CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

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?   The Starman's Arrival is another colony story from the Odyssey universe, and tells the story of the colony's chronicler's timely encounter with a visitor from a passing ship...and first contact with the planet's primary inhabitants. You can find links to this newly released, stand-alone, science-fiction, urban fantasy short story on this Books2Read page : https://books2read.com/u/3nPxjo , or read an earlier version in A Collection of Lost Ships and Colonies , a collection of urban-fantasy short and flash fiction, and poetry.  

An alien autumn. An unseen predator. Deadly burrowers and an oncoming winter. And bugs big enough to ride. Joaquin only wants to warn his daughter of a new danger. To keep her safe. To make her understand her mother isn’t coming back, while keeping her alive. But what if he’s wrong? What if Mariam really did survive? What if, when everything looks like it’s going wrong, it’s really going right? Autumnal Threat is Joaquin's story. It is a father's story...and the story of a husband who misses his wife, and wants to keep his daughter safe from a new threat on their frontier world. It's a story of hope, and not giving up, and of family, as well as an exploration of what an alien eco-system might look like. It was a lot of fun to write. You can find links to this newly released, stand-alone, science-fiction short story on this Books2Read page: https://books2read.com/u/mgyopK or read an earlier version in A Collection of Lost Ships and Colonies .  

I've decided to celebrate each release with a series of extracts that run for the month it's released in. This month saw the second edition of 366 Days of Flash Fiction released. Links to the collection can be found at Books2Read at: https://books2read.com/u/b6MrN0   Forbidden Written on June 27, 2016, for the March 28 entry of 366 Days of Flash Fiction , this piece is an attempt at blending mild elements of horror, with science fiction in a tale of colonial loss and discovery. Opened the cave, today, the journal read. Nothing inside—just as I predicted. Looked, then locked it up and left it. “Locked it up?” Jorge wondered. “How do you lock up a cave?” “Maybe it has a door,” Tiana replied. “But caves don’t have doors,” Jorge argued. “Caves can’t have doors.” “We could always go and check it out. The book has directions.” “Why don’t we finish reading it first?” They two of them had found the journal in the colony archives, in a box of personal belongings don...