Harry Harrison, RIP

One of the greats, Harry Harrison, has left us. I grew up reading the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero books, and they shaped my writing. Anyone familiar with Harry's work should easily be able to spot his influence in my stories (e.g. "Save Galaxy Fast" or "Elf Esteem"). His takes on bureaucracy, the military (in which he served) and other groups of people that generate their own idiocy were wonderous to behold.

Slippery Jim DiGriz has shed the cover identity of Harry Harrison and left the planet- nobody can catch him now. We'd give two left arms to have him back, but all we can do is raise our plate of okra and salute him.

Consolidating at Goodreads

I've registered myself as an author at Goodreads, tracked down most of the books I'm in and linked it all up.
It not only gathers my works together, but allows you, the prospective reader, to see that well-paid lackeys think the books are awesome. It also provides one more place for me to have to upload a photo when I get around to it.

My author page also shows the feed from this blog, so you can keep clicking forever! Check it out!

New Light Fantasy/Sci Fi Antho released!

Plate Armor and Spacesuits Both Hold Farts is now up at Smashwords! The fruit of my blood, sweat and chyle is now available for you completely FREE, in the hope a small percentage of you will favourably review it.

These quirky tales of sci-fi and fantasy will take you to realms where lightspeed meets light-hearted and you can't say awkward without orc. From the perils of being a dragon's beauty consultant to hidden benefits of software in whiteware, S J Cavanagh shows that he's outstanding in left field. Includes "Elf Esteem", which made ASIM's Best of Fantasy Vol 1. 

Waddaya waiting for sweethearts, breakfast in bed? Go get it!

New antho coming soon!

With Axefall Echoes taking the world by.. uh.. light breeze, I'm also compiling some of my comic sci-fi and fantasy into a new anthology!

This anthology will be FREE and is entitled Plate Armor and Spacesuits Both Hold Farts. It includes Girl Power and Elf Esteem, short and flash fiction, the high fantasy to the lowbrow (but you already knew that).
Watch this space!

" " <-- and this one. Really.

Axefall Echoes is out!

Axefall Echoes, an antho collecting seven of my horror stories, is out now on Amazon and Smashwords. Inspiration for the stories came from all over; my life growing up on the farm, commuting in the city, how a relative was treated when they got old, etc. Below are some things people have said about the stories so far:

Finding the words

Easily the most powerful piece in issue 11 of Shadowed Realms. While technically horror, it’s a touching story of a man laying his daughter to rest. Cavanagh’s style is fluid and uses sense imagery to ground the reader in reality. It’s touching and it's tender and it's heartfelt, something I’m not used to seeing in horror.
-TangentOnline.com

a great story that really rounds out #11 well, and is a worthy winner of the 2006 AHWA Flash Fiction competition...a tale of parent-child tragedy, a topic that almost approaches taboo status to some authors and readers.
Mr.Cavanagh handles the subject deftly and with the greatest of sensitivity. This isn't really a scary story, just a very emotional and heart breaking one where we hear and feel every gust of wind, every rattle of a branch, every flutter of the narrators heart and, in the end, I shed his tears too.
-HorrorScope

Steven Cavanagh paints a heart-breaking portrait of a father’s loss
-Dark Scribe Magazine

I don’t recall having read anything by author Steven Cavanagh before, but I shall certainly be searching out his work in future. This story is an absolute gem.
-Chuck McKenzie

Finding the Words is a very innovative tale which explores the emotional power of loss (specifically the death of a child) under the guide of a horror tale. It is a superb and creative use of a genre tale to explore personal emotional pain.-Robert Black

Street Smarts

good thought for detail and a sensation of realism to it.-Flames Rising

Starting [the anthology] off on a good foot. Keen-esque.-Skullring.org

The book starts off strong with “Street Smarts”.-monsterlibrarian.com

World of Hurt

A rivetting piece of flash fiction.-Sue Crawford

It's a well structured narrative with some original humour and is sharply written, especially towards the end.
-Prof Jane Goodall

Moving Dad

Moving Dad presents a clever parody of life after death. This story was highly original… Moving Dad has strong central characters that express real emotions, and we are able to feel for them because they are so lifelike.
-Shadowed Realms.

Steven Cavanagh’s “Moving Dad” was another favorite of mine... Using a magic-realism style, Cavanagh manages to capture a strange sense of grief and remorse, and it transfers through to the reader.-LitHaven.com
Cavanagh writes in a deliberately matter-of-fact style regarding a situation that is anything but and this, for me, is one of the highlights of the story

Beginning with whimsical familiarity, moving to poignancy. A lovely slow reveal, blurring the line between the infirmity of advanced age, and the shambling corruption of undeath. An exploration of a universal horror – the realisation of the mortality of the father – I won’t spoil the ending, but Cavanagh kicks off beautifully into an even deeper horror in the last line. Fantastic dialogue in this one too.
-Australian Specfic In Focus

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

I'm awake!

It's been a lot longer than I expected, but I'm out of hypersleep. It's really just blind luck that a deep salvage team found me when they did, I could have been drifting out there forever, not writing.

But even in hypersleep, I haven't been able to stop creating. My writing has been on hold for so long because I've been forging a weapon. This weapon will be wielded by those who suffer food allergies and intolerances, and used to fight against the lack of awareness most people have about their situation. It finds the food they can eat and (just as importantly) allows their friends and family to find food they can eat. It's called WotUEat, and now that it's out of the code-cutting stage I'm hoping to get back to writing. 

Oh, I'm also finishing up an Android game that has involved some tight fiction writing, but nobody knows about that yet. Ssshhh.