Scott’s Bookstore

Welcome to my online bookstore.  If you’re interested in buying one of my novels or short stories, this page will provide you with links to where you can find my work.  Many of my short stories are available electronically for the Kindle, iPhone, or iPod Touch, and can also be read online immediately for a small fee.

Also, look for the FREE logo.  Now and then, some of my work is put online at no charge at all — free reading!


Books and Collections

The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys
Simon and Schuster, April 2010
Genre: Young Adult

Life spins on a wheel.  The choices you make in the heat of the moment, during times of crisis, can forever alter the rest of your life.  In THE LAST GREAT GETAWAY OF THE WATER BALLOON BOYS, two teenagers make the choice to steal their principal’s ‘67 Mustang and end up on a life-changing road trip.

The trip starts as a lark, to give Charlie Hill’s absent father a portrait Charlie drew, but it evolves into much more — an edgy coming-of-age tale where shy, sixteen-year-old Charlie and his more experienced friend, Jake Tucker, deal with issues like suicide, sex, drugs, and the meaning of friendship . . . before a crisis a thousand miles from home forces Charlie to make the ultimate choice of his life.

“Touching and impressive debut novel.”
– Publisher’s Weekly

More About the Book

Available Now:
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dd_frontcover_175nThe Dinosaur Diaries and Other Tales Across Space and time
Fantastic Books, February 2010

If you’ve been a fan of my stories, here’s your chance to own what I consider my best eighteen stories so far — including one tale all new to this collection.  Since my short stories have been published in such a wide variety of places, I know how hard it can be to find many of them, so it really gratifies me to finally be able to point people to this book.

“Scott is one of those rare writers who can and does cross genres, and do it well. You never know what kind of story you’ll get from him, but you do know that it’ll be good.”
— Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hugo Award-Winning Writer and Editor

More About the Book

Available Now:
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webblackcoverA Web of Black Widows and Other Stories of Love and Loss
PS Publishing, March 2010

In these six provocative tales, Scott William Carter takes the reader on a journey to places where love and loss intersect: a grieving tattoo artist makes a cross-country trip with a pregnant woman on the run from her disturbed husband . . . a mysterious artist finds a woman washed up on the beach and feels compelled to paint her . . . a young man who made a disastrous choice in wife is forced to crash weddings with his ghostly bride so she can remain on Earth . . .

Reading these and three other stories, you will be intrigued, moved, and troubled as Carter’s clear and engaging prose takes you on a guided tour of the darker corners of the human psyche. But as he writes in his introduction, “There’s hope in there, too. There has to be. Otherwise, why write at all?”

“While it may be small in size, A WEB OF BLACK WIDOWS is as powerful a package as dynamite.” – Gnostalgia

“The title story is a stunner.” – Fright.com

More About the Book

Available Now:

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Short Stories Available Electronically

Though I love writing short stories, I admit that they can sometimes be tough to find.  To read them when they first appear, you often have to subscribe to a magazine or buy an anthology (which I certainly encourage you to do, though I know that’s not always practical).  Although I’m usually contractually required to let a certain amount of time elapse before I sell the story elsewhere (usually six months, sometimes as long as a year), you will eventually find many of them here in electronic form.  Generally, stories are listed below in the order they were first published, newest to oldest.

If you buy the story to read online (rather than for the Kindle or another reading device), you’ll be directed to PayPal.  After completing your purchase, click “Return to Merchant” on the last page and you’ll be sent to another Web page that contains the entire story.

Shatterboy
Originally appeared in Cicada Magazine, November 2005.
Genre:  Fantasy
About 1500 words

A short tale about a woman who finds a glass boy in a recycling transfer station — and how the few days with him change both their lives.

  • Buy the story for the Kindle, iPhone, or iPod Touch (coming soon)
  • Buy the story to read online right now for $1.99
  • Read the story for free.

Five Second Fantasies
Originally appeared in Surreal Magazine, October 2005.
Genre:  Suspense
About 5300 words

For five seconds one winter morning, while driving to work on Portland’s icy roads, Gregory Long lost his mind.  He lost it for five seconds and got it back.  In between, he also lost his family.  This story is about him finding out why.

“Thrilling.” — Tangent Online.

A short story of 5300 words.

A Christmas in Amber
Originally appeared in Analog, December 2005.
Genre:  Science fiction
About 4900 words

With a meteor on a collision course with Earth, a mass evacuation is underway for a privileged few . . . but not for an elderly man who must say goodbye to those he loves.  A powerful Christmas tale that originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

“A Christmas in Amber” by Scott William Carter is a touching story.” — SFRevu.com.

A short story of 4700 words.  Placed fifth in the Analog AnLab Reader’s Poll of the best short stories of the year. Honorable mention in The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois.


The Breath of the Gods
Originally appeared in Oceans of the Mind, December 2004.
Genre:  Science fiction short story
About 6000 words

“”The Breath of the Gods” by Scott William Carter is another adventure tale—the protagonist is racing against the clock, since he only has a few minutes to save the woman he loves before a giant asteroid strikes the planet and destroys it.” — Tangent Online.

Front Row Seats
Originally appeared in Chizine, April 2004.
Genre:  Dark suspense short story
About 4000 words

A harrowing tale of a Minnesota widower in the grips of an overwhelming grief, who takes to the cinema to remember his deceased wife and gets far more than he bargained for.

The Liberators
Originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 2004.
Genre:  Science fiction short story
About 7500 words

“There’s one rule in the interstellar liberation force: you never take off your helmet. Even if the atmosphere of whatever planet you are liberating from the vicious aliens does happen to breathable, there could be any number of lethal viruses or microbes. The body armor and comm equipment is first rate, and the aliens seem to be on the run. Then, one day, a soldier is forced to take off his helmet to survive. The consequences are disastrous for the liberation force, but it is no toxin, virus, or microbe that infects the military: it’s the truth . . . Carter’s warning about how military might be used in the future stands undiminished.” — The Internet Review of Science Fiction

A Dark Planetarium
Originally appeared in Indy Men’s Magazine, December 2003.
Genre:  Short story
About 1500 words

A powerful short tale about a father and son’s special visit to a planetarium that will haunt you long after the story’s final words.