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This section of the site contains the following SF/F stories (most recent first): |
Now available: A Higher Power and other stories, my first short story collection. |
Hart, G. 2024. Witching Hour (poem). Polar Starlight 14(April): 17.
Hart, G. 2024. The Quality of Mercy. p. 69-82 In: D.A. Riley (ed.) Swords and Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy. Vol. 8 (anthology), Parallel Universe Publications.
Hart, G. 2024. Faery Dreams (poem). Polar Starlight February 2024. 13: 11.
Hart, G. 2024. Judges. After Dinner Conversation March: 65-77.
Hart, G. 2024. The Colder Equations. Polar Borealis 29 (March 2024): 28-32.
Hart, G. 2024. Cold Warrior. p. [TBD] In: D. Schweitzer (ed.) Cold War Cthulhu anthology, PS Publishing.
Hart, G. 2024. The Dragon (poem). Polar Starlight 15 (June 2024): 13-14.
Hart, G. 2024. Playing With Fire. Swords and Heroes: S&S One Story at a time. Story 3, 26 June 2024.
Hart, G. 2024. At What Cost? Black Hare Press. Patreon Account.
Hart, G. 2024. The Ninth Tentacle. Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores June 27/24.
Hart, G. 2024. Sight From Darkness. ResAliens Issue 12:2-13, 1 November 2024. http://www.tulefogpress.com/p/resaliens-zine.html
Hart, G. 2023. Two Truths and a Lie. Chapter 6 In: Let the Die Be Cast: a PsychoToxin Anthology. <www.PsychoToxin.com>
Hart, G. 2023. Welcome to (Deadly) Australia. Black Hare Press drabble contest. https://www.blackharepress.com/welcome-to-deadly-australia/
Hart, G. 2023. Fast Track. p. 9-16 in: Polar Borealis 25. April 2023. https://polarborealis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/POLAR-BOREALIS-25-April-2023.pdf
Hart, G. 2023. The Real Monsters. P. 43 in: Polar Borealis 25. April 2023. https://polarborealis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/POLAR-BOREALIS-25-April-2023.pdf
Hart, G. 2023. On the Leng Plateau. p. 299-316. In: J. Augustsson (ed.) The Nameless Songs of Zadok Allen & Other Things that Should Not Be. Jayhenge Publishing.
Hart, G. 2023. Passings on. Wyngraf Cozy Flash Series.
Hart, G. 2023. Story of Atoms. Sci Phi Journal 23 June 2023.
Hart, G. 2023. Hefnd. In: Christensen, J. (Ed.) Eerie Christmas 3. Black Hare Press, Melbourne, Australia.
Hart, G. 2023. Fernst Contact. In: J. Augustsson (ed.) Professor Feif’s Compleat Pocket Guide to Exobiology for the Galactic Traveller on the Move. Jayhenge Publishing.
Hart, G. 2023. Arachnophobia. In: J. Augustsson (ed.)Professor Feif’s Compleat Pocket Guide to Exobiology for the Galactic Traveller on the Move. Jayhenge Publishing.
Hart, G. 2023. The Phantom of the Niebelungen. The Hungur Chronicles II(2): 74-88. https://www.hiraethsffh.com/hungur-chronicles-guidelines
Hart, G. 2023. Debate at the OK Corral. P. p. 45-52 in: Perry, L. (Ed.) Monster Fight at the OK Corral, Vol. 1. An Anthology of the Weird & Wild West. Tule Fog Press, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.
Hart, G. 2022. Gravity well: a Fibonacci poem. Polar Starlight No. 5:2021. (March 2022).
Hart, G. 2022. Asteroids. p. 285-293 In: J. Augustsson (ed.) Grandpa’s Deep Space Diner. Jayhenge Publishing.
Hart, G. 2022. A Bones Triptych: Drawn Down, Through a Glass, Sacrifice. Flash in a Flash Episode 213. May 20/22.
Hart, G. 2022. Never Give Up. p. 195-200 In: J.A. Henderson (ed.) That Is TOO Wrong anthology. Black Hart Entertainment.
Hart, G. 2022. Barbarians at the Gates: a Parable of Dueling Philosophies. Sci Phi Journal 2022(2):28-32.
Hart, G. 2022. A risky harvest. Analog July/August: 165-177.
Hart, G. 2022. Water From a Duck's Back. OnSpec 120 (vol 32 no. 2): 102-114.
The arms race is not solely a modern phenomenon, and sometimes the farm lad is more innovative than the king's artificers.
At Sea (5200 words, late 2022)
Freya and Mouse find themselves lost at sea, until a friendly merchant rescues them. Fortunately or un, there's a price for their rescue.
Out of Time (4700 words, 2022)
A Lovecraftean tale of despair, leavened by hope that a diversity of voices may someday save us.
Saviors (1400 words, 2022)
Looking back at the mythical origins of how we recovered from the late-21st century catastrophe that ended the old world and set us upon a course towards a new, better world.
The Mouse That Roared (4300 words, 2022)
Mouse's origin story, in which we learn how our feisty heroine set out to become civilized and carve a more-than-mouse-sized niche for herself.
Soul Survivors: a tryptich of SF Horror Drabbles
Science isn't always nice; there are sometimes side-effects.
Sacrifice (206 words, 2022)
There are sacrifices one must sometimes make for one's profession.
Exodus (4000 words, 2021)
A people's founding myths keep them alive and optimistic through future adversity.
The Piglet File (1000 words, January 2021)
Young children often aren't the best narrators of their own story.
The Mighty Quinn (1800 words, May 2021)
The truth behind a legend is sometimes surprising.
Brown’s Descent (4100 words, 2021)
When technology fails you, you have to rely on your friends.
Tradeoffs: a Drabble Tryptich (300 words, March 2021)
Science offers no guarantees when human nature is involved.
Apple Seeds (2100 words, May 2021)
Serpents aren't always as clever as they think they are.
Photographs and Memories (5100 words, 2021)
Technology could mitigate the pain of dementia, but that would require some assistance from technologists.
Dearest Kind Friend (500 words, April 2021)
Some things never change, though the implementation may evolve to accommodate new technologies.
The Dragon's Eye (3900 words, 2021)
Dragons and wizards are not to be trifled with.
We philosophers are awed by how the laws of nature repeat at different scales.
Awakenings (3000 words, 2021)
Fairy tale princesses sometimes live happily ever after even without a prince.
Time’s Arrow (4100 words, 2021)
Time heals all wounds—or makes them worse.
Discretion (900 words, Nov. 2021)
If you're given a second chance, use it with discretion.
Compromises (1900 words, 2020)
The end of the world might take you by surprise, but you'll be okay—so long as you're willing to compromise a little.
Mangoes (4.3K words, 2020)
Not all golden treasures are gold, but a smart woman can still find a way to do well by doing good.
The Copenhagen Interpretation (900 words, January 2020)
In which Hamlet and friends encounter a very different type of ghost.
Valhalla (300 words, January 2020)
Valhalla wasn't only about the fighting.
Superposed ’twixt Tick and Tock (700 words, 2020)
When Zeno's paradox meets quantum physics...
Speaking with dragons: a drabble tryptich (300 words, January 2020)
Dragons and humans are sometimes uncomfortably codependent.
Base Jump (200 words, June 2020)
Red Giant gives you wings?
First Contact: a Drabble Tryptich (300 words, April 2020)
First contact with aliens inevitably leads to surprises for both.
Chain of Command (6000 words, 2020)
Freya and Mouse learn that magic notwithstanding, it takes more than a chain of office to rule a kingdom.
Externalities (3800 words, Nov. 2020)
Economics is about more than money, just as knowledge is about more than fact.
At Death’s Door (1300 words, Nov. 2020)
Door to door sales reps are sometimes unaware of what awaits them.
The Shot Launched Around the World (1.5K words, 2020)
Filming publicity stunts doesn't always pay the bills—but getting the real story might.
Food Webs: a Parable (1.5K words, 2020)
Sometimes ecological principles work in your favor—and sometimes they come back to bite you.
His Master’s Voice (1.6K words, 2019)
It's not always clear who "wears the pants" in a given family.
Reflections (3.4K words, 2019)
Even if you've lived hundreds of years, falling in love can still teach you interesting things about yourself through the way others reveal your reflection—even if you don't have a reflection.
Perspectives (1.2K words, 2019)
Guiding a group of Cub Scouts can be intimidating if you don't adopt the right perspective.
Fly fishing (0.9K words, 2019)
Fishermen and their fish sometimes play more interesting games than you'd expect.
The Berlin Golem (5.8K words, 2019)
When we create something in our own image, it may not share all our beliefs.
At the Mountains of Magnates (5.4K words, 2019)
The only thing more horrifyng than Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness is what capitalism is likely to make of them.
Outsourced (3.3K words, 2019)
Globalization has many challenges, including the difficulty of establishing good business relationships with people from other cultures.
Childhood’s End (1K words, 2017)
When we have the option of becoming post-human, will we bring all our old baggage with us?
Blunt Instruments (1.6K words, April 2016)
If superheroes existed, it wouldn't be long before the government weaponized them. They won't all want to go along with this, particularly when the government's motives are less than pure.
Mover (2.2K words) and Ecdysis (0.9K words), both September 6/14 (updated July 6/20)
These are two parts of an eventual triptych about transformations and seeing the physical world in a way that subverts our conventional scientific understanding. Possibly with a bit of horror thrown in for good measure.
To Serve and Protect (2.4K words, July 14/13)
The "white man's burden" will travel with us when we go visiting primitive civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy. The goals are sometimes noble, but the results? Not so much.
The Evil Stepmother Business (3K words, July 14/13)
Evil stepmothers and other fairy-tale archetypes may have gotten a bad rap. After all, everything in nature serves a purpose...
Onshoring—a zombie success story (4.1K words, Nov. 11/12, updated Apr. 20/20)
Offshoring is a great way to reduce labor costs, but as developing nations begin to develop a higher standard of living, vigilant capitalists will need to seek new ways to keep costs low.
Terroir (1.2K words, Mar. 18/12, updated July 6/20))
Winemaking is as much art as it is science, and a mysterious art at that. But wine is just chemistry, and wine snobs notwithstanding, a good scientist should be able to solve the problem.
Expert System (4.2K words, Mar. 11/12, updated July 6/20)
Expert System is a story about the rapid pace of obsolescence of high technology, and what this may mean once we develop sentient or near-sentient machines. It's a particular concern to me since, once artificial intelligences start to displace us in the workplace, this will inevitably create tensions and the potential for tragedy on both a human scale and an AI scale. This is one musing on that potential.
Graduation exercise (7.8K words, Mar. 10/12, updated July 6/20)
Graduation Exercise introduces the character Alison Katherine Morgan, who will become the protagonist of a novel (The Black Ships) about first contact, gunboat diplomacy, and the pursuit of war by other means. In this installment, Morgan recounts the story of the final test she faced before graduating from the Naval Academy's Intelligence (Intel) section. As you'll see, it's not a warm and fuzzy kind of place, but those who survive are well equipped to "pursue war by other means".
Blood on the Snow (46K words, Dec. 30/11, updated Mar. 28/20)
Blood in the Snow is the first in what may become a series of tongue-in-cheek murder mysteries centered around a young Dwarf, Thomas “Rabbitfurs”. While traveling through the mountains, Thomas is caught by a winter storm and forced to seek refuge. By good fortune, he finds himself near a mountain keep, where he’s welcomed by a host who seems suspiciouly vampiric, but really—isn’t that a bit too much of a cliché? Thomas isn’t so sure. As the storm traps everyone within the keep, people begin dying. Can Thomas solve the crimes before he becomes the next victim?
The Computer Graveyard (2.9K words, Nov. 12/11, updated Mar 29/20)
Computers are our friends, right? Not if you pay too close attention to the upgrade cycle.
Windhame (4.6K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Apr. 5/20)
An experiment in narrative voice, set on a planet where human-powered flight is possible, at least for a time.
A Principle of Matter (2.7K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Feb. 15/20)
A fairly classic Asimovean type of tale of chemical physics, with a particularly annoying protagonist and a touch of a fantastic sting at the end.
Time’s Arrow (4K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Feb. 16/20)
A time-travel tale of tragic love, told in correct chronological order—well, sort of.
Edge Effect (14.4K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Apr. 3/20)
A fairly classic Analog-style hard SFF story about alien life forms and the ecological consequences of not understanding alien ecosystems—or even basic ecological principles.
Cogito, Ergo Nihil (290 words, Feb. 10/09; updated Feb. 9/20)
A short-short written for the Concept Boréale short story competition.
The Man from H.A.R.R.I.S.O.N. (13.6K words, Feb. 10/09; updated Mar. 8/20)
A loving pastiche of Harry Harrison's beloved Stainless Steel Rat series.
At the Body Shop (3.6K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Feb. 9/20)
Every generation finds some way to rebel against its parents, and one generation's rebels soon become the next generation's status quo.
Flatlander Pro Tem (5K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Apr. 5/20)
A classic spacefarer-meets-new-planet story, but with a protagonist who is anything but the jut-jawed Nordic demigod of this story's tradition.
Graf (3.6K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Apr. 5/20)
Art remains art, even when the media and the technology change. But can an old-style artist keep hold of his muse when younger, hipper artistes start transforming his art form with new technology?
Hunter's Moon (2.5K words, Feb. 10/09, updated Apr. 5/20)
A full moon, a coldblooded killer, but a different kind of monster than the one you might be expecting.
The Distaff War (4.3K words, updated Apr. 5/20)
A revisionist (and feminist) take on the manly art of war, and how wars aren't always fought by conventional means.
A Higher Power (4.4K words, Feb. 10/09; updated Feb. 22/20)
A "weird town" genre story, with (Warning! Danger, Will Robinson!) a stinker of a punchline. You were warned.
Where There’s Smoke… (8.3K words, Feb. 10/09; updated Mar. 2/20)
An Analog-style science fiction tale, only with characters, about smokejumpers and that notion that science can't necessarily explain everything you see. <g>
The Phantom of the Niebelungen (5K words, Feb. 10/09; updated Feb. 9/20)
N.B.: This was republished as a reprint in 2023. Follow the 2023 link earlier on this page to obtain access to the publisher's version of this story.; the link to the version on my site will go live in October 2024.A somewhat different kind of vampire tale, and not nearly as nice as the current crop of heartthrob bloodsuckers. (With apologies in advance to Wagner fans... <g>)
Heirloom (1.2K words, Feb. 10/09)
A tale of memory, art, and the unsuspected things artists put into their work.
The Dead-end Gang (2.9K words, Feb. 10/09)
A sordid tale of crime by youthful bandits.
©2004–2024 Geoffrey Hart. All rights reserved.