A fact or two about the next ST

At the moment I'm sort of working on ST#23, due out next spring (i.e. before April). One of the authors in what is frankly a galaxy of talent is Iain Rowan. A thriller writer who dabbles in horror and the supernatural,  Iain has undertaken the distinctly challenging task of writing one very short story for every week of the year. He does this by the perfectly simple method of picking a song, then writing a story to fit the song in some way. The results are here.

The story that Iain submitted to ST, and which you'll be able to read next year, is entitled 'The Singing', and it doesn't seem to require any proofing because he's one of those careful writers who takes punctuation and such very seriously. Also, it's a good story. In fact, it's the sort of eerie fantasy that might have been written by any really good short story writer in the middle years of the last century.

Set on an unnamed but probably Hebridean island at some unspecified time (but probably before electricity), 'The Singing' is the tale of what happens after a mysterious stranger is washed ashore. At first it seems that the man is mute, as all the islanders' questioning fails to elicit a word from him. But then he is taken to the chapel, and something strange and wonderful happens. Needless to say, when wonderful things happen, not everyone is delighted. All in all, it's a poetic and mysterious tale, but one that works as an artistic whole.

Iain Rowan's website is here.