Other Fiction

Second Chances

These stories are inspired by a teaching experience of mine in a Further Education College in England. The experiences are fictionalised. Letting the writing flow, names and identifying details were anonymised. With the characters composed of multiple selves, these are the stories of lecturers and students everywhere, of teachers expected to teach in neurotypical ways, and of neurodiverse students expected to learn in conventional ways. These stories recognise that teaching and learning is not only about the humans in the classroom: all bodies (human, nonhuman and more-than-human) act in relationality. For ‘Jake’, like so many others, the noises of other students, of anxiety, of a beeping fire door, the heat, all combine to drive him from the classroom, potentially from the college. Simultaneously, these forces provoke the courage to ask for help. ‘Jake’s’ class is typical of those I have encountered in Further Education Colleges in England: Jake could be a student at any or all of them. These stories question and resist conventional teaching and learning practices, which so often fail students, in the hope of opening up possibilities for genuine second chances for all.
Cherry

Christmas Pan-to

At Christmas, I like to take the opportunity to deviate, temporarily, from whatever saga Josiah and Archibald are currently involved in, and try a little seasonal nonsense. This is the first for 2024, there may well be others!
Cherry

Tom Tom Turnaround (7) (ii)

"You still awake, Russell?" - "Russell?" "Shut up and go to sleep." "I want to see Father Christmas." "You saw Father Christmas in Selfridges." "I...
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Gold cherry

Tom Tom Turnaround (7) (i)

The street lay still and empty in the pale, windless sanctity of a winter Sunday afternoon. There was a church-like silence and secrecy about the...
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Cherry

Santa Baby (Dead Reckoning series - Part 39)

In which Archibald is constructive, mostly, and Samantha makes plans.
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A Christmas Wonderland

A Christmas Wonderland by Paul McCann Well I had just put all the kids to bed and went to bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready to go to bed...
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Day Dreaming at Night

Just a few desultory observations from recent days. Storm Cuddly caused widespread damage and injury, but one plucky reporter from Bonkers TV stood...
Cherry

Another Cup Of Coffee (Dead Reckoning series - Part 38)

In which Josiah and Archibald escape from the long arm of the law, but for how long?
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Shopping Day

Shopping Day By Paul McCann Mr Fingerton had been depressed for a while and when he felt like that , going shopping was good therapy for him . His...

Among Kinders

I could tell stories, so they invited me to tell them to a class of kinders run by a voluntary group. Sixteen children sat waiting eagerly, some on...
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