I’ve been lucky enough to have fiction published in a number of magazines. Here are is a list of short stories, links to the stories online (where available) and the nice (and not so nice) things reviewers have said about my efforts.

Also, at the bottom, you’ll find “Be Aware” an original story exclusively available on this blog.

If you scroll down to “categories” (on the left) and click “Friday Flash” you can also read some of the flash fiction I posted on this blog in the past. A number of these stories were collected (with fellow Friday Flash Fictioneers) in Illuminations – which is still available from Odd Two Out publications

.

Published stories

.
The Revolution Will Be Televised - This Way Up no. 5
This is a very old story – the second story I ever sent out for publication – please, be gentle with it.

Home Protection - Hub no. 50

Reviewed by Douglas Hoffman at The Fix:
“The ambitiousness of Martin McGrath’s “Home Protection” shines through on every page. McGrath weaves three interlocking stories concerning the provenance of a certain Colt .45 semiautomatic. Mystery provides the initial hook: who buried the Colt .45 in the middle of a desert, and why? But most readers know (if not literally, instinctively) Chekhov’s maxim, “If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last,” and the resulting sense of dread provides an additional hook. Yes, the gun is Evil. But will it claim its most recent owner, or not? That’s the last hook and the one which will keep the reader turning the page scrolling down to the last paragraph. Nice work, Mr. McGrath.”

Falling – Jupiter SF no. 6

Men of Ulster – Irish Fantasy Quarterly no. 2

The Banshee Sang on Tottenham Court Road – Fortean Bureau no. 2

The Baby With The Golden Eyes - Scheherazade no. 29

Reviewed by Peter Tenant at Whispers of Wickedness
“Last in to bat, and another highlight of the magazine, is The Baby With The Golden Eyes by Martin McGrath, in which an elderly couple have their desire for a child granted by the discovery of a baby under a bush, but of course the child has to be returned to its rightful parents. On the surface of it, there’s not much to this story, but it scores through the matter of fact narration that treats the miraculous as if such things are everyday occurrences and the keenness of the emotions felt by the two leads, Maire and Seamus, their longing for a child and the realisation that, of necessity, the happiness it brings is ephemeral. Julia Sexton’s illustrations are just right for the family album.”

.

One Step Forward - Fortean Bureau no. 12

Palaces of Force – Aeon SF no. 8

Reviewed by Nick Gevers at Locus:
“Meanwhile, Aeon, published by Scorpius Digital, has reached issue eight, and also delivers very literate fiction – if more playful than that in Polyphony. This time, the highlight is undoubtedly “Palaces of Force” by Martin McGrath, an alternate history/secret history involving an apocryphal meeting between Mahatma Ghandi, still a young lawyer, and the doomed Irish patriot Roger Casement on a train to the Paris Exposition of 1889. Set down many decades later by one of Ghandi’s friends, their conversations are eloquent foreshadowings of the technological and ideological dilemmas of the ensuing centuries, and the concluding note is craftily indeterminate. An instructive speculation.”

.

And, to prove you can’t please everyone:

Reviewed by Aliette de Bodard at Tangent Online
“Palaces of Force” by Martin McGrath starts with a meeting between Mohandas Gandhi, his companion (and the narrator) Sanjit Kamath, and Roger Casement on a train to the Universal Exposition of 1889. It then describes the Exposition and its visit by the three men. McGrath presents an interesting argument about the use of technology and what it would mean for the freedom of the natives in poor countries. However, the trouble is that it’s nothing but the argument. There are vivid descriptions of the Exposition and of nineteen-century Paris that create a realistic atmosphere, but a sense of concreteness was missing. Gandhi and Casement argue about the uses of machines and what it would mean to several countries (India and Africa), but the discussion never rises above an exchange of arguments. It is conducted by completely detached people, without anchor to the plight of Indian or African natives.”

.

Freedom – Jupiter SF no. 12

Reviewed by Sue Phillips at Whispers of Wickedness
“That first story that had captivated me was Freedom by Martin McGrath; as fine a piece of Sci-Fi writing as I’ve seen of late. It features Charlie the paracycle and trusty steed of our heroine, Gull, who flies around the lunar city of Freedom delivering parcels. When Charlie is stolen by a computer programmer forced into slavery as a rent boy (Freedom does not live up to its name), things become interesting. The ending was not entirely unexpected, but highly satisfying nonetheless. I won’t spoil it for you.”

 

.

Soldier of God – Fiction Magazine no. 1

.

.

Forthcoming

.

Eskragh – Albedo One
Proper Little Soldier – Conflict, Newcon Press anthology

Exclusive to this blog!

.

Be Aware - after years of it almost getting published but never quite making it out the door, I set this story free. I hope you enjoy it.