Steve Stanton

WELCOME!   

You have reached the webspace of Canadian author Steve Stanton. I divide my habitation seasonally between Englewood, Florida and the Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario, and currently serve as the president of SF Canada. This website details my current work and free online fiction around the world. Please support all these good folks!

Books Currently in Print:

The Bloodlight Chronicles “explores the repercussions of chemical immortality, the nature of religion, life beyond death, and the politics and ethics of revenge. Set in a future where economic transactions are tied into virtual gaming, this elegantly written sf series features believable characters and powerful situations.” (Library Journal, 2011, reviewed by Teresa L. Jacobsen.) “The Bloodlight Chronicles by Steve Stanton is a complex ride into the virtual future.” (Amazing Stories, 2013, reviewed by Ricky L. Brown.) “Stylistically streamlined, this vibrant series should appeal to fans of Bruce Sterling and William Gibson.” (Library Journal, reviewed by Jackie Cassada.) Now available in Audiobook from Audible.com.

Stories Currently in Print:

“Timestealer” [Kindle] [Smashwords] has been published in a dozen countries and ten languages to widespread admiration. This short story was first published in 1990 in Rampike with cover design by William Burroughs.

“Perhaps the best story is ‘Timestealer’, by Steve Stanton, about a man who records short experiences from other people, at the cost of their memory of the experience, and his search for truly novel material.” (Locus Magazine, 2004, Reviewed by Richard Horton)

“In four short pages, he takes the reader into the character of a man who makes his living stealing experiences, memories, from people, and selling them to others. It is a huge comment on humanity, and no doubt, if we possessed the technology to steal and package memories, there would be shops in malls from coast-to-coast. Stanton takes virtual reality a step further and makes the point that people want to escape to something more exciting, and in this future world, nothing is sacred. No doubt the tabloid press has been driven out of business by this new industry—who needs pictures when you can live the memory.” (Kamikaze Magazine, 1994, Reviewed by Blaine Howard)

“This reminded me a bit of Philip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” the inspiration for the movie “Total Recall.” (Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews, 2008)

“Perfect Match” [Smashwords] has been published ten times in six languages, one of the first Biopunk stories of record. This dystopian tale first appeared in 1992 in On Spec, Issue #9.

“‘Perfect Match’ is the kind of story that gives you a deep sense of satisfaction in reading it. It’s a story of love and sacrifice, but has its moment where hope and happiness shine through the dark recess of poverty. (Kasma SF Magazine, 2012, Reviewed by Alexander Korovessis)

“In his strange futuristic creations, Stanton works with the language of science and technology to present men and women as beings on a sort of conveyor belt to doom. The most striking aspect of these stories is their incredible lack of sentiment. The reader is required to inject his or her own emotional reactions, and the effect is weighty. In ‘Perfect Match,’ Stanton portrays a future so uncaring that body parts are bought and sold by living recipients and donors. It is a world common to Stanton’s vision, where money is tight and people remain in tight family units because no one else will offer any help at all.” (Reviewed by Blaine Howard, 1994)

“The Writing on the Wall” [Kindle] was first published in 2005 in Tesseracts Nine, Aurora Award Winner 2006, edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman. “Steve Stanton contributes a time-travel story about a child who becomes a mathematical genius after meeting his future self.” (Booklist, American Library Association, 2005, Reviewed by Carl Hays) “I was also impressed by Steve Stanton’s ‘The Writing on the Wall,’—in which good characterization carries an otherwise simple tale of a mathematician determined to prove the possibility of time travel.” (SF Site, 2005, Reviewed by Donna McMahon) “‘The Writing on the Wall,’ by Steve Stanton, tells the tragic tale of the unexceptional midlife crisis of an exceptional man…on a Kafkaesque note.” (Quill & Quire, 2005, Reviewed by Tracey Thomas) “‘The Writing on the Wall’ by Steve Stanton, unlike many of the other stories in this genre, does provide a moment of hope for humanity…yet it isn’t technology that offers hope, but emotion.” (The Harrow, 2005, Reviewed by Dru Pagliassotti)

“Trickster” [Kindle] was first published in On Spec #72. “My favourite story in this issue was ‘Trickster’ by Steve Stanton, about Union graffiti artists in a shipyard on the moon tagging colony ships just before they set off for the stars. Derek Thundersky is one of the artists and is madly in love with Susan Quiznichuk, who procures things for the Union. Derek is half-Navaho, half-Cree, an exotic mix. Meanwhile, Colonel Woodsworth Dunfield, late of Windermere-on-Avon and pilot of the latest departing colony ship, is a rather stodgy Englishman who is madly in love with Linda Evans but has rather fluffed their sexual compatibility test. She is a yank and he thinks perhaps he should stay Earthside and marry one of the ‘noble and predictable gentlewomen of his homeland’.” (SF Crowsnest, 2008, Reviewed by Eamonn Murphy)

“Messenger” is freely available online at Kasma Science Fiction Magazine.

“Perfect Match” is now available in French translation in Solaris, and freely available online in Spanish and Hungarian.

“Eternal Virus” is freely available online at Ray Gun Revival and in translation in Algernon (Estonia). A short Audiobook excerpt is available as a free sample at Audible.com.

“Hedge of Protection” was first published in On Spec, Aurora Award Winner 2012, Issue #85. “The dialogue and characters felt real to me, and I admired how the author crafted the blend of magic and medicine.” (Reviewed by Regan Wolfrom) “There is lots of local atmosphere and colour and a surprising resolution that is not flagged up in the tale.” (SF Crowsnest, 2011, Reviewed by Eamonn Murphy)

“White World” is freely available online at Ray Gun Revival and in translation in Evvéa (Greece).

“Gathering Glory” is freely available online at Daily Science Fiction, in translation at Axxón (Argentina), and is upcoming in Universe Pathways Magazine (Greece) and Nova Fantasia (Galicia).

“Mark of the Beast” is freely available online in English at InterNova (Germany) and in translation in Algernon (Estonia).