Storries

I suppose I have a definable style, it is not for me to define

Apples

His hair was unruly, I liked that. It warmed me to know that people can forget about their hair when they’re happy.

Sir Reality and the Washpot Kingdom of Snoll

Snoll was, and still is as far as I’m probably concerned, a small fishing tackle on the outer isle of the Inner Hebrides.

Belle de Fou Rire

Belle de Fou Rire. Tortured franchises of confessional love, the grave- robber set upon his task, that found him moving in above of all that went

Hosforth - part 1

...we got on the Hosforth Murky Mile ride and the carriage took us into the cliff. Inside the long caves we'd just reached the fossil of a fearsome sea dragon when...
Cherry

Marburg International

Alright boss, the detective growled from across the desk at me, we want your story and we don’t want it to be no story, if you catch my drift? He stank, I stank, we all stank together.
Cherry

Dr M'Kolo

Ever since Dr M’kolo had done that thing with maths that had astonished everyone and proved that wave and line functions were interchangeable in every situation bar none, science had lost its way so

Tinder

In a land of angels there lived once a sun-god called Amerius. He was a good and kindly god, the son of the Universe and brother to the Moon, King of the Heavens he lit..

Stupid Gnomes

Written in the forgotten key of A minor miner The stupid gnome(s)

The Smacked Donkey

Living in the driving rain, dragged by humanity into unending toil, the little donkey dreamt of grass and hay and of sun on his back. Only, he did not know what these things were.
Cherry

Infinite Sky

...he's been stretching his mind to think up ways of adding and multiplying to make an invisible abacus of entrailed structures in the Ebon stink.

Donneray

We do not know whether the Sun will rise

Jungle Warfare

...I am justification to be pulled-out and paraded lest judicial review ever become a priority and need to be produced. Better that I was just a paper-tick...
Gold cherry

The Temple

In India, when I was young, a laced-up collar and a new-spiced bun were the things I treasured most. Not Karole, my half-sister whom I despised; nor...
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Sleepy Time

There are times when sleep is regarded with contempt, usually by those who don't require it. 'Lazybones', 'bone idle', etcetera. What's it got to do...
Cherry

Stacey on the Lunch

Decelerated positron emissions born a thousand centuries earlier bathed her face in the warmth of a late Spring morning. This time was ours and no...

Wibsey

Wibsey means "Wibba's island", from my Granpappy Wibba. An alternative derivation is that wib is a corruption of Old English wibwob, meaning witheys...

Emma with the Back Pocket that Stretches to Fit

Zam! The taxi door slammed shut and the cab ascended into the air. Emma, cool to within a nanometre of godesslike, stretched her legs, breathed in...

A Wake for Barney

The tree tops blew in the wild storm, the swish of the branches painting a picture in the mind that the eye could not see. Paul called out somewhere...

Red Love

Pale as the moon she strolls through the streets of Avignon the sun burnishing the red hair yet somehow it don't eat at all the pale skin upon her...
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Cherry

Like Kings

The tree tops blew in the wild storm, the swish of the branches painting a picture in the mind that the eye could not see. Paul called out somewhere...

My inspiration point

When I was fifteen my mum got me a tutor to help me through exams. He was amazing, he got me to appreciate what I was doing in a new light. He got me...

Clean Smelling Sheets

On stage the set had changed to roses on the old castle walls, presumably the matured plants put there to honour the young king's grandmother all...

The Fissure King

You've heard scratchings. You'll have heard unusual... goings on. Have you ever stayed up too late or woken in the night to feel there's someone.....

Hamish

Hamish sat quizzically just beyond the small puddle slowly growing wider. At no point had Alice told him not to sit there, in the cool bowl of fresh...
Cherry

Cardamom Hills (extract)

I screamed in the night and there was no-one there to hear me. Upon returning to my native St Catherine's from such travels in Provence as can be...

Glam - Part One

'Nice, ain't she?' I looked away from the object of my distraction to find an older gent, in his sixties perhaps, long hair greasy and greying...

Glam - Part Two

Inside, a step allows those entering more headroom than I had expected. I notice the light from outside still streaming in so I turn to find he had...

Modern Tête

Orange, celery, parsley blancmange in pastry cups; brown thin baskets that contrasted primly with their delicious modern fillings creating luscious...

Connect 4

In twelve months I believe I will have consolidated power over these people. Look at them. Maire sitting by the biscuits when she should've risen to...

Buzz Driver

The drilling from upstairs began at eleven last night. A bit late, thought Graham, but maybe it's an emergency or a short job that they want to get...
Cherry

Hire Purchase

Sunshine beats upon a rain soaked street, somewhere outside the conference centre on the Western Approach. The weather contradicts itself as it has...
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Cherry

Alithos Anesti.

"Hello?" "Hello?!" "Hello!... Can you hear me?" Echoes. Echoes. Glassy hard sounds, like drips on solid sheening marble rock. A drop, a pause, a drop...

LAX to Catalina, via Northridge

Standing on the sidewalk as the flyover achieves almost fifteen degrees on its rise over the central freeway, waiting on a bus to take us to Long...

Dansin' in the Stalls

"Do I get a concession? I'm 96 and my friend's 84." "Well she's a spring chicken then." "Och I know, son, I wish I was 84 again. But I've had a good...
Cherry

In The Stair: 1

They moved in towards Winter a couple of years ago. Neither of them from round here, no one is these days. It's not like when we first moved here and...

Jack

March, we headed off to a resort on the Riviera mummy had been told about by a Spanish oil baron that New Year. The very idea of a Spanish oil baron...

Stareman to Queen Bitch

Why are you reading this story? Did you think, 'ooh redhead!' Your eyes flicking casually across the screen looking for something different. Not the...
Cherry

A Seagull Paused

On a misty morning when the wind cooled my brow, I walked to the bus stop to see what time my bus would come. The bin lorries, two abreast, went up...
Cherry

Silver Daughter

Talk had it she was from the island. There weren’t supposed to be folk living there, apart from the lighthouse men. She was a foundling. Dr Innes had...
Cherry

A Life of Cryin' - part 1

It was an early wish of mine to bring entertainment to the streets. Growing up in the city of Dundee, this was both a need sore-lacking, and a...
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Mace

Blunt, tacit grunt alerts them, diverts them from the Gothic tracery they're engrossed in. Standing 5 feet tall, he blocks the hall from wall to wall...
Cherry

The Night Air

Calling us, from the frosty boats adrift on the nightened waters, softly the voices of children drifted across our encampment. Alice cooried-in...

The Night Air II

Alice had melted away as if the mist had wrapped her up in cotton wool and popped her in a box for safe keeping. I felt that warmth too, as if packed...

Lady Jaguarundi

The laughing girl catches me ogling her from across the bar. I'm set in stone momentarily yet manage to bring my eyes back around to Frances, who's...
Cherry

Natalie

A good-for-nothing, gormless, sprot!' had been her school report card's most memorable quote at fourteen. Her mother taking her to task over her...

Mille Feuilles (Lunch Crunch)

Curled leaves, dried leaves, dead and dying as the trees change their diet for Winter. A breeze, not freezing, blows on the base of my skull. My feet...
Cherry

Bike Thieves

Marissa was a tomboy, her curly black shin hairs and skills at football on the playing field making her the talk of Primary Five. Early on in our...

Marzipan Expressway

In 1948, Pablo invented 'Marzipan Expressway', a new form of competitive racing experience that blended many people's favourite thing about Simnel...

The Fallen (excerpt)

A wheel spins on the horizontal, slowing to stillness in the frigid hall. Books lie scattered. His fingertips trace the outline of a decorative...
Cherry

Snorri Sturluson*

Götterdämmerung - 79 His breath has rapidly slowed. Two weeks ago I first visited. He has lain here pretty much ever since. Or sat in the chair next...
Cherry

The Corner Library

At the age of nine, my world revolved around books. I had not yet gotten into hard science fiction or whimsical fantasy; I liked Westerns, I liked...

The Greatest Feast Day of them All

‘And he’s going to have his first Christmas. I don’t know if I should get him something, or something by proxy for James and Marie, since Adam might...
Cherry

Athena

On Saturn’s green and marschy land, the Goddess Athena did land. Adrift from home and hope and fate, she’d had a lot upon her plate. So, settled in...
Cherry

The Knights at Camelot in Christmas

Fitt I Right then! Time to start the story. The Knights of the Round Table we shall meet, via the tale of one of them: Noble Sir Gawain. And when we...