Books

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 W2P 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.

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.

Houston, We've Got Bubbas is set in Yard Dog's quirky postapocalyptic Bubba/Yumbie universe. My story is "Lady and the Bubbas."

http://www.yarddogpress.com/Houston,%20We've%20Got%20Bubbas.htm

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.

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

The popular ezine Bewildering Stories helped launch my career, by posting a lighthearted flash-fic piece titled "Only Human" in their issue #220. Later they followed up with a (somewhat controversial) short story, "Santayana Station," in issue #369.

I've 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 was also in issue #5, with a humorous flash-fic piece titled "Spin." (Problems with their web host erupted, and they went off line several years ago.)

Fall and Rise is an anthology 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 in "Shotgun Seat."

This unusual anthology, titled SF Waxes Philosophical, was 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. (Please contact Mr. Khan directly to obtain a copy.)

My novelette "Shotgun Seat" appeared in the July/August 2008 issue of Analog magazine. (It received an Honorable Mention in the prestigious anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, 26th Edition.)
The main characters are trucker Claude Dremmel 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 Kindle service. It might still be available in electronic form from Fictionwise.
(A sequel, titled "Rule Book," will appear in an upcoming issue of Analog.)

A big thanks to Overdrive magazine for a fine review of this story.
The story's 'interior art' illustration was done by Mark Evans. He did a fantastic job of depicting the key scene.

"Shotgun Seat" was reprinted in the March 2009 issue of Esli, the premier Russian language science fiction magazine.

The Russian Cyrillic title is

, which (the original English being ideomatic jargon) translates to something like "The Seat of the Shooter." The following texts explains, "Unlike during pioneer times, nobody gets shot."

My story "Mirror Girl" appears in the Fourth Quarter 2009 edition of the fine ezine Abyss & Apex. ("Mirror Girl" has received an Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction, 27th Edition.)

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 find 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.)

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