ve got a few minutes to kill and you want to hear a pretty good science fiction story, head on over to Story Tale Podcast and have a listen to “Sol Crystalis Miricalis.” Be sure to follow KC over there, and if you like the story, be sure to follow me here on my Join Up page.
And if you REALLY like the story, you may just want to check out the following short fiction titles I have available in digital versions, and all at great prices.
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| $ 3.99 | ¢ 99 | $ 1.25 | $ 1.25 | $ 1.25 |
| 13 mixed-genre short stories that are sure to please. | A single sci-fi love story with a Celtic ghost story feel. | Three paranormal short stories that delve into the spirit world and other things “unnatural.” | Five fantasy short stories for lovers of the genre. | Includes two fun-filled christmas short stories perfect for the holiday spirit. |
I’ve always been a fan of short fiction. In fact, my first exposure to science fiction was from a set of “The Science Fiction Hall of Fame” anthologies that were hot back in the 70s. They were given to me by my brother, and from that point on, I was hooked on science fiction of every kind. I loved stories by Asimov and Heinlein and Clarke and Laumer and Bova and Le Guin and far too many others to count. All of those sci-fi greats influenced me in one way or another. I guess it’s apropos that the story “Sol Crystalis Miricalis” is dedicated to a guy who saved my brother’s soul, and it was my brother who gave me sci-fi.
Gratitude has a funny way of manifesting itself, and sometimes the circle isn’t a circle at all, but rather a twisty mountain road that makes a winding loop curving back upon itself in an unseen distant future. Regardless, sci-fi is the soil in which I sank my literary roots, and it is from sci-fi that my writing career has grown.
For that, thanks, Marc, I owe a lot of this to you, man.
Keep on writing,
~Q
