BIO

KIERAN SHEA’s fiction has appeared in dozens of venues including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Thuglit, Dogmatika, Word Riot, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Crimefactory, and Needle: A Magazine of Noir ...as well as in some beefy-looking anthologies most of which will make you question the tether of his shiny, red balloon. To his self-deprecating astonishment he's also been nominated for the Story South’s Million Writers Award twice without sending the judges so much as a thank you note. He co-edited the satiric transgressive fiction collection D*CKED: DARK FICTION INSPIRED BY DICK CHENEY and his debut novel KOKO TAKES A HOLIDAY is out now from Titan Books. Kieran divides his time between 38°58′22.6″N- 76°30′4.17″W and 39.2775° N, 74.5750° W.

5/25/09

PLOTS WITH GUNS: My "Raygun" Hat Trick


Be advised. Anthony Neil Smith not only challenges the status quo as a crime novelist, he is also one of the toughest gatekeepers on the planet. Last Fall when "Doc Noir" broadcasted the concept of a special PLOTS WITH "RAY" GUNS issue, I was simultaneously stoked and intimidated by the challenge. I'd never attempted a piece set in the future, and Smith's call for transgressive noir set in the year 2509 was too much of a dare to pass up. So, I got cracking. I sweated over a story about asteroid miners for several weeks and, feeling confident, sent it off. Smith's response? "Too sci-fi." Hmm. Not one to quit readily, a few months later I tried again--this time a cold-hearted yarn referencing euthanasia, poisoned citrus, and a pulse-nuked San Antonio (for good reason). Again, Doc Noir gave me the proverbial high hat. "Not 500 years in the future, more like 50." D'fuuuuuuuuck? So, then I thought, wait a second...maybe I've been going about this futuristic business all wrong--maybe what I really need to do is go all gonzo, drop my pants, and wag my junk in the wind. Hence-- my ragged, little contribution to the special May issue and my third story in PWGs : "Koko Takes a Holiday" Phew! Thanks for putting up with me, my typos, and for pushing back, Professor. See you in Indy.