A story of mine called ‘You Pay Your Money’ has been included in the first issue of Chase The Moon. Set up by the editor of Glitterwolf Magazine, Chase The Moon aims to
‘publish stories that haven’t found a home elsewhere. If you’re sick of seeing that line on a rejection, “your story isn’t quite the right fit for our magazine at this time,” try sending it our way. We want to be a home for misfit stories. Stories with heart, soul and passion. Stories a little at odds with the literary establishment. Stories that the Booker prize might sneer at if it was a full novel. Stories that you think are a bit ‘niche’. Stories that dash wildly between genre, pinching a bit of everything. Stories that are meant to make me cry, or laugh (or both, we quite like doing both at the same time, it’s very decadent.) The genre, the style—we’ll consider it, as long as it doesn’t commit the cardinal sins of being timid, boring or pretentious.’
‘You Pay Your Money’ very much falls into that category, being set in the near future in a clinic for genetically designing babies. Too speculative for mainstream, not speculative enough for science fiction, so it languished on my hard drive looking for a home. You can buy a copy of Chase The Moon here. My friend Lynsey Calderwood also has a story included, so check that out too.
I got two more acceptances for short stories, one a flash piece called ‘A Little Information’, a twist on a well-known psychology experiment, and the other an odd story I wrote about a researcher for a Marxist travel guide, ‘The Worker’s Guide to the World.’ More details on when and where as I get them.
My review for Not The Booker? Yeah, let’s just say I lost my hatchet job virginity and leave it at that. It hurt like hell to be ripped apart but nothing is more pathetic than a writer railing against a bad review.
Speaking of reviews, I was going to post my thoughts on the new David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, but I can’t say anything without giving away the plot, so I’ll simply say this. Read it. It is amazing.
Iain Maloney 