CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Today ( March 29, 2026 (PT)  is the last day you can pick up the ebook version of  Trading into Shadow,  the first book in the Magic Below Paris series, for FREE. If you're looking for life after a different kind of apocalypse, with  hyper-intelligent cats, nanite-abilities that manifest as magic, and the ability to communicate mind to mind, then why not give it a try. You can find it here:  https://books2read.com/u/3GnYgd      

First flash for the week...and for a very long time. An Act of Kindness  A cup of water. Who’d have thought it would matter now that the battle was lost, but it did…or Shiloh hoped it did. He dared to raise his gaze enough to catch his opposite number’s eye, and froze. Not because of the commander’s familiar features, but because of the markings on her armored breastplate. “Y…your majesty?” he managed, staying on his knees, and all too aware of the firm grip on his shoulder. The look she returned was implacable. “You showed me kindness,” she replied in hard tones, “and yet you have rebelled. Tell me why I should spare you.” “Spare my men,” Shiloh said. “Their lives were forfeit if they did not take up arms.” “And forfeit if they did,” she reminded him. “They have families…” Shiloh’s voice cracked, memory bringing grief. “Their lives…” His voice shattered, and he bowed his head, unable to continue. “So do you,” she said, but he shook his head. “Not anymore,” he r...

The Starman's Arrival, this month's third short story title is now available for pre-order.  Releasing on the seventeenth, this science-fiction short story is told in first person and set on a colony beset by raiders. What's it About? I knocked over the beer. On purpose. In front of everyone. And then I ran. I think I saved the starman. The only question is: Can anyone save me? From the raiders and the forest.Can anyone save any of us? You can find links to where it is available on this Books2Read page : https://books2read.com/u/4NV0Vx , and subscribers to my ReamStories page will be granted access to it, and many of my other titles as part of their subscription. How Does It Start? He came in a shower of light, a beam that shot out from the orbiting starship and set him precisely in the centre of the town square. It was lucky the bandits shot him before he had fully formed; the round passed right through. His look of surprise, however, is etched, forever, on my mem...