Mike Donoghue

Mike Donoghue

About

Mike Donoghue grew up in a small fishing village on the East Coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, and now resides in Vancouver. Mike’s stories have appeared in anthologies, literary journals, sci-fi magazines, and online. He has been a James White Award runner-up, a Sunburst Award finalist, Pulp Literature Raven winner for best short story of the year, and a reader at the Vancouver Word Festival. Mike works in public health research, where he spends much of his time preoccupied with herding cats.

Readings

Reader at Word Vancouver 2016 on the Eco-fiction stage for the short story “Double Double” published in Winds of Change anthology, a collection of short stories about our climate.

Interviews

Kathy Steinemann interviews Michael Donoghue, author of “The Demise of Great Expectations,”

Author Showcase: Michael Donoghue “trapeze magazine”

Awards/Nominations

• Sunburst Shortlist 2016 for “Stuck in the Past”

Shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for the shortlisted story “Stuck in the Past” which originally appeared in Issue 54 of Abyss & Apex. The judges described Michael as “a prolific speculative fiction writer who’s writing has inventive plot twists, convincing scientific jargon, is outlandish, clever, and completely hilarious.” 

• Pulp Literature Hummingbird Shortlist 2015 and 2019 

Shortlisted for the Hummingbird Flash Fiction prize in 2015 for “’The Demise of Great Expectations’“ and 2019 for “The Decline of the Human Race”.  

• James White Award 2019 Second place for 2019 for “Property Crime”  

“In 2019, the judges awarded a special commendation to runner up Property Crime by Michael Donoghue – who missed out by the narrowest margin in the Award’s history.”

• Pulp Literature: The 2019 Raven Short Story Contest Winner for “Life4Sale”  

Judge JJ Lee: “‘Life4Sale’ showed in its epistolary structure a great command of character voice. The world building and the weird factor are efficiently established without ever forgetting that character motive and conflict are what make a short story tick. It never bogs down in the spec fic mechanics. I appreciated how it is the kind of story you may find on Black Mirror or, if you’re old enough, classic Twilight Zone.”

Coming Soon: Keep Calm and Carry On

On Liam’s planet, people have a choice: on their eighteenth birthday, choose to be untreated and die from a preventable disease—ageing—or take SlowAge and live over a thousand years. As long as you never have an adrenaline rush—because that results in instant death.

Almost everyone opts for SlowAge, apart from the one percent of the population who think there’s a difference between being alive and living. They take higher-risk jobs: firefighters, peace officers, paramedics, jobs the immortals can’t do because of the side effects of the treatment. Including farmers—like Liam’s parents—who don’t want him to take SlowAge.

The Monks, the original crew members from the colony ship that crashed on the planet, ensure that meditation, deep breathing, and serene activities are fundamental to their society’s foundation. A society where running, throwing items, and any violence whatsoever are strictly illegal. A society that they control.

Liam has big dreams, though: move to SilverCity, become a programmer, and live forever. That is, until one fateful day shortly before his eighteenth birthday when the Monks themselves show up at their farm. And Liam starts to question everything, especially—what does it mean to be alive?