#58 Philip Harris
INRODUCTION
Firstly, a huge thank you to Astrobotic and its Peregrine Mission One, to DHL MoonBox, to the United Launch Alliance, to Noelle Gaussens for helping wrangle this massive project, and especially to Dr. Susan Kaye Quinn for putting so much time, effort, and thought into creating Writers on the Moon. It’s both incredibly cool and a real honour to have my stories travelling to the moon alongside so many fantastic authors and their equally fantastic books.
Manifest 58 contains a selection of my books and short stories representing a snapshot of where I am on my writing journey – from my first published short story, Letter from a Victim, through my indie published novels to my most recently published short story – Vicarious.
I’ve also included five books from some of my best author friends – Jeff Chacon, Delia Remington, Sarah Read, Stant Litore, and Michael Patrick Hicks. I met Jeff, Delia, and Sarah at a Horror Writer’s Retreat at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. Stant and Michael are online friends I met as part of the indie author community. All of them are fantastic people and great writers.
On a more personal note, I’ve included a couple of photos. The first is of my parents, brothers, and sister. It was taken shortly before my father died in 2016 and shows him and my mother surrounded by his “real legacy” – his children. I’ve also included the eulogy given at his funeral in my payload. I’m sure he would be amazed by this project.
The second photograph is of me and my wife, Ann, whose tireless support is what makes it possible for me to write in the first place. Ann’s a talented singer so I included one of her songs – Everything’s So Quiet Now by Lurch featuring Ann Harris on vocals, Desmond Cummings on lead guitar, Michael Blakemore on bass guitar, Sean Costello on rhythm guitar, and Steve Clark on drums.
Finally, I wrote a brand-new story just for this trip to the moon. Glitch Mitchell goes to the Moon is the third canonical story featuring my Flash Gordon inspired character – Dwayne “Glitch” Mitchell. This story will not be published by me. I hope one day someone will discover our indie author time capsule and Glitch will get a new lease of life in whatever form stories are told in that wonderful and distant future.
Thank you for reading.
Philip Harris
Vancouver, Canada
12th February 2021
Website: http://www.solitarymindset.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SolitaryMindset
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/solitarymindset.bsky.social
ABOUT ME
I was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. I grew up writing software and making up stories and it was inevitable that I’d end up working in a creative but technical career. That career turned out to be video games. I’ve worked in the videogame industry since 1998, first as a narrative designer and writer, then as a programmer and technical director, now as a narrative designer and writer again.
Not content with creating imaginary worlds for a living, I spend much of my spare time writing stories. I’m a speculative fiction author, which basically means I make up stories that are based on imagination and speculation, not real life. In my case that’s mainly science fiction and horror, but my first story, Letter from a Victim, was published in a small magazine called Peeping Tom in 1995, and I’ve tried my hand at most types of fiction since then.
Initially I was focused on publishing my work in magazines and online but drawn by the freedom of indie publishing, I eventually dipped my toe into the ebook waters with the publication of a couple of short stories – Bottled Lightning and Curfew – and a novella, The Girl in the City.
I’ve now published 14 books all of which are included as part of the Writers on the Moon project in one form or another. Of all those books, Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet is particularly appropriate for the Writers on the Moon project. Glitch’s stories are my homage to the Flash Gordon cliffhanger serials I used to watch when I was young and as Glitch himself is a science fiction loving nerd who wins a competition to visit NASA in that first book, it’s fitting that his adventures are heading to the moon.
I have also worked as security for Darth Vader.
THE BOOKS
Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet
Available Now on | When I was growing up, one of the highlights of the summer and Christmas school holidays was the BBC’s children’s programming. Every morning they’d air a Tarzan movie and episodes of the old black-and-white fiction serials from the 1930s—Zorro, The Lone Ranger, and Buck Rogers. I enjoyed them all, but my favorite was Flash Gordon starring Larry “Buster” Crabbe. I’d eagerly sit down each morning to see how Flash, Dale, and Doc managed to get out of whatever mess they’d got themselves into the day before. I don’t know how many times I watched each series (I remember them being shown every year for most of my childhood, although I doubt that’s actually true), but they stuck with me, and I’ve always had a soft spot in my geeky heart for those serials (helped by the 1980 movie, of course). Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet grew out of my love of those old serials. Originally conceived as a series of interconnected short stories intended to be posted on my blog, the idea quickly grew into the full-length novel you hold in your hands now, but I’ve kept the episodic format and tried to recreate the feel of those fast-paced, over-the-top, cliffhanger-driven stories that I enjoyed so much as a kid. Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet was first published 27 January 2017. |
Glitch Mitchell and the Island of Terror
Published 27 January 2017
This story was originally published in Samuel Peralta’s The Jurassic Chronicles. When Sam put out the call for stories featuring dinosaurs my thoughts immediately went to Glitch, Captain Anderson, and Dr. Zheng. Who better to go on a classic pulp adventure than my classic pulp heroes?
When the aircraft carrying Dwayne “Glitch” Mitchell and his friends is struck by lightning, they crash land on an island filled with creatures from Earth’s distant past. Scientific curiosity quickly turns to fear as the creatures attack. But are they merely forgotten relics, or is there something more sinister at work?
Glitch Mitchell Goes to the Moon
Unpublished
Glitch’s trip around the moon on the SLINGSHOTone does not go according to plan. I’ll be keeping this file locked away on my hard drive so the only way to read it will be through the Writers on the Moon time capsule.
The Leah King Trilogy
The Leah King Trilogy contains The Girl in the City (published 2 February 2015), The Girl in the Wilderness (published 2 October 2016), and The Girl in the Machine (published 17 February 2017). This is a young adult dystopian science fiction series set in the world of Michael Bunker’s Pennsylvania series. The Girl in the City is a novella and was one of the first books I published. It was successful enough that I followed it up with two full length sequels to finish off Leah’s story. The Leah King Trilogy is available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. |
With the oppressive Transport Authority controlling every aspect of their existence, Leah and her father do what they can to carve out a good life for themselves. Leah spends her nights scavenging, risking capture as she hunts for anything her father can trade for food and clothing. When she takes a bag of salvage from a dying stranger, they’re plunged into the world of Transport and its war against the terrorist organization, TRACE.
The conflict quickly escalates, and Leah finds herself alone in the wilderness, fighting to survive. Transport are a constant threat, but she finds a kindred spirit in a battle-weary TRACE operative who teaches her to navigate the virtual reality systems that connect the world.
As Leah is drawn deeper into the war, she’s forced to face the woman who tore her life apart. She must decide who she can trust, and how far she’ll go to uncover her past.
Serial Killer Z
For some, the zombies are a good thing. Serial Killer Z is my Serial Killer vs Zombies horror series. Currently consisting of four books it tells the dark and bloody story of serial killer Marcus Black as he struggles to survive a zombie apocalypse he helped create. Manifest 58 contains all four books. I have two more books planned and the first draft of book five is complete but I don’t currently have a timeline for when they’ll be released. The Serial Killer Z series available for purchase on Amazon. |
Serial Killer Z: Infection
Published 3 February 2018
Edward Taylor just killed a man. It wasn’t the first time but it could be the last. For the last twenty years, he’s been careful, hiding his true self behind a mask of humanity. But now someone out there knows what Edward is, and he has no idea what they’re planning to do with that knowledge.
When he’s approached by a journalist working to bring down a controversial research lab, Edward’s personal and work life collide. Cornered, and with his paranoia growing, he’s forced to take action and triggers a sequence of events that might just unleash a plague of the dead on the world.
Serial Killer Z
Published 5 October 2017
The man who calls himself Marcus Black spent years hiding his true identity from the world, killing to feed the shadow that lives inside him. Now the dead walk the earth and he’s just trying to survive.
With the dead a constant threat, Marcus is forced to suppress his true self and fight against the shadow that lives inside him. Losing that fight will leave him exposed and could cost him his life.
When he discovers an abandoned camp deep in the forest Marcus believes he’s finally found a home. A place where he can once again unleash the shadow. Isolated. Quiet. Safe. It’s perfect. Until the outside world intrudes, and Marcus finds himself caught between the living and the dead.
Hiding behind a veneer of humanity, Marcus struggles to find a way to get rid of the new arrivals. But as his mask begins to slip, he discovers that he may not be the only one with a deadly secret.
Serial Killer Z: Sanctuary
Published 2 November 2017
When a chance encounter with a group of scavengers turns violent, Marcus flees to a nearby town. Sanctuary is a safe haven for those lucky enough to survive the swarms of zombies that roam the landscape, but the cracks are beginning to show.
As life in Sanctuary unravels, Marcus is caught between two factions vying for control in a cold war that threatens to spill over into violence at any moment. Forced to take sides, and with tensions rising, Marcus must decide which is more important – revenge or freedom.
Serial Killer Z: Shadows
Published 27 November 2017
Marcus Black is a killer. He hides behind a mask of humanity, preying on the living and the dead to feed the shadow that lives within him. When the outbreak began he fled to the mountains, but someone out there knows his true identity, and they’ve summoned him back to the city. Now the shadow is missing, and without it, he’s lost.
Returning home, Marcus finds the city has changed. The military run brutal work camps while the rich throw parties. Contact with the rest of the world has been lost, and there are rumors of swarms of the dead laying waste to nearby cities.
When Marcus meets Cali Hart, a colleague from his former life, she eagerly draws him deeper into this bizarre new world and offers him a way to reawaken the shadow. Desperate to get back to his old life, Marcus is drawn to the idea, but should he trust Cali? Or is her own shadow more dangerous than his?
Reflections of an Unraveling World
Unpublished
Reflections of an Unraveling World is a collection of twenty-one short stories. At the time of writing, it is only available to subscribers to my newsletter (which you can sign up for here). This book contains the following stories – Pod Fifteen (originally published in Tales from the Canyons of the Damned magazine), Immersion Therapy (originally published in audio on the Dead Oaks podcast), The Fall of Lower Hogswood (unpublished), Hapin3ss 101 (originally published in eHorror magazine), Backward Boy (unpublished), A Job for an Angel (originally published in Dark Terrors magazine, The Ride (originally published in Dark Fuse magazine, Insect Girl Climbs to Paradise (originally published in Flurb 9), Inside the Mechanical House (unpublished) , For the Queen’s Amusement (unpublished), Origami Man (originally published in Hogglepot), Two Nights in New Orleans (originally published in New Horizons magazine, 15 Things You Need to Know About Visiting the Spirit Realm (originally published in Tales from the Canyons of the Damned magazine, Tooth (originally published in the Creature Features anthology, Letter From a Victim (originally published in Peeping Tom magazine), Amber (unpublished), Curfew (published as an indie book), The Haunting of Danny Braithwaite (unpublished), The Bone Boy (originally published in the Bones anthology and James Ward Kirk Publishing’s Best of Horror anthology), and Sitala (originally published in UnCommon Minds anthology.) |
Only Friends
Published 19 April 1993
Only Friends is a strange story that was first published in the Anthology of European SF. It was also a finalist in the first British Fantasy Society short story competition. It came second at least partly because the judge felt the ending was too ambiguous. I agree. |
Vicarious
Vicarious won second place in the 2019 British Fantasy Society Short story competition and is currently one of my favourite short stories that I’ve written. At the time of writing, it’s also my most recently published short story.
Ephemera
As well as my published work, I included most of my fiction culled from my submissions folder. This is unedited and sometimes unpublished work. Reader beware.
THE STOWAWAYS
AMERICAN BADASS – JEFF CHACON
Ron Watson wakes up one day to find himself dead. Yes, after an unplanned and unfortunate meeting on a Colorado highway with a semi-trailer truck carrying disposable diapers for orphaned babies, Ron Watson is now an everyday, run-of-the-mill divorced American zombie, with exactly two thoughts in his head: “Brains!” and “Vegas!” Sin City, land of dreamers, where Ron Watson goes to dream of being human again and to fit in amongst the drunken tourists, down-on-their-luck beggars and lights so bright that nobody will notice a zombie shuffling around. But Las Vegas has other plans for Ron, as it often does for its visitors, and once there he discovers that he may not be the Last Zombie Standing, becomes an Internet meme for no reason at all, and gets drunk, laid, and fed… all while struggling with age old questions: Can a zombie date a human without wanting to turn the human into a meal? Can a zombie be an adequate parent? Do zombie joke punchlines translate in a human world? Is modern celebrity status as vacuous, hollow, and fleeting as it appears? And most importantly, is it better to be human or zombie? The answer may surprise you. |
Jeff is a writer, comedian, musician, engineer, improviser, architect, father, husband, hockey goon… he has appeared on theater and rock and roll stages all over Colorado and California in craploads of productions and bands you’ve never heard of. He lives with his wife and kids in Denver… and visits Las Vegas. A lot. Head to the south side of the bar and say “hi” if you’re ever hanging out at Carnaval Court on a weekend. http://www.theejeffchacon.com
ANSIBLE: A THOUSAND FACES – STANT LITORE
“My mind has touched the stars, wearing a thousand faces…” In Ansible, 25th century Islamic explorers transfer their minds across space and time to make first contact…and get marooned in alien bodies on alien worlds. Along the way, they encounter the most dangerous predator humanity has ever faced. And that species knows where earth is. Now a Syrian refugee, a thirteenth-century librarian, and a hijabi shapeshifter from the far future must travel across space and time to defend humanity from this intergalactic and devouring evil. They’ll find allies: A wheelchair gunslinger from far-future Beijing. A legion of women soldiers wielding Spinning Saws that can slice through predators that only barely exist inside our universe. A strange child-empath who can hear all of humanity’s suffering at every instant in history. A firestarter-goddess from our prehistory. Together, they will face a species that travels across time and feeds on terror itself. |
Stant Litore writes about zombies, aliens, and tyrannosaurs. He does not currently own a starship or a time machine but would rather like to. He lives in Aurora, Colorado with his wife and three children and hides from visitors in the basement library beneath a heap of toy dinosaurs, tattered novels, comic books, incomprehensibly scribbled drafts, and antique tomes. He is working on his next novel, or several. You can read some of his current fiction by looking up Ansible, The Running of the Tyrannosaurs, The Zombie Bible, or Dante’s Heart. However, doing so may have unpredictable effects, and Stant offers no assurances that you will emerge from any of these stories unscathed. Best leave all non-essentials behind, take with you only what you need to survive, and venture into the books cautiously and ready to call for backup. Enjoy, and good luck. https://stantlitore.com/
DARK CONJURING: A SHORT FICTION HORROR ANTHOLOGY – DELIA REMINGTON
Six gripping tales from new voices in horror and fantasy. Each story in this collection opens a window into a world of dark imaginings where nightmares stalk and shadows linger. Within these pages, you’ll find ghosts and ghouls, monsters and magic, murder and mayhem. Enter friend, but be cautious, lest you find yourself lost in these dark conjurings. Stories by Jai Lefay, A.R. Reinhardt, Cassy Crownover, Delia Remington, Karolyne Cronin, and Mimi Schweid |
Delia Remington lives in an old house in a small town near the Missouri River with her Scottish terrier, Layla, and she spends her days surrounded by books and good friends. The first novel in her Blood Royal Saga Series, In The Blood, won the 2018 Silver Stake Award at the International Vampire Film and Arts Festival in Sighisoara, Romania and was a finalist for the 2018 Midwest Book Awards held by the Midwest Independent Publishing Association.
For more information about Delia and her writing, visit http://deliaremington.com
Jai Lefay lives in New Zealand writing Supernatural, Historic, & Fantasy Fiction, while running her own dance studio and performing in variety and burlesque shows. She is a Holistic Creatrix who can be found across the internet as ThePrincessBard, empowering others to chase their own dreams. Find her online at http://theprincessbard.com/books-by-jai-lefay/.
A.R Reinhardt is a non-binary author who lives in Massachusetts with their girlfriend and two sons, and spends their days writing Supernatural, Horror, and Urban Fantasy Fiction and sharing that fact with literally anyone who will listen.
Cassy Crownover is a horror enthusiast, writer of several genres, comedian, and a freelance graphic designer from Tampa, Florida.
A hyperactive woman with a dark imagination. Karolyne Cronin spins nightmares into entertainment for the world. Find her online at http://www.KarolyneCronin.com
Mimi Schweid is a person of many talents. Writing has been her way to share her sarcastic and fantastical worlds with all that choose to listen, and others that just happen to be nearby.
She can be found at http://www.akamschweid.com and on her social media as Morganstein17.
THE BONE WEAVER’S ORCHARD – SARAH READ
He’s run away home. That’s what they say every time one of Charley Winslow’s friends vanishes from The Old Cross School for Boys.It’s just a tall tale. That’s what they tell Charley when he sees the ragged grey figure stalking the abbey halls at night. When Charley follows his pet insects to a pool of blood behind a false wall, he could run and let those stones bury their secrets. He could assimilate, focus on his studies, and wait for his father to send for him. Or he could walk the dark tunnels of the school’s heart, scour its abandoned passages, and pick at the scab of a family’s legacy of madness and murder. With the help of Sam Forster, the school’s gardener, and Matron Grace, the staff nurse, Charley unravels Old Cross’ history and exposes a scandal stretching back to when the school was a home with a noble family and a dark secret–a secret that still haunts its halls with scraping steps, twisting its bones into a new generation of nightmares. |
Sarah Read is a dark fiction writer in the frozen north of Wisconsin. Her short stories can be found in Gamut, Black Static, and other places, and in various anthologies including Exigencies, Suspended in Dusk, BEHOLD! Oddities Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, and The Best Horror of the Year vols 10 and 12. Her Bram Stoker award winning novel The Bone Weaver’s Orchard is now out from Trepidatio Publishing, and her debut collection Out of Water released in late 2019. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Pantheon Magazine and of their associated anthologies, including Gorgon: Stories of Emergence. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. When she’s not staring into the abyss, she knits. https://inkwellmonster.wordpress.com/
BROKEN SHELLS – MICHAEL PATRICK HICKS
Antoine DeWitt is a man down on his luck. Broke and recently fired, he knows the winning Money Carlo ticket that has landed in his mailbox from a car dealership is nothing more than a scam. The promise of five thousand dollars, though, is too tantalizing to ignore. Jon Dangle is a keeper of secrets, many of which are buried deep beneath his dealership. He works hard to keep them hidden, but occasionally sacrifices are required, sacrifices who are penniless, desperate, and who will not be missed. Sacrifices exactly like DeWitt. When Antoine steps foot on Dangle’s car lot, it is with the hope of easy money. Instead, he finds himself trapped in a deep, dark hole, buried alive. If he is going to survive the nightmare ahead of him, if he has any chance of seeing his wife and child again, Antoine will have to do more than merely hope. He will have to fight his way back to the surface, and pray that Jon Dangle’s secrets do not kill him first. |
Michael lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. In between compulsively buying books and adding titles that he does not have time for to his Netflix queue, he is hard at work on his next story. https://www.michaelpatrickhicks.com/
Find Philip Harris’s stories here.