You can listen to my original short story “Movie Night” now at StarShipSofa and narrated by Will Stagl.
In “Movie Night,” Ricardo is a door-to-door salesman who sells AI replicas of dead people to their still-living loved ones.
Here’s the opening paragraph to “Movie Night”:
I've been punched, kicked, slapped, stabbed, shot, shoved down a flight of stairs, locked in a closet, cursed at, spit on, sprayed with hoses, fire extinguishers, insecticides, a flamethrower, and had at least three hits put out on me. My car's been keyed, dented, towed, impounded, doused in paint, set on fire, riddled with bullets, my tires knifed, and my windshield smashed more times than I care to remember. I've been banned from seventeen gated communities, my face has appeared on hundreds of message boards, and there's certain neighborhoods that, were I to enter without disguise, I'd be beaten to death. Still, I show up to work five days a week 'cause it's either that or going back to living in my car.
You can listen to the full short story here.
I wrote “Movie Night” in a frenzy of short fiction writing at the end of ‘23. Overwhelmed by the recent advances in AI that for numerous reasons seem to be chipping away at jobs, artists, creativity, and attention spans, “Movie Night” is an exploration of how, if we let things run their current course, we may end up. Ricardo may seem at first like a bad dude, but like the rest of us he’s just trying to survive in a system that is stacked in all ways against him.
I hope you enjoy listening to the story.
In Other Writing News
I’m supremely excited to announce that after over two decades of writing, my first-ever short story collection will be published in early 2025 by Senses Five Press. Needless to say, I’m super excited about this! I can’t wait to show you its most beautiful cover. But more on that later.
I have a lot of new fiction coming out in the next few months and years, listed below, and I’ve been hard at work on a new novel, a follow-up to the forthcoming The Rainseekers (Tordotcom), which is progressing well so far, though not necessarily as fast as I’d hoped.
My story “Five Hundred KPH Toward Heaven” will appear in the January/February 2025 issue of Asimov’s.
A reprint of my short story “White Roses in Their Eyes” will be appearing in the anthology And One Day We Will Die, stories inspired by the music of Neutral Milk Hotel, in early 2025.
My novel Space Trucker Jess (Fairwood Press) is scheduled for late 2025.
My novella The Rainseekers (Tordotcom) is scheduled for early 26.
I’ve sold a new dark SF story! Though I can’t say more until the ink is dry.
Thanks for reading my email all the way to the end! As a token of my thanks, I’d love to send you ebook copies of my novels King of Shards and Queen of Static. Just reply to this email and say, “I’d like the ebooks please” and I’ll get them over to you!
Bye, for now.
Matt