Hello and welcome to Alien Beer! This is a podcast where I will read my science fiction, fantasy, and steampunk stories to you. This first installment is the title story, "Alien Beer" which is also the first story in my short story collection, Alien Beer.

This bonus episode is the first chapter of Four 'til Late, the first book in my Road Ghosts series. Except it's not me reading this time, it's Sean Duregger, the talented narrator of my Road Ghosts Omnibus audiobook (available on Amazon/Audible). Even th.

This story is based vaguely on my "past life" as a ghost hunter, except from an alternate point of view. Content Warning: Reference to anxiety, loss of agency, bones.

 In this, the premiere episode of The Multiverse Blues, we meet Jules, who's chasing a cat down a rabbit-hole to myriad 'verses!Welcome to my new science fiction serial, The Multiverse Blues! I have had this idea rolling around in my head for a few yea...

This bonus episode is the first chapter of my Tipsy Fairy Tales novel, Blue Spirit. Stephanie Estes is the narrator, and she does a wonderful job channeling Skye, the main character. The Blue Spirit audiobook may be found on Amazon/Audible. 

This week, I present a flash story I wrote in 2013 for the late, great Iron Writer Challenge. This story of mad science is one of my favorites from that competition.About half of the stories in this book were originally written for The (late, great) ...

The Multiverse Blues is a science fiction serial spanning many alternate realities.In this episode, Jules meets the crew of Hope's Tour as they load up to head to Gamma Earth through the Archnet gate. 

The concept for Trans-Continental came to me in a dream. In that dream, a trans woman protagonist and her Artful Dodger-like companion flew their airship from place to place, having adventures together in the steampunk world I wrote about in Reality Chec.

This sequel to "Moby Me" was written nearly four years afterwards, in 2017. What can I say, I have fun with the "mad scientist" trope.

Previously on The Multiverse Blues: Jules starts their job as part of the crew of Hope's Tour. They meet the other members of the interdimensional rock star's crew; stage manager Harlan, general manager Marcy Davenport, drummer Dribbler, bass and backup .

When I wrote this story in 2014, I couldn't have pictured our current pandemic lockdown. I decided to post this episode earlier than it appears in my Alien Beer and Other Stories anthology because of its timely topic -- social isolation. In Trog's cas...

The Multiverse Blues is a science fiction serial spanning many alternate realities.In this episode, the crew of Hope's Tour introduces Jules to the retro 'verse of Gamma Earth and its hazards.

This was a story that originated in late 2014 as a self-challenge: to write a short story set in one of the universes featured in my novel Reality Check. It kicked off the beginnings of a sequel to that book, which sadly became too tangled to finish. ...

This episode finds Jules and the others in Hope's crew scrambling after an unexpected turn of events with Smiley and his men, and then on to New Louie for their concert in the Gamma 'verse. When I started The Multiverse Blues serial, I made sure I had ...

For this bonus episode, I have a special guest reading. My wife Amy Garrison wrote a fun bit of microfiction that I thought might make a topical bonus for the podcast. I envy her reading voice.

For the Iron Writer Challenge in January 2015, I took on the following elements: Botticelli, a tiger lily, long hair, and steampunk goggles. The latter two elements demanded that I write a story involving my heroine Ida Stillwell, from my Trans-Contin...

Jules and the crew of Hope's Tour find themselves beset by xenophobic protesters as they set up for a show at the New Louie Coliseum in the Gamma Earth 'verse.Before I begin, I'd like to talk about the masks the Gamma Earth people wear. I didn't write t..

"Killer Cure" was my very first Iron Writer story. I wrote it for the third-ever Challenge, in March 2013, using these four elements: A failed superhero, a piano, a boat propeller and a Chechem/Chaka tree. My story won against two other Iron Writer pa...

When alien rock star Hope fails to show up for her own concert, Jules must spring into action to find out what's behind her disappearance; they make a startling discovery.

"Spectral Delivery" started life in early 2013 as a sample story to serve as introduction to my Road Ghosts Trilogy. Its chronological place in the series is somewhere between the second book, Sinking Down, and the third one, Me and the Devil, but it's m.

The show must go on! After the attack, the crew of Hope's Tour gives the people of New Louie on Gamma Earth what they came for -- a most unusual rock and blues concert!

For Halloween 2014, I joined a bunch of writer friends in a sort of blog-based celebration of the holiday in an event called the Coffin Hop. I asked for story elements from those friends, and this is what they came up with: Axel Howerton: peanut butte...

Following the attacks in Delta Earth, Hope's Tour beat a hasty retreat through the New Louie Arch, moving on towards Delta Earth. In this episode, the crew looks to Hope for leadership in the face of deadly danger.Before I begin this particular episode,..

The energy for writing can come from many places. Sometimes it's for the sheer joy of it. Sometimes it's the adrenaline rush of an external, or self-imposed deadline approaching, other times it's the siren call of the Muse, demanding that a particular...

For those of you expecting this week to be an episode of The Multiverse Blues, well, thank you for noticing. I have gotten behind on writing the serial, so this week, I'm giving you a special behind the scenes look at something that's never before been p.

Last time on The Multiverse Blues: Hope's Tour travelled through the Arch linking Gamma Earth to Delta Earth. The crew debated what to do about the recent targeted attacks, and discussed Jules' mysterious female double from Achse.Now, as they pass into ..

The Iron Writer Challenge, 2015 Summer Solstice Preliminary Round had some really weird elements. A time clock; ice cream; a parachute; told from POV of an alien on the planet Nibiru, as the Nibiru enters our solar system. Nibiru technology is not gre...

Sometimes, you just need time to yourself, even when you're in the best of company. In this episode of The Multiverse Blues, Jules takes a break from the crew of Hope's Tour, venturing out to explore Delta Earth alone. Unexpected company has a way of tur.

I wrote this story in the summer of 2014 as a submission for, and was published in, the Seventh Star Press anthology, A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court. It is a tie-in to my Tipsy Fairy Tales series, between Blue Spirit and Restless Spirit. I.

This week, we'll be doing something a little different. I was invited to do a mutual interview with my fellow fiction podcaster, Mariah Powell, who is the host of Hobbies Include: Writing. It turned out our projects have a lot in common, so we decided to.

Exploring a new place on your own can give you a feeling of independence and excitement. However, when that new place is an alternate dimension, and you run into people who are almost—but not quite—the same people you know back home, things can get a lit.

First, some announcements.I've been teasing for a few weeks about giving you a look at what the alien diva Hope looks like. Well, wait no longer, I have posted my artist friend Kirsten Jacobus's beautiful rendition of her on The Multiverse Blues page on..

On the run! When Jules is asked for help by a prisoner of the Delta Arch Authority, they can't say no, and the two set out against the odds to make an escape. Can Jules help the prisoner escape, without becoming a prisoner themself? Last time on The Mu...

This was my first story sale, back in the fall of 2011. I was, and am, grateful to D.L. Russell for taking a chance on me and my story for his ezine, "Strange, Weird, and Wonderful" and for including it in the anthology he later published from those stor.

Last time on The Multiverse Blues. Jules helped Coral escape the Arch Authority facility, only to have the strange Tristellian slip away into the Arch gate without them.Now, Jules has caught up with Hope's Tour, mid-concert, to be reunited with their ne..

I wrote "Fell Down" for The Iron Writer Challenge in September 2013. The terms of the challenge were to write a 500 word flash story using these four elements: A murderous unicorn; The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle; A fantasy football draft must be a part .

Jules and the crew of Hope's Tour confront the Deltan spy. Can they find an escape from Delta Earth before the Arch Authority can capture them?

"Hunted" came to me in September 2010, and though I've never managed to publish it before now, it became the seed for the first of my Tipsy Fairy Tales, Blue Spirit. Having written the Road Ghosts Trilogy, I decided I needed a new direction, since I felt.

After an attack on Hope interrupted the show on Delta Earth, the crew of Hope's Tour were forced to flee the Harmony Theater in their tour bus.Will Jules and the crew be able to outrun the agents of the Arch Authority and get off-world somewhere out of ..

For the the Iron Writer Challenge 77, I threw down in another Grudge Match. I wrote along with Jordan Bell, against Mathew W. Weaver and Maureen Larter. Once again, my team was defeated, but we all made some great stories in the heat of battle.Our eleme..

This one has an odd history. I wrote it in 2011, and it was picked up, with contract, for an issue of a well-respected horror magazine. The issue it was due to come out in never happened, and eventually the rights reverted to me. I'll admit, I sat on thi.

This one was hard to write. Not technically hard, but emotionally. It was for the Iron Writer Challenge, March 2017, and here are the elements: "Antigonish" (poem) restricted to the first verse only; Another person’s dream that you are envious of; A hang.

Here's another rather personal story involving a mirror. Okay, I'll admit it, I've got an irrational fear of seeing myself in mirrors in the dark. To try to exorcise that a bit, I decided to make the fear more tangible in a story. The result was bought b.

Before I introduce this episode, I have some news for you. First of all, you may have noticed the absence of The Multiverse Blues after Chapter Sixteen. I decided to take a hiatus on that, as life had gotten to be extremely stressful. Since this is bei...