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Be Ruled by Me, and Other Stories
There is no single, unifying theme to the 22 stories in this collection. Many have an element of fantasy. Two stories involve the intrusion of a historical period (the Peasants’ Revolt, Jacobean England) into our present-day world; another features a wholly imaginary world. Sometimes the inspiration comes from folklore, such as a shapeshifting hare or pagan aspects of a harvest festival. In one story, the fantasy is based on a dream; another describes a frightening train journey. Memory is often important: people look back on their younger lives, trying to make sense of the past.
Structure is crucial in a short story. Some of these are narrated in a café, a pub or a club. The reaction of the listeners is significant. Sometimes, characters are reading an old journal, a series of letters, a recommended book or a poem set for homework. How do they respond?
Three stories may be categorised as flash fiction. They comprise only about 250 words each and are attempts to develop the possibilities of this format.
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Six Sherds
The six ‘sherds’ contained here – whether fragments of a novel, or short stories, or what you will – cover a good deal of ground, from a highly apocryphal tale of an errant young Jesus to a tattooist’s caper in Polynesia, stopping off in Renaissance Venice and England at the time of Queen Elizabeth I (with the Royal personage herself making a revealing appearance).
These disparate pieces are united by the eternal pursuits of love, desire and the quest for a higher power, all wrapped up in the author’s highly individual prose style, which contrives to be at once cynical and Olympian.
‘From the stables and pastures of Andrew Motion, the late Max Harris, David K. Wong, and Sid Stebel, comes the author, so shall ye read.’
– John Lawson£13.99 -
A Visitation and Other Stories
A short story or two with a cup of tea is an ideal way to relax and escape from the cares of the world. None of the stories in this book are overlong, and all make for easy reading. The subjects are varied, ranging from ghost stories to little slices of life, with at least one drawn from the author’s own experience. He hopes the reader derives as much pleasure from reading them as he did from writing them.
£9.99