'The Stain on the Ceiling'

Some days ago my new story 'The Stain on the Ceiling' has been published on Fiction365.

When one morning, Mark discovers a stain on his bedroom ceiling, he's unimpressed at first and quick to paint over it. But then the stain reappears and Mark becomes ever more intrigued. What is it, where did it come from? After looking into the possible causes of the stain he comes to a startling conclusion.


Interested? Read it here.

New Fantasy Press.: Open for Submissions

New Fantasy Press.: Open for Submissions: "New Fantasy Press is now open for submissions. We are looking for high quality cutting-edge fantasy stories. See 'submit' for submission guidelines"

Two microfiction stories published

'Obituary for a Dying Species'  appeared on the 6S Social Network!

If you hadn't guessed already by dying species I mean 'us'.

Now go and read the story here.


'The World just isn't Enough'  appeared on One Forty Fiction.

Read it here.

'Seoras, the Chosen One' to appear in Daily Flash 2012: 366 Days of Flash Fiction

My story 'Seoras, the Chosen One' will appear in Pill Hill Press' anthology Daily Flash 2012: 366 Days of Flash Fiction!

Seoras is the Chosen One, destined to fight the Dark One at the Final Battle. But will he succeed or will he succumb to his own hubris?

Read it in 2012!

Follow me on Twitter

I'm now on Twitter. See @csrobertsblog for more frequent updates.

Assassin's Fate published at The Fringe

Good news! My very first story ever, Assassin's Fate, has been accepted and published at The Fringe. You can read the story here.

If you've read it, please comment on it. I'm curious about your reactions.

Has it really been this long?!

Lately I've been feeling on edge. Something was happening but if you'd asked me what I'd be forced to remain silent.

I've been busy off late. You could say the birth of my daughter, Nina, had something to do with it. Let's say you're right.  I've missed I don't know how many nights of sleep, had a hard time focusing at work and usually came home cranky and exhausted.

But as these things go time passed and I adjusted. But the nagging feeling in my gut remained. Something was wrong. And the worst of it was, I didn't know what was wrong.

And then it hit me. I hadn't been writing. At all.
No wonder I've been feeling on edge. I hadn't been venting at a time of great changes.

Let's say this post is the beginning of something nice. It makes me feel better.

What does it take to publish a story?

One of my greatest frustrations as a beginning author is that when a story is rejected the reasons are usually not clear. "It doesn't fit our needs at this time", "We receive more submission that we can publish" are often cited reasons by editors.

Although I sympathize with editors and understand that they do not have the time to elaborately criticize every story that falls on their desk, as a beginning writer it does get to me.

I have several strong stories that are currently being considered by magazines (I wouldn't have sent them out if I didn't think they were worth the editor's time), but so far I haven't had any luck. For reasons that remain unknown to me.

Is it that the stories are really not suited for the markets I've chosen for them or is my writing not strong enough? I'm sure every writer has asked him or herself this very question.

For now, there's nothing for me to do but persevere and hope that my stories do find a good home somewhere...

New Year, New Challenges, New Opportunities

The new year has arrived, 2011. The second decennium in the 21st century. And like any new year, we are faced with new challenges, but also new opportunities.

I have always had a healthy scepticism against new year's resolutions. Be honest how many have you kept over the years?

But this year everything is going to change, right? Right. I've made a resolution that in 2011 I will finish my first novel. So far, I've been working on four at a time and the occasional short story. And I wonder why I haven't finish one last year. So, I decided, this year I'll work on just the one, the chosen one.

Most new year's resolutions fall through in the first week. Let's just see how far I've come next week before we open the champagne.