Lee Moan's Steam-Powered Typewriter

Just about to be published: the latest edition of Estronomicon , the short-fiction ezine published by Screaming Dreams Press, featuring my story 'Killing Gloria'. It's one of my earlier stories, and still one of my personal favourites. The story appeared previously in Scifantastic #2, and received a very favourable review at Whispers of Wickedness . Steve Redwood had this to say: Quite different in tone is Lee Moan's Killing Gloria, a successful action-packed mixture of serious and a bit tongue-in-cheek, as a man tries to rid himself of an android or replicant who (though more like Desdemona than Othello, but I do so want to throw in the one Shakespearean quote I can remember!) 'loved not wisely but too well', and more to the point, 'one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplexed in the extreme'. After the husband has 'killed' the too-devoted lady for the second time, she is getting tetchy, and indeed rather ominously 'perplexed': ...

I’ve read more books on the craft of writing than I care to remember, but there are three in particular which I frequently return to, each one for different reasons. The three books are: Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande On Writing by Stephen King The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E. B. White. The Brande book I go to for inspiration . It sets itself apart from most books about writing, because it isn’t really about the nuts and bolts of writing – it’s about what it means to be a writer, what it takes to be a writer, and what you need to do (both internally and externally) to write successfully. The King book I go to for rejuvenation . I’ve posted before about the healing powers of King’s fiction and how, for me, a dose of King can set me back on the right path when things have gone awry. That also applies to his brilliant non-fiction pieces, too. (Danse Macabre is also great, but it’s really concerned with horror, not writing.) On Writing is a fantastic, heart-warmin...

After a long and unexpected hiatus on the short story front, I'm pleased and relieved to be working on some new material. It was down to a combination of factors, but mainly burnout, I think. After producing forty short stories in four years I think the short story well just dried up, and I figured it was best just to walk away from it for a while, let it refill, even though at times it seemed to be refilling at a very slow trickle, if at all. I was never too worried during the drought, though. I mean, it wasn't exactly writer's block--I was still working on my novels (one all but finished, one awaiting editing, one being written now), and writing other bits and pieces--so I didn't get myself all depressed and tearing my shirt in frustration or anything. In fact it was a nice break from the (self-imposed) pressure to keep coming up with new short story ideas. It also helped to have a clutch of about eight completed stories in the out tray (which are still being subbed h...