AZ3

Hello again, readers!

A lot has been going on since my last newsletter, so let's jump right in...

New Publications:

First off, I've had stories both new and old published in some fantastic magazines and anthologies. My story, "The Deathwish of Valerie Vulture", taken from my new collection, BEWARE US FLOWERS OF THE ANNIHILATOR, was recently published in translation in the 45th anniversary issue of the Romanian science fiction magazine, Helion. I'll have some even more exciting news to share about this story in the near future! Hmm...

Another new story from BUFOTA, "We Are Alone", was published in translation in issue 236 of Solaris, the world's oldest French-language science fiction/fantasy/horror magazine. I'm honoured to have my work appear among such a fantastic group of writers, and in such a respected and long-standing publication (one other story of mine, "The Potato Thief Beneath Indifferent Stars", appeared in Solaris previously, in issue 228, back in 2023). Here's the cover of the new issue, with gorgeous cosmic-themed artwork by Tomislav Tikulin:



An older story of mine, "A Roman Plague" (from my 2014 collection, SONGS FOR THE LOST), was reprinted in issue number 40 of Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction. This weird dark historical fantasy horror story has been published in a few different places over the years. I'm so happy that it found another home.

Another story from BUFOTA, the dark SF/alternate history/weird war tale, "Little Boys", was recently published in translation in the Romanian SF magazine, Galaxia 42.

And finally, and most exciting of all, my story, "These Streets Are Bruised" which was published last year in Amazing Stories Magazine and won the First Runner-Up spot in the Reader's Choice Awards, was published in the Amazing Stories: Best Of 2024 anthology! Thank you to editors Lloyd Penney and Kermit Woodall for publishing my story in AS Magazine last year and for selecting it for this volume—such an honour! The beautiful cover painting is by Hugo Award-winning artist Bob Eggleton.

My winning Amazing Stories Reader's Choice Award First Runner-Up lapel pin—it's a beauty!

A fun aside: "These Streets Are Bruised", though a self-contained story, is also a chapter from a novel-in-progress. The novel also includes the near-future dark SF/horror novella, "Journey to the End of a Burning Girl", from my story collection, BLACKER AGAINST THE DEEP DARK, and was reprinted as a serial in Romanian translation in Helion Science Fiction Magazine. The novel also includes the self-contained stories, "Kingdoms" (from BATDD), "Thank You, Baby-Stabber" (from SONGS FOR THE LOST), and "A Gift From the World" (exclusive to the retrospective compendium, THESE LONG TEETH OF THE NIGHT: THE BEST SHORT STORIES 1999-2019, published by Fourth Horseman Press. All of these stories feature the exploits of detectives Clark and Kessel, who are always a joy to write, no matter how grim their stories are.

Shouting from the Rooftops:

So far this year, I've been dividing my time between working on a couple of book projects—both novels, one of which I talk about above—and promoting my newest book, the story collection, BEWARE US FLOWERS OF THE ANNIHILATOR, which was published in hardcover by my longtime UK publisher, Eibonvale Press, in November 2024, and published in paperback and ebook editions in April 2025 by US publisher, Manta Press. I'm very fortunate to work with such wonderful people, who have so much passion for what they do.

I've done some interviews recently to promote the book, including a soon-to-be-published conversation with MTSU Write, a podcast/newsletter/online journal that serves as the creative hub of the English Department at Middle Tennessee State University. Keep an eye out for that! I also had the pleasure of doing an incredibly fun interview for Amazing Stories Magazine, as part of their ongoing Unexpected Questions author interview series. Click on the image below to check out this light-hearted conversation, and while you're there you can also read my story, "These Streets Are Bruised", and R. Graeme Cameron's review of my retrospective volume mentioned above, THESE LONG TEETH OF THE NIGHT: THE BEST SHORT STORIES 1999-2019 (Fourth Horseman Press).

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Here's a collection of some of the wonderful promotional graphics put together by Avery Daisy Book Design that we've been using to shout about the book (if you click on the images you'll be brought to the full reviews):

Many thanks to all the reviewers cited above for their wonderful reviews and blurbs. I'm honoured, truly, and ecstatic that readers have connected with the book in such a positive way.

And here's my favourite ad of the bunch, which has been popping up in all sorts of places of late, from the social media pages of my publishers, Manta Press and Eibonvale Press, to news pages of genre-focus sites like SF Canada, to the pages of some fantastic magazines, including an appearance in an upcoming issue of FANGORIA, the world's greatest horror film and culture magazine:

Beautiful stuff, all courtesy of the amazing Avery Daisy Book Design. Thank you, ADBD!

BEWARE US FLOWERS OF THE ANNIHILATOR Digital Edition Sale:

For those of you who prefer digital to physical books, you still have time to grab an ebook copy of BUFOTA while it's on sale for just $0.99. That's a pretty good deal for 26 stories/400+ pages, right?

Before signing off, I wanted to mention that for anyone who missed my first two newsletters, you can still access them by visiting the landing page and clicking on the following near the bottom:

And on that note, I take my leave. I've got some exciting projects in the works, as well as some more book, magazine and anthology publications down the road, but I'll save those for the next newsletter! Thank you as always for reading, and take care until next time.

Onwards!

- AZ

Callie, after finishing approving the advance reader copy paperback of BEWARE US FLOWERS OF THE ANNIHILATOR.