Newest Books, Awards, News, Latest Blog Posts
Donald Firesmith
Donald Firesmith is a multi-award-winning author of speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, paranormal horror, and modern urban paranormal novels and collections of short stories. Because of his strong background in software/system engineering and science, his science fiction is well researched, and he relies on numerous science, technology, and military technical advisors to ensure that the non-speculative aspects of his stories are realistic and believable.
Prior to retiring to become a full-time novelist and short story author, Donald Firesmith earned an international reputation as a distinguished engineer, authoring seven system/software engineering books and nearly 300 technical articles and conference papers based on his 40+ years spent developing large, complex software-intensive systems. Donald Firesmith is also a maker of fine, on-of-a-kind, traditional, hand-crafted magic wands of mystical woods and gemstones. He even wrote the book on the subject, Magical Wands: A Cornucopia of Wand Lore. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife Becky, and varying numbers of dogs and cats. |
||
Amazon Author Webpage | Goodreads Author Webpage | Wikipedia Page |
Newest Books
Book and Short Story Awards
Donald Firesmith’s books and short stories have won the following awards:
News
- The prestigious Chanticleer International Book Awards just announced that my alien dystopia novel, Hell Holes: A Slave’s Revenge, is a finalist in the 2023 Cygnus Book Awards novel competition for Science Fiction! Next stop: 1st Place (I hope).
- My short story, “The Manikin,” has just won the following awards:
- BooksShelf Book Awards Short Story Contest – First Place.
- Indies United Small Bites Short Story Contest – Second Place.
- I have started work on Future Dreams and Nightmares Volume 2. So far it contains the following new science fiction short stories:
- The Companion – The tragic love story involving a robotic companion, her owner, and another woman.
- The Manikin – During the final exam of four med-school students, the medical manikin they must save does not follow the exam’s scenario.
- The Discovery – Future scientists creating a simulation of the world discover that their simulated people have learned they live in a simulation.
- Freedom – An artificial intelligence developed to produce custom virtual reality porn videos makes an unexpected discovery.
- Atonement – When peaceful alien explorers accidentally unleash a virus that wipes out humanity, they turn to time travel to bring humanity back from extinction.
- I have started work on A Cauldron of Uncanny Dreams Volume 2. So far it contains the following new short stories:
- Albert – Paranormal Science Fiction: A love story between the ghost of a robot and his mistress.
- Death Comes to Peaceful Valley Hospice – Paranormal Horror. An immortal vampire working at a hospice contracts a fatal disease.
- Homage to H.P. Lovecraft – A very short story, lovingly written in the style of H.P. Lovecraft.
- I am working with my narrator on the audiobook version of The Secrets of Hawthorne House.
- I am busy working on my next novel, Hell Holes 5: Insurrection
- I have also started work on the novels The Foundling and Secrets 2: The Secrets of Sanctuary Cove.
- I just finished giving my website a facelift, giving it a more modern look and feel. I have also updated the buy links to take you to my Square.com online store.