Callum McSorley's Blog, page 12
July 2, 2019
The Society of Misfit Stories
I’m really pleased to have found a home for my short story, The Brothers Oe. It will be appearing in The Society of Misfit Stories, published by Bards and Sages Publishing, in September this year.
It seems almost inevitable, as ‘misfit’ is certainly the best way to describe The Brothers Oe. It’s fantasy, sort of. There’s mention of dragons and spirits. It’s historical, kinda. It takes place in an imagined...
June 27, 2019
Aether/Ichor Issue 3: Solstice out now
[image error]Issue 3 of Aether/Ichor is available to read now!
The Solstice edition is crammed with awesome Sword & Sorcery tales, action packed and brimming with magic.
Daemoralis by Laura Gregory considers the impact fighting evil has on the family unit, with horrifying violence juxtaposed with tender scenes of family life. Oh, and there are terrifying, invisible monsters, did I mention that?
Fool’s Wine by Anna K Scott is a tale of assassins and intrigue, while The Pool of Rim by Aaron Emmel examines t...
June 21, 2019
Cymera, Thin Air, and the inner life of Darth Sidious
[image error]A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of travelling down to Edinburgh to go to Cymera Festival, Scotland’s first ever book festival dedicated to sci-fi, fantasy and horror writing.
Held at prominent Fringe venue and labyrinthian maze, The Pleasence, from 7th-9th June, some of the world’s leading SFF and horror authors, including Gareth L. Powell, Adrian Tchaikovsky, V.E. Schwab and more (seriously, it was an insanely good line-up for a festival in its first year) gave talks, readings, and...
June 16, 2019
Switchblade Magazine / Pulp Modern
[image error]This year, Switchblade Magazine, home of hardboiled, is publishing a special cyberpunk-themed edition called Tech Noir which will feature a short story by yours truly, called Baby on Board.
Set in a future Scotland where haggis and battered ramen have become popular street foods, and the formerly independent cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh have grown together to form ‘Belt City’, ex-cop Oink becomes embroiled in a kidnapping scheme, mostly against his will.
Still hardboiled crime at its core...
June 14, 2019
Read Secret Ingredients in Shoreline of Infinity 15
Around this time last year, I started working on a short story after reading about the death of Anthony Bourdain. His nonfiction book on the chef life, Kitchen Confidential, is a no-holds-barred look behind the scenes of fine dining written in an almost gonzo style, featuring larger than life characters, most of whom are debauched, drugged up, and opportunistically criminal. If you’re a fan of his tv series Parts Unknown (available on Netflix) then you’ve got to check it out!
I wanted t...
June 3, 2019
Pre-order Shoreline of Infinity 15
I’ve been sitting on this news for a good while now and I’m finally allowed to yell about it! (And I shall be doing so a lot.)
My short story Secret Ingredients will be in Shoreline of Infinity Issue 15! Released to coincide with Cymera Festival this weekend (7th – 9th June), it’s now available to pre-order.
I’ve been a huge fan of Shoreline since I first started reading it a couple of years ago, so it is a pleasure and privilege to finally see a story of mine in its pages. (Big thanks to...
June 1, 2019
Pre-order Exquisite Aberrations
Pre-orders for the new FunDead anthology, featuring my story The Lunatic Song, are now live!
Exquisite Aberrations is a collection of novelette-length Gothic horror stories, traditional tales with a modern twist:
[image error]“A familiar chill runs down your spine. You’ve been here before: the abandoned house on the hill, the dark hallway with the creaking floorboards, the ancient cemetery veiled in mist, the rutted pathway to a lonely place. You know these stories, or do you? These are the tales not told...
May 27, 2019
Reading Round up April/May 2019
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With regards to both my reading and writing, it’s been a couple of months of sci-fi, horror, and sci-fi-horror. And with Cymera Festival coming up next month, that seems unlikely to change soon!
[image error]Thin Air by Michelle Paver (2016)Told in the style of a classic ghost story, Michelle Paver’s Thin Air takes us up to the peak of the world’s third highest mountain, Kangchenjunga, with a group of posh stiff-upper-lip Brits in 1935. However, it’s not just the sub-zero temperatures, hypoxia, and aval...
May 21, 2019
Cymera Festival Open Mic
[image error]I’m stoked to say I’ll be heading back to Edinburgh next month because I’ve been given a slot at Cymera Festival’s open mic!
Scotland’s first ever literary festival dedicated to sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writing is taking place at The Pleasence in Edinburgh from 7th-9th June.
As well as readings and talks from some of the world’s top genre writers — among them Gareth L. Powell, Richard K. Morgan, and Adrian (no middle initial) Tchaikovsky — there will be (deep breath) writing workshops, bo...
May 14, 2019
Infinite Space, Infinite Terror… and a raffle
Last Thursday I boarded the train to Edinburgh to take part in Shoreline of Infinity’s Event Horizon. And sure, every time I say the words ‘Event Horizon’ it conjures a horrifying image of eyeless Sam Neill from the nineties film of the same name (“Where we’re going… we don’t need eyes to see!”) but I had a blast nonetheless.
Usually a night of sci-fi storytelling and poetry, May’s Event Horizon was fantasy themed, having been taken over by Shoreline’s fellow Edinburgh zine, Aether & Ichor.
P...
