M. Darusha Wehm

Explorer of Worlds Real and Imagined

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you’ll find something you like here.

Coming January 2023: Hamlet, Prince of Robots. A beat-by-beat retelling of the Shakespeare classic which grapples with conscience, ambition, and pain, and what it means to be, or not to be, human.

My latest book is The Qubit Zirconium, a fun science fantasy featuring the odd-couple alien detective duo Wibble & Pplimz.

My Nebula Award nominated and Sir Julius Vogel Award winning game The Martian Job is interactive fiction where you play a safecracker called in to do one last casino heist… on Mars. There is also a standalone prequel novella, Retaking Elysium.

If you want to read something short, check out the free stories available here or the links under “Publications” go to other places my stories have been published. Some of those are free to read online.

If you prefer longer works, there are free samples of most of my books available on the site. Beautiful Red was my first book, and is a standalone cyberpunk story. Self Made, Act of Will, The Beauty of Our Weapons and Pixels and Flesh are a series (in that order) about future detective Andersson Dexter. Children of Arkadia is a standalone political space station epic and The Voyage of the White Cloud is a novel-in-stories about the middle years on a generation starship.

My newest mainstream book, The Home for Wayward Parrots, is a lighthearted coming-of-age story full of geek pop culture and foul-mouthed birds. The YA series, Devi Jones’ Locker, is mainstream fiction — a light beach read that brings the beach to you. The first book in this series is Packet Trade.

Reviews

Children of Arkadia
Wehm writes novels of ideas in which the ideas genuinely matter… [I]t’s a pleasure to see political and ethical questions, so often relegated to the background in science fiction, allowed so much scope to drive the story. — David Larsen, New Zealand Herald
The Home for Wayward Parrots
Exceptionally readable... This novel should be devoured in a single sitting. — Megan Kuklis, The Fiddlehead
A bittersweet tale of eccentricity, delayed development and getting on with the messy business of life. Plus parrots. — Toronto Star
The Voyage of the White Cloud
The novel is ambitious, with each chapter hosting new characters in a different era. … The genius of this arrangement soon becomes apparent. M Darusha Wehm is adept at creating characters who are immediately recognisable and engaging. Despite the short time we spend with each, we care about their progress, fears, triumphs and shortcomings. — Clare Rhoden, Aurealis #132
The Qubit Zirconium
an instant classic … a novel which provides an accessible introduction to this wonderfully absurd world, a mystery that keeps twisting and turning as fast as you can guess what might be coming next, and some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments from the witty dialogue and engaging interaction between the main characters. — The Story Board
Hugely imaginative, powerfully written and imbued with an innate sense of fun and enjoyment that makes everything sparkle with energy... — The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer
Hamlet, Prince of Robots
Through queering and technologising this classic, Wehm makes it possible to ask freshly and, in many cases, more deeply the questions the original Hamlet raises around grief and pain and the ways we know ourselves. The post-human characters in this book open doors into ourselves.— Pip Adam

Upcoming Events

  1. Overcoming Structural Challenges Across the Globe @Chicon

    September 2 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm NZST

  2. Table Talk @Chicon

    September 4 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am NZST

  3. Reading @Chicon

    September 5 @ 9:30 am - 10:00 am NZST

View All Events

Free Stories

  • LucidityLucidity
    last night I had the most wonderful dream Carly moaned softly in her sleep, and rolled over. She dreamed and dreamed, and when she woke, she found that she still had the lingering shadow of a smile on her lips. Her body was loose with the remnants of her orgasm. …
  • Chekhov’s PhaserChekhov’s Phaser
    I never planned to end up here. I’ve never planned anything, really. All my life has been like that: I see an opportunity and I take it. Sometimes that works out better than other times. So why should this be any different? I’d just been by docking station three, slipping …
  • The ForeignerThe Foreigner
    I slip into the fake-leather seat, and look at my watch. I have about an hour before the shareholders’ meeting, but I have to stop by the day care first, so I want to make this snappy. I’ve found that the little impatient look usually stops these people from making …
  • Career OpportunitiesCareer Opportunities
    Jo-Lynn had always laughed at Charlotte, her stupid sister-in-law, who believed the crap in those so-called newspapers she bought at the supermarket every week. It was no wonder that her no-good brother married Charlotte; he’d always liked them dumb and easy. Once Charlotte moved in to the small house Jo-Lynn …

News

2021 Award Eligibility

Happy New Year! Nebula, and Sir Julius Vogel Awards are open for nominations for prose, Rhysling nominations are open for poetry and Hugo nominations will open soon.

My short story “A Thorn in Your Memory” is eligible for prose.

My poem “the chrononaut” is eligible for poetry.

The Qubit Zirconium is Out Today!

The Qubit Zirconium is out today in US paperback and ebook everywhere!

Alien detectives stumble across a mystery that could tear apart their patchwork planet, the Crucible, in this riotous science fantasy novel from the smash hit game, KeyForge.

Wibble & Pplimz, the Crucible’s most unusual private investigators, must set off from their office in Hub City to clear the name of a former client. Along the way, their investigation broadens from a simple accusation of theft to include a missing person, a potential murder, and a highly unusual gem. Four interlinking incidents take them across the Crucible, as they attempt to solve the case. But there’s something more sinister lurking underneath: evidence of a secret society that aims to discover the power of the Architects, and forever change the nature of the Crucible itself.

Find out more

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