The latest stories, poems, and games from author, poet, and game writer Stewart C Baker.
The Butterfly Disjunct: And Other Stories
A short story collection exploring the expanse of human experience across infinite futures.
A scientist haunted by an impossible ghost. A cocky poet attempting to outrun peace. A grieving mother looking for life beneath Europa’s icy surface. A ship AI desperate to rescue its beloved crew. An ongoing fight against the end of existence. Equal parts earnest and strange, Stewart C Baker’s stories span the breadth of human emotion, space, and time. In this debut collection, gender and genre collide to celebrate relationships and empathy in all their forms.
Published November 4, 2024, from Interstellar Flight Press.
Fovermore: A Game of Writing Horror
You are Allen Edgar Poet. Can you balance broodiness and distraction until you finish your greatest work?
Written in under 4 hours for ECTOCOMP 2024.
A Death in Hyperspace
When your captain dies suspiciously halfway through a hyperspace transit, you know you’re in trouble. Not because you need a captain — as an embodied AI spaceship, you can pilot yourself just fine — but because, as an aficionado of mysteries and detective stories, you know there’s only one explanation: murder most foul.
Written with Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Naca Rat, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor for IFComp 2024.
The List Making Habits of Heartbroken Ships
Ship lost their old crew, and ever since they’ve been running. Going from port to port. Making lists to keep themself safe.
Do they dare let an unlikely pair of new passengers on board?
A science fiction story about anxiety and moving forwards, published August 2024 in The Neurodiversiverse from Thinking Ink Press.
White Lies Cast Dark Shadows
Jordan was always too scared to share the truth. So was Max.
When Jordan moves back home after a long instance, the habit casts a deadly shadow over them both.
A horror short story, published August 2024 in Carpe Noctem from Tyche Press.
Flowers for an Infinite Grave
“On the hundredth day after Tariq’s death, Zara wakes to light on her face, the mirrors turning it white-orange with reflected heat.”
A story about death, mourning, memory—and the multiverse, in the Spring 2024 edition of Kaleidotrope.
Companion Animals in Mahō Shōjo Kira Kira Sunlight
“Companion Animals in Mahō Shoujō Kira Kira Sunlight” is a short story in the style of a Wikipedia article describing Mahō Shōjo Kira Kira Sunlight, a (fictional) American web series created by an unknown animator or animators.
The story is a mashup of anime, cosmic horror, and metafiction, and is out in print and audio in the February 2024 issue of Lightspeed Magazine!
The Copenhagen Exhibitions
“This is how it started: I livestreamed my latest painting, left it on display while I went to bed alone, and woke up in another universe…”
A short story about quantum physics, loss, and hope published as part of the Quantum Shorts contest in January, 2024.
Image credit: Ghost in the Machine by leggacy studios, used under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.
The Bread Must Rise
A Nebula Award for Best Game Writing finalist!
The Great Godstone Bake-off has arrived! As a hapless baker deeply in debt, you finally have the opportunity to rise to fame and fortune! Under the tutelage of such famous chefs as Gordon Ramslayer, Tira Misu, and The Baladin, you will learn the arts of baking, breadcrafting, and dare you whisper it…necromancy?
A text-only cosmic horror / fantasy / baking / comedy extravaganza, co-written with James Beamon. (September 28, 2023)
