New Short Story in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Bahrain Underground Bazaar

I'm incredibly excited to have one of my short stories featured in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, an excellent sci fi journal I've subscribed to for years and submitted several stories to in the past. "The Bahrain Underground Bazaar" is in the November/December 2020 issue, which is available under the links at the end of this post. What better way to close out this crazy year than with a story about virtual immersion, terminal illness and confronting our fear of death? It's about as on-brand for 2020 as a story can get.

Some fun facts about "The Bahrain Underground Bazaar":

• I completed the first draft in a single day, which is a first for me. The idea came and the story just flowed out of me from there. Some editing and tweaking followed several days later, but less so than other short stories I've written. (That doesn't mean that "better" stories require less editing - just that this was one where the first draft came out unusually well-formed).
• The central idea of a bazaar/market for dark virtual immersion experiences (where a person can plug in to a virtual chamber and relive someone else's suffering, a sexual encounter or death) came from going back to visit the island I grew up in, Bahrain, as an adult. Every time I return to see family, the island changes so much. New buildings, new neighborhoods, a growing economy and more people. It made me think about the old, traditional gold souk in the downtown part of the capital and what it could look like in a few decades. Would something that traditional survive all this change, or would it be repurposed in some new way? From there, I thought of the concept of a seedy, underground market that combined a traditional bazaar setting with a more futuristic technology... that still serves our primal human drive of curiosity.
• The protagonist is not based on a particular person, but I grew up with many strong-willed, older women in my family who protected their independence fiercely as they aged. Getting older was hard for them, both in terms of the burden they felt it placed on their families as well as the looming prospect of death. I imagined how I would respond if this kind of technology were available to me and took the story from that launching point. 
• The story eventually shifts to Petra, Jordan - one of my favorite places on Earth. An ancient city carved out of rock in southern Jordan, it retains its magic even with crowds of tourists everywhere. A beautiful place that really makes you feel like you're traveling back in time. It felt like the perfect place for my protagonist to have a final adventure and come to grips with her fears. 

Hope you enjoy this story!

Paper copies can be ordered by clicking on the PayPal button here: 
https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/toc2020-29.htm

Ebook copies (all formats) from Weightless Books: 
https://weightlessbooks.com/format/the-magazine-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction-november-december-2020/

Paper subscriptions: https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/subscribe.htm

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Amazon US (Kindle edition only): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZFZ4O8/

Amazon UK (Kindle edition only): http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004ZFZ4O8/