I realised a little while ago that the bibliography page here was a) missing from the menu and b) horribly out of date. I’ve fixed both of those issues now so if you want to find some of my short fiction, quite a bit of which is free, you can find a full list right here. [Bibliography Update by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 27 May 2019]
Untitled: A Short Story in Some Parts
I’m starting a bit of an experiment on my newsletter this week. When I was young, I spent a lot of time reading Fighting Fantasy books like this one: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and books like it were “choose your own adventure” books that let you control the story by making decisions as you read. There were quite a few of them around at the time but the Fighting Fantasy series was the best. A couple of months ago I decided to steal the idea and do something new with my newsletter. Every month I’m going to post a piece of a short story and give readers the chance to vote on two or three possible options for what happens next. At the beginning of the month I sent subscribers three possible first lines: Night was coming and with it, the creatures. My name is Eric Hunter and my job is to stop the world from falling apart. What I left behind on Earth was more important than anything I took with me. The votes are in and I’ve written the first scene for the most popular choice. I’ll be sending that first scene (along with the next options) … Read More
Dead Eyes – A Serial Killer Z Excerpt
It’s almost Halloween so I thought I’d post an excerpt from my latest book, Serial Killer Z. It has zombies, knives, lots of blood, and a serial killer. Dead Eyes The dead man lunged across the road toward me, too-white teeth clacking as they chewed at imaginary flesh. Its eyes were sharklike black orbs, and they tracked me as I moved. Its right foot had been crushed and was dragging behind the zombie, slowing it down. Rancid breath laced with the smell of carrion and blood washed over my face and caught in my throat. Backing away, I swung my knife at the creature’s face. The blade swept across its forehead and sliced through the gray flesh. Thick black blood ran from the wound and spattered the ground at my feet. With its eyes locked on mine, the zombie took another lumbering step. My knife’s handle was slick with sweat. It felt like I was trying to hold on to a fish. One wrong move, and it might break free, leaving me defenseless. The zombie shuffled forward, clawed fingers grasping at my face. The air was thick with the smell of decay. I attacked with the knife again, an upward sweep … Read More
Sold! – Pod Fifteen and Immersion Therapy
2017 has got off to a great start (on the writing front at least) with two short story sales over the last couple of weeks. First up, my dark science fiction story, Pod Fifteen will appear in Daniel Arthur Smith’s fantastic Tales from the Canyons of the Damned. Canyons as it’s known by its fans is a monthly magazine that features a selection of new dark science fiction, horror, & slipstream stories every month. It’s a great magazine, and I’m very please Daniel liked my story enough to accept it. More details on this nearer the release date. Next up, my spooky story, Immersion Therapy, has been accepted by the excellent Dead Oaks Podcast for their season 2 finale. This is the first time one of my stories will be available in audio form and I’m really looking forward to hearing it. My story will be airing in June but you can check out Season 1 and the first few episodes of Season 2 right here. Sign up for my newsletter and get four free ebooks. CLICK HERE to get started. [Sold! – Pod Fifteen and Immersion Therapy by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 1st February 2017]
Out Now – UnCommon Minds
The UnCommon Minds anthology was released today and is already getting some excellent reviews. This is the third of the UnCommon series of anthologies and it’s a cracking collection. My contribution, Sitala, is about a young girl called Mika. While out scavenging at the edge of a retreating ocean, she discovers the remains of a crashed spacecraft. At first, it’s just an opportunity to find salvage she can trade for food, but deep within the ship she finds unexpected life and a mind with a tale to tell and memories to share. The ebook is available on Amazon right now. Enter into the hidden world of the mind, where the laws of nature don’t apply and nothing is as it seems. Straight from the minds of 20 UnCommon Authors come tales of tragedy, triumph, and bittersweet gratitude. You’ll find augmented realities and mental persuasion that force you to question everything. Stories of military suspense, psychological horror, dream walkers, and psychic mediums await their turn to crawl into your head. “Inamorata” by J.D. Harpley “Chief Canis and the Helpful Locals” by Patrick S. Baker “The Arms of Mother” by Harlow C. Fallon “Trouble Signs” by Jonathan Shipley “Juliet’s Possessions” by Erica Ruhe “Through Dreams She … 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
Sold! – Sitala
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’d sold a story to Dark Fuse Magazine (it’ll be available soon). This week I got another acceptance, this time for a science fiction story called Sitala. The sale is to Fighting Monkey Press for the third anthology in their UnCommon series – UnCommon Minds. I appeared in the first in the series – UnCommon Bodies and it was a very varied and interesting collection with lots of excellent stories. The second anthology, UnCommon Origins was even better, and I’ve got no reason to think this one won’t surpass that. As for my story, I was very happy with how it turned out so I was quite nervous about the submission. I’m incredibly pleased Fighting Monkey liked it as much as I do. I can’t wait for you to read it. No idea what the publishing timeline is yet. Sign up for my newsletter and get four free ebooks. CLICK HERE to get started. [Sold! – Sitala by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 12th November 2016]