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

Free Stories

  • FameFame
    “Pupusas?” The woman’s nasal voice reached Randall at the back of the bus before he saw her pushing her way down the aisle. He could smell the warm, raw meat smell of his own sweaty body, and his stomached wriggled. He was hungry, but he couldn’t face mysterious little bits …
  • 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. …
  • Major Tom and the Lucky LadyMajor Tom and the Lucky Lady
    I was balancing a cup of tea in one hand, while hanging on to the side of the companionway hatch with the other. I climbed into the cockpit sideways, compensating for the roll of the boat. I was only four days out of port and still getting used to the …
  • 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 …

News

HopePunk StoryBundle

My book Children of Arkadia is one of the core books in the brand new HopePunk StoryBundle, curated by Adam Gaffen.

Welcome to the Hopepunk bundle!

What is Hopepunk, you ask?

It’s a subgenre of speculative fiction, so it includes fantasy as well as science fiction, and it’s a reaction to the dystopian views that grimdark novels have. Where grimdark is violent and amoral, hopepunk stories feature characters who fight for positive change, communal responses to challenges, and even radical kindness. It’s an intentional ray of sunshine in what could be a bleak literary landscape. It’s taking a stand because it’s right, not because it’s profitable. It’s rebelling against an oppressive regime to improve everyone’s lot, not just your own. It emphasizes cooperation over conflict while realizing that a Happily Ever After isn’t guaranteed.

And it’s everywhere.

A few examples, you say?

How about The Martian? The classic Discworld novels? Jumping into movies, look at Black Panther. Or head to television and watch The Orville or Doctor Who. Hopepunk promises that tomorrow can be better than today, given passion and effort.

And it’s here for you today!

We’ve gathered some of the most rousing, forward-thinking, relatable Hopepunk novels on the market for you today and put them into this special bundle. Check it out!


Adam Gaffen

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

  • The Stars and Green Magics by Novae Caelum
  • Red Dot by Mike Karpa
  • Children of Arkadia by M. Darusha Wehm
  • The Road to the Stars by Adam Gaffen

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus seven more books/boxed sets for a total of 11!

  • The Adventures of Wil Calder by John Wilker
  • The Left Hand of Dog by Si Clarke
  • Aces High, Jokers Wild: Books 1-3 by O.E. Tearmann
  • Tanis Richards: Shore Leave by M. D. Cooper
  • The Ariadne Cycle – Boxed Set by J. Scott Coatsworth
  • The Andlios Collection – Books 1-3 by Dave Walsh
  • City of Kaus: Books 1-3 by Dani Hoots
Get the Bundle

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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