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My Stories

 

Stories by John M. Campbell include a first-place winner in the Writers of the Future contest as well as others published in Compelling Science Fiction and various science fiction anthologies. Visit John M. Campbell's Amazon author's page.

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The Rescue of Captain Gutierrez

High Caliber Awards Anthology

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Major James Knight is one of the first Quantum Astronauts to be trained to venture into the hidden dimension inside a top-secret stealth suit.  Shrunk inside the suit, he flies in the belly of a drone to a mountain village in Afghanistan to rescue an Army captain taken hostage by a rogue terrorist band. Pursued by terrorists, how will they make it out alive?

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Click here for more news about the High Caliber Awards.

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Crop Circles and Werewolves

What Really Happened

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Garry has lived in the mountains outside Cripple Creek, Colorado for most of his life. When he sees a fireball plummeting to Earth with a particular tint to it, he knows the cattle mutilations are about to begin again. And he ain't gonna stand for it.

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Then wouldn't you know it, a woman rolls up in a beat-up RV claiming to be an alien hunter. Could it get any worse?

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Dragon Gems - Winter 2024 front cover
Expedition to Enceladus

Dragon Gems Winter 2024

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Enceladus is a moon of Saturn with an icy crust hiding a liquid ocean beneath that is likely conducive to life. We will someday send a probe there, most likely a tiny ice-drilling vehicle piloted by an Artificial Intelligence called NEMO, the Nuclear Enceladus Mission Operator. Jules Verne would have been delighted.

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Click here for more news about Dragon Gems Winter 2024.

Inner Workings Cover
Uncross the Stars

Inner Workings: A Calendar of Fools Anthology 

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In a universe where zombies and vampires coexist with humans, Bryce the zombie is an actor who is frustrated that humans get all the best parts. Then the perfect role comes his way: playing an undead Professor Moriarty in a Sherlock Holmes movie—but he’s up against Benedict Cumberbatch!

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The Cheshire Cat

Dragon Gems Fall 2023 

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Andy Parker was looking for a new spooky prop to add to the decorations on his porch this Halloween when he stumbled upon a mangy-looking cat at a garage sale. Its two rows of Bakelite teeth curved around its face in a mirthless smile that elicited a hint of nausea in Andy. He had to have it. But would he heed the warnings from the cat's previous owner? Or would curiosity kill the new owner of this cat?

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Bizarre Bazaar anthology from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
Racing the Marineris

Bizarre Bazaar 

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Famous racecar driver Johanna Henry comes to Mars to win the Martian Cup, the most prestigious race in the solar system. She is driving a car built by her brother Brandon, nicknamed "The Tortoise" by the press. They face a car owned by billionaire Nika Ross driven by an AI and nicknamed "The Hare." In the first kilometer of a 3300-kilometer race, the Henrys learn nothing is out-of-bounds for Nika Ross to win the race—even if someone dies. 

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Triangulation: Energy Anthology
The Eco-Patriot

Triangulation: ENERGY

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Francisco operates a solar power plant that uses 12,000 heliostatic mirrors to raise the temperature of molten salt to a thousand degrees to generate electricity. He is trained to handle any problem that might arise, but the plant is so automated, all he gets to do is call in the technicians to replace failed parts. But when a strange pickup truck arrives and two men with rifles jump out, Francisco faces a situation that will require ingenuity and quick-thinking to survive.

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Click here for more news about John M. Campbell.

Dream Anthology by Pikes Peak Writers
Living the Dream (Except for One Thing)

DREAM: Tales from the Pikes Peak Writers

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The dream of an implanted personal-assistant AI is to serve his client in every way possible. However, when his client asks him to research ways to kill his wife, he must struggle with his need to please his client while satisfying his strict ethical programming.

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Click here for more news about the DREAM Anthology.

Writers of the Future Volume 37
The Tiger and the Waif

Writers of the Future Volume 37

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A feline android—a “feloid”—awakes when sunlight filters through the roof of a broken house to penetrate the closet where it has been stashed for years. He crawls out to discover an earthquake has leveled every house in the neighborhood. He relishes his newfound freedom, but something is missing. He finds it one rainy night when he discovers a young girl shivering in the wreckage.

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Click here for more news about Writers of the Future.

Compelling Science Fiction Issue12
False Identity

Compelling Science Fiction Issue 12

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Detective Ronald Munson has caught a strange case. A perp just walked in the door and confessed to the murder of Dr. Franklin O'Neal, a renowned brain surgeon. The strange thing is, Dr. O'Neal is still alive and just accepted the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Is this case a slam dunk, or is there more to it than meets the eye?

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Read False Identity for free, or use the button below to buy it for Kindle.

UNREAL Anthology of Speculative Fiction
The Hidden Entity

UNREAL An Anthology of Speculative Fiction

ISBN 979-8653994135

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Steven Harding is an experimental physicist with ALS who is confined to a wheelchair that he controls with a neural interface. But with the help of his lab assistant, he is about to open up a hidden dimension predicted by string theory. When he succeeds, an entity escapes and jumps into his mind. Suddenly, his ALS is cured. It seems like a miracle. But when the entity infects his wife and threatens his unborn child, can he find a way get rid of it? 

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Click here for more about the Hidden Dimension.

Corporate Cthulhu
The Loponine Exploitation

Corporate Cthulhu: Lovecraftian Tales of Bureaucratic Nightmare

ISBN 978-0998938974

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Bobby Gibson works as a chemist at Elton Pharmaceuticals in Oaxaca, Mexico. But after hours he uses the lab to perform his own experiments aimed at opening the hidden dimension his college professor discovered. He is thrilled when his laser pulse causes the sphere to collapse into a disk, signaling the sphere had entered the hidden dimension. Another pulse returns the sphere to the normal world. When he opens the sphere, a blue slime comes bubbling out.

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When his assistant discovers the blue slime acts as an aphrodisiac, Gibson's corporate bosses demand he produce more—much more. But will the ancient gods of Mexico allow it?

Keystone Chronicles Anthology
The Keystone Mine

Keystone Chronicles

ISBN 978-0692766712

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Thomas Gaines strikes it rich in the Asteroid Belt when he discovers the long-lost Keystone Mine. He also finds an autonomous mining machine on the asteroid, controlled by an artificial intelligence. After years of lonely isolation, the AI welcomes him warmly . But what price would it demand to give up its riches?

Hyperpowers Anthology by Third Flatiron
The Silicates

Hyperpowers

ISBN 978-0692714072

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Jimmy Collins is a bounty hunter in the Asteroid Belt. When his sensors pick up a glint off an uncharted asteroid, his pulse quickens. It could be a sign of Class One Silicates, the AIs that gained consciousness and started killing people in the Machine Revolt. They are the most dangerous of all AIs, and they bring the biggest bounties. But they won't be taken without a fight.

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