Alexander Hay's Page - Sci Fi, Horror, Fantasy

MOGS & SODS

23/07/2024 – New Fantasy Story!

A clip from the front cover art of 'Feisty Felines And Other Fantastical Familiars', an anthology published by WordFire Press. The background image features a tasteful dark blue background, with the moon, a cat and a raven in the foreground. The cat is thin and shorthaired, with angular cheeks and pale green eyes. The crow and the spider are in near silhouette, but their eyes are reflected as white dots. The cat is sitting atop a post, while the crow perches on their head. The spider dangles off the crow's beak via a line of spider silk. What looks like magic just eddies on both sides of the image, around the main title. Original art and design by Allyson Longueira.

My short story, "The Secret of the Sorceress" is part of the Feisty Felines and Other Fantastical Familiars anthology, just published by Wildfire Press.

It's got talking cats! Skeletons! Mad old bats! What more could you ask for? Click here for a trailer!

And go here to buy a copy!

CAST IN THE RIGHT MOULD

10/06/2024 – New Science Fiction Story!

My latest published short story, "Molded", is out now in the new issue of Leading Edge magazine!

Also featuring fiction by Karen L. Kobylarz and L.K. Smith, poetry by Kate Fowler, non-fiction by Tidus Pinkham, and an interview with M. L. Wang.

Many thanks to the editorial team for their support and feedback. Fungal frolics ensue.

Interested? Issue 84 is available here.

TOUGH GIG

01/05/2024 – New Science Fiction Story!

What to do when the world has been devastated and needs some serious healing? Get a job with the local county council, of course! Green pallor optional.

My short story, "Job Offer", is now LIVE at Utopia Science Fiction. Many thanks to the editors and well done to all the other authors and poets in this issue.

Go here to get a copy!

CHEW ON THAT

16/03/2024 – New Horror Story!

A close up shot of an affable-looking mantis, who appears to be looking directly at the viewer. Their eyes are green, fading into white towards the bottom. Their chitin is a subtle combination of purple, amber and white shades. Meanwhile, their long, thin anetennae look almost like gold-copper in colour. Surely someone you can take home to meet your parents! The background is blurred out, and is a faintly brown-beige colour. Original image by Gunjan Pandey, care of Wikimedia Commons. Used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (1.2), and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licenses (3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0).

"Oh, good morning, chums! Just to say that my dear friend, the inedible Alexander Hay, has a new story out, care of Carnage House Publishing!

"Called 'Mother Mantis', this has it all: Horror, giant bugs, drugs, sex, madness, Kafka refrences - and plaigirism.

"Click the link for more!"

BACK TO THE GARDEN

24/01/2024 – New Fantasy Reprint!

And lo! I have another publication!

"A Walk In The Garden" is available now in the Winter 2024 edition of Dragon Gems. This is the second time it has been published, as the story first appeared in Savage Realms, August 2022.

Many thanks to Water Dragon Publishing, and congratulations to all the other authors whose work is featured!

Feel free to buy a copy!

HELL IS WAR

14/01/2024 – New Horror Story!

'The Price of Victory' - a gelatin silver photographic print, taken by Australian photographer Captain Frank Hurley, between August 1917-August 1918. It features a devastated landscape, presumably on the Western Front, littered with the corpses of Germans. In the top left, a pathetic copse of trees, blasted to almost nothing, stands. Smoke and a barren hill can be seen in the distance.

My latest short story, "1,000 Eyes", is now LIVE on the NoSleep Podcast! Expect war, horror, monsters and weird fiction in equal measure. Cough cough splutter Trench Crusade.

Thanks to the producers and voice actors for helping bring it to life!

Go here to buy the episode.

IT NEEDS DISCIPLINE

31/10/2023 – New Science Fiction Story!

DID I MENTION THAT MY LATEST SHORT STORY, "MEGAMAW", IS NOW PUBLISHED IN STRANGE MACHINES - AN ANTHOLOGY OF DARK USER MANUALS?

Many thanks to both Apex Publishing and editor Marissa van Uden. It's available now via KickStarter. BuyBuyBuy!

And perhaps my Capslock key will stop malfunctioning!

POSTMAN SPLAT

17/03/2023 – New Horror Story!

Cover art from #46 of Weirdbook. It features a man in a canoe, viewed from behind, as he paddles through a swamp towards a large, tentacled abombination rising from the murk. It is dusk and all is bathed in sinister shades of red and orange. Art by Allen Koszowski.

My latest published story, "Special Delivery", is featured in the new issue (#46) of #Weirdbook! For fans of folk horror, rural horror, cosmic horror, postal horror (a new genre of my own devising - don't ever say I don't push the envelope here), and GORE!!! (The issue also has some excellent art by Allen Koszowski.)

Good clean fun for all the family. Make sure the postman (postperson?) delivers your copy!

(DON'T) LET IT GO

19/02/2023 – New Science Fiction & Horror Story!

The promotional image for NoSleep Episode 3, Season 19 - S19E03. It features a probe entering the subsurface seas of Europa. Light beams in behind the probe as it descends. Out of the dark emerges the moon's natives, multi-coloured, large and sinister looking radiates, illuminating the gloom as they surround the probe. Original image by Miggea @ Instagram.

Space, eh? Very cold, very dark. Have you wondered how haunted it is? The ghosts of long dead civilisations, space farers, murder victims? It's very easy to throw someone out of an airlock. Too easy. But oh, so tempting...

Anyway, this story, "The Equation's Cold" is a ripost to a certain sci-fi 'classic' which will go astoundingly unamed. Thanks to the NoSleep Podcast, David Ault and Erika Sanderson for doing the honours.

Download the episode here!

RUFF JUSTICE

02/10/2022 – New Horror Story!

An extreme close-up of a savage dog's open jaws, ready to rip chunks out of some poor soul. The image is dark, and only the dog's maw and some of its snout can be made out. Original image by Wirestock @ iStock.com.

Do you like violent supernatural dogs? Don't argue with me! You sodding well do.

And in that spirit, I heartily recommend my latest published story, angry ghost dog rampage/child welfare epic "Cu Faoil", c/o those nice people at Night Terror Novels.

So give that dog a bone and click the link below:

Woooooof