Douglas Smith

Author of Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Space, Horror…

Douglas Smith is an award-winning Canadian author of speculative fiction, with over a hundred story sales in twenty-nine countries and twenty-four languages around the world.

 

His stories have appeared in InterZone, Amazing Stories, Cicada, Baen’s Universe, Weird Tales, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Postscripts, On Spec, and The Third Alternative, as well as anthologies from Penguin/Roc, DAW, Meisha Merlin, and others.

We love this author. His speculative fiction amuses us, entertains us, and makes us ponder strange possibilities.  Read more about Douglas Smith on his Website. And follow Doug on Facebook.

Collections by Douglas Smith Published by Lucky Bat Books

Impossibilia. This Aurora Award Finalist collection is all about the people we meet. Smith’s characters are like any of us — they have secrets…fears…desires. Things they keep hidden. Things they keep locked away. Or try to. Only their things are a little…different. A dead wife that won’t leave. A wolf with a past. The secret to being the luckiest man alive. Impossibilia includes three novelettes, including an award winner and a finalist.

Short Stories & Novelettes by Douglas Smith Published by Lucky Bat Books

A Bird in the Hand. 2002 Aurora Finalist (French translation). Synopsis: A woman awakes to find herself a prisoner in a top-secret government laboratory. To win her freedom, all she needs to do…is prove that she’s human.

A Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase, by Van Gogh. 2009 Aurora Award Finalist. “The pièce de résistance of the collection and one of the best and most moving novellas I have read in a while. Haunting and evocative… Just astounding. …” — Fantasy Book Critic, April 2009

A Taste Sweet and Salty. “Another superb story … unpredictable and with a great ending, this story is another highlight of the [Chimerascope] collection (A++).” —Fantasy Book Critic, Mar 2010

By Her Hand She Draws You Down. 2002 Aurora Award Finalist, Best New Horror selection. Cath, a beautiful young sidewalk artist, is driven by a mysterious hunger that feeds from the portraits she draws of her victims. Joe loves Cath still, but as Cath’s hunger grows, so does Joe’s fear–fear that one day she may draw him down. *** Now an independent film ***

Doorways. 2009 Aurora Award Finalist. “… This story has a cunningly satisfying conclusion. I find a good short story falls into two categories: There is the complete story, the novel miniaturized, which is a nearly perfect art form. These are hard to capture but constantly illustrated by such writers as Douglas Smith.” —SF Crowsnest Book Reviews, March 2009

Going Harvey in the Big House. “Hands down, my favourite story … I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of a city that encompasses what we know of the known world. … Smith’s version, the ‘House,’ is well conceived, but as always, it’s his characters that drive the story. Big G is pitch perfect. Every aspect of his personality is just spot on. Though he’s not a completely accessible character, portrayed as being not as intelligent as a more usual protagonist, he is completely there and three-dimensional and his reactions and motivations are plausible. It works! The ending is just right. It couldn’t have been any other way…” — SF Crowsnest Reviews, Sept 2010

Jigsaw. Humans are just beginning to explore the outer reaches of our solar system when the wormships are discovered outside the orbit of Pluto. Abandoned? Lost? It’s a puzzle.

Memories of the Dead Man. “All that you want in a sf short story is here from powerful characters, to action, mysterious happenings, and a dark, violent, but excellent tale. … A bittersweet ending adds to the power of the story. (A++)” —Fantasy Book Critic, Mar 2010

Murphy’s Law. Synopsis: Science Fiction, Humor… As First Officer on the part passenger ship, part space freighter, The Fiscal Restraint, Jack Dexter (Dex to his friends) thinks he knows all there is to know about “Murphy’s Law.” / If anything can go wrong, it will. And on the perpetually under-staffed, under-funded Restraint, it generally does. / But he never expected to actually meet Murphy. The real Murphy….

New Year’s Eve. 1999 Aurora Award Finalist. “The story deals with the Y2k bug, and although that might seem dated now, the story is not, since its ideas continue to be relevant today.” —Bibliopolis, 2003

Radio Nowhere. 2010 Aurora Award finalist. “My favorite in the book. It’s a touching story, but a little creepy too.”–Goodreads reviews

What’s in a Name? Synopsis: Fantasy, Humor… Hari is the greatest thief that Taryaryo has ever known. Well, at least he was until he tried to steal a certain jewel from the most powerful wizard in the land. The theft went, uh, less than perfectly.