Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Anthology Series #19 is now available in digital and in print from Amazon

Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Anthology Series #19

Available in Digital and in Print from Amazon

Alien Dimensions is a science fiction short stories anthology series featuring amazing authors from around the world.

In Alien Dimensions #19:

Tin Worm by Gustavo Bondoni

Sparkle by Robert M. Walton

Surfing the Hercules Rift by Keith A. Raymond

From Earth to Eternity by Derek Spohn

The Coltalians by Karen L. Hallam

Too Many MoMos by Chris Dean

The Alien Starship by Sergio Palumbo

Givens by David Castlewitz

Phase Shift by Neil A. Hogan

Available in Digital and in Print from Amazon

About Alien Dimensions

Other issues currently available: #16: Digital | Print #17: Digital | Print #18: Digital | Print

Sisland. Science Fiction Weekly #34

My search for the lost Siren Island had ended, and I planned to end my life there. But when I landed, suffering from cancer with not many hours left to live, I found that there were other things at stake besides my inevitable death.

Find out more in Sisland. Story #34 in the Science Fiction Weekly series. Available in digital format from Amazon.

Sisland. Science Fiction Weekly 34

Some rambling from Neil A. Hogan

This simple short story, with the predominant theme of cancer, is dedicated to a few people. My birth mother, who I finally met in 2004, died from cancer in palliative care at the age of 49. (She adopted me out before I was born. The 70s wasn’t the place for a single teenage mother.) I only saw her awake once, though I spoke with her a couple of times on the phone before she died, and I was able to be there briefly during her final hours. It was difficult to meet her before then as I lived in another city and couldn’t get away from my work and other responsibilities without months of planning and saving. I thought she would live longer than she did as she seemed strong when I met her. I thought she would be fine. I had originally planned to visit again three months after that time.

This story is also dedicated to a friend who had helped me set up a business in the 00s, and worked with me on it for a few years, who died in 2019 from cancer at the age of 33. I hadn’t contacted him for over a year and only learned he had died a couple of days before the funeral, which I couldn’t attend as I had moved to another city and couldn’t get away from my work and other responsibilities without months of planning and saving. I had thought he would win his fight as his Instagram and Facebook pages were full of happy selfies. I thought he would be fine. Unfortunately the cancer reached his brain and he died just four weeks after his last post. I had originally planned to visit again three months after that time and reconnect then.

My dad has prostate cancer. I haven’t visited him in a few years as I have moved to another city and it’s difficult to get away from my work and other responsibilities without months of planning and saving, but we’ve had a few Skype calls and he’s looking good for his age. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Hoping to be able to visit him within the next few months.

Getting Old

I am learning of the sad reality that approaching fifty years old means more and more of my family and friends are dying for one reason or another. Having met thousands of people over the years, it’s now simply impossible to attend every funeral. I’ve already had to miss five relatives’ funerals just in the past five years. When my mother died in 2016 from a heart attack, one of her closest friends who she’d known for over fifty years wasn’t able to attend her funeral due to distance and cost and her own health. It helped me to understand that the funeral is not that important. It’s being with that person while they’re still alive that is.

Science has proven we are genetically predisposed to live for 38 years (CSIRO) and anything past that is a bonus. No wonder a lot of people have a mid life crisis at that time. They’ve suddenly found that they’ve been given an extra life. Like being given a new set of regenerations. So, if we’re all predisposed to live until 38, then that explains why there is an uptick of funerals after that time. It might also explain the increase in life insurance premiums.

Plan Forever

Speaking of which. Check out another site I’ve been working on. Life Insurance Articles. I’ve owned the domain www.PlanForever.com for over 10 years and I had developed a software program for it that can enable you to look up the day of the week for any period in the past 2020 years and future 7979 years (up to the year 9999)! I’m not a programmer. I designed it and worked with a programmer to put it together. Great for time travel writers who like to be a bit more accurate. (NB: Due to a change in the Gregorian calendar in the 1700s, the software program isn’t entirely accurate for dates before then.) Unfortunately the underlying PHP program that it is based on is no longer current and so I have to shut the software down on the 16th January. If you wish to check out the century planner, or just to find out what day your 100th birthday will be on, you can visit the site and click on ‘Plan System’

To make the site pay for itself, I’ve converted it into a Life Insurance Articles repository, and am collecting reproducible articles for it from around the world. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to writing one myself. We’ll see.

Delays

My friend dying late last year knocked me for six. I just could not write anymore after that. I took a few weeks off from writing, for reflection. #34 is the last story in the science fiction weekly series for now. I do have another one that I had started a few months ago but I’m not in any mood to finish it just yet. I’ve also delayed Stellar Flash Book 4, Fantasy Short Stories Book 4 and Alien Dimensions #19 for another month. I’d prefer to write with a better frame of mind. I’ll post again when I get back to things. Apologies to anyone who is waiting on a reply from me. I’ll start replying to emails next week.

Oh, and, Happy New Year!

Phase Shift. Science Fiction Weekly #33

Phase Shift Science Fiction Weekly

Constable Jennifer McLean has been sent on a routine mission to investigate an honest gun seller in her precinct in Mars City. But when she gets there she soon discovers that he might be dealing in technology not allowed on Mars.

Where is he getting the spacer stuff from?
What has happened to the missing 47 residents?
And will Jen be able to arrest her suspect before he escapes?

Find out more in Phase Shift. #33 in the Science Fiction Weekly Short Reads Series.

Layers. Science Fiction Weekly #31: Short Reads Series

Available for Kindle: Layers

When an ethereal voice begins calling Karol from her bed, she has to investigate. She quickly finds herself in a hidden underground cavern being shown images of the past by a ghost.

What is really going on?
Why does the apparition need her to see this?
And what is she going to do when she finds out the real truth?

Find out more in Layers. #31 in the Science Fiction Weekly Short Reads Series.

Available for Kindle from Amazon

Tutor Who Heaven Cent. Science Fiction Weekly #30

On the  28th November 2015, the BBC broadcast an episode of Doctor Who called Heaven Sent, starring Peter Capaldi. It was a very different kind of Doctor Who story in that it was almost completely carried by Capaldi, apart from a wraith-like creature that silently chased him the entire episode. Not only was it a mystery, a horror, a convoluted time conundrum tied up in a shifting puzzle box maze, it was well shot, well executed with amazing detail that kept you not only guessing while watching it, but rewatching it in your head long after the episode had finished.

So taken with this story, I not only watched it about twenty times, (on ABC iView, among other places), but I also wrote a short story as a homage to it about the underlying cycles across time that we sometimes end up in. I released this in issue two of Alien Dimensions in November 2016. I don’t know whether it was this story, or simply a coincidence of timing, but that issue shot to the bestseller list on Amazon for two weeks.

But I didn’t want to stop there.

Once the creative bug had been born, I wanted to do other things in relation to Heaven Sent, so I then downloaded and rewrote Stephen Moffat’s script and put together a short video starring myself, emulating as much as I could. I also hired Genelyn Javier, who did many of the illustrations for my Alien Characters series, to create an animated theme tune and a wraith-like image for my character to run away from. It’s called Tutor Who Heaven Cent, and you can watch it online here:

For the full effect, you should watch Doctor Who: Heaven Sent first before watching my embarrassing fan video.

When watching Tutor Who Heaven Cent, please use headphones and have your hand on the sound control. As it took me two years to make, each time I added a scene in Movie Maker I had trouble getting the previous sound levels to match, so apologies in advance.

In 2019, I reviewed the written Tutor Who Heaven Cent story and realized that an almost completely new story was needed. One based on the video. The new version is now available from Amazon, and closely follows my script, the final video being a cut down version.

If you’d like to read the original version, you can find it in the Alien Dimensions Boxed Set

And, if you’re a Doctor Who fan, then I challenge you to find over 37 Easter eggs that I wove into the video, and over 50 that I included in the new written version.

Many thanks for your interest.

Neil A. Hogan

23rd November 2019

Doctor Who’s 56th anniversary

Science Fiction Weekly #29 Strange Lands Now Available

Amazon

After Karil’s suborbital descent, Jrok takes her to investigate the surface of this dwarf planet.

But what are the black pools that dot the surface?

Why have eight observation modules mysteriously disappeared?

And how can something so active be so empty of life, with not even a strand of DNA?

Find out more in Strange Lands. Science Fiction Weekly #29.

Available for Kindle from Amazon

Science Fiction Weekly #28 Moon Mine now available

Check out Moon Mine on Amazon via Kindle Unlimited.

Available from Amazon.com – Moon Mine

Several scientists are mysteriously called to a meeting to discuss the idea of mining the moon. But they soon discover that this is not a simple market research event.

With the CEO’s revelation too shocking to ignore, can the team of scientists put aside their differences and find a solution?

Find out more in Moon Mine. #28 in the Science Fiction Weekly Short Reads Series. A short story of about 6700 words.

Science Fiction Weekly Season 3!

Science Fiction Weekly is back. The first five or so stories you’ll have read in Alien Dimensions or Fantasy Short Stories, or even in Hoganthology. This will be the first time they’re released individually. I’ll be making each one free for 5 days starting with #27.

#27. The Secret of Bimini

Drago and the rest of the scientific expedition are on a mission to investigate an underwater temple in the Bahamas. But a sudden storm appears throwing their little boat off course.

They soon figure out that the question they should be asking isn’t ‘where’ they are, but ‘when.’

Now available for Kindle, and in Kindle Unlimited – Download here: The Secret of Bimini

Hoganthology, Alien Dimensions #19, and The Robots of Atlantis

Well, it’s been a busy few months. Quite a lot of writing and reading is involved in the creative writing degree I began this year, and that means not much time to work on anything else.

Having said that, I will get a break from the course between November and February, so I’ve set that time aside to begin work on Alien Dimensions #19 and The Robots of Atlantis.

Though, one of the things that I really want to do with Alien Dimensions is make sure that writers who contribute get something back. This is currently US$10 for a story for the rights for 2 years. It may not seem like much, but on a writer’s income, it’s no longer possible for me to pay that in advance and hope that I get it back through sales of the book.

So, instead, I’m trying something new. I’d like to raise some funds for the next issue of Alien Dimensions, so I’ve put many of my science fiction and fantasy stories into one volume called Hoganthology (the title is a homage to Piers Anthony’s ‘Anthonology’) There are over 47 pieces in Hoganthology. If printed, it would run to about 800 pages in a 5″x8″ book, but it is currently listed on Amazon as having about 600 in ebook form (depending on your device.)

In Hoganthology you’ll find the following:

Section 1 – Short Stories

A Little Matter
The Opposition
Gravity Locked
Still in Beta
Ancient Alien Dinosaurs
Japanese Martian Robot Souls
Oh My God It’s Full of Stars
Alien UFO Disclosure
Pyramids of the Moon
The Hydrofluorons of Krakon 7
Phases of the Moon Base
Interrelations
Surviving Mars
First Interdimensional Contact
Time Sheets
Mate
Robot Solitude
ExtraForestrial
Work After Death
Neko Girl
The Galaxy’s Driving Force
The Old Boys’ Club
Cosmic Joke
The Manipulator
Strange Lands
Layers
Life Choices
Moon Mine
The Secret of Bimini
Tutor Who: Heaven Cent

Section 2 – Flash Fiction

Child Safe
Evolution
Inter-View
Pocket Monsters
The Language Tutor
Controller
Gene-Reality
Rejuvenation
The Exchange
The Ugly Side of A.I.

Section 3 – Children’s Fiction

Alien Alexander – Alien Characters #55
Alien Hannah – Alien Characters #57
Alien Christopher – Alien Characters #60
Alien Alexis – Alien Characters #61
Alien Joseph – Alien Characters #62
Alien Daniel – Alien Characters #64
Alien Saya – Alien Characters #80

Section 4 – Space Opera Poetry

We’ve Been Wordsworthed, We’ve Been Poeed, and We’ve Been Quite Possibly Frosted
An Ode to Space Opera

Bonus Section – Excerpts

Alien Frequency – Chapter 3
The Andromeda Effect – Chapter 61
Temporal Incursion – Chapter 5
Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Cretaceous City – Dinory 1
Ida and the Planet Invasion – 2: Arrival
Gabriel and the Resurrection of Maldek – 3: 10:00am
Tiara and the Comet Apocalypse – Channel One

Bonus Section – The Future

The Robots of Atlantis (Preview) – Wednesday 22nd October 2053
Stellar Flash 2135 A.D.
-Plot Synopsis
-Notes on Location
-Character Biographies
-Extract 1
-Extract 2
-Some lines I’m working on

And more!

So, if you can spare some dollars, or you’re on Kindle Unlimited, it would be great if you could check it out. Find out more here: Hoganthology: Digital

The hope is that sales and page views can raise about US$200 to get started on Alien Dimensions #19. If you know of anyone who might be interested in this ebook, feel free to forward the link or this blog post to them.

Many thanks

Update. Working on the printed version now. 824 pages for US$32.95! Coming Soon!