Mark McClure, writer

31 Not Out My challenge to write fifty-two short stories in fifty-two weeks ended on the 8th October.

The Antrim Ghost Road?

Alien First Contact Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain spoilers) Drone was the prompt for this story, and with the recent events in the Middle East this could have ended up as a story with a military angle.

Floating Eco-Cities Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain spoilers) This one emerged from a story idea I had a few years ago about a pair of floating eco-cities somewhere in the equatorial Pacific region (the assumption being that typhoons

Smart Car Dumb Dude Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May Contain Spoilers) I tell you this up front.

Maintenance Man Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May Contain Spoilers) I was working with the prompt - maintenance man - and decided to write the story using a first person point-of-view.

Super Typhoon Hits Tokyo (Fictional) Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May Contain Spoilers) This story started life from a single word prompt, monsoon.

Alien First Contact Belfast Image by Ross (Wikimedia) Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May Contain Spoilers) I got the prompt - Cave - and then fell into a deep hole of not writing a damned word for three days.

Alien First Contact Romance What if Departure came before Arrival?

Impenetrable Safe Unknowable Heart I like to think, to ponder, before I write.

Distaff: 9 Female Science Fiction Writers Release date: 2019-08-15: Womens Sci-Fi Anthology Distaff I heard about this science fiction anthology through Jo Zebedee, one of the nine contributors, in her capacity as a founding member of Otherworlds NI, a gr…

Climate Fiction Sci-Fi Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) This story began with a writing prompt of summer solstice and then drew on a what if element to a story published in the New Scientist magazine titled Mice given ‘night visi…

Short Story Challege No. 20 Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) Travel can broaden the mind and this short story drew on some of my experiences in Hong Kong and mainland China over the years.

Belfast - Young Adult Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May Contain Spoilers) Minor point but significant enough for me to mention.

My Forbidden Planet Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain spoilers) This is one of those stories that started from an innocuous prompt, wedding chapel, and then took off, blasted off would be more appropriate, into some kind of space exploration

Japanese Ghost Girls Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) I don’t read much horror fiction these days but my significant other enjoys scary movies and a little of that may have rubbed off below.

Cyborg Colony Castoffs I seem to have a strong interest in cyborgs dealing with whatever world we humans bequeath them.

Weird Western Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) I am way behind with these short story updates!

Writing Habits Revisited This month’s post is about systems for the writer in me.

Writing Well And I’m sorry (not!)

Otherworlds N.

Stories from the Anthropocene I took a week off from writing and reading to recharge the life support batteries and am now ready to word surge again!

Playing Ping Pong with Love Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) Number 14 in the repertoire is a flash fiction piece and continues my infatuation with artificial intelligence and sexbots.

Short Short Story That’s not a typo.

AI Sexbots Wronged (Sci-Fi Short Story) Short Story Writer’s Journal: (Might Contain Spoilers) Story #12 is all about AI sexbots wronged.

Do Some Writers Ban creativity?

Valentine’s Bastard Child of Romance Short Story Writer’s Journal: Might Contain Spoilers Story #11 was intended to be a love story for Valentine’s Day.

Children’s Cli-Fi Short Story 2021-12-13 Update: I indie-published this short story as 65 Oak Street, Belfast.

“See every day as a true challenge” (Petit) Short Story Writer’s Journal: (Might Contain Spoilers) Do you know the phrase; kill your darlings?

Bohemian Rhapsody Movie Bohemian Rhapsody, the smash hit movie / biopic / musical centred around the rock band Queen and their iconic front man, Freddie Mercury, is the subject of this post.

Alien Colony Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal (May contain spoilers): This story started life as an idea based on a recent news story of alleged gene-editing by a Chinese scientist on human embryos.

Short Story Challenge Short Story Writer’s Journal: (Unfinished Story, contains spoilers) This was supposed to be a short story with dialogue as the focal point vis-a-vis these practice elements:

Keyboard Killer Short Story Short Story Writer’s Journal (may contain spoilers) This story arose from the following writing prompt: Take any mundane object at random.

Japanese Wine Country We’re fortunate that November is still mild (16 Celsius) and pleasant, and as Tuesdays are usually rest days for me, we took a 90-minutes train ride from Tokyo out to the delightful little town of Katsunuma, in Yamanashi prefecture.

The Keyboard Prisoner Short Story Writer’s Journal (May contains spoilers) This is another tale that sprung from a story start from last year.

Marooned on the Moon Sci-Fi Short Story Writer’s Journal: (May contain Spoilers) This story arose from the first 500 words of a story start I did for an online writing course last year.

Short Story Writer’s Journal: Story #3 started life as an idea about reliving life to experience the best parts of childhood and then morphed into a horror form that surprised me.

Getting Started Early I am now in the third week of my 52 short stories in 52 weeks challenge.

Alien Vampires?

Clock Jumping Fiction Title image credit: By Flickr user gtknj (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ogachin/2843181084/) [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Short Story Writer’s Journal:

Short Story Challenge One of the most-visited posts on this blog begins with a quote from the sci-fi movie, Contact:

52 Stories in 52 Weeks (Not…) Inspired by writer Phillip McCollum’s 52 short stories in 52 weeks, I am embarking on a similar creative writing voyage of my own.

My Top 3 Science Fiction Books (2018) This (see picture) was one of the best bento boxes I’ve ever tasted in Japan.

Sci-Fi Books September stirs quite a collection of memories for me.

Blogging Break Begins It’s crazy hot in Tokyo.

Anti-Distraction Strategy & Tactics The picture shows my latest attempt at creating a distraction-free writing environment.

About Writing The Natural Way A good chunk of this month’s writing time was given over to study.

I Would be Better Off Writing Deleting both Twitter and Instagram apps from my phone is turning out to be one of my best time-savers ever.

Summer reading and Looking after Kuri Summer in the northern hemisphere.

Albatross, Midway (Chris Jordan) This is not an easy post to write because I didn’t expect to feel such strong emotions about the short lives and painful deaths of birds in far away places.