Announcing the first Apex Magazine story of the year award
Hideki and the Gnomes is there among some other fantastic stories to be voted story of the year at Apex.
Disclaimer: I’m not asking you to vote for me, but I’d really recommend you go and check out the great fiction at Apex Magazine.
Thursday 17 December 2009
Friday 27 November 2009
Friday 6 November 2009
Monday 19 October 2009
13
My thirteenth published short story, It's For You, a ghost story which first aired on 10RADIO in the UK last christmas, makes an appearance in the thirteenth issue of Twisted Tongue, available now--just in time for HALLOWEEN--for free download, or 4.50 (GBP) for POD (Print on Demand) magazine, from here.
Friday 16 October 2009
Saturday 3 October 2009
The Book of Tentacles...
My story, Hideki and the Giant Squid, appears alongside a host of other tentacle themed fiction and poetry.
Samsdot Publishing
Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine
Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine readers have voted my story "TEST OF FATE" as Best Science Fiction story in the 7500-15000 word category in their Fall issue.
They also published my article about the Anigao Girls in Akihabara in the same issue, available as a download here.
They also published my article about the Anigao Girls in Akihabara in the same issue, available as a download here.
Friday 14 August 2009
The Fix Says...
THE FIX
Apex Magazine, May 2009
By Kimberly Lundstrom ⋅ August 8, 2009
The May 2009 issue of Apex Magazine features three stories of characters navigating a changed or changing world.
“Hideki and the Gnomes” by Mark Lee Pearson has the haunting quality of a dark fairy tale murmured in the flickering light of a dying fire. Yet it is entirely modern. Hideki looks on as, one by one, the moons in the sky disappear or are destroyed, wreaking havoc all around him. As his world deconstructs, technology moves backward and Hideki takes action. But it is unclear whether he has taken the right course.
Using structural repetition and a portentous countdown from twelve moons, Pearson offers a puzzling but intriguing picture of apocalypse.
Apex Magazine, May 2009
By Kimberly Lundstrom ⋅ August 8, 2009
The May 2009 issue of Apex Magazine features three stories of characters navigating a changed or changing world.
“Hideki and the Gnomes” by Mark Lee Pearson has the haunting quality of a dark fairy tale murmured in the flickering light of a dying fire. Yet it is entirely modern. Hideki looks on as, one by one, the moons in the sky disappear or are destroyed, wreaking havoc all around him. As his world deconstructs, technology moves backward and Hideki takes action. But it is unclear whether he has taken the right course.
Using structural repetition and a portentous countdown from twelve moons, Pearson offers a puzzling but intriguing picture of apocalypse.
Saturday 1 August 2009
MARK @ ASIMOV'S???
My short story "Hideki and the Gnomes" got a tiny mention in the Best New Stories thread on the discussion board at ASIMOV's 5/28/2009!
Review of Hideki Desu at TANGENT
Reviewed by Steve Fahnestalk
TANGENT
“Hideki Desu,” by Mark Lee Pearson, surprised me. Since the title character, Hideki, is described as "a short, serious kid in a white button-down shirt and large horn-rimmed glasses,” I immediately had two thoughts: Hiro Nakamura, from the TV series Heroes; and, Oh, cripes, another Japanese story by someone who has only read manga and seen Japanese movies.
To the first thought, I can say, "well, maybe, in a way,” but to the second, "no way!" Pearson is obviously familiar with Japan, and that knowledge adds a certain vividness to the story that can't be gotten out of books and movies; only first-hand knowledge will serve. (When you know what you’re talking about, it really shows.)
Gaijin (foreigners) are needed in Japan, because every Japanese sarariman (literally, "salaryman") wants to learn English as a way to make more money, but Hideki has a novel way of doing so… he eavesdrops on gaijin dreams. Our unnamed gaijin protagonist meets Hideki on a Tokyo train platform and from then on things become more surreal than even a westerner familiar with Japan can imagine. "Hideki desu" means "I'm Hideki"—and by the end of the story you won't have a clue who Hideki really is. Nicely done and quite fun to read, and you don't need to know a word of Japanese to enjoy it.
TANGENT
“Hideki Desu,” by Mark Lee Pearson, surprised me. Since the title character, Hideki, is described as "a short, serious kid in a white button-down shirt and large horn-rimmed glasses,” I immediately had two thoughts: Hiro Nakamura, from the TV series Heroes; and, Oh, cripes, another Japanese story by someone who has only read manga and seen Japanese movies.
To the first thought, I can say, "well, maybe, in a way,” but to the second, "no way!" Pearson is obviously familiar with Japan, and that knowledge adds a certain vividness to the story that can't be gotten out of books and movies; only first-hand knowledge will serve. (When you know what you’re talking about, it really shows.)
Gaijin (foreigners) are needed in Japan, because every Japanese sarariman (literally, "salaryman") wants to learn English as a way to make more money, but Hideki has a novel way of doing so… he eavesdrops on gaijin dreams. Our unnamed gaijin protagonist meets Hideki on a Tokyo train platform and from then on things become more surreal than even a westerner familiar with Japan can imagine. "Hideki desu" means "I'm Hideki"—and by the end of the story you won't have a clue who Hideki really is. Nicely done and quite fun to read, and you don't need to know a word of Japanese to enjoy it.
Friday 17 July 2009
Thursday 25 June 2009
Another Review of Hideki and the Gnomes
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Review at IRoSF
Countdown.
There were twelve moons in the night sky: one from this dimension, the others reflections of the eleven dimensions. One switched off like a computer monitor. On the blank screen, Hideki watched the Space Shuttle, Confronter, hurtling to Earth, out of control.
As the moons disappear one by one, Hideki also goes out of control.
Very short ambiguous fantasy. Either the world is coming to an end, or Hideki is loony. Or, perhaps, both.
Internet Review of Science Fiction
There were twelve moons in the night sky: one from this dimension, the others reflections of the eleven dimensions. One switched off like a computer monitor. On the blank screen, Hideki watched the Space Shuttle, Confronter, hurtling to Earth, out of control.
As the moons disappear one by one, Hideki also goes out of control.
Very short ambiguous fantasy. Either the world is coming to an end, or Hideki is loony. Or, perhaps, both.
Internet Review of Science Fiction
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Descended From Darkness Apex Volume 1
Work on Descended From Darkness continues as APEX MAGAZINE aims for a December, 2009 release date. This is the final version of the front cover of the anthology.
Cover art is by Randall McDonald.
Cover design is by Justin Stewart.
We’ll start taking pre-order reserverations sometime in August. The retail price will be $15.95.
Yet another affordable, high-quality presentation from the fine folks of Apex Publications. :)
Wednesday 6 May 2009
Review of Hideki Desu
Here:
SFReview
"Mark Lee Pearson sets his "Hideki Desu" in Japan where an American has just lost his job. He encounters a strange boy who shows him a different world. This story was okay and maybe I would have appreciated it more if I were more familiar with Japan."
Okay, so it doesn't say much, but it's something.
SFReview
"Mark Lee Pearson sets his "Hideki Desu" in Japan where an American has just lost his job. He encounters a strange boy who shows him a different world. This story was okay and maybe I would have appreciated it more if I were more familiar with Japan."
Okay, so it doesn't say much, but it's something.
Thursday 26 March 2009
Sunday 15 March 2009
Thursday 19 February 2009
Excerpt from Hideki Desu
I was famished, so Hideki took me to a noodle bar.
“You like stand-up soba?” He twists the noodles from the soup and threads the long strands of buckwheat through his teeth.
“First time,” I said.
“Your girlfriend never took you?”“She was a ramen girl.” I snapped my disposable chopsticks apart and jabbed them into the bowl.
Hideki is jittery; his eyes are like little black fish darting about in his horn rimmed glasses.
Just then, there was a movement in the soup. I felt something tugging on my chopstick. I stepped back from the bar, “What the—”
The noodles parted to reveal a bulbous pair of bloodshot eyes staring out at me. One of the noodle creatures twisted itself around my chopsticks; I could see the fangs in its open mouth.
Someone screamed; it could have been me. I don’t remember exactly, but the inside of the entire soba bar was suddenly alive with panic.
“I knew it. Get out of here.” Hideki swipes the bowl off the bar and sends it hurtling across the floor, then grabbing my hand he drags me out of the shop.
The last thing I remember seeing were thousands of noodle-like worms sliding across the floor, their bulbous eyes fixed upon the Soba Chef. I saw him kicking in vain as they slithered up his legs, constricted around his body and sank their fangs into his throat as he fell whimpering to the floor.
Hideki Desu appears in the Spring 2009 edition of Space and Time Magazine. Many thanks to the very talented David Grilla for illustrating this excerpt.
Friday 9 January 2009
Thursday 8 January 2009
Hideki Desu...
has finally made it into print and my name is on the cover of SPACE AND TIME!
Space and Time Magazine
Space and Time Magazine
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