A Most Unusual Proposal

To be published in Story Unlikely's June issue (first week of June).

Not only is this story "A Most Unusual Proposal", but it's a most unusual genre for Philip Brian Hall - an Edwardian comedy of manners. A sort of Saki / P G Wodehouse style of tale. 

There are no spaceships. There are no magicians. The only battle involved is the battle of the sexes.

Worth reading for the novelty value alone!

Anyone can read it by signing up for free:

Home page:   https://www.storyunlikely.com/

Tales from The Magician's Skull #9

Contributor copies just arrived.

Philip is so delighted to have a story feature in this great magazine.

"Seven new sword-and-sorcery stories from some of the top talent in the industry," I note it says.

"Do you suppose they mean me, Pat?" Philip asks.

"They surely do, my boy. They surely do."

Tales From The Magician's Skull #9

The Raven-Feeder’s Tower by Philip Brian Hall

The skeleton was held upright by a tall stake driven deep into the ground, to which support its spine was fixed by leather bonds. The breastplate covered bare white ribs and the helmet’s visor protected merely the empty eye-sockets of a morbidly-grinning skull.

I really like this story. I hope you do too.

4th and Starlight

 

I'm delighted to say that 4th and Starlight is out, and features the first publication of a favourite story of mine, "The Long Con".

A young lady grifter is determined to prove herself the equal of all the famous con-men in her family, but when she accepts a challenge to date a space alien, it becomes unclear who's doing the conning.

Join these rising stars of science fiction and fantasy at the corner of Fourth and Starlight for a journey like no other.

Step into a world ravaged by robotic warfare to explore buried secrets, visit with a sleep-deprived mermaid, and journey to ancient Egypt to romance a Mourning Woman. Chase down an outlaw with a jaded bounty hunter, play in the woods with a little boy and his friend, or ride along on a haunted food truck. Let go of grief at the airport, flirt with a succubus, and survive a spaceship crash with a cyborg. Nineteen stories that will fill you with delight, inspire your imagination, get your heart pounding, and leave you misty-eyed with joy.

Stories by Mike Wyant Jr., K.L. Shwengel, Kary English, Philip Brian Hall, Rebecca Birch, Van Alrik, Kristy Evangelista, Preston Dennett, Dustin Adams, Y.M. Pang, M. Elizabeth Ticknor, Rebecca E. Treasure, Alicia Cay, Julia Ashley, John D. Payne, Rachelle Harp, and Dr. Robert Finegold.

Space Force ... and beyond!

My contributor copy of Space Force has arrived.

At the time of writing, B-Cubed are still the only publishers who will publish my poetry.  I like to think this shows discernment on their part.  

I normally write traditional ballads that both rhyme and scan.  These days, that seems to be a cardinal sin in a genre dominated by what I tend to call badly-punctuated prose. By this I mean that the only way you can recognise it as poetry is because it's in a poetry book.

There's no point getting annoyed about this, however.  The people in charge aren't going to change their minds, and all one can do is wait for the fashion to move on. 

I knew things were really bad one year that a TV gardening programme ran a poetry competition and all the first four poems were "free verse."

Anyhow, The Space Force Hymn is a little skit on the US Marine Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma" which is written in the good old style.

Philip Brian Hall’s Stories Qualifying for Awards 2020

CADMUS P I - Galaxy’s Edge #43, March 

A hardboiled detective story set in Ancient Greece

SECOND COMING - On The Premises, April 

What really happened when Moses met Pharaoh?

GHOST WRITER - Hybrid Fiction #3, April 

A combination of science fiction and ghost story

A RAINY DAY AT ST BARTHOLOMEW’S – Curiosities #7, July 

Why would anyone steal tons of lead and sulphur?

THE LAST OF THE PERIVALES – Bodies in the Library (Flame Tree), August

How did a man in 17^th century clothes come to be dead in a 19^th century gentlemen’s club?

The last two stories listed are respectively the third and fourth in my occasional steampunk series featuring the Victorian detectives MacAndrew and Smithers.

A Rainy Day at St Bartholomew's

I'm very pleased to announce that the third story in my steampunk series about the Victorian detectives MacAndrew and Smithers is now available in the current issue of Curiosities.

A Rainy Day at St Bartholomew's finds Smithers getting wet at a wedding. This might not be considered too surprising until we find that it's raining inside the church!

You can find out why, and how our intrepid heroes cope with yet another encounter with the abnormal, in the

Curiosities #7 Quarantine 2020 Paperback

And if this leaves you with a taste for more Victorian mayhem, the fourth MacAndrew and Smithers adventure is coming soon in a new hardback anthology from Flame Tree.

I've recently finished a fifth episode, for which I'll be seeking a publisher soon, so I hope you won't have long to wait.

Detective Mysteries

I'm delighted to say that my story 'No Head for Figures' features in the new Flame Tree Publishing anthology Detective Mysteries.

For those who remember 'The Man on the Church Street Omnibus", this is the second tale of my Victorian detectives MacAndrew and Smithers, who are developing something of a talent for encountering the weird and wonderful. This case, however, is more supernatural than scientific.

The contemporary authors featured in this anthology are: Daniel Brock, Elliott Capon, Philip Brian Hall, Tina L. Jens, Tom Mead, Marshall J. Moore, Pat Morris, Amelia Dee Mueller, Trixie Nisbet, Patsy Pratt-Herzog, Michele Bazan Reed, Lesley L. Smith and Cameron Trost.

Classic authors include Margery Allingham, Robert Barr, Anthony Berkeley, Matthias McDonnell Bodkin, William Evans Burton, G.K. Chesterton, Carroll John Daly, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Eustace and Edgar Jepson, J.S. Fletcher, R. Austin Freeman, Jacques Futrelle, Susan Glaspell, Anna Katharine Green, Thomas W. Hanshew, E. and H. Heron, Herbert Jenkins, Maurice Leblanc, L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Arthur Morrison, Baroness Orczy, Catherine Louisa Pirkis, Melville Davisson Post, Edgar Wallace, Hugh C. Weir, Mrs Henry Wood.

No Head for Figures

I'm very happy to report that my story 'No Head for Figures' has been accepted for the forthcoming Flame Tree Publishing anthology 'Detective Mysteries', due out in November.

Readers with long memories may recall a previous outing for my two Victorian detectives, MacAndrew and Smithers, in the inaugural edition of The Sockdolager way back in Spring 2015.

'The Man on the Church Street Omnibus' saw our two intrepid sleuths on the trail of strange goings-on in a Kensington churchyard.

This time they encounter a nasty case of decapitation in Whitechapel. What do you do when a head turns up with no body?  Well, you'll have to read the story to find out.

This will be the fourth of my stories to be published by Flame Tree. They do produce lovely hardbacks, which make first-class Christmas presents. So, please remember when you're stuck for a gift for the person who has everything- this year they haven't got a copy of 'Detective Mysteries'  and they obviously need one.

Hot off the Press

I always love to receive a hard copy of an anthology that contains one of my stories. Here's Endgame from B-Cubed, the final episode of the Alternative Truths Trilogy.

This collection contains my story 'I, Apparatchik', the title of which, as you may guess, is a play on Asimov's 'I, Robot'.  It would be nice to see it do a fraction as well.

The story concerns members of a certain intelligence agency who are responsible for creating and maintaining robots to stand in for the president in various tricky situations. I hope you like it.

This is my third story in a B-Cubed publication. The previous two were 'Conspiracy of Silence' in 'More Alternative Truths'  and 'Devine Justice' in Alternative Theologies.

On the subject of the last of these, Bob Brown tells me that all copies of the anthology (and nothing else) were recently stolen from a convention in the USA. Apparently, the theft proved the old adage that all publicity is good publicity: sales promptly doubled.

'Sir Robert's Gargoyle' is in Cosy Crime anthology

I'm very pleased to say that my story 'Sir Robert's Gargoyle' is included in the latest of Flame Tree's beautiful hardback anthologies.

Just for once this is a story in which the protagonists are perhaps not in what you would call the first flush of youth. Well, an occasional hooray for us oldies is not out of place. Adventures like this are still possible!

This latest volume in the series is packed with armchair detectives, murders in the vicarage, family secrets unravelling in gossipy ears, and the ingredients of a genteel bloodbath in an otherwise delightful village. Contains a fabulous mix of classic and brand new writing, with contemporary authors from the US, Canada, and the UK.

Classic authors include: Arnold Bennett, Ernest Bramah, Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Andrew Forrester, R. Austin Freeman, Anna Katherine Green, Maurice Leblanc, Arthur Morrison, Baroness Orczy, Catherine Louisa Pirkis, Edgar Wallace, Israel Zangwill, G.K. Chesterton.

Contributions by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Joshua Boyce, Sarah Holly Bryant, Jeffrey B. Burton, C.B. Channell, Gregory Von Dare, Amanda C. Davis, Michael Martin Garrett, Philip Brian Hall, E.E. King, Tom Mead, Trixie Nisbet, Annette Siketa, B. David Spicer, Nancy Sweetland, Louise Taylor, Elise Warner

Cosy Crime from Flame Tree

I'm delighted to announce my third acceptance from Flame Tree, this time for their forthcoming 'Cosy Crime' anthology.

My story is called 'Sir Robert's Gargoyle'. It is a mystery set in and around an English cathedral, where during the Civil War in the seventeenth century the church silver disappeared and was never recovered. An unlikely modern sleuth sets out on the trail of the loot. I do hope you will like it.

Cosy Crime is scheduled for a January release. The contents include:

Honey of a Jam by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

Longfellow's Private Detection Service by Joshua Boyce

Peppermint Tea by Sarah Holly Bryant

Eykiltimac Stump Acres by Jeffrey B. Burton

Death in Lively by C.B. Channell

The Body in Beaver Woods by Gregory Von Dare

The Glorious Pudge by Amanda C. Davis

Twenty Column Inches by Michael Martin Garrett

Sir Robert's Gargoyle by Philip Brian Hall

Open House by E.E. King

The Whittaker-Chambers Method; Or, Mulligan’s Last Mystery by Tom Mead

Scoop! by Trixie Nisbet

The I's Have It by Annette Siketa

Murder on the Lunar Commute by B. David Spicer

Just the Fax by Nancy Sweetland

Raven Nevermore by Louise Taylor

A Mouthful of Murder by Elise Warner


These contemporary authors will appear alongside the following classic and essential writers: Arnold Bennett, Ernest Bramah, Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Andrew Forrester, R. Austin Freeman, Anna Katherine Green, Maurice Leblanc, Arthur Morrison, Baroness Orczy, Catherine Louisa Pirkis, Edgar Wallace, Israel Zangwill, G.K. Chesterton.

Alternative Theologies

My story 'Devine Justice'  is included in the latest of the B-Cubed anthologies Alternative Theologies.

I'm delighted to share the table of contents with these notable authors and I do hope people will enjoy reading the book.

We hear quite a bit about alternative comedy, alternative history and so on these days. I've not previously come across a publisher willing to take the spirit of adventure into this sensitive but vital area.

Religion cannot be excluded from the remit of free speech. Even what we believe to be true must be examined and tested. It is impossible to prove that truth is false, yet it is so easy for an unexamined truth to degenerate into a dead letter and meaningless recitation.

This is why genuine religious philosophers always welcome rational challenges. Those who permit no discussion serve neither their own interests nor the interests of the truth.

Anyway, my story examines what happens when a defence attorney who is a master of sophistry and rhetoric faces his sternest test: his own trial on charges of breaking the laws of God. I'm very fond of this tale and I hope you'll all like it.

The Waiting Room

Third and Starlight is finally on sale. Yes, the anthology you've been waiting for if you missed the first opportunity to read my story 'The Waiting Room' in Flame Tree's 'Chilling Ghost Stories' anthology of 2015!

This book is rather special, since all its contributors are finalists or semi-finalists in the Writers of the Future Competition. Never having quite cracked the final eight in that competition I can tell you it's not an easy thing to do. Those who achieve this distinction really can write. I am honoured that my story should have been included in such company.

'The Waiting Room' was quite an appropriate title for my first ever UK sale. I had to wait quite a while for that one and quite a while for the next one too. Though I've now had a total of eighteen short stories published, (ignoring reprints), this year's 'Heavy Weather' in the Flame Tree 'Pirates and Ghosts' anthology was only my second in the UK.

So, if UK fans of my work actually exist, this year you have two chances to obtain it!

The Hard Stuff

I'm delighted to report that the anthology Unbound II, Changed Worlds includes my science fiction short story THE HARD STUFF.

This is a story about a female-dominated future where men are excluded from senior posts because of their tendency to aggressive behaviour.  Our frustrated hero becomes an alcoholic. But what happens when his female superiors have no choice but to trust him?

You can find out now by purchasing either the print version from bookstores or the ebook version.

The anthology includes ten other stories, including one by its editor, M J Moores.

The Hard Stuff is the first of my stories to make it into print in 2017. I've had a few tales knocking firmly on the door without quite getting in, so I hope the drought has now ended and this may be the start of a positive run.

Awards Eligible Original Short Stories 2016

I can't honestly say that my 2015 list produced remarkable results, though the three stories did feature in 'Up and Coming' the anthology of Campbell Award eligible work.  This year I'm too much of a veteran for the Campbell, so it has to be the big leagues. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Here's this year's list.

Philip Brian Hall
Awards-Eligible Original Short Stories 2016

TIME'S WINGED CHARIOT

February 20^th in It's Come to Our Attention (Third Flatiron)

LAST OF THE SPICE SCHOONERS

27 April 2016 on Gallery of Curiosities (podcast)

THE WILD HUNT OF SLIABH MANNAN

June 14^th in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores

THE TRIAL OF MONSIEUR LAZARE

June 28^th in AE The Canadian Science Fiction Review*

(*website temporarily unavailable)

THE ULTIMATE TEMPORAL PARADOX

July 11^th in Sci Phi Journal

ALL OF THE PEOPLE, ALL OF THE TIME

September 9^th in Stupefying Stories Showcase

A BRAW SONG FOR BURNS NIGHT

September 15^th in Ritualistic Pompadour (Recompose)

THE HARD STUFF

due out before Christmas in Unbound II, Changed Worlds

Writers of the Future 33 Q4

Here's a piece of UK news which only accidentally coincides with the US election.

No seriously.

I finally managed to break my streak of consecutive Honourable Mentions and one Silver Honourable Mention in the Writers of the Future competition. My entry for Quarter 4 of Volume 33 made semi-finalist, which means I can look forward to a personal critique from David Farland, the coordinating judge.

The exact numbers of the international field for this contest are not published, though it is believed to be comfortably into four figures. In a typical quarter there are 8 finalists and 8 semi-finalists.

So near and yet so far!

The irritating thing is, I have more than a suspicion I know the precise paragraph that let me down. I can't think why I didn't cut it on the final edit.

Nevertheless, as Hitchcock said of his lifetime achievement award: This has encouraged me. I shall go on!

All of the People, All of the Time

Who are these people who say Stupefying Stories never gets round to publishing you? Let them stand up and come forth, I say! Yea! Come the four corners of the world in arms and we shall shock them!

Very well. Enough said. By way of proof I offer All of the People, All of the Time a short story by yours truly written so long ago that its origins are lost in the mists of time.

Any resemblance between this story and the sort of stuff I write nowadays is quite similar to the resemblance provided by my recent story in Sci Phi Journal which also rested on the launching pad until the gantry rusted.

In fact the story has quite a history. Way back in the dim and distant days when I used to enter writing club competitions an early version of this story once made a shortlist. It was quite crude compared to this version because, fortunately, I've learned a bit about the craft since then. Nevertheless I hope it illustrates a point I often try to make to beginners: good ideas will still be good ideas when you are able to come back with the skills to put them into practice.

Anyway - a story in print is a story in print. This is either number ten or number eleven depending on whether you count the podcast by Gallery of Curiosities. These days publication takes so many weird and wonderful forms that I count everything I get.

Of course, you all know me, I'd do that anyway.

Up and ComingThe Campbell-eligible Anthology

Up and Coming, the anthology of work by this year's Campbell Award eligible authors is available for free download right here. The cover illustration, right, is copyright of my friend Holly Heisey.

I am truly honoured to appear in this company. I hope as many people as possible will will download and read the anthology. Those who are in a position to do so, please pick your favourites and make the appropriate nominations.

The Campbell Award is for new additions to the ranks of science fiction authors and is presented at this years Hugos.

One minor correction to note: my story Spatchcock, which is quite short, seems to have been classified as a novella. I probably hit the wrong button.

Anyway, here's your chance to read all of this good stuff for free. Don't wait too long, because the offer is intended to assist voters and it ends when voting does on March 31st.

And you can see what I'm up against! Enjoy.

A cautionary tale for new authors

When you start writing you don't always consider what you do as the first stage of a productive process that ideally ends with a wide readership. A few years ago I joined a writers' circle and read out my own work to the group once a week.

I entered the group's internal competitions and won one. I entered external competitions and achieved placings followed by a win.

But I saw little future in pay-to-enter competitions where just breaking even is quite a triumph, so I started submitting stories to publishers.

At first you think it is wonderful when a publisher responds to your submissions at all, even better when the response is accompanied by a personal explanation of the rejection. When your first acceptance arrives you think you've really arrived.

But you haven't.

Last year I submitted stories to prospective publishers on three hundred occasions. About a tenth of these are still outstanding and of the remainder nine were accepted. In other words my strike rate was under 4%.

Although this may already appear alarmingly small, only three stories eventually made it into print during the course of the year. I have publication schedules for two more; the prospective publisher of two more is working on a business restructuring and relaunch and from two more I have heard nothing further. I sent off status queries to these two this week.

I am a much better writer than I was at the start of this process, which you will see has already been quite long. And there still seems such a long way to go. 

But as a friend recently said to me, “Those who try often fail; those who don't try never succeed.”

Onwards and Upwards!