Award-Eligible Works in 2016

I have published the following works over the past year:

Short Stories

“The Smoke Job”: An urban fantasy story detailing the adventure of a greedy dragon, the vampire she wants to rip off, and the witch paparazza who wants to expose them both to the world. Published in Mothership Zeta, volume 3.

“Trellach v. Damar”: A high fantasy story showcasing a chess match between a corrupt noble and a merciless, powerful necromancer. Published at Tellest.

Novelette

“A Most Unusual Applicant” A high fantasy story in which a plucky young thief tests her wits and her skills against those of a powerful, corrupt bureaucrat. Published at Tellest.

New publications

Very pleased to be able to report several new publications since last time:

• I wrote an essay on estries, vampire-like creatures from Jewish mythology, which was purchased and published by Pen and Kink Publishing. It is available here.
• My short story “News from the Extreme Chess Olympiad” will be appearing in Futuristica Volume 2. This dark comedy details a nightmarish chess match from the future in which two world-class players fight for their lives, one of whom may be bringing the fight to the league administrators as well. Details to follow as they become available.
• My short story “A Most Unusual Applicant” has been posted in its entirety at tellest.com, available here. It details the second adventure of Jadie Rivers, thief extraordinaire, and those who enjoyed her first adventure will hopefully like this one too.
• Another short story, “Trellach v. Damar”, is also available at tellest.com (here). It details the battle of wits between the conniving noble of a mountain-bound fiefdom and the malevolent necromancer who becomes trapped in her town. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope it’s just as much fun to read.
• My last Tellest-related update (at least for now) is that my novelette “The Golem-Maker of the Hills” is available in its entirety to subscribers to the tellest newsletter; an excerpt is available to all here. This story details what happens when Grannick, a rugged mercenary, stumbles into a surprisingly prosperous town in the middle of nowhere. He makes friends with one of the town’s youngest inhabitants, the little girl Laika, but when he learns that Laika is being exploited by the town’s leader, he must decide how best to rescue the girl without destroying the village.

New Stories at Mothership Zeta and Tellest

My story “The Smoke Job” is now available for reading in Mothership Zeta’s 3rd issue! It’s a Leverage-inspired story set in a dragon’s treasure vault, and I’m really excited to be able to show this to the world.

Also, my story “Hunt in the Valley of Mist” is now available for free at Tellest.com. This is a short story featuring a small band of mercenaries as they track a wily harpy through a mysterious forest. If you’re interested in classic fantasy, you might enjoy this story as well.

Finally, “A Most Unusual Applicant,” the sequel to my previous story “A Most Unusual Patriot,” has started to appear at Tellest.com now. It tracks the further adventures of plucky thief Jadie Rivers and her quest to uncover the evil conspiracy that could bring her country to its knees. You can read the first chapter here.

Award-Eligible Works I Wrote Last Year

I published two fantasy works last year which are eligible for genre fiction awards.

A Most Unusual Patriot (parts 1 2 3 4) is a 5800-word high fantasy story about a thief who must use her wits and a few magic spells to subvert a conspiracy that threatens her nation. This work was a commission for the shared universe of Tellest. It is available on the Tellest website and also in Tales of Tellest, a collection of short stories set in that universe.

Dining Out is a 2100-word dark fantasy story about a corrupt food critic who bites off more than he can chew when he tries to give a fey-run restaurant a bad review. It is available in the third issue of Phobos, a Philadelphia-based weird fiction magazine.

 

Hello World

Hello everyone! I’m Aaron Canton, fantasy writer, and this is my blog. I’ll use this place as a central directory for my fiction, and potentially post thoughts about life and writing as well. Thank you for visiting.