The East Neuk Rifles - A Novel in progress

Pals' Battalions were believed to give men a greater sense of belonging; your friend becoming your comrade.  What we know of human nature suggests that this might have been a flawed concept.  The story of nine young men from the fishing villages along the Fife estuary, tells of the welding together of such a unit and the cracks and fissures which threaten to tear it apart.

Life is the story of love, and this story is no different, as love and its absence, provokes every change.

The book's key question is whether War creates brotherhood. The answer is buried in these pages... though you must decide for yourself.

Chapter One - The Fellowship

The table between them swam with the flat yeasty beer that had escaped in frequent sweeps between table and mouth. Brodie was draped, in abandoned...

The Somme - That First Day

'Naw, please. Ma Maw’s frae Edinburgh,'screamed the cowering bundle beneath Martin’s bayonet. 'What the fuck!' 'Stick um, bluidy stick um,' shouted...

Concerts and Carnage

Jimmy Drummond stood outside the arc of the lights. Guilt was the determining factor. He was whole, unmarked, free to move under his own volition...