Tag: allan kaster

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.