Dedicated publisher of fiction, poetry and memoir
They were given many names, like 'witch,' or 'bitch,' or 'whore.' I dress in their stories, patterned and purple as night, like the bruises they wore: these troublesome women who always wanted more. Why wouldn't they just accept their position as subordinate, as Adam's rib, as The Lord commanded it? So the men would ask.... Continue Reading →
He picks up the bottle, pours out of it a stream of bitter and slanderous lies. I stand for truth: I am bombarded, yet I stand, embattled, battle-hardened. The tirade of abuse hits like a hurricane, but my limbs are seasoned timber: I have weathered many storms. Where there is hatred, let me bring love…... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, we’re not given a chance to come to terms with the imminence of our death. Something unexpected happens, and before we know it, it’s all over. I’d parked the car at the sea shore. The waves were getting wilder, and my son pointed out a particularly high one on the horizon. In a panic,... Continue Reading →
Prime Minister Burris Jackson addresses the people of Brexitannia, after the Corollavirus outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation... "We face an invisible, unprecedented enemy. We are fighting a foe we cannot see, with the simple tools of soap, water, and our own singing voices. Remember to wash your hands for... Continue Reading →
It's getting closer to home now: easy to ignore unliveable wet bulb temperatures in the Indus Valley, perhaps, but when whole towns are decimated just down the road in Germany, even the ears of the deaf start to prick up. Still want your pipeline now, Angela? Meanwhile, across the Channel, the new Health Secretary has... Continue Reading →
All those close to the President would be lined up outside the Palace and told to run, but they wouldn’t get far. I was in the airport. They were coming for us there too, but there were no guns, only razor blades. I escaped down the service lift and hid in the luggage conveyor. I’d... Continue Reading →
I am an old man. I had a busy life once. A wife, a family, a career, but these days, retired, I live alone. I am swiftly advancing in years: too swiftly. I have some friends. I value those friends, and I hope they value me. We meet on a regular basis, in pubs, and... Continue Reading →
Spring has whispered its spell over the barren countryside turning the brown, one green. It has not yet reached the high karst mountain summits, but in the stand of beach cladding the slopes, witness its reaching. Another week, another day, another hour, and there will be a time for such a summit. Now the wild... Continue Reading →
There was a fireplace in my old bedroom, or rather, an empty space where a fireplace used to be. Except that the empty space had now been filled by a blue-and-white chest of drawers. Every night, I'd wait until the grown-ups were asleep and then I'd move them. Because only I knew that behind that... Continue Reading →
In the dead of night we come upon the castle. We are an army. An army of the forgotten. An army of the usurped, the persecuted and betrayed. We have brooked long lockdowns and isolation, to the point where we almost became locked down at heart. But always within the heart there is a spark,... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 