Dave Goodman
Writing
Hello! I’m Dave Goodman. I’m a novelist, short story writer and (occasional) poet, mostly writing speculative fiction and thrillers. You can find me on Amazon and Goodreads.
I am represented by Harry Illingworth at DHH Literary.
I’m a very enthusiastic member of Edinburgh SFF and Codex Writers and the original founder of Edinburgh Genre Writers way back in 2014.
Short stories and novelettes
I’ve had two short pieces published so far, both in Clarkesworld Magazine. I also have a forthcoming story in Analog Magazine.
Clarkesworld Issue 190
Carapace - published by Clarkesworld on July 1st 2022. This is a novelette about a combat robot that accidentally gains self-awareness at the worst possible time. Learn more about this story in this blog post. I was a finalist in the 2022 Clarkesworld Reader Poll with this story, in the novelette category.
Clarkesworld Issue 183
Vegvísir (Wayfinder) - published by Clarkesworld on December 1st 2021. This was my first professional short story sale. It’s a spooky science fiction piece about a surveyor getting lost in a sandstorm on Mars. Lots more about this story in this blog post.
Novels
If you are an acquiring editor and you’d like to see either of the manuscripts below on submission, please contact my agent Harry Illingworth at DHH Literary.
The Disaster Club
I’m currently out on submission with The Disaster Club, a contemporary spy thriller with killer drones!
Will Macleod is a side-lined mid-career spook in Britain’s Security Service, whose main consolation is The Disaster Club — an encrypted chat group of similarly career-stalled spies. After failing to prevent the killing of a Russian oligarch in London, he spends his days sitting in cars watching empty buildings, sending GIFs to the group to numb the pain.
In Budapest, a scientist working on advanced drone technology has been assassinated while strange, unsettling drone swarms have been spotted in Prague. Will receives a call from his former mentor. He’s putting together a new task force of high-flying covert operators to investigate. The only question on Macleod’s mind is — why him?
Thrown into action among fast-track talent from across Britain’s intelligence agencies, Will feels distinctly out of place, until he learns that the team’s first target is Klara Takacs, a brilliant AI researcher and creator of the drone control software. She also happens to be Will’s ex-girlfriend from his university days — his first and only love. Midway through a covert operation that goes badly wrong, it hits him. He’s there as bait.
Betrayed by London, and with time running out until the next drone attack, Klara and Will are forced to go off grid and on the run, tracked by a team of ruthless, sinister mercenaries as well as Will’s former colleagues. With no idea who to trust, Will must rely on his own wits and the misfit spooks of The Disaster Club if he’s going to stay alive, clear his name and unravel the clandestine network targeting Klara.
The Burning Line
I’m currently out on submission to publishers with a novel called The Burning Line, which is a near future thriller set in the aftermath of severe climate change.
Leo Mackay is sick of watching the world burn. He is a freelance covert agent, a stringer. In Istanbul, another stringer is dead - gunned down on a Beyoğlu backstreet after a cross-continental killing spree of his own. Mackay is told to secure the evidence, extract government handler Sally Forbes and get out before the city falls to the Burners, a nihilist cult who believe the world is ending.
But the mission is a trap. As fires appear on the horizon, Forbes and Mackay are caught up in a race to untangle a far-reaching conspiracy that may explain the unstoppable march of the Burners. Each must trust the other; Mackay numb, wary of caring again in a world that’s falling apart, Forbes trying to overcome her own shattered confidence.
If they fail, Istanbul will burn and shaky European alliances will fracture. With time running out, they must piece together the whole picture, even if it reveals that something is rotten in the Kingdom of England.