If you’re a regular Track of Words reader then you will probably be familiar with SF author J.S. Collyer from her excellent Black Library short stories, which are well worth reading. If you’ve enjoyed those stories though, she has a whole host of original fiction available too (including a short story right here on Track of Words), which you should definitely seek out as well! As part of my ongoing series of ‘Spotlight On…’ guest posts, today I’ve invited J.S. Collyer onto the site to tell us a little bit about her original fiction – including free short fiction available on her website, a fast-paced SF novel trilogy, and a range of short stories published in various anthologies. If you’re on the lookout for some new SF or speculative fiction, read on and fill your TBR list!
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J.S. Collyer: To talk about my original fiction, I had better start with my blog. I’ve written fiction for as long as I remember, mostly SciFi, SpecFic and occasionally horror, and the bit I love even more than the writing is the sharing the stories. So there’s a large amount up there, all completely free, ranging from 500-words-or-less pieces of Flash Fiction about an ageing armed robber struggling to cope with the modern age (like Caffeine Low) to 10K+ word Christmas ghost stories (like The Highwayman). Expect weirdness and darkness but, hopefully, a lot of fun too.
Novels
My first published novels were my SciFi trilogy, the Orbit Series, published by Dagda Publishing, a small independent press putting out new writers of SciFi and SpecFic. Without them, I may never have pushed myself to write a full novel so I am grateful to them to this day. The series has been described as “James Bond meets Firefly” with “adrenaline-pumping action” and “depth of character”.
The first book, Zero, was published in 2014 and listed in Northern Soul Magazine’s ‘Best Reads of 2014’. It follows the story of Kaleb Hugo, a high-ranking military officer from a prestigious family, thrust into a pivotal double-agent role. Existing amongst criminals, misfits and malcontents in a place where survival is scraped from space station colonies orbiting an Earth constantly recovering from war, Hugo’s eyes are opened to more than just life on the other side of the tracks.
One man in particular, Ezekiel Webb, born into the underworld but hopelessly entangled in the machinations of the higher powers in Hugo’s life, will lead him on a journey through levels of the universe and himself that he never previously dreamt existed. Neither will emerge the same.
Zero introduces us to Hugo and Webb, and the rag-tag crew of their ship the Zero. Hugo is flung from his position as a highly decorated and well-connected officer, to captain the unruly bunch through their missions in the confusing and dangerous underbelly of society they inhabit. It takes some adjusting to become accustomed to his new position. But his mission is vital to the security of the Orbit and prevention of another war.
In Book 2, Haven (released in 2015) Hugo and Webb are faced with a new challenge, this time personal. Their mission takes them to Haven, the only independent space station, free of Service or local control and, some would say, free of law and order in general.
They hope to track down a native of the colony who is wanted for many dangerous crimes. Webb, all too familiar with the lawless colony, agrees to help his former captain, hoping to find some answers of his own. Neither of them are as prepared as they thought to face the intense socialist atmosphere of the fractious colony, or the things they will discover about each other and themselves on the way.
In short: more action, more danger, more intrigue.
Then, in book 3, Silence (released 2016), the two men face their most intense challenge yet, with myriad personal and political factors at stake. Hugo has been missing for a year. He disappeared without trace or explanation, but popular rumour is that he has abandoned his position and his family to join the revolutionist group Red Star, alleged to be gathering force in a new colony on Mars and set on a future ruled by a democratically-elected Orbit Alliance and not the militarised Service.
Webb appears to have taken little interest in Hugo’s fate, rumoured or otherwise. By this point they have barely spoken in years and Webb has immersed himself in his new life in the Eclipse Division of the Service. He is captain of his own undercover unit and whilst the Service Commanders don’t always approve of his methods, his abilities cannot be questioned.
It is these abilities that the Special Commander of the Service, Hugo’s mother, now needs to retrieve her youngest son from wherever he has fled to…or wherever he is being held…whether Webb is agreeable or not. Discovery, betrayal and revelation lie ahead for two men that have journeyed further together than they ever thought they would and will once again learn that survival is a relative term when you turn your back on who you are.
The Orbit Series was an exciting and emotional journey, and I remain immensely proud of it to this day. I still sell the books at SciFi conventions like Scarborough Science Fiction Festival and never get bored of readers returning to me each year to tell me how much they enjoyed the series.
Short Stories
For those who like things short and sweet, I have been fortunate enough to have some short fiction published in various collections also.
My short story Grist featured in Chronicle Worlds No. 18: No Way Home, released Jan 2019. This is a short story set in a claustrophobic post-apocalyptic world of danger and darkness and no access to the planet’s surface. The protagonist, Wyatt, remembers when the land outside was fresh with wind and green with grass. Now his world is all about survival, manual labour in a refinery producing a mysterious and dangerous substance used for fuel, and a creeping feeling that something more sinister is at play. But he never stops dreaming about the outside. About finding his way home.
I also pop up in Chronicle Worlds No. 21: Crime and Punishment in Sept 2019 with a story called New Tricks. In this story we meet Felix Dalton, a retired forensic counsellor for the military. Having had his fill of anguish and bloodshed, Dalton was looking forward to finding some measure of peace in retirement. But now a criminal called Arcadius Cole, an aristocrat’s stepson claiming to have supernatural powers, possesses a mysterious way to kill people, a desire for destruction and nothing to lose. Dalton must persuade Cole to talk before he jumpstarts another cycle of war that will not only kiss Dalton’s dreams of retirement goodbye, but also hope of peace in his lifetime.
Another SpecFic Anthology series I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in is the Harvey Duckman Presents series. These are published by the wonderful Sixth Element Publishing, who go to the ends of the earth to encourage and assist writers striving to reach their publishing dreams. They are a wonderful organisation and I’m so lucky to have been featured in two volumes of their short fiction.
I was first featured in Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 2 (released July 2019) with my short story Ash. In the same vein as a lot of my fiction, the story is set in a time when humanity is having to scrape a living from what little is left of the planet. There is a global recession, rationed food and Earth is under a trade boycott. These are grim times, times to simply survive. Argyle has been ‘surviving’ for years until someone turns up at the Albion Ash Rose farm that might give him a chance to live.
Then I was lucky enough to be included in Volume 6 (in Dec 2020), this time with a twisted fairy-tale retelling called Foam – another story about a character searching for hope in a post-disaster world where hope comes at a high price.
This sums up the majority of my original published fiction out there right now. I am currently working on some more, this time venturing further into the realms of folk horror and psychological thrillers. I’ve always enjoyed darker themes and writing about (if you couldn’t tell) survival in the face of adversity. Moving towards exploring the paranormal and supernatural was an easy and organic step. I look forward to hopefully sharing some with the world before too long!
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Thanks so much to J.S. Collyer for contributing this great guest post, and for giving us the lowdown on her original fiction. This is really only the tip of the iceberg too, so make sure you check out her website for more details! If you’re keen to get hold of any of these books, check out the links along the way to order* them. In the meantime, here are a few more useful links, including a free short story available right here on Track of Words:
Original Fiction: Showtime by J.S. Collyer
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