Bibliography of Short Stories
Everything in All the Wrong Order
Published by Subterranean Press on 31st August 2021, a 'Best Of' collection of short stories by Chaz Brenchley.
A starred review in Publishers Weekly says: "These 32 superior stories from Lambda Award winner Brenchley (Bitter Waters) represent a tiny fraction of the gifted, prolific author's output, but nevertheless showcase his ability to craft impactful shorts... Every entry enhances creative plots and plausible characterizations with outstanding writing. This sampler of Brenchley's work makes clear his mastery"
With an introduction by Elizabeth Bear.
Read more about Everything in All the Wrong Order.
NOVELLAS
The Keys to D'Espérance * Rotten Row * Being Small
SHORT STORIES
COLLECTIONS: Everything in All the Wrong Order * Bitter Waters * Blood Waters
- The Summer House: a Fable, in Murmurs in the Dark (Book View Café, October 2021)
Read at Phantoms at the Phil, summer 2007 - The Station of the Twelfth, on Tor.com (September 2021)
- Ashes to Ashes
Everything in All the Wrong Order - Every Day A Little Death
Everything in All the Wrong Order - Winter Journey
Everything in All the Wrong Order - Ch-ch-changes, in Adam's Ladder (Written Backwards, 2018)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - The Fold in the Heart, in New Fears - New Horror Stories by Masters of the Genre (Titan Books, September 2017)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
Reprinted in The Dark magazine, (October 2018) - Thermodynamics; and/or The Remittance Men, in Clockwork Cairo (Twopenny Press, May 2017)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - Uncanny Valley, in Strange California (StoryJitsu, April 2017)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
"This story is also that rare accomplishment, a second-person narrative that isn't distracting or annoying. Indeed, I've read entire novels that were less immersive and engrossing than this story." (Skiffy and Fanty)
- In Skander, For A Boy, in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #191 (January 2016)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
Selected by Rich Horton for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy (Prime Books, 2017)
Included in The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8 (September 2017) - The Ice Weasels of Trebizond by Mr and Mrs Brenchley, in Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists (Lethe Press 2015)
- Afterparty, in Genius Loci (Ragnarok Publications, June 2016)
- The Astrakhan, the Homburg and the Red Red Coal, in Queers Destroy Science Fiction! (Lightspeed, 2015)
and in Lightspeed Magazine, June 2015)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- "this imaginative story - the sort that can make an entire issue worthwhile on its own... Oh, and the powerful concluding image. A whole lot to like here..." - Lois Tilton, Locus
Included in Wilde Stories 2016 (Lethe Press, July 2016)
Selected by Gardner Dozois for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection (St Martin's Griffin, July 2016)
Selected by Rich Horton for inclusion in The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy (Prime Books, June 2016)
Chinese translation in Science Fiction World - True North, in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
Reprinted in Wilde Stories 2015: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press, 2015) - The Boat of Not Belonging, in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- The Cupboard of Cold Things, in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- 2 Pi to Live, in Splinter Universe, (May 2014)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - The Burial of Sir John Mawe at Cassini, in Subterranean Online, (Subterranean Press, Spring 2014)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
Selected by Gardner Dozois for inclusion in:
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection (St Martin's Griffin, July 2015) in the US
- and Mammoth Book of Best New SF 28 (Robinson, October 2015) in the UK
- "Chaz Brenchley's The Burial of Sir John Mawe. Boy, does Brenchley pack in a wealth of worldbuilding in such little space with his tale of the aftermath of a hero's death on an inhabitable Mars that is under British Colonial Rule. I've no doubt there'll be more stories in this setting, and I hope they're half as good." - Charles de Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction
- King Harvest Has Surely Come, in Unexpected Journeys, (British Fantasy Society, 2013)
- Bringing Back Raby, in When the Hero Comes Home, vol 2, (Dragon Moon Press, August 2013)
- Like Quicksilver for Gold, in Shades of Blue and Gray: Ghosts of the Civil War, (Prime Books, 2013)
Honorable mention, Ellen Datlow Best of Horror 2013 - The Airship Towers of Trebizond, by Mr & Mrs Brenchley, in Gears and Levers vol. 2, (Sky Warrior Books, 2013)
- Live at Maly's, in Tales From the House Band vol. 2, (Plus One Press, 2012)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- Spanish translation by Adriana Díaz Enciso included in Sombra del árbol de la noche: Nueva narrativa británica de fantasmas y portentos, (Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de Mexico, 2015)
- Water Proof, with Shannon Page, BuzzyMag.com, (August 2012)
Reprinted in Eastlick and Other Stories, (Book View Café 2014) - Villainelle, published in:
- When the Villain Comes Home, (Dragon Moon Press, August 2012)
(Anthology shortlisted for the ForeWord Book of the Year Award for short stories) - Reprinted in Best Gay Stories 2013 (Lethe Press)
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- When the Villain Comes Home, (Dragon Moon Press, August 2012)
- Keep the Aspidochelone Floating
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - previously published in:
- The Touch of the Sea, (Lethe Press, May 2012)
- Selected for inclusion in Wilde Stories 2013: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press)
- "It's hard to do pirate fiction seriously, but this manages it with aplomb and kept me highly entertained for the whole story" - Matt Cresswell
- "Re-reading this well-written, detailed piece full of action, pirates, and a love story between a mariner and his boy was a pleasure." - Impressions of a Reader
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Hortus Conclusus, House of Fear: An Anthology of Haunted House Stories, (Solaris, October 2011)
- I Shaved Half Emperor Cyrrhenius, Anniversaries, (NewCon Press, May 2010)
- Hothouse Flowers: or, The Discreet Boys of Dr Barnabas, published in:
- The Bitten Word, (NewCon Press, March 2010; reissued, worldwide, 2012)
- Selected for inclusion in Wilde Stories 2011: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction Steve Berman of Lethe Press, who said "Just finished Brenchley's most wicked vampire tale. It took me back to those wonderful horror collections of the past, the ones that featured tales written decades ago... yet with homoerotic sensibilities. Ahh, a teenage Steve would have been trembling at the last lines of the story. Now that's exquisite writing!"
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Quinquereme of Nineveh, Nature, (Volume 463, Number 578, 28th January 2010)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - Walking at the Speed of Light, More Slowly, Icarus, (Lethe Press, December 2009)
- "Thoughtful and engaging" (Out in Print)
- White Skies
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
First published in When it Changed, (Comma Press, October 2009) - reviewed in The Guardian, December 2009 - 'Tis Pity He's Ashore, published in:
- Hellbound Hearts, (Simon and Schuster, September 2009)
- Reprinted in Best Gay Stories 2010(Lethe Press, 2010)
"...events escalate in a fascinating way. While the conclusion to this story may be rather obvious, the journey in getting to it is delightful and well worth the read, and there are truly some lovely turns of phrase along the way." (Steven Blue-Williams, The Blue Room) - included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Hellbound Hearts, (Simon and Schuster, September 2009)
- Parting Shots, or, The Things He Gave Back, published in:
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- Postscripts 16, (PS Publishing, Autumn 2008)
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Who's Who, published in Celebration - a taster, (BSFA, 2008)
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home, published in Nature, (Volume 454 Number 136, 3rd July 2008)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - From Alice to Everywhere, with love,
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
, originally published in Nature, (Volume 452 Number 7183, 6th March 2008)
Now available to read on this web site - In the Night Street Baths, published in:
- Lace and Blade, (Norilana Books, February 2008)
- Reprinted in Wilde Stories 2009: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press, September 2009)
"It is, hands down, one of the most beautifully written stories in the genre" - Catherine Lundoff, SF Signal Mind Meld - included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- The House of Mechanical Pain, published in Phantoms at the Phil: The Third Proceedings, (Side Real Press, 2007)
- Included in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (St. Martin's Griffin, 2008)
- Nominated for the 2008 HWA Bram Stoker Award (Long Fiction category), and now available to read online
- Reviewed by Denise Dutton at Green Man Review:
"House of Mechanical Pain" gets my Best Damn Title designation, and the story more than stood up to the promise of that titillating title. A modern day gothic with a strong "Fall of the House of Usher" vibe to it, Chaz Brenchley's story puts a bit of a twist on the decrepit splendor of the filthy rich.
- Terminal, published in disLOCATIONS, (NewConPress, August 2007)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- Placed third for the 2008 BSFA Award for best short story
- Included in Across the Spectrum, (Book View Café, 2013)
- Podcast, read by the author, recorded for Starship Sofa
- Reviewed by Paul Skevington at SF Crowsnest:
I particularly enjoyed Chaz Brenchley's 'Terminal', a successful melding of traditionally fantastical imagery with Science Fictional tropes. The core of the story is a tragic romance and Brenchley uses the tools of genre to elicit responses mainstream fiction could not hope to imitate. This is the strength and the reason behind the best SF stories, showing that some dislocations can prove to be beneficial after all.
- Blood Heat, published in The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica, (Running Press, May 2007)
- Summer's Lease, published in:
- Postscripts 10, (PS Publishing, spring 2007)
- Phantoms at the Phil: The Third Proceedings, (Side Real Press, 2007)
- Freecell, published in Glorifying Terrorism, (Rackstraw Press, February 2007)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
Reviewed by Tansy Rayner Roberts at Not if you were the Last Short Story on Earth: "it's kind of wrong that a story about suicide bombing should be this damn gorgeous, but that's Brenchley for you." - The Deadly Space Between, published in:
- Phobic, (Comma Press, March 2007)
Reviewed by Keith Brooke in the Guardian (16.06.2007) as a highlight of the anthology and "a moving story of art, love and loss." - Phantoms at the Phil: The Second Proceedings, (Side Real Press, December 2006)
- Phobic, (Comma Press, March 2007)
- White Tea for the Tillerman:
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- previously published in Chaz'z LiveJournal
- and in Concussed, (Concussion, 23 Ranelagh Road, Bruce Grove, London N17 6XY, 2006)
- Luke, Homeward Angel, published in Taverns of the Dead, (Cemetery Dance,
2005)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - Another Chart of the Silences
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order: previously published in
- Phantoms at the Phil, (Side Real Press, December 2005)
- Read Another Chart of the Silences online
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Dragon Kings Play Songs of Love, published in Postscripts 3, (PS Publishing, May 2005)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - Going the Jerusalem Mile
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- published in The 3rd Alternative 41, (TTA Press, Spring 2005)
- reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2006 (Griffin, 2006)
reviewed in Tangent Online - Spanish translation by Adriana Díaz Enciso included in Sombra del árbol de la noche: Nueva narrativa británica de fantasmas y portentos, (Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de Mexico, 2015)
- Absent Friends, a hyperfiction commissioned by Cornwell Internet for the Durham Literature Festival website (August, 2004)
- I am Death's Brother, published in the Save Our Short Story online anthology Endangered Species, no longer available, (March, 2004)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - The Clockmaker's Apprentice, published exclusively on this website
- Father to the Bride, a Bram Stoker pastiche published exclusively on this website
- The Begging-Bowl, a ghost story in the style of M.R. James published exclusively on this website
- The Light of Other Eyes, published in:
- Pitch 5, (Bookcase, 2002).
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Beefcake, published in Biting Back, (IRON Press, 2001).
- White Noise, published in Catalyst: New Work from the Northern Writers' Awards, (New Writing North, 2001).
- Everything, in All the Wrong Order, published in Dark Terrors 5, edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton, (Gollancz, 2000).
- Septicaemia, published in:
- The Gay Times Book of Short Stories: New Century, New Writing, edited by P-P. Hartnett, (Millivres Prowler Group, 2000).
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Junk Male, published in:
- Crimewave 4, edited by Andy Cox, (TTA Press, 2000)
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- The Insolence of Candles against the Light's Dying
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order - originally published in:
- Taps and Sighs: Stories of Hauntings, edited by Peter Crowther (Subterranean Press, 2000).
Reviewed in Publishers Weekly:
"Ghosts need to be real, to take the bathos away from a haunting," says the perceptive narrator of Chaz Brenchley's poignant story of lost love and unexorcisable grief, 'The Insolence of Candles Against the Light's Dying,' and in this tale, as in the book's other top selections, ghosts achieve a substance commensurate with their power to disturb and distress.
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Taps and Sighs: Stories of Hauntings, edited by Peter Crowther (Subterranean Press, 2000).
- Up the Airy Mountain
- Originally published in Crimewave 3 edited by Andy Cox, (TTA Press, 2000).
- Republished in Murder Squad edited by Martin Edwards, (Flambard Press, 2001)
- Reviewed by Lisa DuMond, SF Site:
First out of the gate is a twisted little number by Chaz Brenchley, another member of the infamous, elite Murder Squad. "Up the Airy Mountain" -- such a pastoral title for such a deadly tale of murder, deception, and dependence. Take this opening sentence: "The dead are heavier than they used to be, before they were dead." What foolish reader would stop there? Follow that first sentence into a story that reads like a poem of pain.
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Dog Days
- Republished in Cemetery Dance issue 32 (1999)
- Originally published in Peeping Tom issue 28 (1997)
- Something's Coming Home, published in The Agony & the Ecstasy: New Writing for the World Cup, edited by Nick Royle (Sceptre, 1998)
- Master Eld, His Wayzgoose, was nominated for the CWA Macallan Short Story Dagger 1998.
- It is republished in The Year's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, (Subterranean Press, 2000)
- It was originally published in Shakespearean Detectives, edited by Mike Ashley (1998).
- Out of the Dark, published in Bella (December 1996 / January 1997).
- The Longest Day, published in Blood Waters
- The Day I Gave Up Smoking;
- published in Blood Waters
- published in Cemetery Dance issue 29 (1998)
- Let Me Tell You About Her, published in Blood Waters
- Murder at the Red House was written for radio and broadcast in five midnight instalments by Wear FM in Sunderland, read by the author.
- A recording was issued on tape by the Artists' Agency (now Helix Arts), Sunderland.
- The text was collected in Blood Waters
- My Cousin's Gratitude, published in Fresh Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski & Mike Ripley (The Do-Not Press, 1996)
- collected in Blood Waters
- One For Every Year He's Away, She Said, published in:
- Dark Asylum #1, edited by Bianca Broderick & Mansel Wetherell (Asylum Publications, The Retreat, 119 Rodsley Ave, Shipcote, GATESHEAD, Tyne & Wear, NE8 4LA.)
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- Drowning, Drowning, published in Northern Blood 2, edited by Martin Edwards (Flambard Press, 1995)
- collected in Blood Waters
- Pawn Sacrifice, published in Crime Yellow edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Gollancz, 1994)
- collected in Blood Waters
- Scouting for Boys was shortlisted for the Short Story Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association. It was first published in London Noir edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Serpent's Tail, 1994)
"a tense read..." (Publishers Weekly, 20/02/1995)
- collected in Blood Waters
- Translated into Italian as A caccia di ragazzi in the anthology Cuore nero: Geografie del noir, Fernandel, 1998. ISBN: 88-87433-03-8
- For Kicks: a mystery story, published in The Page edited by Graeme Rigby (distributed as a supplement to The Northern Echo, 1994)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- Reissued in Many Deadly Returns: The Murder Squad at 21 (Severn House, forthcoming)
- collected in Blood Waters
- A Terrible Prospect of Bridges, published in Northern Blood edited by Martin Edwards (Didsbury Press, 1992)
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- collected in Blood Waters
Published as DANIEL FOX
- The Pillow Boy of General Chu, published in:
- Lace and Blade 2 (Norilana Books, February 2009)
- included in Bitter Waters (Lethe Press, 2014)
- El Sueño de la Razón, in The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, ed. Stephen Jones, Robinson, 1994
- translated as El Sueño de la Razón, tr. Gianni Pilo in: Tutte le storie di Frankenstein (The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, 1994), Stephen JONES 1 Feb 1996, I Nuovi Best-seller 15, Newton & Compton, Roma (ISBN 88-8183-199-6)
- This story has also been translated into Japanese
- High-Flying, Adored, in Dark Voices 4, ed. David Sutton & Stephen Jones, London: Pan, 1992
- How She Dances, in
- Dark Voices 5, ed. David Sutton & Stephen Jones, London: Pan, 1993
- The Best New Horror: Volume Five, ed. Stephen Jones & Ramsey Campbell, Raven, 1994
- Translated into Estonian as Ja beebi tantsis in Sünged Varjud
- Where It Roots, How It Fruits, in Dark Voices 6, ed. David Sutton & Stephen Jones, London: Pan, 1994
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
- included in Subterranean Gallery (1999, Subterranean Press)
CHAPBOOKS
- The Keys to D'Espérance
Included in Everything in All the Wrong Order
Reprinted in Mammoth Book of the Best New Horror, edited by Stephen Jones, (Robinson, 1999).
OTHER
- Time, Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stories, introduction to Another Santana Morning by Mike Dolan (Elastic Press, 2007)
- Foreword to The Cabinet of Light by Daniel O'Mahony, (Telos, 2003).
Plus others -
"Listing the short stories is a fine idea, but needs winnowing. Remember, by one all-inclusive methodology, there are over 500 of the little bleeders. If we assume that what you really want are those that appeared under my own name or by Daniel Fox, then the thing is doable. Not just yet, but keep nagging; there actually aren't that many, and it would be a Good Thing...."- too numerous to list.