A little Mischief

I have a short problem. A short fiction problem, that is. This week I finished writing a 4,000 word story called The Mischief. And I reckon it’s quite good (but then I haven’t read it a gazillion times yet), but here’s the rub (and yes, it seems there is always a rub as though a writer’s life is full of chafing), if I do decide to submit it somewhere and if it is accepted for publication, what if the story is not representative of what I usually write?

I read quite a lot of short fiction. I even subscribe to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction so each month I have half a dozen short stories and novellas on tap. And that’s without the web and Writing Magazine and the publications from the British Fantasy Society and… I’m getting side-tracked here. My point is, that for most of the writers featured in all the above publications, short fiction is where they’re introduced to readers. I discovered Stephen King through a collection of short stories, and then I moved on to his novels - which, let’s face it, are pretty much longer versions of his short stories. Brian Lumley was the same. As was Jonathan Carroll and Clive Barker to a lesser degree. The strength and style of their short fiction drew me to their longer works, and I wasn’t disappointed.

If I’m going to go down that same path and use short fiction to advertise my longer prose, then would I muddy the waters too much by seeking to publish fiction that doesn’t reflect my novels?
The Mischief is a story set in the near future, ten minutes into the future if you like, and it’s a dark piece with no uplifting coda to speak of. It’s quite stark. It’s emotive. It’s not really nice, but then sometimes I tend to find entertainment in the darkest of corners.
While The Secret War and The Hoard of Mhorrer are not comedies, nor are they overly dark, grim books. They’re historical fantasy adventures. They’re pure escapism, heroics, swashbuckling; one reviewer called The Secret War “real lads stuff,” and who am I to argue? It is a lad’s book, and The Hoard of Mhorrer - while being a little more cerebral than the former - again is a boy’s own adventure story.

But that’s not all I write. And The Mischief is one of those stories that does not reflect what is published by Macmillan New Writing. So what do I do? Do I go ahead and seek publication of a short story I’m quite proud of; do I confuse any readers who like The Mischief enough to seek out The Secret War which is nothing like this short story?
I could go under a pseudonym, sure, but if I do, I won’t exactly be selling the writer “MFW Curran”, would I?

Rub-a-rub-rub. Nothing’s ever simple, is it? I can see this being the first story to go out under the nom de plume, Frank Wallace.