End of year report - Part 1

Another circuit around the sun completed, another year nearer death, and another 30,000 species driven to extinction. Apparently. 

And more stories with my name in the by-line taken by publishers, those filters of taste that sit between me and you, dear reader.

#1 "Planes of Illusory", in This Exquisite Topology, Angry Gable Press

Only submitted on January 2nd; by the 4th this well-travelled flash (on it's 47th submission, but it had been bought once before by a publication that evaporated shortly after) had been taken for my second appearance in an Angry Gable Press anthology.

It was published in August.

#2 "Imprex Model 5233: Instruction for Use", AnomalySF

Having sold my first story of the year so quickly, I then had to wait until late May for my second, and then it was the flashiest of flashes, barely more than a drabble. I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost my mojo. If you subscribe, you can find it here: look for its 15th June publication date.

#3 "The Black Dragon", Utopia Science Fiction

Already into the second half of the year, just my third sale came on July 19th. But at 4000 words, at least it was a proper short story, not a drabble or a flash, and at a professional rate of pay (my children get to wear shoes again!). 

"The Black Dragon" may sound like dragon-heavy swords and sorcery fantasy, but it's actually military science fiction, about soldier-droids having a sudden moment of pacifist sentience in earth's last line of defence against invading... okay, dragons. Read it in Utopia SF's August edition.

Notably, this was my one hundredth published story, and my second 'dis-qualifying' story for the purposes of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. Another two 3000 word+ stories paid at over eight cents a word and I'm deemed a professional who can't enter. (Spoiler alert: see Part Two!)

#4 "Wingman(Patent Pending)" in The Big Book of Quantum Fiction, Tracy Shew

Nine days later, Tracy Shew came in for my time travel SF story, "Wingman (Patent Pending)", despite the very clear instructions in the submission guidelines that time travel was out of scope. 

Mr. Shew reminded me of this in his acceptance email:

If this snuck into our anthology it would be a mistake. A course correction. A blunt force trauma to our mission statement.

I'm confidently certain I specified "No time travel!" in the instructions. And this is classic time travel.

Now the good news: You've convinced me I may have been wrong. Yes, it is classic time travel paradox. You have obviously channeled Ray Bradbury's "The Sound of Thunder." BUT, you possibly saved yourself by your fingernails by including one genuine quantum hypothesis which has been kicked around for thirty years, and which refuses to die: The silmultaneous time streams theory, which you seem to disprove, because your ending reverts back to the grandfather paradox.

It's like you bring up the quantum theory (which should disallow the grandfather paradox) simply as justification for the Japanese inventors to sell time travel to the public as "safe." Clever.

This makes the cost of including this amazing story quite high for me. (And I'm not talking about the $24.) It would reside amongst a bunch of other stories that are like, "Yaay! Quantum theory!" Only to shout out "Boo! Quantum theory! Yaay! Einstein!"

I'm not sure what's happened to this project. Tracy said he'd be blogging on his site at least monthly, but hasn't since June, which is never a good sign. The last 'news' is from April. But contracts have been signed and payment made, so the ball's in his court and the story is for him to do with as he sees fit. I hope the anthology emerges. The last mail I had from him ended:

Thanks for instilling a touch of class in this project.

#5 "The Derring-Do Best Left Undone", in Happily Never After, Shacklebound Books

Back to the short stuff. Eric Fomley's Shacklebound Books is a repeat customer, but this drabble was selected by guest editor Kai Delmas for his twisted fairy tale anthology. I think it's worth giving you a line from his acceptance email:

I can't believe you're making me do this, but I did really enjoy your drabble and would like to accept the monster Rapunzel and her pubic hair story for Happily Never After.

Now I know you're intrigued. So am I, actually, as I'm not entirely sure what's happened to the project. Hopefully it'll appear soon.

#6 "Knights of the Spherical Table", Rat Bag Literary

A reprint, snapped up mid-August and scheduled to appear in Rat Bag Literary's first print edition in mid-March 2026. There are already plenty of stories to explore on their website.

#

Click on the images or search on Amazon.

You're here, so surely you know how?

My Thoughts are with You. Your Thoughts are with the Authorities for Calibration Against Societal Norms

Meet a man mistaken for a robot, a robot which learns the meaning of irony the hard way, a Frankenstein’s monster with a future in tailoring, a talking cat, a talking car, several time travellers, and a host of other characters.

Award-nominated science fiction and slipstream author Robert Bagnall’s second anthology of twenty-four stories, variously bleak, funny, bleakly funny or – very occasionally – optimistic.

  

2084 - The Meschera Bandwidth

2084. The world remains at war.

In the Eurasian desert, twenty-year old Adnan emerges from a coma with memories of a strictly ordered city of steel and glass, and a woman he loved.

The city is the Dome, and the woman... is Adnan's secret to keep.

Adnan learns what the Dome is, and what his role really was within it. He learns why everybody fears the Sickness more than the troopers. And he learns why he is the only one who can stop the war.

Persuaded to re-enter the Dome to implant a virus that will bring the war machine to its knees, the resistance think that Adnan is returning to free the many - but really he wants to free the one.

24 0s & a 2

Twenty-four slipstream stories.  Frequently absurd, often minimifidian, occasionally heroic.

“Brilliant stories, well written!” (five stars, Amazon).