Perfect Circles: collected short stories

The fantasy short stories from Spell Circles, the science fiction short stories from Eccentric Orbits and the literary stories from Life Cycles, collected together into one box set.

Desperate magic worked in the face of terrible danger. An old house with a hidden secret. An interview with a zombie. A woman allergic to the twenty-first century. A necromancer with evil written all over his face. Literally.

An astronaut alone in the void of deep space. An alien starship capable of destroying all creation. A DNA Detective in search of the genetic code of The Beatles. A terrorist explosion trapped inside a bubble of space/time. A new life-form found in the quantum echoes of the void.

Tilting at windmills in the twenty-first century. A dying woman’s surprising final wish. The unlikely connections between a Manchester woman and a 17th century Renaissance man. A chance encounter on a motorway. A woman allergic to the modern world.

Perfect Circles contains seventy-three stories originally published between 1999 and 2011. Stories range from the very short up to novella length.

Full Contents
The Standing Stones of Erelong * Straight to Hull * Museum Beetles * Trompe-l’oeil * Midnight in the Room of Clocks * The Ghost Train * A Sorcerous Mist * Birth Mother * The Magister’s Clock * A Zombie Walked Into A Bar * Meteorolgy for Beginners * Just Desserts * Guitar Heroes * Angels * Earthworks * Cernunnos * Bones are Rising to the Surface * Scarecrows * KeyQuest * Trick or Treat * The One Thousand One Hundred and Eleven Gates to Faerie * The Summoning * Lucky Numbers * Saved! * The Great Forbidding * Vampyre Slayer * Lost in a Good Book

Terahertz * wolF emiT * The Armageddon Machine * rho-m10 * 22nd Century Genie * A Loop * Good Vibrations * Ten Million Years * Holy Mountains * Not Better Than One * Remembrance Day * Second War of the Worlds * The Thirteenth Labour * An Explosive Relationship * The Long Walk * Time Dilation * Live From The Continuing Explosion

Seek Alternative Route * The Lost Art of Conversation * She’d Always Loved to Travel * Bees * Dan Quixote * Known to the Defendant * Titania * GSOH * The Flying Incredulo * The Square on the Hypotenuse * Sunken Bells * Introductions * The Question * Warning * Body of Work * The Heart of a Much Younger Man * A Good Drying Day * Black Beetles * Flotsam * Last Words * Metal Recycling Here * Human Statue * The Wind Singing in the Wires * Pieces of her Mind * The Great Melody * Skydiving * Ultima Thule * The Flamingo Dancer * The Gatekeeper * Life Cycles * Perfect Circles

The Standing Stones of Erelong
“I am going to be blunt with my assessment. This tale was excellent … Recommended.” – Diabolical Plots

Museum Beetles
“a lesson in brilliant storytelling. The world building is phenomenal. This story deserves an award.” – LitHaven

Guitar Heroes
“I loved it.” – Whispers of Wickedness

The Armageddon Machine
“a beautiful story of trust and hope in dark times.” – Tangent

Live From The Continuing Explosion
“Simon Kewin’s affecting, chilling post-9/11 science fiction Live From The Continuing Explosion offers depth enough for drowning.” – TRS2

Good Vibrations
“a wonderfully, almost surreal choice nibble which explores the pursuit of music through the universe and takes the music hunter to realms not thought possible … very cool.” – Prism

Perfect Circles
“Time, obsession and loneliness … the conclusion grabbed me and has stayed with me.” – Last Short Story