Things are trucking along nicely at Chez Harris. I’ve almost wrapped up the first draft of the next Serial Killer Z book and I have a steady release schedule for the next few months. First up is the standalone publication of my science fiction horror story – Pod Fifteen. Ellis Osako is piloting the Redhawk across deep space with nothing but an AI and a cargo hold full of dead bodies for company. Haunted by his past, he spends his time trying to guess the identities of the dead around him. Until he finds the woman in pod fifteen, and Ellis is forced to face his demons and the fact that he may no longer be alone. Pod Fifteen first appeared in Tales of the Canyons of the Damned Issue 14 and it’s one of my favourite short stories I’ve written. I was going for a blend of Alien and the Japanese horror movie, The Ring, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. You can grab your copy for 99c from Amazon right now. The other retailers will be coming soon. CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE COPY OF INFECTION [Out Now – Pod Fifteen by Philip Harris first appeared … Read More
Looking Forward, 2017
After posting my belated end of year wrap up, I figured I’d better also look forward to what’s ahead in 2017… I talked about setting goals on New Year’s Day and mentioned my big personal goal – running a marathon in under four hours. That goal has actually been in the back of my mind for a few years but 2017 is the year I’m really going to focus on my speed and fitness (and weight) and try to hit that. My wife and I recently worked out which races we’re going to take part in this year and it’s a fairly long list, but a lot of them will be used as training runs for my main goal of that sub-four hour marathon. Time will tell whether it will pan out but I’m looking forward to trying. I’ll probably make the odd post here about my progress for those who are interested in how a moderately unfit, middle aged guy prepares for a marathon. I also mentioned my eight book publishing schedule. That’s pretty aggressive, even though I have a couple of the books complete and two more in draft form. I’ve laid out the schedule for the first half of the year and this is what it … Read More
Farewell, 2016
Continuing my tradition of posting end of year wrap ups late… 2016 was a mixed year for me, personally. We lost a lot of great people including some of my idols (I’m listening to David Bowie’s new EP right now) and people close to me. The internet seems to be getting more and more toxic by the day, and the less said about Brexit and the US election the better. But there was plenty of ups to offset the downs. I moved into a new apartment that doesn’t turn into an oven in the summer, and a new role on a very exciting project in my day job. It means I’ll be busier than I’ve been recently, but the work will be much more fulfilling. My writing went very well, too. I hit 282,441 words over the whole year which is a new record (I wrote 275,872 words in 2014 and 255,470 in 2015). There was plenty of editing in there as well so I’m happy with that. I’ve got ambitious plans for this year, so I’m hoping to break 300,000 words. We’ll see. I worked on several new projects during that time including the second and third Leah King books, The … Read More
It’s a Wrap
Today marks the release of my third and final-for-the-time-being indie release – Curfew. I lovingly hand-crafted all of these books and I’ll be posting a few lessons I’ve learned along the way but overall it’s been a fun experience. It’s been fairly time consuming though and although I was getting quicker with each release, there’s still a few things I’d do differently. In particular, the experience has reinforced the fact that no matter how many times you go over a manuscript, you can always find something new to tweak. And I’m not talking about mistakes or typos. These are just changes that make the text that little bit better. But eventually those changes aren’t really making the story better, they’re just making it different and you have to call it a day. I had to keep reminding myself that “Perfect is the enemy of done” and move on to actually publishing the story. This is my last indie release for a while but I have more titles lined up – both short stories and longer works. I won’t be building all of them by hand, I have writing I want to get done, but having that experience will help a lot when I start working … Read More
Cover Reveal – Curfew
As promised, it’s cover reveal time, this time for my third-and-final-for-the-time-being release – Curfew. Curfew is a post-apocalyptic supernatural thriller featuring a photographer living in a war ravaged city. It’s a short story, slightly longer than Bottled Lightning and Saviour at about 22 pages. Here’s the opening The war had been raging for one hundred and sixty-eight years, two hundred and ninety-four days, seventeen hours, thirty-two minutes and six seconds when I was arrested. No one could remember why we were fighting. Was it north vs south? East vs west? Black vs white? If it had been any of those things in the beginning, it wasn’t now. Whatever boundaries there had once been had been blurred to extinction; now there were simply two sides hell-bent on destroying each other. And here’s the cover, courtesy of Humble Nations. Curfew will be released on Monday, 13th October for 99c in the US and the lowest I can make it in other territories. Kindle only at this point I’m afraid. And don’t forget, Bottled Lightning and Saviour are both available at an Amazon store near you: Bottled Lightning US UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Mexico Brazil India Australia Saviour US UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Mexico Brazil India Australia [Curfew by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 9th October 2014]
Cover Reveal – Saviour
My second indie release will be Saviour. It’s a…fantasy…yes…fantasy, short story, about a creature in a cave and the girl she befriends. Like Bottled Lightning, it’s roughly 20 pages long. Without further ado, here’s the cover (thanks to The Cover Collection). I’m particularly fond of the Sisters of Mercy font – it reminds me of my youth. Saviour will be available Monday, October 6th (although Amazon will probably put it up at some point on the Sunday). And don’t forget, Bottled Lightning is now available at an Amazon store near you: US UK Canada Germany France Italy Spain Japan Mexico Brazil India Australia [Cover Reveal – Saviour by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 2nd October 2014]
Out Now – Artificial Wife
I’m very pleased to announce I have a new story out. This one’s another science fiction flash piece called Artificial Wife and you can read it for free on the Story Shack Magazine website. Unbelievably, this is my twentieth publication so I’m especially happy that it also has a cool illustration by Michael Ilkiw. As usual, I won’t spoil the plot but here’s the opening. Most of the time I can almost believe she’s real. She’s not, she’s a Mark IV Remote Surrogate – a “mote”. My real wife, Annabel, is back on Earth but the mote’s a perfect copy, identical in every way; despite the fact that my wife encouraged me to mix things up a bit and “enhance” a couple of key attributes. If you do read it (it’s not long so it’s not a big investment), drop me a comment either here or on Story Shack to let me know what you thought. [Out Now – Artificial Wife by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 17th July 2014]
Out Now – CAvE
I’m pleased to announce that my science fiction story, CAvE is now available in Nebula Rift Volume 2 Number 5. CAvE is a flash piece, about 980 words long. I won’t spoil the story by trying to tease the plot but here’s the opening couple of lines. My name is Daniel Jones and tomorrow I start my journey into the future. That is, unless my reprieve comes through which seems unlikely given that my court appointed defence lawyer is an imbecile fresh out of school and I’m guilty as hell. At some point it should be up on Amazon but you can already buy it direct from here. [Out Now – CAvE by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 10th July 2014]
Daily Science Fiction Redux
I was going to write a post about Daily Science Fiction today but I discovered I’ve already done that so I’m just going to post it again here. I’ve recently signed up to the Daily Science Fiction mailing list. As the name suggests, they email a new science fiction story to subscribers every weekday. Most days the stories are short (less than 1000 words) but Friday’s story is longer. Stories are also posted and archived on the website a week after their email publication. Obviously, with so many stories nobody is going to love all of them but the short length makes them very easy to read. I’ve made the daily email one of my daily rituals and I look forward to seeing a new tale in my inbox every morning. Highlights for me over the last couple of weeks have been Butterfly Shaped Objects by George Potter, A Stitch in Space-time by Nicky Drayden and Gifted and Talented by Sadie Mattox. Overall the quality is consistently good and Daily Science Fiction is on my short fiction market bucket list. I haven’t cracked it yet, but I will. One day. [Daily Science Fiction Redux by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 15th April 2014]
Published Stories 2013 Edition
2013 was a very successful year as far as published stories goes. All told, eight of my stories were unleashed on an unsuspecting world… JANUARY Piece Number 7 – Garbled Transmissions My name is Max Gambino and I know the real story behind Gustav Lang. Not the sensationalist crap that gets printed in the rags but the actual, honest to goodness, sweat, blood and tears story of Gustav Lang and the music he created; the story that’s been buried under the controversy and the arrests and the trial and the Lang Act. Most of what people know about him is a lie, created by publicists trying to bolster sales and lawyers trying to protect their clients. Lang deserves better than that. Music can be wondrous. Lang is proof of that. MARCH The Many Deaths of Albert G Elderberry – Fast-Forward Festival Albert G Elderberry barely noticed the first time he died. He was hit by the black SUV that had accelerated towards him as he crossed the street on his way to the store. He was 68 and the impact shattered bones and tore open internal organs, leaving him dead in the road before the SUV reached the corner of the street. Night Man … Read More
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