Readers, I’m so excited to reveal that my short story, The Last Flight Out, is included in the January 2022 issue of SavagePlanets!
The Last Flight Out is a story about isolation and existential dread on our planetary neighbor, Mars. Commander Joel and Mission Pilot Marie, a married couple, are veteran astronauts assigned to NASA’s first manned mission to the red planet. As Joel toils away on day-to-day tasks planetside, a giant celestial object appears to threaten the mission. And life as they know it.
This story was a ton of fun to crack. It started life as a potential submission for moral and ethical anthologies, similar to what After Dinner Conversations focuses on. As I wrote it, then rewrote it, the story began to focus more on the characters, while the ethical debate shrunk considerably. Space is a big interest in my household. I was able to apply some of that knowledge, making the details in TLFO more realistic, even if the overall threat stretches (breaks) what’s possible.
SavagePlanets is an incredible quarterly journal. Each issue offers a swath of content – short stories, interviews, poems, art, graphic stories, and much more. They are still relatively new, being established in early 2021. Best of all, the digital version of each issue is available to you for free at this time! If you prefer a paper copy, you can do so with a Peecho link under each issue. I had a blast working with their editor, Keith ‘Doc’ Raymond. It was a very interactive editing process and this story benefited greatly as a result. Check them out!
For their website, click HERE
To view on issuu, click HERE
I know there’s many ways to spend your time but I can assure you that this is a worthwhile issue. There’s even an interview with Alan Dean Foster inside! Any feedback or support you’re able to show will be greatly appreciated.
In other news, I have one more purchased story out there. It will hit the market within a brand-new litmag in March 2022. That leaves me with one short story left being queried. Otherwise, every moment I set aside for creative writing is solely focused on my debut novel. The first draft is sitting at 24k words currently. Slow and steady…
Keep turning the page,
Chris
See Preston Write 
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