Or whatever….

Anyway, I’ve appeared in several anthologies of late, and one very exciting one forthcoming, so I wanted to list them here.

My friend Lee Harris invited me to contribute to this charity short fiction collection that contains work by Alastair Reynolds, Jasper Fforde, Mary Robinette Kowal, Paul Cornell, and Kaaron Warren, among many others. Voices From The Past is an anthology that benefits Great Ormond Street children’s hospital. And if you missed a Christmas story from me last year, here’s where my latest story ended up. “750,000 Of Your Friends Liked This”

Available now!

Last year, I contributed “You Must Be My Lucky Star,” a short written in Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Brave Men Run universe to be placed in his anthology: The Sovereign Era: Year One. It’s a great book with stories from other podcast authors like JC Hutchins and JR Blackwell.

Find all versions, ebook and print, at Matt’s site.

Lastly, I’m super excited to announce my first pro sale, and it was to the followup of one of my favorite anthologies ever, so it’s extra sweet. The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists will be released this July, and my story, “1963: The Argument Against Louis Pasteur,” is included. Product description:

After the death of Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead at his house in Wimpering-on-the-Brook, England, a remarkable discovery was unearthed: the remains of an astonishing cabinet of curiosities. Many of these artifacts, curios, and wonders related to anecdotes and stories in the doctor’s personal journals. Others, when shown to the doctor’s friends, elicited further tales from a life like no other.

Thus, in keeping with the bold spirit exemplified by Dr. Lambs­head and his exploits, we now proudly present highlights from the doctor’s cabinet, reconstructed not only through visual representations but also through exciting stories of intrigue and adventure.

A carefully selected group of popular artists and acclaimed, bestselling authors has been assembled to bring this cabinet of curiosities to life.

I’m in there with Minister Faust, Will Hindmarch, China Mieville, Michael Moorcock, Alan Moore, Garth Nix, Cherie Priest, Ekaterina Sedia, Rachel Swirsky, and Carrie Vaughn, to name a few of the jaw-droppingly awesome contributors in this book.

So preorder now!

See, a while ago, Jim suggested I put together an ebook collection of my Christmas tales and sell it this year. I didn’t think I had enough stories, maybe need one more, but thought I could do a blog post listing them all for your holiday enjoyment.

And.

Well.

*looks sheepishly at calendar*

First, I’ll be putting the latest story, published at The DrabbleCast, here in the feed. It’s a 100 word drabble, and I was inspired by Neil Gaiman’s drabble, “Nicholas Was.” “ZuZu’s Bell” is a dark little story I wrote last year, but I was unsatisfied with the ending. So I tweaked it a bit and then sent it to Norm at The DrabbleCast, and he paired it with another dark tale from Tim Pratt.

So if you have not had enough of Christmas, or want to experience some fiction of me you may not have heard before, here’s the list.

• 2010: Zuzu’s Bell
• 2009: Solitary as an Oyster
• 2008: As Dry Leaves That Before The Wild Hurricane Fly
• 2007: Citytalkers
• 2006: Merry Christmas From the Heartbreakers
• 2005: Santa In My Pocket

Next year I’ll work on that ebook, including my new story, which sadly has no name, but it has a plot, at least…

Let’s face it. I like it when people underestimate me. I don’t write sick, twisted, fucked up shit very often, but every once in a while I’m offered an opportunity to display that side. So when Scott invited me to write in his universe, I jumped at the chance.

Meet Major Anne Lafferty. She has some… issues. She merely has hobbies that are different from most people’s and tries to excel in her military career and make her father proud. When she can, she combines her hobbies with her career. If she doesn’t get caught.

Co-authored by Mur Lafferty and Scott Sigler. Narrated by Scott Sigler. Not for kids. Seriously. At all. Ever.

More Crypt here.

Hi all- I was sick part of last week, during the middle of a great “catch up” game – and now I’m playing even more catch up. I will have something neat to announce soon, but for now let’s get to some other news:

• If you are a fan of Playing for Keeps, you may have also heard of Matthew Wayne Selznick’s book, Brave Men Run. Many people in podcasting (including me) wrote stories for the launch of Brave Men Run, and now Matt’s putting out a book of those short stories. The Sovereign Era: Year One is now available. You’ll get stories by me, JC Hutchins, Jared Axelrod, JR Blackwell, Matt Wallace, PG Holyfield, and Nathan Lowell.
• I contributed to this ebook, along with more distinguished authors, giving writing advice. You can download it at Smashwords, or buy it for your Kindle (proceeds go to Literacy Inc, a non-profit founded by Deborah Leblanc to encourage teen readers).

Survival tips for 21st century writers, from best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson, M.J. Rose, Heather Graham, J.A. Konrath, Gayle Lynds, Alexandra Sokoloff, Jonathan Maberry, and more. How to develop your craft, improve your writing, get an agent, promote your work, embrace the digital age, and prepare yourself for the coming changes in the publishing industry. Edited by Scott Nicholson.

My annual Christmas story for Escape Pod: Solitary as an Oyster! Television ghost hunters get an odd assignment on Christmas Eve.

In honor of the holiday, I have something nice running at Escape Pod this week. Not sure when it’ll go live, but it’ll be today or tomorrow. [EDIT- it'll be up tomorrow. For now, go listen to the brilliant James Patrick Kelly's story, Candy Art!] But I’ve been feeling subversive and naughty lately, and had some thoughts about It’s A Wonderful Life. Also running through my head is Neil Gaiman’s wonderful 100 word holiday tale, “Nicholas Was,” and so I decided to write my own. So thank you Neil for the inspiration, and thank you Frank Capra for the material.

And Happy Holidays to everyone.

Zuzu’s Bell

Lucifer despairs on the celebration of His birth.

Lucifer stinks with the feces of the hopeless, the wretched. Daily he bathes in the tears of the woebegone; he hopes to find the one moment where He Above overlooks, disregards, forgets. Then it will be Lucifer’s time.

His back twinges with memories of wings long gone. His wings shattered upon striking Earth Below, but his shoulders remember. Always.

But it is this night when the fiery sky opens. Unholy ichor sprays as white wings burst from Lucifer’s back and he looks up to hear the unexpected.

One silver bell.

(Copyright 2009, Mur Lafferty. Some Rights Reserved. BY-NC-ND)

Super special thanks to Rick Stringer of Variant Frequencies for the holiday card PDF!

Earl Newton of the amazing HD video podcast, Stranger Things, and I have been talking for a couple of years about him producing one of my short stories: “I Look Forward To Remembering You.” It’s a story about prostitution and time travel, love and Ranma 1/2.

Now it’s going to happen- “Remembering You” is next on the Stranger Things episode list.

This will put me in the club with podcasters such as Matt Wallace, who wrote the script for Latchkeepers,  JC Hutchins, who wrote the concept for the latest episode, Disconnect, and Scott Sigler, whose short story “Sacred Cow” was the inspiration behind episode 101 of Stranger things. All episodes are amazing, and I can’t really express how excited I am to have one of my stories produced at the quality I know Earl insists on.

“Remembering You” has been published twice before, in audio form at Escape Pod and in text form at Hub Magazine (PDF Download). Both are free and available now, if you’d like to familiarize yourself with it. I hope you do, because Earl is looking for feedback from people on how to write the script. If the story moved you, please go to his website and give him comments.

I’m thrilled and giddy about this, and can wait for you to see what this video genius comes up with. Please let your voice be heard if you liked this story!