Stephen Sottong

Welcome. I’m a retired engineering librarian whose current passion is writing fiction and science-fiction. I live in beautiful Humboldt County in northern California behind the Redwood Curtain. The area has the tallest trees in the world and some of the most stunning scenery imaginable.

In addition to writing, I was a co-teacher of a basic beekeeping course and maintain web pages for non-profit organizations.

You can Email me , and you might also want to read my Blog or find me on FaceBook or Twitter.

Writing

I’ve been writing since I was about ten. In my professional life, I was required to write for scholarly journals in order to get tenure. The texts are dry and dated. Don’t bother looking for them. Only since retirement have I been able to pursue writing fiction full time.

Preview

My story “Planetary Scouts” won a third place in the 2013 Writers of the Future contest. Being chosen as one of the top three stories from a field that is estimated at a thousand or more international entries is a singular honor. My thanks to the judges. Writers of the Future Vol. XXIX is available in print and ebook at Barnes & Noble and Amazon and ebook only on Kobo.

I wrote one of the chapters in the book Writing After Retirement an anthology of tips and tricks for older writers. My chapter covers both voice in writing and the setup of your writing area. It’s available on Amazon Kindle and trade paperback, Barnes and Noble in both electronic and paper form, and Kobo in ebook formats.

Preview

And finally, my novel with an alternate view of the Rapture and Tribulation, the 2020 revised version of The Remnant is now available on Barnes & Noble in print and ebook, Amazon in print and ebook, and Kobo. Unlike The Leftovers, The Remnant retains the timeline and the standard characters of the rapture and tribulation, and unlike the Left Behind series, The Remnant presents realistic, non-stereotyped characters in those situations.

Stories available in anthologies or magazines:

  • “Friends” in 100 Worlds (2013)
  • “Friends” rerprinted in Quickfic Anthology 1 (2016)
  • “Escort” in Sex Droids and their Cyborg Toys (2014)
  • “Colony One” in Fifty Flashes (2016)
  • “Transition 12” in Mythic 4 Fall 2017
  • “A Rare Tome” (2020) in Book It
  • “Unprincipled” (2021) in Guilty: Crime Stories Vol. 1 # 1
  • “Captain” in 2022 Space Opera Digest: Have Ship, Will Travel
  • “Battle Spoils” (2022) in Grimdark (Tiny Tales of Terror Book 2)
  • “The Snake” (2023) in Wicked Flashes of Fantasy
  • “Reanimation” (2023) in Transform the World

Some of my stories are available online.

Short Stories:

  • “Cloudy” in Noyo River Review (2012)
  • “Dinner Date” (2013) on Every Day Fiction
  • “Aftermath” on The Were Traveler (2014)
  • “Fog” in Toyon (2016)
  • “Refugee” on Paper Butterfly Press (2017)
  • “History” (2020) in SciPhi Journal
  • “The Map” Spring 2021 Seven Gill Shark Review

Podcasts:

Drabble Fiction:

  • “Harry” in North Coast Journal (2012)
  • “Lois” in North Coast Journal (2013)
  • “Revelations” in North Coast Journal (2013)
  • “Encounter” in North Coast Journal (2014)
  • “Orbit” in North Coast Journal (2015)
  • “Timeliness” in North Coast Journal (2020)
  • “A Pause” in The Dribble Drabble Review (2021)

Poem:

Essay: