Category: Short stories

Published in Interzone, October 2008 (one of three stories, accompanied by an interview conducted by Andrew Hedgecock).

Audio version, read by Simon Hildbrandt, available here.

(Collected in The Peacock Cloak from Newcon Press)

Published in Interzone, October 2008.

(Collected in The Peacock Cloak from Newcon Press)

Published in Interzone, September-October 2006; 2nd place in annual Interzone reader’s poll.

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)

Reviews:

“I’ll admit that Chris Beckett’s “Karel’s Prayer” was the one I was really itching to read, and so I left it till last, just like the Yorkshire puddings with my Sunday roast. Ah, sweet deferment of gratification – it was well worth the wait. The clever layering and deep themes are a hallmark of Beckett at his best – mixed in with the clash of science and religion are questions of identity, of knowing who and what one is. Dovetailing with current events in the news, there is torture and sneaky governments enacting backstage shenanigans in the name of national security. The very ambiguity of right and wrong is the pivot for the whole thing – comparative morality portrayed with all the warts and scars. It would be a shame to spoil this one for a reader, so you’ll just have to take my word for it – this is a brilliant story. At the risk of veering into hyperbole, Beckett may run the risk of becoming (thematically, at least) Britain’s Philip K. Dick – I say ‘risk’ only because that’s one hell of a benchmark to set for anyone. I hope he lives up to it – minus the descent into religious paranoia and insanity, of course.” – Paul Graham Raven, Velcro City Tourist Board

Published in Asimov’s, March 2006.

The back story to the novel.

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)

Published in Asimov’s, December 2005.

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)

Reprints:

• Esli Magazine (Russian translation)

Published in Interzone, May-June 2005; 3rd place in annual Interzone reader’s poll.

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)

Reprints:

• Year’s Best Science fiction # 23, edited by Gardner Dozois
• Esli Magazine (Russian translation)

Published in Asimov’s, October-November  2004

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)

Published in Asimov’s, March 2004

Reviews:

“From the writer’s bio we learn that Chris Beckett has been a social worker, a career that judging from “Tammy Pendant” lends a tint of gritty nastiness to one’s worldview. The title character is a problem teen caught in the ministrations of the British social service. We meet her in between foster homes, suffering the attentions of psychologists and caseworkers. Tammy is bitter and angry. She alienates everyone who might otherwise care for her. All the kids at the center where Tammy now lives know about the Shifters, a group of people who can move between worlds. Here’s Tammy’s self-defined salvation. She seduces a Shifter, steals his bag of magic pills, and takes one, only to be caught by the police and brought to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. The system, it seems, won’t let her go. Does the experience change Tammy? That would be telling. Suffice it to say that this is an excellent story with a mean streak that’s true to the very end.” – Jeremy Lyon, Tangent

Published in Interzone, February 2003

(This story is collected in The Turing Test from Elastic Press)