The Shortbread Tales

The recipe: the rich mixture of stories that comprise The Shortbread Tales brings the reader face to face with a diversity of yarns, covering encounters with the SAS in Borneo, robberies, horse racing, financial escapades and ghostly experiences. The locations are as varied as the subject matter: from South Shields to the South Seas. All the short stories have the cachet of being true, or taken with a pinch of salt; the majority were experienced first-hand by the author. A vital ingredient is comedy. The stories recognize and amplify the funny side of life, they are devoid of social comment. Instead they aim to uplift the spirit through humour. The twenty tales comprise quick, easy and rewarding reads, with which people of all ages, can readily relate. The Shortbread Tales provide ideal bedtime reads, travelling material, or waiting room companions. They are delivered with insight, and are well-crafted to entertain and amuse the reader. Cook’s tip: perfect for reading on a tea break. Serve with a cuppa and a shortbread biscuit. Bon appétit!

Shooting at Morals

A man dies, yet lives on to tell about it; another man travels to Vegas seeking the base but instead finds the noble; a young woman too eager to please gets in over her head; a young man mistakes cowardice for revolution; and a teenager decides to take justice into her own hands. All these and others find themselves Shooting at Morals. But they also find that when they do so, morals can, and do, shoot back.     "Veteran non-fiction author and philosopher Loewen turns to fiction. The results will amuse you. Disturb you. Shock you. Shooting at Morals: truly 'the most dangerous game' of all."

Christmas Stories

A collection of twelve short, wonderful and magical stories to warm your heart this Christmas.

White Shadows

When Reason Dreams

We live in a rational age in which science and modern technology have removed doubt and ignorance. We no longer fear the dark, we no longer need to use superstitious symbols to protect our houses and families. We know what is happening in the world and are in contact with friends and family who might live miles away. Ours is a rational world… or is it?

These short ghost stories are not set in remote Scottish castles or haunted Victorian houses. They are about the modern world, places where you would not expect to encounter the supernatural. Just because we can see the world on television, speak with people across the oceans and know exactly what causes natural phenomena, the happenings that so terrified our ancestors, does not mean that ghosts have disappeared. Scientific progress has not buried the supernatural.

Children play with long dead ghostly friends, a cruise ship is haunted, a Stuart tragedy reveals its secret in a horrifying way, a married man revisits his past in Florence where he meets his death lured by the ghost of a former lover, a doctor fails to save his wife’s death in a car accident and is haunted to destruction by her spirit, a man is obsessed by a dream, an art dealer steals a painting from an old lady but her ghost returns to pursue him, a man buys a First World War memorial plaque and wished he had never seen it.

Reason and logic still dream.

We’ll Be Alright

Fighting is the most natural instinct in mankind,  whether they are young or old; whether it is fighting back an oppressive system; fighting in wars; fighting back our desires, or fighting each other. We all fight.

A memorable history lesson that will change the course of two teenagers lives, little voices that speak up big words, a soldier’s diary and the vows of a broken lover.

We’ll Be Alright tells the story of everyday struggles wrapped up in extraordinary events but grounded with emotions and humanity.

Turn Back Now

Fourteen stories filled with love and hate; mystery and suspense; hope and fear; regret and triumph; truth and lies; fantasy and reality; winners and losers; and life and death.

Stories of ordinary people who are living ordinary lives, doing ordinary things.

Waiting for a train

Waiting for a mechanic

Still waiting for a train

Working salesman

Spending a day at the hospital

Meeting a new patient

Planning a surprise

Meeting an old friend

Revisiting a precious memory

Standing in a quiet street

Experiencing scary night

Feeling a woman’s passion

Searching as a budding reporter

Receiving a generous gift

They are all ordinary people until…

Tile Tales

When young I often wrote stories, either to fulfil the requirements of school or for my own pleasure. At one point I joined a circle of budding writers; we never met but circulated our tales by post. This was a short-lived experience. The rather harsh criticisms dampened my enthusiasm, it would appear. Thereafter, a working life and family needs pushed the idea of writing largely out of my mind, until that light-bulb moment arrived. Like so many others, I had been playing the popular word game, Scrabble, with family and friends over many years, and more recently a similar internet-based game using a tablet. I decided that, by keeping note of the final medley of words from each game, it might be possible to write a short story utilising some of these words, which might trigger in my mind a setting, a plot or characters of a short tale. One more constraint I imposed was that each story should be no longer than one printed page. So, this I set out to do, and while not every game produced words that fired my imagination, many did. This collection of short stories is the result.

The World Behind Glass

The World Behind Glass is a collection of short stories that try to depict a world that every human being creates in their subconscious and lives in fear of. A world that is bigger than they imagined and beyond the world in which they live. Every moment they try to know themselves in the world of their imagination, but every moment they find themselves in a labyrinth that brings them back to the beginning of the road, creating eerie and frightening conditions for them. Frustration and fear pervade their whole being, and every moment, this person shows a different reaction from what is their character.

The Woman from the Other Side

This collection of short stories focuses on the lives of ordinary working-class people from Northern Ireland. It is set against the backdrop of the ‘Troubles’ and the province’s more recent history. Strong female characters often carry the narrative, and the story which gives its title to the collection is that of a Catholic woman from the South who marries a staunch Northern Protestant, and they settle in Belfast. The strife which ensues reflects the divided communities which the rest of the book can testify to.

In their depiction of everyday violence and intimidation, the stories bring to light more latent themes of homosexuality, sexism, and prejudice. A strong focus on family bonds means that the collection provokes a profound resonance with a large number of us who have grown up in tight family circles. In many ways, the ‘Troubles’ serve to underline the tensions inherent in these bonds.

The Things We Keep in the Cupboard

The Things We Keep in the Cupboard is a collection of four short stories which reflect on lives not quite lived.

In the title story, Linda May Grey is dead but there are things that need to be dealt with. She has left eight items for collection but there is no answer to the executor’s letters. Will anyone come forward to claim them?

In Whatever Happened to Sarah-Jayne? (shortlisted by the Cinnamon Press Short Story Competition) Otis is haunted by a life he could have lived, if only he hadn’t told her about what happened in the cloakroom.

Transplant sees Raf Lieke returning home to a familiar face, but is the person underneath it the same as when he left?

I Salute the Sea is set in a strange future where each person is awarded one day in an ultimate reality. But when you have just one day to tell a stranger you love them, just one day to live a lifetime, what day would you choose?

The Tales of Hidden Truth I

As little Azure’s fears and doubt begin to grow more and more powerful, she sets out on a quest to find the one thing that can liberate her: the fabled ‘Dream Flower’! Along the way, she meets various people and beasts, and learns more about the world, while steadily reaching her goal. In the second story, we follow Globalea’s road to power and her fall from greatness. As she narrates her story and of her various ordeals, more and more of her emotions reach out, ultimately resulting in dramatic showdowns and a heart-stopping finale.