Short Story: The Last Early Rising

This story was first published in the Autumn edition of 2005 of Scribble, a small print magazine published by Park Publications. I also posted this to Medium The Last Early Rising ‘What are you thinking about?’ Kerry stroked his abdomen. ‘How to kill our idiot neighbour without being caught.’ Her fingers migrated. ‘That’d certainly stop …

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Short Story: Ella.

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: …

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Short Story: Manners and the Man

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 …

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#ShortStory: A Gastronomic Treat at the Edge of the Galaxy.

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 …

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Short Story: Lost and Found.

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, …

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Free Short Story: Looking For Lucy.

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 …

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Free Short Story: Not The Type to Murder His Wife

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 …

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A Free Short Story: Bri.

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. …

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A Short Story For You.

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 …

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Fancy Some Fantastic New Books, Free?

The imaginative and generous independent publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, is launching 9 new titles during the period 14th October to 4th November. There are books for all tastes here. But the point of this post is the competition accompanying the launches. You can win copies of all these books quite simply. You merely have to …

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Contagious Tales, Edited by Andrew Simms: #BookReview.

176 pages.22 modern folk tales. Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian and now editor of Prospect magazine remarks, ‘These stories matter because they help us grasp a world that is seemingly out of control, and imagine what steps we can take to make things better.’ This anthology is subtitled ‘22 modern folk tales in …

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A Seasonal Short Story for You. Enjoy!

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. …

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Houses Borders Ghosts, from The Fiction Desk: #BookReview.

Nine short stories from contributors to The Fiction Desk appear in this, the 14th anthology published by this independent publisher of short stories and edited by Rob Redman.This is an eclectic collection of tales on no particular theme or treatment. It seems unnecessary to individually review these stories, and to synopsise them would be to …

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Short Stories; Do You Read Them?

I suppose we should first decide what constitutes a short story. Roughly, because these things tend to be a matter of opinion rather than fact, a short story is a work of fiction with a word count somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000. So, do you read them? It’s clear lots of readers do. I belong …

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Translation: Illuminating Cultural Difference.

Just short of a month ago, I wrote a post about Helen, a Chinese woman, translating some of my stories into her language. My hope was that would place my work before a wider readership. But there has been an unexpected and positive additional outcome.I’m no linguist. But I’ve travelled, both within the land of …

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