2026 Preview

Happy New Year, and happy new stories! We have achieved January (congratulations, it was a good team effort) and that means it’s time to look ahead to what stories I’ve got coming up in the next twelve months.

I’m very excited for my 2026 pieces — there’s already six of them scheduled, which makes 2026 my Most Story Ever, even if I sit on my hands and write nothing else until New Year’s Day 2027. Which, when I put it like that, sounds like an amazing plan.

House Cats. Cosmic Horror Monthly, January 2026.

This has maybe actually come out today? I don’t get to write that much proper horror and I really enjoyed myself with this one. It’s heavily inspired by my childhood geology, the chalk Downs of Sussex as well as the fossil-rich Jurassic Coast of Dorset. But it’s also got Proper Monsters. Monsters, and a divorce.

Or Forever Hold Your Peace. Trollbreath Magazine, June 2026.

I wrote this one in summer 2025. I wanted to write something a bit lighter, and I wanted to try romance, even from a slightly skewed angle. It turns out my version of a romance involves tall towers, and wedding DJs, and the ever-present threat of death.

The Children of Cadmus. Fusion Fragment, October 2026.

Another story I wrote very recently, this is a fusion of science fiction and fantasy that I think goes to the darkest places I’ve ever gone. Writing it put me in a terrible mood, but I’m very pleased with the result. It riffs on Greek mythology, in particular one concept that I find irresistible, and that feels unfairly overlooked amongst all the Trojan Horses and labours of Hercules. I’m just joking, Trojan Horse, you know I love you best.

Hark the Herald. Kaleidotrope.

The first of my undated stories for 2026 (I think it will be second or third quarter). This is the oldest story on my list, written in summer 2023 and sold in winter 2024. There is a hint for this one hidden in Numismatic Archetypes, which was written about a year later. I was inspired by the excellent book The First Fossil Hunters by Adrienne Mayor, as well as by the ruined city of Charn in The Magician’s Nephew, for another story that I think could be fairly labelled ‘geological horror’.

Three Fortunes on Alcestis as Told by Baeliss Shudal. Clarkesworld.

This is a science fiction story with one key fantasy element, much like The Children of Cadmus. I set myself the challenge of a story that was a diminuendo: that started as big as any story could possibly go, and shrunk and shrunk until its scale was microscopic. Parts of it make me cry and parts of it feature a sort of bad-tempered alien goat.

The Profitable Sentience of Household Goods. Clarkesworld.

My second Clarkesworld piece for 2026 was written in November 2025, and is still a very fresh acceptance. It’s an idea I’ve had for over a year, but couldn’t make work. I’d only just finished Cadmus when suddenly the format for this one unlocked in my head. I wrote the whole thing in just under 24 hours, which is by some margin my fastest ever. It’s about a fridge and a light switch who are best friends and I hope it makes people very upset.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back with a new entry in the next few weeks covering the release of House Cats. In the meantime I’m writing a story about centipedes which, if I can wrangle the back half of the plot, might come out as my longest ever piece. I wrote one novelette in 2024 and one in 2025 and I really enjoyed the additional room. I’m hoping to write more stories in that range this year, maybe even pushing into novella territory. Or maybe I’ll just write haikus. I bet I could write a haiku every month.