These Strange & Magic Things: Short Stories - Softcover

Ball, Peter M

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1922479411 ISBN 13: 9781922479419

Publisher: Brain Jar Press, 2022

Synopsis

For fans of the weird and enchanting, Peter M Ball returns with a third collection of speculative fiction stories that dance along the borders between horror, fantasy, and science fiction. These Strange and Magic Things brings together fifteen tales showcasing why he's among the finest writers of the strange and fantastic working in Australia right now.

A zombie zombie survival kit started as a private joke takes on new meaning in a failing marriage. A trip to the moon goes wrong when dinosaurs attack the anti-grav train in transit. The difficulties of high school prove much worse when Mike learns he's a werewolf. A drunken party trick goes wrong when a boy with bats in his head decides to show everyone he can catch a bullet with is bare hands. 

Hit man to the supernatural, Keith Murphy, comes up against a demon who draws power from the wrestling ring. He's too tough to gun down and impervious to magic, which means Keith's only got one option - step up, play by the rules of the ring, and accept the possibility he might just be the local hero the Gold Coast needs.

In These Strange and Magic Things Ball spins magic, horror, and pop culture together into an unforgettable collection of tales featuring rogue jinn, uncanny rock bands, magic bees, flying crocodiles, laundromat ghosts, haunted coins, cyberpunk gangs, and lost loves.

About this title

About the Author

Peter M. Ball is an author, publisher, and RPG gamer whose love of speculative fiction emerged after exposure to The Hobbit, Star Wars, David Lynch's Dune, and far too many games of Dungeons and Dragons before the age of 7. He's spent the bulk of his life working as a creative writing tutor, with brief stints as a performance poet, gaming convention organiser, online content developer, non-profit arts manager, and d20 RPG publisher.Peter's three biggest passions are fiction, gaming, and honing the way aspiring writers think about the business and craft of writing, which led to a five-year period working for Queensland Writers Centre as manager of the Australian Writers Marketplace and convenor of the GenreCon writing conference. He is now pursuing a PhD in Writing at the University of Queensland, exploring the poetics of series fiction and their response to emerging publishing technologies.He's the author of the Miriam Aster series and the Keith Murphy Urban Fantasy Thrillers, three short story collections, and more stories, articles, poems, and RPG material than he'd care to count. He's the brain-in-charge at Brain Jar Press, and resides in Brisbane, Australia, with his spouse and a very affectionate cat.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brain Jar Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1922479411
• ISBN 13: 9781922479419
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 202