Mercurio D. Rivera
World Fantasy Award-nominated writer Mercurio D. Rivera’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in markets including ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT, ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, LIGHTSPEED, INTERZONE, BLACK STATIC, NATURE, ABYSS & APEX and anthologies such as THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION, VOL. 5, edited by Neil Clarke, YEAR’S BEST SF 34, edited by Gardner Dozois, YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION 17, edited by Hartwell & Cramer, UNPLUGGED: THE WEB’S BEST SF AND FANTASY, edited by Rich Horton, SOLARIS RISING 2, edited by Ian Whates, OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE, edited by John Joseph Adams, PARADOX: STORIES INSPIRED BY THE FERMI PARADOX, and CRISES AND CONFLICTS, edited by Ian Whates.
Tor.com called his collection ACROSS THE EVEN HORIZON (Newcon Press), “weird and wonderful,” with “dizzying switchbacks,” “a revelation” with “twists followed by more twists heightening a powerful sense of alienation and menace.” Learn more about Across the Event Horizon here.
Ten of his stories have been podcast at Escape Pod, StarshipSofa, Transmissions From Beyond, Beam Me Up and Kaleidocast. StarshipSofa devoted a two-part installment to his stories. To access these various podcasts, click here. 
He started his career with frequent contributions to acclaimed British magazine INTERZONE (issue ##204, 214, 219, 226, 227, 235, 236, and 262). His story of heartbreak and unrequited love, “Longing for Langalana” was voted winner of Interzone‘s annual readers’ poll.
His tales “Longing for Langalana” and “Tethered” (both about the Wergens, aliens biochemically attracted to human beings) and “Dance of the Kawkawroons” have been taught in lit courses and writing workshops at (i) San Francisco University, (ii) Columbia College Chicago, (iii) the New School (NYC) and (iv) the Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas, respectively.
His Lightspeed story “Those Brighter Stars” appeared in the late Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best SF 34 anthology. Eleven other of his stories garnered “Honorable Mentions” in other volumes of that anthology.
Many of his stories have been translated and published in China, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland and Spain.
Mercurio is a long-time member of the highly regarded Manhattan writing group Altered Fluid.
Recent Stories:
“The Four Spider-Societies of Proxima Centauri 33g” – ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT (forthcoming)
“Filaments” – ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION (forthcoming in Sept./Oct. 2021)
“Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars” – ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION (Mar./Apr. 2020) selected for THE YEAR’S TOP HARD SCIENCE FICTION STORIES 5, edited by Allan Kaster (forthcoming in 2021)
“In the Stillness Between the Stars” – ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION (Sept./Oct 2019) selected for THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR, Vol 5, edited by Neil Clarke (2020)
“The Walk to Distant Suns” – co-written with Matthew Kressel – ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT (March/April 2019)
“The Sun, the Sea, the Heart” – DEEP SIGNAL: AN ILLUSTRATED ANTHOLOGY OF SCIENCE FICTION, edited by Eric Olive
“Those Brighter Stars” – LIGHTSPEED (Aug 2016) selected for YEAR’S BEST SF 34, edited by Gardner Dozois (2017)
“Tu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us” — BLACK STATIC #18 – Nominated for the 2011 World Fantasy Award – Free download here
SF Signal writes: “[T]he story is elegantly written, beautifully atmospheric and filled with some wonderful local colour. “Tu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us” is not only the strongest story in the issue, it is also one of the most atmospheric, disturbing and thought-provoking short stories I have ever encountered. If Rivera’s work does not get picked up by one of the Year’s Best anthologies then there really is no justice in the world.”
