Douglas Smith | Writer of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Superb writing. Three perfect stories. Echoes of Ellison and Bradbury. Okay, I'll take it. My first mini-collection, Impossibilia, was released in November and has been getting great reviews. Here's a sample:

"The writing is superb. Douglas Smith is an artisan and his stories beautifully crafted... In my search for the perfect short story, the three in this volume certainly qualify."

"The revolution of themes and words is very fluid throughout this story, making the pace almost rhythmic, drawing you along... The ending is a perfect resolution...

"The characters are intriguing and the story beguiling. I would like to read more about these characters."

"Another great story, but I'm getting used to that. Deft handling of character and setting..."

—Kelly Jensen, SF Crowsnest Book Reviews

A self-Google recently led me to an interview at SF Signal where those good folks were commenting that it was hard enough trying to keep up with all the new books by 'name' authors, let alone trying to discover something new and interesting. How, they wondered, do you find that 'underrated' author whose books you should be reading? For help, they turned to a panel of authors and editors and asked them this question:

Question: Which author, living or otherwise, do you believe deserves more recognition than they currently receive and why?

The wonderful Canadian author, Julie Czerneda, gave this as her surprising reply (well, it was surprising to me):

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To mark the start of a new year, I've posted my story "New Year's Eve" on my free online fiction page. The story first appeared in issue #128 of the UK magazine InterZone in 1998. It's one of my early stories – it was only my second sale and my first big sale. The story was short-listed for the Aurora the following year and has since been reprinted five time and in four languages. The story revolves around the so-called Y2k bug, which was hyped to the hysteria level in the years and months running up to 2000.

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I have a new story coming out shortly in the upcoming issue #17 of Postscripts from PS Publishing in the UK, the same fine publisher that produced my recent collection Impossibilia. My story, "Doorways," is a tale of lost love, revenge, the commutative property of mathematical operations, and a very unusual house. Really. Like all issues of Postscripts, #17 is a limited print run and is available either in paperback or a signed hardcover edition. It can be ordered now and should be available in December. Check out the very cool Santa vs. Cthulhu cover to the left. Happy Cthulhumas!

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The Foreign Market List
© Douglas Smith

Updates for November 2008:
New (1): Terra Incognita (Brazil)
Updates (4): Cuasar (Argentina) – declared a non-market | Esli (Russia) – no longer open to English subs | Alfa Eridani (Spain) – open to submissions again | Real'nost' Fantastiki (Ukraine) – email address for English submissions updated
Dead markets (2): Sci-Fi Magazin (Romania) | Efimeras (Spain)

Go to Foreign Market List

My award-winning SF story "Scream Angel" has just been reprinted in the new online magazine, Nova, in Portugal. "Scream Angel" first appeared as the closing story in the Meisha Merlin anthology Low Port in 2003, and won the Canadian Aurora Award in 2004 for best short story.

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My supernatural horror story “By Her Hand, She Draws You Down” was reprinted recently in the South African SF & horror magazine Something Wicked. This story is being made into a movie by TinyCore Pictures. You can read about the movie here (I'll post an update on the movie in December hopefully). This story first appeared in The Third Alternative in the UK, and was subsequently selected by Stephen Jones for the thirteenth edition of his annual The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror in 2002.

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When my post-apocalyptic novelette, "Memories of the Dead Man," first appeared in the great Canadian magazine, On Spec, the story was described in Tangent Online as "a unique, post-apocalyptic blend of The Road Warrior and X-Men." "Dead Man" has now been reprinted in the magazine Mercury in Israel. Check out the cover at the left.

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I’m pleased to announce that Impossibilia, my first collection of short fiction, will be published in the fall of 2008 by the award-winning UK press, PS Publishing, in their "Showcase" series highlighting "genre fiction's best up-and-coming writers." The collection can be pre-ordered in both jacketed hardcover and hardcover editions.

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I'll be at Polaris 22, the annual Toronto SF&F convention (formerly Toronto Trek), whose media guests include Rachel Luttrell, pictured here (Teyla Emmagan of Stargate Atlantis). Polaris has a strong media focus, but also includes a literary stream in their programming. I'm on a number of panels over the weekend (one Friday night, and three Saturday afternoon), and will be doing a reading of a new story on Sunday at 1pm. Hope to see you there!