CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This week’s short story takes us from banshees in space to a science fiction story involving the discovery of a new threat, and new defenders for the universe. Welcome to Serpents' Souls & Dragons' Hearts . Mankind has legends of intelligent serpents, dragons and vampires in almost every culture, and now mankind is out amongst the stars. When an emergent psi of lizardine-human descent dreams of a many-legged threat and serpents walking the skies, mankind might just have a chance to discover those legends made real. Serpents' Souls & Dragons' Hearts is available as a stand-alone short story at the following links: books2read.com/u/3nOqYB . 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?  

Well, that fortnight sure went fast. Serpents' Souls & Dragons' Hearts released today on all platforms. You can find it at Smashwords , Amazon , DriveThruFiction and via Draft2Digital distribution. It's a science fiction short story set on the world of the lizardine, some time after the events in The Reptiles' Blade. Mankind has legends of intelligent serpents, dragons and vampires in almost every culture, and now mankind is out amongst the stars. When an emergent psi of lizardine-human descent dreams of a many-legged threat and serpents walking the skies, mankind might just have a chance to discover those legends made real.

Last week started with a whirlwind visit from my dad, which was nice, and then it settled down a little. I decided I had to focus on my publishing obligations for December, finish the publishing for November, and then see if I thought NaNo was a wash for the year. Because I’d reached the last 10 days of November, December’s publishing moved to the top of the list. According to the original schedule, I had 1 short story ( Serpents’ Souls & Dragons’ Hearts ), 1 erotic novella for my friend, Ellie ( The Trading Game ), and 1 young adult science fiction novel ( A Planet’s Ransom ) to publish. Of these three, the first two were written, but needed the full process of editing, cover design, formatting and uploading. The last one needed to be finished. I also wanted to get my long-overdue flash fiction collection out, as well, because I’d let my flash fiction and poetry writing slip during my university years, but that was going to be a long-shot. Finally, I wanted to ge...

I have a new short story coming out on December 1st, a dark science fiction tale called Serpents' Souls & Dragons' Hearts . It revisits the characters from The Reptiles' Blade , but occurs some years later. Here is the cover that came in, today. Mankind has legends of intelligent serpents, dragons and vampires in almost every culture, and now mankind is out amongst the stars. When an emergent psi of lizardine-human descent dreams of a many-legged threat and serpents walking the skies, mankind might just have a chance to discover those legends made real. Artwork is sourced from Dreamstime and the artists: Junichi Shimazaki and Yorkberlin. The spider photograph is from Dreamstime photographer, Panayot Kindalov. The background photograph, composition and manipulation are all mine.