Web home of Caroline Barnard-Smith - Genre fiction writer and malcontent swamp witch

Read Stuff

Sword & Sorcery

Malash has lost everything in her pursuit of the fabled Wizards of Eastmoore and their ferocious serpent mounts. Her only companion in all the world lies crushed on the Fernheim Mountains and when she finally reaches the Wizards' citadel, the place seems long abandoned—but she is about to discover new and unlikely allies that will literally shake the world.

The Lunar Awards Season Three

My socks were blown right off when Riding the Viper was awarded first place in the Lunar Awards Season Three, over on Substack. The competition was crazy fierce and the win took me by surprise. In the immortal words of Bjork, I am grateful grapefruit.

Riding the Viper

Fantasy

A story about a self-taught magickal choreographer, her mirror shades-wearing boss who may or may not be a vampire, and a sentient mound of faintly damp mushrooms.

Night Shift at the Triple Crow is a flash fantasy story I wrote for a competition run by TL;DR Press in 2020, right in the middle of that fun pandemic we had. I was lucky enough to place 7th, and the piece was published in an anthology called Endless Pictures (yay, me!)

This story features two characters called Tattie and Nick Caggotty who both reappear in the sci-fi novel I'm currently writing. I'm happy to inform any would-be readers that Tattie still drinks too much, and she still sympathises with sentient mushrooms.

Night Shift at the Triple Crow