The winter sun streamed through the library window, hitting the side of the wooden shelf. The poster on the side of the next rack had turned from its original two colours to a steady change in hue over the years, the words “never judge a book by its cover” starting out black, but ending a […]
Behind The Scenes: Arcana
This is the “Behind The Scenes” post for my latest short story, “Arcana”. Please read the original story first if you want to avoid spoilers, because this one is really very spoilery indeed. You’ve been warned… This one came to me around Tuesday or Wednesday evening, and it made me smile – the idea that […]
Arcana
Destiny Jones watched the rain against the window and cradled her coffee mug in both hands. Like many naturally thin people, she had low blood pressure. And like many people with low blood pressure, she felt the cold. And on a cold November day, a single gas bottle heater cuts through the cold like a […]
Behind The Scenes: Poppy And Zara
This is the “Behind The Scenes” post for the story “Poppy And Zara. Please read the original story first if you want to avoid spoilers. This story flowed. It’s nice when that happens, and it doesn’t happen all that often. I started with it, and every sentence seemed right, it seemed to be making the […]
Poppy And Zara
The alarm went off at six, an hour or so earlier than usual. I looked, bleary-eyed, round my little hotel room before working out exactly where I was. The conference! Ugh. Another three days of dreary “keynote” speeches, dull technical presentations and question and answer panels with all the personality of a wet cabbage. And […]
Behind The Scenes: Just The Ticket
This is the “Behind The Scenes” post for “Just The Ticket“. Please read the original story first if you want to avoid spoilers… This one started as a nice idea, a little twist, a gimmick. I thought it would be quite easy to write. But it wasn’t. It was actually really quite hard,and I’m not […]
Just The Ticket
I bought a lottery ticket Sunday morning. I haven’t done that in years, not since the lottery started probably. Just on a whim really, because it was a roll over – fifty-two million. Don’t win if you don’t play, do you? So I picked six numbers, off the top of my head. Seven and Nine, […]
Behind The Scenes: Last Drawer On The Right
This is the “Behind The Scenes” post for Last Drawer On The Right. Please read the original story first if you want to avoid spoilers… This one I wrote in a different manner to the others. Normally I have no idea what I’m going to write, and then lock myself away in the office Saturday […]
Last Drawer On The Right
I sat down on the old cracked leather sofa, thinking. This house is mine, now. After all this time. I came here as a kid, played here, spent my first Christmas gurgling and laughing on the very floor I’m staring at. When I was eight I ate too many Easter eggs and had to spend […]
Behind The Scenes: Harold Green Is Dead
This was an odd one. I started feeling unwell on Thursday afternoon – some kind of stomach problem (I’m prone to them) – and this continued right through the weekend and into this week (in fact, I’m still fighting it this Thursday evening, a week later). Anyhow, I somehow made myself plough through it while flying on painkillers.