The brand new edition of Andromeda Spaceways, containing my story ‘The Larval Stage’ and my review of Playback, Jury of the Heart by Ivory Snow, is now available to buy here.
A sci-fi/horror cross-over, ‘The Larval Stage’ is about a man who contracts a fatal disease and is encouraged to participate in the ‘Life for Life‘ program, where terminally ill patients play host to the deadly larval stage of an alien life cycle. But in fiction, as in real life, no philanthropic deed goes unpunished...
Here is the full blurb for Andromeda Spaceways #70, edited by Eugen Bacon:
Welcome aboard, voyagers. Sit back, fasten your seat belts, your odyssey awaits. This issue of ASM catapults you to a horde of ghost stories, satanic verses, time travel with dead musos and fairy tales with a twist. Yes, there are AI babies frolicking in their cots, as other tots drift fatherless in starlight. Is that a human host to Alludian larvae? Sci fi, fantasy and horror: we’ve got it all. Here you will find silvery pools bounded by galaxies, ornate havens to gaze out at the stars. Oh, see luminescent gremlins haunt the western mountain gorge, hear their hissing and ear-splitting howls. As the warm night sweeps over the black seas, a small glow emanates from the water, ushering a whole bunch of floating dead crew, mouths open and wide unblinking eyes. You fall back in terror and, just then, a timberthrall claws its way up, already bloodied from a feed, now driven by your screams. Calm down, look: here’s a shrewd poem. A discerning Writers Unearthed interview. A sobering book review. Get refreshments aboard the spacecraft, before facing off with the last monster you shall slay. That’s right, thrust with us to the Otherworld!