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Matt Dovey

A photo of Matt Dovey, smiling, dressed in a white shirt, black waistcoat and purple tie, photographed against an out-of-focus background of leaves

Matt Dovey is a writer of science fiction and fantasy short stories. He is very tall, very British, and most likely drinking a cup of tea right now. Although his surname rhymes with “Dopey”, any other similarities to the dwarf are purely coincidental.

He's the host of PodCastle, and a member of Codex Writers, the Society of Authors, and the Villa Diodati writers group. He gives far too much attention to his Twitter but is trying to get used to Mastodon instead.

You can start reading stories now, for free: there's 24 to choose from so far, but if you're not sure where to start he'd recommend The Bone Poet & God for fantasy or The Ghosts of Europa Will Keep You Trapped in a Prison You Make for Yourself for science fiction. You can also listen to him narrate others' stories, or find out more about him.

Latest story

They surround us both in the school car park, enough of them that numbers don't matter, their shadows snatching the hot sun from our faces. Boys stalking like hyenas; a pack mentality of cruelty and fear.

Madeleine hides behind me. I try to stand tall and brave for her sake, to show her the only honest way to justify your existence in this world: pride.

They Say

11:29am, 29th December 2022

2022: the Year the Years Caught Up

A baby raccoon walking through green grass, one paw raisedI usually have complicated feelings about awards season, but they're much easier this year:

I didn't have anything published this year. Nothing. Not a thing.

That's the first year since I was published that I haven't been published.

I guess I should dig into that, as self-forgiveness if nothing else.

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TAGS: roundup


12:00am, 17th February 2022

ephemera post-reading... post

If I have cast the bones correctly, this post should be magically going up just as ephemera 27: Companionship is starting on YouTube. My theory being, hopefully, that you're coming here to get the rest of the story I just read a bit of! In which case GOOD NEWS I have foreseen your need and prepared links for you:

Did you miss the live reading? WELL GOOD NEWS FOR YOU TOO the video is on YouTube and I've embedded it for you after the jump:

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TAGS: appearance


1:31pm, 10th February 2022

ephemera Reading - 16th Feb

The word The ephemera reading series has been run by Jen R. Albert and KT Bryski for a few years now, and featured some incredible writers during that time.

Rather excitingly, I'm now going to be one of them.

ephemera 27: Companionship will be live on YouTube on Wednesday 16th February at 7pm EST (so 0:00 Thursday 17th Feb UTC--going to be a late night for me) and will also feature readings by Vanessa Fogg and Tiffany Morris, plus a visual performance by Illestpreacha. I'll be reading an excerpt from a short; you should come watch, so you too can find out if I can pull off wearing my usual waistcoat-and-tie writer uniform over pyjama bottoms.

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TAGS: appearance


4:01pm, 22nd January 2022

Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky on the BSFA Longlist

There weren't no good way to say Colin, mate, this is shit, you don't deserve it, but we bloody love you and we'll get through it, alright? Cos no matter how you said it his head was too full of angry buzzing to hear it. Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky. Matt Dovey / PodCastle #667. BSFA Longlist 2022

Well, this was an unexpected surprise this morning. Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky, as published in PodCastle episode #667 last year, is on the BSFA longlist for Best Short Fiction. This is my first time on the BSFA longlist, and it means a lot that a story so deliberately soaked in Britishness has found itself on a British longlist.

BSFA members can vote on the list from now until February 21st.

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TAGS: award


12:34pm, 3rd January 2022

2021 in Stories

2021 Stories - Matt DoveyThe lag in publishing is a funny old thing. To wit: I've not done any new writing since about Easter 2019, thanks to real life, and yet in 2021 I had four new originals come out, which were--in my estimation--probably my best work.

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TAGS: roundup


8:36pm, 22nd February 2021

The Cloud Factory

All things being equal, I have a new story out in Podcastle this week: Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky. It is, I think, the best thing I've done since The Bone Poet & God, and I'm nervous and excited in equal measure for you all to hear it.

The first draft got started with an 800 word intro that eventually got cut for word count reasons, but remains the seed of the story and something I can't let go of. It never made sense for it to go back on the beginning of the narrative proper, as it just slowed down the start, but it works pretty well as a teaser, so in anticipation of the publication of Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky, please enjoy this 4 minute prologue: The Cloud Factory.

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TAGS: new story, podcast


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About

Matt Dovey is a writer of short speculative fiction. He is very tall, very British, and probably drinking a cup of tea right now. His surname rhymes with “Dopey”, but any other similarities to the dwarf are purely coincidental. More →

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You're not a person, they say, circling. You're one of Them. From the other side.

They Say

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Narrations

"Well played," muttered Rogers, the majordomo of the Wanderers' Club, amidst the gentlemanly utterances of "Good show," "Hear, hear," and even "Huzzah" as Sir Algernon Hogshead finished his tale with a dramatic flourish.

Though not so socially gregarious as to partake in the verbal bonhomie, I thumped my ivory serpent's-head cane a few times, myself, in collegial support of my frenetic friend as his bizarre, but well-told, tale had come to its breathtaking and remarkable conclusion. Truth told, the hubbub of excited utterances and exclamations regarding Sir Hogshead's fanciful quest were well-said, but, greater truth yet, I had become more and more pensive and apprehensive as the tale progressed.

I knew what was coming next. Not within the story, but after.

Gentlemanly Horrors of Mine Alone by Donald J. Bingle
Gallery of Curiosities #88

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Anna stared up at Sally. Her hair and skin were so pale as to be almost white, especially in the weak sunlight of the factory. She was only twenty-two, Anna knew, only five years older than Anna herself, but she looked worn through, like milk watered down too thin.

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