Category: Fiction

Who doesn’t like a good time travel story?  Following on the heels of last week’s mini story collection, Flying Raven Press is releasing another four-pack of short stories for your e-reader, these all centering around time travel.  But not all entirely in the way you might expect.

Here’s the official blurb that appears on the sites:

In these four riveting tales, Carter takes a classic of science fiction – the time travel story – into surprising new territory. A man finds a room where time doesn’t pass in the spellbinding “The Time Of His Life.” When a scientist becomes the first person to time travel, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” refuses to be left behind in this touching tale. A salesman on the road has a chance encounter with a girl who gives him a glimpse of his “Happy Time,” a better life that might have been. And in “Static in a Still House,” a garage sale hunter finds a baby monitor tuned into the future and makes a harrowing discovery.

Available Now:  Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

One of the beautiful things about this emerging new world of publishing is that authors can package and repackage their work in lots of different ways at very little cost, appealing to readers with different interests.  For readers who like my science fiction stories, Flying Raven Press has put out a new mini collection called The Unity Worlds at War, which includes four far future science fiction stories set in my Unity Worlds universe — three originally published in some of the leading science fiction magazines of the day plus one story called “Tarkalow Station” that’s published in this collection for the first time.  It’s available in electronic form at the bargain price of $2.99.  At nearly 30,000 words of fiction, this is the length of a short novel.

It can be purchased right now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Here’s the blurb that appears on the sites:

Whether it’s the soldiers on the front line or the bartenders who serve them, war leaves no one unscathed. These four tales set in Carter’s war-ravaged Unity Worlds universe — three originally published in the leading science fiction magazines of the day, plus one story original to this collection — will leaving you thinking about war’s effects long after you finish the final words.

THE LIBERATORS

“There’s one rule in the interstellar liberation force: you never take off your helmet. Even if the atmosphere of whatever planet you are liberating from the vicious aliens does happen to breathable, there could be any number of lethal viruses or microbes. The body armor and comm equipment is first rate, and the aliens seem to be on the run. Then, one day, a soldier is forced to take off his helmet to survive. The consequences are disastrous for the liberation force, but it is no toxin, virus, or microbe that infects the military: it’s the truth . . . Carter’s warning about how military might be used in the future stands undiminished.” — The Internet Review of Science Fiction

THE BREATH OF THE GODS

Duty versus love. It’s a choice that Commander Richard Hagel, charged with overseeing a wayward planet’s entry into the Unity Worlds and everything that entails, has to make when an asteroid — and an act of terrorism — threaten to both destroy the planet and kill the woman he loves.

“”The Breath of the Gods” by Scott William Carter is another adventure tale—the protagonist is racing against the clock, since he only has a few minutes to save the woman he loves before a giant asteroid strikes the planet and destroys it.” — Tangent Online.

THE TIGER IN THE GARDEN

“The Tiger in the Garden” by Scott William Carter presents a classic duty versus honor conflict. Jose, a constable on a poor, out-of-the-way planet, is expecting a government Agent, an alien with unpleasant appearance and even worse personality. He is there to apprehend a terrorist—someone Jose knows well. The situation is complicated by the fact that the alleged terrorist is not the man he used to be, and his past crimes are irrelevant for anyone but the Agent, relentless in hunting down the members of the Resistance. Jose can either help the Agent and betray his friend, or help his friend and kiss his career good-bye.” — Tangent Online

TARKALOW OUTPOST

On a whim, a husband and wife buy a bar on a space station in a war-ravaged corner of the galaxy. When a fragile peace evaporates, their marriage is tested in ways they can never imagine — and one of them will pay the ultimate price. But in the future, can a marriage survive even death?

Buy Now:  Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

Praise for Other Works by Scott William Carter:

“Carter’s writing is on target.” – Publishers Weekly

“…compelling…good choice for reluctant readers…” – School Library Journal

“Scott William Carter makes it look easy. But if anyone thinks that writing good, intriguing fiction with a clear, plain voice is easy…Well, they should try it sometime.” – Chizine.com

SCOTT WILLIAM CARTER’s first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “touching and impressive debut.” His short stories have appeared in dozens of popular magazines and anthologies, including Asimov’s, Analog, Ellery Queen, Realms of Fantasy, and Weird Tales. He lives in Oregon with his wife, two children, and thousands of imaginary friends.

My young adult novel, President Jock, Vice President Geek, is now available in trade paperback from Flying Raven Press.  If you enjoyed my debut young adult novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, you may really enjoy this book.  You can only order it from Amazon.com right now, though it will show up at other online book sellers within a few weeks.  Here’s the cover flat, as well as more information about the book (click for a larger image):

President Jock, Vice President Geek

It was a simple plan. She would help him pass algebra. He would help her win the student election. What could go wrong?

Take one geeky sixteen-year-old girl deathly afraid of speaking to any crowd larger than one, but who desperately needs something on her application other than perfect grades to get her into Stanford. Add in a star basketball player who’s Mr. Popular to everyone else, but who’s hiding more than a few startling secrets. Throw in a crisis of identity, a scheming girlfriend, and troubled family lives. Oh, and make sure everything that can go wrong does. Then count the votes.

The result is PRESIDENT JOCK, VICE PRESIDENT GEEK, the story of two mixed up teenagers struggling to find themselves and the craziest student election ever to hit the halls of Rexton High. 

“Carter’s writing is on target.” – Publishers Weekly

Read the opening chapters.

I have a new story out, a far future science fiction tale called “A Witness to All That Was.”  It’s appeared in the July/August double issue of Analog.  The opening is below.  If you enjoy these types of stories, you should consider subscribing to the magazine.  If you have a Kindle, you can subscribe that way, or even buy single issues.

A Witness to All That Was

Scott William Carter

It was just another dead planet, as useless and wasted as their marriage.  That was what Marco thought when he saw the brown smudge of a world for the first time — and of course he felt an immediate pang of guilt for thinking it.

“Any signs of life?” he said.

He didn’t look at Kelsie when he said this.  He was afraid to look at her.  He was afraid that if she saw his eyes, she’d know what he’d been thinking.  She’d always been so good at that — reading him, knowing exactly what was on his mind.  After ten years together, most of it spent almost exclusively in each other’s company as they scoured the universe looking for treasures in the aftermath of a war that desolated ninety-eight percent of the colonized universe, you’d think he would have gotten good at reading her too.  But he hadn’t.  He’d never been.  And it had only gotten worse since they’d lost Trevor.  More and more, he didn’t think he knew her at all.

“No,” she said.

She sounded mildly irritated, and he thought maybe she was on to him, but of course she usually sounded mildly irritated.  Sometimes not so mildly.  Sometimes she sounded like she outright hated him.  And who could blame her?

He stole a glance at her.  In the cramped cockpit of the Buggywhip, wires dangling everywhere as he kept patching their poor ship to keep it running, and half the control panel circuitry exposed, Kelsie was almost invisible.  Gray uniform, gray skin, gray hollowed out eyes — even her hair looked more gray than blond these days.  All that gray blended into the circuit boards and the panel doors and the bulkheads.  God, she wasn’t even forty yet and she looked like a cadaver.

“Any energy signatures?” he asked.  The planet really did look awful — like a sweaty fingerprint on the thick glass of their cockpit window.

“No.”

“Well,” he said, “I guess we’ll start on that southern continent.  That’s likely where there was the most life, near the equator.”

She didn’t say anything.  She didn’t even bow her head — just went on staring ahead like some kind of zombie.  Or a ghost.  That’s what she’d become to him, really — a living, breathing ghost.  Suddenly he hated her for not looking at him.  He’d looked at her, hadn’t he?  He’d been able to do that much.

“Okay,” he said tersely, “I’ll set the coordinates–”

“Wait,” she said.

“What?”

“There is something,” she said, finally a little bit of life in her voice.  “It’s very faint — but yes, there’s something down there.  Something running on artificial power.”