The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener

My new story, The Tale of Clancy the Scrivener, is up on Tor.com. It was edited by the amazing Ann Vandermeer.

The world in which it’s set — an alternate future where sudden, spontaneous, inexplicable mutations burned through the human race, making monsters of nearly everyone it touched — has been percolating in the back of my mind for years. It was the setting of the first story I sold (Creature), though I didn’t know it at the time.

I’ve tried to find various ways back into that world over the years, all to no avail — until I found Clancy, and the little girl whose friendship gives new meaning to his long, fraught life.