CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This week’s short story takes us from the world of steampunk, fantasy Australia, raptors and a long-overdue rendezvous to the science fiction tale of a crashed colony and its redemption. Welcome to River's Edge . When my mother told me to run, I ran. I ran all the way to the river and then stopped—because the river was a frightening place, and forbidden by the raiders who came to take their annual toll of settlers. Faced with the choice of being taken, or taking my chances in the river, I took a step back, and hoped that somewhere, across the river I’d find help. River's Edge is available as a stand-alone short story at the following links: books2read.com/u/mqZNkv . You can also find Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest free short story over on her blog: kriswrites.com . Why don't you go and check it out?

River’s Edge released on August 10, 2018. It is a stand-alone science-fiction short story about first contact and colonisation. What’s it About? When my mother told me to run, I ran. I ran all the way to the river and then stopped—because the river was a frightening place, and forbidden by the raiders who came to take their annual toll of settlers. Faced with the choice of being taken, or taking my chances in the river, I took a step back, and hoped that somewhere, across the river I’d find help. Here are the first 500 words of that story: River’s Edge First 500 Words I stood at the edge of the river, both feet firmly planted amidst the sweet meadow grass, the toes of my boots scant inches from the water. What would it be like, I wondered, to take that one step more? Behind me bugles rang, and I glanced back, trying to see through the cover of the trees, trying to gauge if I really had a choice about the river, or if I was honestly thinking of facing the fate roa...

My science-fiction short story, River’s Edge , has just been released. Running away from a bad situation is sometimes the smartest thing you can do—when you can turn that into running towards worth having, it’s even better. River’s Edge is, or shortly will be, available from all the usual platforms : Amazon, Kobo, DriveThruFiction, Smashwords and Google Play, as well as via Smashwords and Draft2Digital distribution. When my mother told me to run, I ran. I ran all the way to the river and then stopped—because the river was a frightening place, and forbidden by the raiders who came to take their annual toll of settlers. Faced with the choice of being taken, or taking my chances in the river, I took a step back, and hoped that somewhere, across the river I’d find help.

I'm a little snowed under, right now, but I thought I'd drop in and show you the new cover I designed for August's short story release. I haven't had any time for new words in the last couple of days as I've been deep in the editing and formatting weeds, preparing Mack 'n' Me: The Transporter's Favour and River's Edge for release. Mack 'n' Me: The Transporter's Favour is now edited and formatted, but will go through an additional beta reading step before being released, so it will be a little delayed, but is coming soon, and River's Edge is edited and formatted, and also waiting beta reading, but looks good for its scheduled release date in early August. The rest of the week will be focused on preparing all bar the last short story for the year, and starting the fourth book in the Mack 'n' Me 'n' Odyssey series. And here's the cover, featuring artwork and photographs sourced from the Dreamstime artists:...