STORY SHOWCASE #8

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BIG BANG BULL AND THE GOD PARTICLE

by Mark Patrick Lynch

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A little taster…

“I promise you,” Sydney said in her best placating tone, “we’re not in league with the CIA, al-Qaeda or Walmart, and we’re not going to destroy the world. In fact, if you look at these calculations on the screen behind me, you’ll see we’re not destroying anything. We’re actually creating things …”

“You are indeed,” the man said. “So far, you’ve sped up particles and collided them one hundred and fifty-four times. It’s the fallout from that that bothers me. That’s why I’m here, to complain about it.”

Sydney moved her face in a way that was supposed to be an understanding smile but didn’t quite make it. “Nah, I’m not getting it. Maybe we should chat with some other people, a whole bunch of us, and not just you and me. In fact, I think I’m going to call for some guys to come down now,” she said, stabbing the buttons on the flat dial of the phone. “It’ll be good, we can all discuss things and—”

“Every time those particles smashed together they generated a new universe.”

Sydney’s jaw swung open. 

About the author

Mark Patrick Lynch was born and raised in West Yorkshire, England. His short stories, mainstream and genre, have appeared in various publications across the world, from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Zahir. His latest novel is Walking Horatio and his latest collection of slightly less trashy tales (he hopes) is Cardinal Points.

Say hi to him on Bluesky: @markpatricklynch.bsky.social

We asked Mark…

K&R: What was the spark or idea that led you to write this story?

MPL: Gosh, that’s a difficult one, as I rarely get ideas and simply start writing and see what comes out. Sometimes it’s good and fun, sometimes it isn’t. I wrote this a while back, when the large hadron collider was in the news, and somewhat sheepishly showed it to my girlfriend. She immediately said, “You’re not sending that out anywhere,” so for a good long while I didn’t. But then the Trash Tales anthology came along and I thought, What have I got that’s really silly and fun and, yes, trashy as well… 

K&R: Do you have any other work do you have out there, for folks to dig into?

MPL: I’ve always loved the idea of being a pulp writer, knocking out a book in a few weeks like they did in the heyday of the old dime magazines. After failing to find a publisher for my first two books (both of which took over a year to write), I looked to see what publishers were open to seeing unagented work, and, in a dash, I then rattled out a couple of short Westerns and sent them to the slush pile. The first took 10 days to write, the second 19. To my surprise, both were accepted. So, my first published books were Westerns, under the name Mark P. Lynch. They were mostly sold through libraries in the UK, with large print paperbacks following on from the initial hardcover sales. A few are still moseying on around the Western sections in libraries across the UK to this day. After the Westerns, I went back to taking far too long to write a book, but did produce a YA piece called A Clash of Ichor and Blood; a big portal fantasy thriller for adults called Heartstones; and a mosaic novel that’s sort of mainstream fiction, called Walking Horatio. My short stories have appeared around the world in various publications, across genres and mainstream, from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Zahir, and even on stage in London. Some of the tales have appeared as four separate genre-based collections, and an omnibus anthology of the four collections – Cardinal Points – is available. The easiest place to find my stuff is via my Amazon author page.

K&R: What’s next for you as a writer?

MPL: I’m polishing a fantasy novel off, and then I either write a new novel, attack the second draft of the long folk horror novel I’ve had on file for too long, or go at the third draft of a crime novel. I’ll be writing new short fiction too, I hope. Of course, in the long run, I expect to follow the traditional route most writers take of falling out of print and into poverty, living out my last years in an increasingly bitter frame of mind at how the world hasn’t recognised my genius during my lifetime and regretting the day my parents conceived me, while secretly fantasising my work will be recognised after I’m dead. 

K&R: What does “trashy fiction” mean to you, and what do you love about it?

MPL: It’s fun, it takes you away from the ordinary concerns of life, and it’s usually – at its best – tremendously easy to read. 

K&R: Hit us with your own favourite “trashy” fiction recommendations!

MPL: It’s got to be Guy N Smith’s ridiculous and ridiculously funny (probably unintentionally) novels about giant killer crabs. Disappointingly, on his website you don’t “click, click, clickety-click”* on the links to buy the books but simply click them. A missed opportunity.

* If you know, you know.

K&R: If you’ve read the rest of the stories in Trash Tales, what’s your favourite and why?

MPL: Well, for obvious reasons given my last answer, it’s got to be “Catch of the Day”. 

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