Hello there {$name|default('reader')}! I hope you're having a great week.

Well goodness me, it's been a while, hasn't it? The last few months have been a little overwhelming, but all is well and it's about time I get back on with this newsletter.

And first of all - I have some new writing for you! I've been busy on some short stories alongside the longer-form novel writing, and I've decided to put them up on the internet for you all.

Starting tomorrow, Sunday 2nd February, one will go up each day until Friday 7th. They're visible on Amazon already for pre-order at just 99p / 99c each. ares.watch

Don't want to pay? That's absolutely fine! Amazon won't let me give them away for free, but if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited, you can read them all there for nothing. If you're not already in KU then you can sign up for a free trial here. You can always cancel it after the trial period too, and pay nothing at all. amzn.to

Or finally you can grab them completely free from my website. I can't offer pre-orders there, but they'll pop up each day. And if you miss a day, don't worry - they're not going anywhere. This isn't some 'limited time offer', they're available forever.

Enjoy this newsletter, and I've included a brief synopsis of each story at the end!

Space News

Meteorite caught on camera

We've seen meteors burning up in the atmosphere on camera a number of times (most famous I think was the Chelyabinsk fireball https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/15/meteorite-footage-russia-dashcams ) but this is the first time we've actually captured the impact of a space rock with the earth.

And best of all, you can even hear the sound of it shattering as it hits!

The fragments were collected and analysed, and it definitely was a meteorite and not just some debris with a more mundane origin (though quite how mundane a rock exploding on your driveway can be is perhaps up for debate). The homeowner originally thought it was just something that fell off the roof, but the video and the associated soundtrack soon convinced him otherwise.

In addition he had been standing there just a few minutes earlier, so he was quite fortunate not to be the first person caught on camera being injured (or worse) by a meteorite.

Source: npr.org

Other Books To Check Out

https://ares.watch/z/B0DQQB2TL8

A heartfelt tale from the author of How to Breathe Underwater, this science fiction short story questions love, loss, and the delicate line between human and machine.

When her husband Michel falls victim to a computer virus, android Hetty refuses to believe he is truly gone. Driven by his final cryptic message, she travels to Paris, desperate to save him before his housing is melted down. Could he have hidden away a piece of himself - a backup waiting to be discovered?

As Hetty unravels the mystery of his disappearance, she faces a terrifying choice: save his body or preserve his mind. Will she take the leap with Michel into his unknown future, or lose him forever?

https://ares.watch/z/B07VYLQQQH

"A classic, richly-imagined and deliciously detailed adventure" "funny, charming, heart wrenching" "this book has made my year"

ENGLAND 1936: Ida dreams of becoming a mechanic, Baby of stowing away to America on The Queen Mary. But a fascist plot to kidnap blonde children throws both girls off course. Missing kids and a town riddled with Nazi sympathisers mean that Baby's and Ida's dreams will never come true, unless they team up. But Baby and her friends are thieves. There's no way good-girl Ida is going to get along with anyone like that. Especially, when they have the cheek to accuse one of Nettlefield's most respected citizens, Ida's Uncle Arthur, of the most awful crimes ...

Strange News

How robots without AI are changing lives for the better

It still seems as if AI is everywhere, despite being little more than a glorified auto-correct. We're a long way from robots performing all the menial drudgery we'd rather not do. And that's before we even consider whether they're taking jobs away from people that really need them.

That's why I found this particular story so heartwarming. Robots are working in cafes and social spaces in Japan, but they're not powered by AI. There are real people operating them from home. People with heart conditions, chronic fatigue syndrome, cerebral palsy, and a number of other disabilities and conditions that would bar them from typical work patterns.

So now they can make coffee, serve customers and chat with people 'face to face' in a way that they simply cannot do otherwise.

I urge you to watch this video, and defy you to come away with anything other than hope for the future. That human interaction, that connection, is something that transcends the medium in which it is transferred.

I admit I found it impossible not to shed a tear of joy or two while watching this.

Source: youtube.com

Other Books To Check Out

Miscellany

Can we read out the largest known prime number before we find the next one? You can get involved too!

Source: saytheprime.com

NASA has found the ingredients for life on a remote asteroid.

Source: youtube.com

If you have a Wordpress website, make sure you keep it up to date.

Source: techcrunch.com

And Finally

Here are the short stories I'm giving away this week:

Sunday 2nd February - Killing Time I've always loved time-travel stories. From Back to the Future through The Terminator to Primer it's fascinating how different writers approach the idea. Who hasn't wanted to go back and erase a mistake in their past? And who hasn't been confused by the Grandfather Paradox, the first time they heard it? So I decided to take a crack at the genre myself. The beauty of approaching an impossible feat is that there's no single 'right' way to describe it. When your protagonist time travels, do they change the present they came from? Create a parallel (or diverging) timeline? Discover that time is fixed, and they have no free will after all? As long as you keep the rules consistent, any or all of those are perfectly viable answers. So join 'Joe' as he discovers whether he can change his fate.

Monday 3rd February - You Can't Take It With You Whenever there are rules, there are people who want to get around them. And there's no denying that there is a certain type of joy to be found in exploiting a loophole. Banks have rules, to keep their greed in check. Landlords have rules, to protect their tenants. The police have rules, to ensure they don't think they're outside the law. And vampires have rules... So what happens when they all get broken?

Tuesday 4th February - Skin Deep This was originally written for, and published in, an anthology of retellings of classic fairy tales. Volume one was entitled 'A is for Apple', and centred on variations on the 'Snow White' mythos. While writing this story I returned to the original Brothers Grimm version. Unlike the later incarnations, most notably the Disney retelling, this is a very dark tale indeed. The wicked Queen was actually Snow White's own mother, there are suggestions of cannibalism and necrophilia, and the Prince doesn't kiss her to wake her up, but has his minions carry her around in her glass coffin to be admired. But the core themes of vanity, exploitation, jealousy and vengeance are as valid today as they always were, and the online beauty community seemed an ideal setting for a feud that turns nasty.

Wednesday 5th February - West of the Moon When an overworked young woman discovers something remarkable in the depths of an asteroid, she must use all her intelligence to hide it from the greedy corporation she works for. This was originally written for, and published in, an anthology of retellings of classic fairy tales. Volume two was entitled 'B is for Beauty', and centred on variations on the 'Beauty and the Beast' mythos. My version of this classic tale incorporates themes from the original story as well as the Disney adaptations. A young, bright, book-smart woman required to work hard after her father's fall from grace. A misunderstood creature who longs for human company. A braggart and a show-off whose name begins with G... The title comes from 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon', which is the Norwegian version of the Beauty and the Beast tale. It seemed appropriate for a story set among the stars. I might well be revisiting this universe soon, as the world Belle inhabits has a great many more stories to be told.

Thursday 6th February - The Coming of the Fairies This story was written for the 'Short Trips' contest run by Big Finish, a producer of Audiobooks and full cast audio dramas. I decided to write a story featuring the Second Doctor, as portrayed by Patrick Troughton. He would be accompanied by Jamie and Zoe as he ran into Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and what appeared to be a sighting of the fairies... Sadly I wasn't selected, but I'm proud of this story nevertheless. I guess it counts as fan-fiction, and it was the first time I've tried to do that. Working with established (and well-loved) characters is an interesting challenge, trying to ensure my own voice shows through while you hopefully still recognise the Doctor and his companions.

Friday 7th February - Tell The Bees This story was featured in an issue of "The London Reader" focused on murder and mystery. While it's not violent or overtly graphic, it does deal with some troubling issues, and so might not be suitable for all audiences. In this pastoral mystery, we enter the creeping story of a village searching for an eight-year old boy and the effect his disappearance has on his aged grandfather, Charlie. The old ways of the community hold hints of ancient magic for the grandfather, like the buzzing at the heart of "Tell the Bees". I've long been fascinated by the old folklore that is so deeply woven into society as to be all but forgotten. The idea of 'telling the bees' when there is a death in the family is an old one, but it recently resurfaced when Queen Elizabeth II's beekeeper had the duty of breaking the news to the royal hives.