This story first earned a Certificate of Distinction in the Mere Literary Festival in 2004. In 2008, it was published in the print literary magazine, Scribble, winter 08/09 edition. And in July 2010 it was published in Issue 31of Isthmus, a print literary magazine that has since ceased publication, unfortunately. ELLA They must re-house her: …
Continue reading Short Story: Ella.
Photos from a visit to Fallingbostel and other German towns, using film, not digital tech, back in 1990. This short story was placed 3rd in the Ormskirk Writers & Literary Club contest in October 2004, and was also published in the small literary magazine, Ouse Valley Poetry, sadly no longer around. Enjoy! Manners and the …
Continue reading Short Story: Manners and the Man
This story was first published in my anthology, Ten Tales for Tomorrow, a sci-fi collection, on 1st January 2011. The eBook, running to around 30,000 words, is one of half a dozen in a promotion run by the publishing organisation, Smashwords. You can buy it here. Caution: some readers may find some of the content …
Continue reading #ShortStory: A Gastronomic Treat at the Edge of the Galaxy.
The short story posted below was first published in my anthology ‘Ten Love Tales’ in 2011.The book is available as an ebook on Smashwords, discounted to half price for the month of July.Lost and Found Cathy, my two brothers and I, had all left home when Mum and Dad moved out of their town house, …
Continue reading Short Story: Lost and Found.
This short story was first published in the small literary magazine, ‘Scribble’, in January 2004. The magazine continues to be published quarterly as a printed magazine at A5 size, by Park Publications, and can be found here. I still subscribe to the mag. With an annual subscription of only £19.00 per annum for the print …
Continue reading Free Short Story: Looking For Lucy.
This short story was published in a literary magazine that is no longer published. VIEWPOINT was a small press mag and published this story on 31st March 2003, having placed it 4th in their contest. Not The Type to Murder His Wife Charles, murder his wife for another woman? Preposterous. Makes you wonder what they …
Continue reading Free Short Story: Not The Type to Murder His Wife
This short story was published as a prize winner (placed 2nd) in a UK writing magazine, Writers Forum, that’s since ceased publication. It’s from October 2002. Some readers may find this story disturbing. I hope so, it was written to disturb. BRI Bri laughed as the cartoon mouse hacked the cat into a thousand bloody slices. …
Continue reading A Free Short Story: Bri.
The Gate A short story, first published as a prize-winner in Northern Short Stories Vol 5. in 1994. This was when I published under my given name, before I discovered, via Google, that there were umpteen writers using that name. I created my pen name a little later.But enough about that. Here's the short story …
Continue reading A Short Story For You.
On Sunday, 17th March, I reported that the WIP had reached 20,293 words and I was working on Chapter 8. I’d intended to report back yesterday, but got rather engaged by Natalie Bennet’s excellent and hope-inspiring ‘Change Everything’ and rather lost track of the time. You’ll find my review of this timely book about the …
Continue reading How Goes the WIP?
At the end of Friday, 11th August, I posted here on the progress of the WIP. At that stage, the book was on chapter 30 and the word count was 71,521. Yesterday I completed the WIP with chapter 33 and a total of 80,799 words. Now I need to do some detailed research for events …
Continue reading The WIP is Done.
Presumably all writers of fiction start with research for their chosen themes, subjects, periods, and locations. I know I always do. For my latest WIP I decided to set the story within the period around the first part of my own life. This was, after all, a time I knew well. Or so I thought.On …
Continue reading When Research Rules the Roost
Recently, there’s been a sudden increase in interest surrounding Artificial Intelligence; in particular the fear of potential dangers of this development have come to the fore. The subject has long been popular with science fiction writers, and I’ve had a go at it in a couple of my novels. In ‘The Methuselah Strain’, my story …
Continue reading Artificial Intelligence, or #AI: Just Sayin’
On 28th February I announced the start of a new novel and revealed I’d completed the first chapter at 1,725 words. It was on 26th March I updated progress with words reaching a total of 48,079. And on 4th April I let you know I’d completed 70,169 words but had run into a constructional problem …
Continue reading WIP First Draft Complete!
The picture above is by Larry Krause, on Flikr It is replicated using the Creative Commons License The story is entirely free and posted just below this brief intro. I have a free seasonal story on my site already, but it’s a humorous piece about New Year, and has been on there for some years. …
Continue reading A Seasonal Short Story for You. Enjoy!
Titles for works of fiction can cause authors a good deal of soul-searching. Ideally, we want to give potential readers clues about content, theme, style, and storyline. Not easy with only one to maybe a dozen words to play with. Of course, the best titles are revealed as obvious choices once a book’s been read, …
Continue reading Why That Title? – Partings.
