PAUL CARLSON'S WRITING
Included here are the brief opening portions of my three science fiction novels, plus links to a growing list of published short stories. They are presented for your enjoyment, and for the benefit
of the commercial publishing industry. Agents and editors are welcome. Book doctors
and vanity presses, please look elsewhere.
I've been a science fiction fan my entire life. One of the first things I
can remember reading were my mother's SF paperbacks, and my fascination has only
grown. I began writing decades ago, with a couple of short stories, never published.
Then I began to write long letters and opinion columns, in addition to nonfiction
articles.
Several years ago, along with six members of my writer's group (plus others),
I contributed to a delightful children's Fantasy anthology. The inimitable crew at
Yard Dog Press titled the book Stories That Won't Make Your Parents Hurl, and
we're still receiving royalty checks. My short story "Happy New Year" appears
within.
After devouring hundreds of SF titles I caught the "Hey, I Could Do This"
bug, and started writing Descending Star. Several authors, most notably Poul
Anderson, were very encouraging. This manuscript began as an 8000 word short story,
and when I realized it could be a novel, it grew to 80,000 words before I'd stopped
for a breather.
Descending Star
After a long and complicated course, which you probably don't want to hear about,
I ended up with a rewritten first novel and a completed second one, titled
Distant Origins.
Distant Origins
I'm about three-quarters done with a third manuscript, titled Roshanna.
Roshanna
All three novels are 'hard' SF, and set in the same near-future milieu. I have
plans for several more.
My flash fiction story "Props" appears in this Yard Dog Press anthology,
Flush Fiction, Volume One. More than 40 others tales share this volume. The
profits are going toward an emergency medical fund for their authors and artists.
The May 2006 issue of Surprising Stories featured my flash fiction SF story
"Waveform."
(As the magazine no longer has that issue posted, I have reproduced it here, with
added links.)
Waveform
I've been published in Bewildering Stories, with a light-hearted
flash piece titled "Only Human."
I've now appeared in two issues of Sentinel Science Fiction. Lou Antonelli honored me with a spot in Issue #1, with a serious time travel story titled "Cavers." I'm also in Issue #5, with a humorous flash fic piece titled "Spin."
(Note! Problems with the web host erupted, and for the foreseeable future, nothing is on line. Wah! 
)
This unusual anthology, titled Fall and Rise, is from Whortleberry Press. My story "Journey" shares this collection with offerings from Robert Sawyer, Phillis Gotlieb, Jay Lake, and several other SF professionals.
This story features Claude Dremmel and Doll Box. It's the first of these to appear in print, though the events depicted take place several years later than those depicted in "Shotgun Seat."
Houston, We've Got Bubbas is set in Yard Dog's quirky postapocalyptic Bubba/Yumbie universe. My story is "Lady and the Bubbas."
New from ZC Press!
An unusual anthology titled SF Waxes Philosophical, edited by Ahmed Khan, who also created Fall and Rise. My story reprint "Waveform" shares this collection with offerings from Michael Bishop, Steven Utley, Ted Kosmatka, and several other SF professionals.
My novelette "Shotgun Seat" appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of Analog magazine.
Yay! This was my first pro-market sale. 
The main characters are trucker Claude and his electronic assistant Doll Box, along with robotics expert Alice Owen.
It was on the shelf in numerous book stores and newsstands, plus on line via Amazon.com's new Kindle service.
It's still available in electronic form from Fictionwise.
The story's 'interior art' illustration was done by Mark Evans. He did a fantastic job of depicting the key scene.
My short-short story "On the Way," Part One, appears in the July 2008 issue of Internet Truckstop magazine. It features Claude Dremmel and Mek the robot. (Part Two appears in their September 2008 issue.)
This online magazine has not previously carried any fiction, however its owner shares a love of SF with many truck drivers.
To view the story, 'turn' the web pages to page 37, near the back. Their unusual format seems to work better with a broadband connnection, and on web browsers other than IE. (So try Firefox, which is available for Windows and Mac computers.)
As a professional truck driver, I've always been interested in the meeting of that realm with science fiction. Few truckers are active as writers, much less as webmasters; and few speculative fiction tales involve trucking.
On a whim I began to list the handful of stories I knew about. Friends on line suggested others, so the list has grown to about thirty titles. Out of tens of thousands of spec-fic titles, that's not many! (If you include all 'blue collar' occupations, they're still rare.)
Several ladies on a Romance forum helped me list (and search for) a handful of Trucker Romance tales. I also found a very few Mystery and Young Adult books, etc.
Here's my Trucker Themed Fiction list.
Interested? Please email me at, blimbot /at/ aol /dot/ com and be sure to make your subject line distinct
(Sorry, no 'auto click' link, because they attract spam.)
Top of Page
