Matt McHugh

Speculative fiction writer from New Jersey

Published in Analog, The Saturday Evening Post, DreamForge, and elsewhere.

"Radioland" named an Indie Star of 2015 by Publisher's Weekly. "Burners" won the 2019 Jim Baen Memorial Award. "Jennifer Gives Her Heart to Radioland" is the PARSEC 2021 Short Story winner.

Pushcart Prize nominee. Grant finalist Speculative Literature Foundation.

Feature

The Language of Immersion

DreamForge | Mar 2025 | 5000 words

“That’s how you become an artist. You see something and say ‘Ooh! I want to do that!’ and you imitate. Eventually you synthesize those influences into something new, something that’s your own.”

Fiction

Scrooge & Cratchit

A sequel to A Christmas Carol

Kindle | Nov 2002 | 9000 words
Radioland

"...an inventive exploration of the crossroads between near-future gadgetry and the male midlife crisis." —Publisher's Weekly

Kindle | Nov 2011 | 11000 words
Burners

An orbital crew cleans up space debris.

Winner 2019 Jim Baen Memorial Award

Baen Publishing | Jun 2019 | Acceptance speech | Also in: Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy: Volume Three | Jun 2024 | 8000 words
If This Flesh Were Thought

A cop and a lawyer investigate a murder.

Analog | Nov 2024 | 8000 words
Mariposa de Hierro

A girl encounters magical machines.

Analog | March 2024 | Podcast Reading | 8000 words
The Area Under the Curve

A family qualifies for a space expedition.

Analog | Jan 2023 | Podcast Reading | 4000 words
No Stranger to Native Shores

Humans rescue a child raised by aliens.

Analog | Nov 2021 | Readers' Poll - 3rd Place | Author Q&A | 8000 words
The Language of Immersion

An art student's multimedia project.

DreamForge | Mar 2025 | 5000 words
Little Things Nobody Remembers

A ghostly presence at an old theater.

DreamForge | Sep 2024 | 5000 words
Endjourney

A contest at an AI art conference.

Saturday Evening Post | Dec 2023 | 5000 words
Together Bound Unto Perdition

A werewolf cares for an orphan.

HOWL: A Shapeshifting Anthology | Feb 2025 | 5000 words
A Dance With the Heavens

The life's work of an astronomer.

Cosmorama | Jun 2023 | 1000 words
Unfamiliar

A detective partners with a spirit.

Wyldblood | Mar 2023 | 6000 words
The Heart Knows Only That It Wants

A sexbot gets reprogrammed.

Fission #2 Volume 2 | Dec 2022 | 4000 words
A Harvest of Malice

A family with a history of vigilantism.

Dark Yonder | Jan 2023 | 4000 words
Down the Cat Head Eagle Hole

The London-Peking tunnel of 1870.

The Clockwork Chronicles | Jun 2022 | 6000 words
Little Lives Rounded by Sleep

A cook tries to stop a war with dreams.

Strange Wars | Apr 2022 | Also in: Swords & Sorceries Volume 8 | 7000 words
LGBTQ-A

A student changes his being identity.

Fabula Argentea | Dec 2020 | Also in: Frog Porridge | 4800 words
Well Regulated

A tech mogul tackles gun control.

Fabula Argentea | Dec 2019 | 2000 words
Swag of Distant Earth

Alien scholars decode an Earth message.

Sci Phi Journal | Jun 2021 | 1500 words
Anti-Daughter

A girl on the spectrum.

Zoetic Press / 4LPH4NUMERIC | Jun 2022 | Also in: Bethlehem Writers Roundtable | Non-Binary Review | 1000 words
The Right To Be Forgotten

A man hacks a high-tech mausoleum.

Distant Shore | Jul 2021 | 3000 words
The Unfinished Novels of Mandrake Fluke

A writer corresponds with his editor.

Metastellar | Jan 2022 | Also in: TQR | Metastellar Year One | 7000 words
The House of Twenty-Three Cats

A social worker tries to help a cat lady.

Whigmaleeries & Wives' Tales | Sep 2020 | Also in: Paradoxical Pets | 1500 words
Every Part of the Buffalo

A committee funds a space station.

Sunshine Superhighway | Dec 2020 | Also in: Daikaijuzine | 1500 words
All Kinds of Time

A quarterback meets his future self.

Manawaker Studio's Flash Fiction Podcast | Jun 2022 | Also in: Tall Tale TV | Write Ahead: The Future Looms | 1500 words
Matryoshka

A fortune teller learns the truth.

Silver Blade | Dec 2017 | Also in: The Chorochronos Archives | Penumbric | 6000 words
Immaculate Contraption

A robot wants to be baptized.

Distant Shore | Jan 2021 | 4000 words
Carrion Clay

A color contemplates its existence.

Fractured Lit | Oct 2020 | 1000 words
Zero Ground Since August 6

A ghost of Hiroshima speaks.

Commuter Lit | Dec 2021 | Also in: Kaidankai Podcast | 1000 words
Uptalk and Vocal Fry

A reality show star and her assistant.

New Reader Magazine | Mar 2020 | 3000 words
The Glitter and the Grey

Drag queens and aliens.

Flash Point SF | May 2021 | 1000 words
Mother Mars

The A.I. behind a Mars colony.

Utopia Science Fiction | Jun 2020 | Also in: Shelter of Daylight | 3000 words
Life Beside the Beautiful People

A mathematician recalls first contact.

365 Tomorrows | Aug 2020 | Also in: SciFi Shorts | 1000 words
Adminogenesis

A father builds a world.

The World of Myth | Jan 2019 | 500 words
The Medium

A high-tech seance.

Asymmetry | May 2021 | Also: Allegory | 2000 words
Freak Showing / See You in the Funny Papers

Two anthology pieces.

The Best of The First Line Editors' Picks: 2002-2006 | Apr 2008 | 4000 words
Inboxed

An office drone checks his e-mail.

Workers Write! Tales from The Cubicle | May 2005 | 1500 words
Corporate Man / Rest for the Wicked

Two horror shorts.

The Sirens Call | May 2019 | 1000 words
Jennifer Gives Her Heart to Radioland

Winner 2021 PARSEC Short Story

PARSEC Sci-Fi | Jul 2022 | Author Reading | 2000 words