Short Stories

 

Work of between 1,001 and 10,000 words, covering all genres. 

 

God is Over All
James Roderick Burns
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In December 1900, three lighthouse keepers on a remote Scottish island - battered by Atlantic storms and the intense emotions of confinement - disappear without trace, leaving an enduring mystery in this most mysterious of places.
Hocus Pocus
Paul Lahert
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Fleeing an abusive relationship, a young woman returns to her hometown and her bereaved mother. ***Please Note: This story is also available in the collection "Indelible and Other Stories".***
Itch/Scratch
Paul Lahert
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As the city swelters in a heatwave, an unfaithful husband makes his way home to a wife whose eyes are no longer closed. ***Please Note: This story is also available in the collection "Indelible and Other Stories".***
Honour Thy Father and Thy Mother
Sean McSweeney
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Everyone knows it will happen. But who do we blame? Ourselves? Each other? Me? You? Them?
Glass Jaw
Paul Lahert
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A boxer finds himself taking a beating in the early rounds of a prize-fight, but his opponent isn't the only thing he's fighting. ***Please Note: This story also appears in the collection "Indelible and Other Stories".***
Animals and Children
Paul Lahert
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After a sealing a deal that is going to save his year, a salesman finds his good run continues during a boozy card game with colleagues. But the hangover is coming...
This Isn't Me
Paul Lahert
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A married woman sits in a hotel bar on the verge of starting an affair. The rest should be simple.
S. M. A. R. T.
Tim Kelly
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Are you an ideal employee? Do you know the route to success? Are you S.M.A.R.T? If so, there’s no need to read this satirical take on the world of work and the decline of the contemporary university.
The Boetmen
Tim Kelly
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Who are the Boetmen? What are the Boetmen? What do they do? Take a journey into the world of eco-horror In this terrifying representation of toxic masculinity.
Pram Pusher
Yasmin Keyani
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18 year old Jemima is still grieving over the death of her mother and unborn sibling two years before and still arguing with her father about her dreams of moving away from home and going to university. We walk with her and best friend Monica as they walk to work and find an empty pram. This triggers a lot of upset in Jem and we hear about what really happened to her mother.
Chiara
Alwyn Marriage
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What the story of St Clare doesn't tell... In this poem, Alwyn Marriage suggests that St Clare (1194-1253) may be a rather more interesting figure than history suggests. Clare Offreduccio (Chiara) was a normal, healthy and enthusiastic teenager until she was swept off her feet by the dashing young Francis, whom she heard preach with passion. Abandoning her previous life to follow him, she devoted herself to a life of chastity and charity. Images of St Clare in art tend to depict her as an icon of humble obedience and purity, but there may well be more to the story than that. While not wishing to diminish Clare's genuine piety and good works at all, this story suggests that Clare's obvious love of St Francis was more full-blooded and passionate than the official stories have suggested, and that ending up in a convent was not quite what Clare had in mind. (Please note: This is a poem, rather than a story)
William Harvey's Visitor
Alwyn Marriage
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In 1628, the English physician and anatomist, William Harvey, discovered the circulation of the blood. This story explores whether this great leap in medical knowledge might also be seen as a metaphor for something even more surprising.
Esquimaux
Lillian Aldus
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A young couple are taken on a life-changing journey. A story based on real events.
The Swan
Lillian Aldus
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A young woman tries to escape her stifling and superstitious community.
Mr H's Angels
Jo Reardon
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London in the eighteenth century is no place to raise a child alone, without money or a place to live. Lili knows that the only hope her son has of living a better life is to take him to the Foundling Hospital where he might, if he's lucky, find a place in Mr Handel's famous choir. ('Mr H's Angels' was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Short Story Prize in 2014)
Tell Us a Joke
Sean McSweeney
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Nigel is long past his peak, and a string of trivial incidents during a boozy day at the pub bring it home to him. Memories of times gone by are of no solace when you don't get the respect you think you deserve.
The Prosperous Dutchman
Carmen Nina Walton
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An ambitious artist seeks to reconnect with influential figures from his past.
Family Gatherings
Carmen Nina Walton
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Ahead of a visit from her returning sister, a woman considers the effect of her father on their family.
Days to Come
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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A collection of eight short speculative fictions with a Lake District flavour.
Clouds of Glory
Lawrence Freiesleben
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Back in the early 1970's, three ten-year old friends go up town to cause trouble.
Grow and Warm the Earth
Greg Lawrence
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Everyone hits Paul Doe, the teacher's pet. But what happens when you don't?
Shooting Stars
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Memories around a short-term summer job years ago still linger.
The White Dog Of Barafundle Bay
Lynda Nash
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A soldier home on leave sees things he cannot quite believe and finds his wife in a strange, compromising position. "The Boathouse Café had an air about it that suggested sea and sand. If it had been inland patrons would have drank their coffee, eaten their scones and felt nostalgic for the beach without knowing why. It was the décor, Phillip decided. Crisp white walls, low beams, driftwood picture frames, and a candy striped canopy over the ice-cream booth outside. He ordered a fried egg and sausage bap but the assistant with a tattoo on her boney arm, written in a script he couldn’t decipher, informed him that it was after eleven o’clock. They didn’t serve breakfast after eleven, but since when had fried egg and sausage become solely breakfast food? Had he been away that long? If he decided to take the next tour – Middle East, Mosul or Marshhad no doubt – would he come back to find soup sold at lunchtime only or teacakes served only after three in the afternoon? The girl’s lip curled when she spoke to him as if he were the hundredth person to ask for sausage and egg that day. Did she have no respect for a uniform? For all he knew she might have thought his clothes were fancy dress and him, just another case of too much sun to the head. The sun had a lot to answer for in these parts..."
Spooning With Colin
Lynda Nash
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Colin is an estate agent with idiosyncrasies and a hatred of cats - which drives the narrator to despair. "When we met, Colin was thirty-five, an estate agent with a collection of vinyl records that stretched from floor to ceiling and a head of hair like Lee van Cleef. For the first few months we were together Colin adored me. He adored my turned up nose, my wonky smile, the way I read a map upside down. Quirky he called me..."
The Nixie
David Phelps
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What is a princess to do with unwanted male attention? Perhaps the dark spirit of the river can help. (This ebook also includes an additional story)
Lullaby
Lawrence Freiesleben
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From a gently insidious dystopian future, a woman looks back on her life and the true love she knows she missed out on. Finally, she remains undismayed, confident that the human span isn't everything.
Danny's Island
Chip Tolson
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A reunion with an old flame leads Meg into an adventure where she meets with both success and catastrophe.
The Night Study
David Phelps
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A Danish painter is driven into exile by his father. But he can never escape the chains of the family's dark secrets.
The War Hero the Film Star and the Footman and Another Story
David Phelps
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A young footman's eyes are opened to the reality of life when he takes up a position working for a glamorous couple. (This e-book also includes the story "What Have You Done To Your Hand, John?")
Home to Roost and Other Stories
JD Mac Namara
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A collection of almost true stories concerning the doings, nefarious and otherwise, of the unique people of Erris, where the next parish west is America and where nothing is quite as one might expect.
Contributory Culpability
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Morning walks, an irrational fear, and a story of past, lethal transgression revealed.
Second Honeymoon
Kate Mitchell
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During her anniversary holiday in Egypt, Judy decides that one honeymoon is one too many, and it's time for a change.
Sand
Kate Mitchell
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Memories of her disappeared little brother won't let Nadine go.
Eclipsed
Kate Mitchell
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Dan has persuaded Amanda to accompany him on a cruise of the Faro Islands, to see the eclipse. But are they being followed? In this chilling tale, we find Dan must make hard decisions, in order to safeguard his marriage.
Background Music
Sue Wilsea
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Opportunity could be about to knock for a young musician.
Dawn Chorus
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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On the road, escaping from a confrontation a young man unexpectedly returns home, but when his friend retells the story, does he get it right?
Rebirth in Earth
Alyson Morris
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An estranged daughter goes to her father's funeral.
Beware Green Eyes
Ceinwen E. Cariad Haydon
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A young girl's ghost friend turns out to be a liar. (A story for readers of 9 years of age or older)
Voiceless It Cries
SG Fisher
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With a subtle spice of gingerbread in the air, a lonely woman walks where the wind guides her. A suburban fairy tale, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's early works.
Hugh McPearson and the Confounding Riddles
Steve Way
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In his sixth bizarre adventure Hugh (and his brother who is also called Hugh) face their nemesis. This mysterious master villain has already stolen all the gold from The Bank of England and all the paintings from Buckingham Palace and now Hugh (and Hugh) have to prevent the villain from... well, they don't know what to prevent unless they can crack the villain's mysterious coded riddles. According to Hugh (Hugh's brother) a total twit is needed. Confused? Read on...
Bin Day
Wendy Gill
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A woman in a controlling marriage is liberated by an unfortunate turn of events.
Reaching You
Ceinwen E. Cariad Haydon
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A story about friendship, loss and seemingly supernatural forces that may or may not be the product of a disturbed mind.
Hugh McPearson and the Agreement Gas
Steve Way
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In his fifth inconsequential adventure at the request of the Prime Minister our hero attempts to save the nation by uncovering the heinous villain behind the production of Agreement Gas, which very dangerously makes everyone agree with each other! In the course of his adventure he becomes the first ostrich to fly - downwards to go upwards as well as upwards - disguises himself as a corner flag and becomes one of the first ever to sit in a spell. To find out more... read the story! How simple could it be!
I don't believe in vampires
“So, you don’t believe in vampires?” I shrugged nonchalantly: did he really expect me to believe in vampires? This was the 21st century. “And do you believe in God?” The old man was getting tiresome. This job was going to be more tedious than I’d anticipated. “No I don’t believe in God and I don’t believe in vampires.” “Yet you seek them out?” He turned and patted one of the two bloodhounds sitting by his side. “I’m interested in contemporary cultural phenomena. I’m a journalist, doing a story on cult groups, hence my interest in your Primave Society, Mr Faust.” “I see.” I took out my notebook and pencil. “Does Primave have a meaning? Is there some Italian connection?” “All things have meaning, young man.” “And is Nero Faust a pseudonym? It’s not your real name, is it?” “Names are just convenient labels. And all names are chosen, the only question is by whom. Take your name, for example. A famous, dare I say, notorious one: Mr William Van Helsing.” “I inherited my name, Mr Faust. It’s useful: my editor lets me write about all things spooky, weird and wonderful.” “Yes, the name intrigued me and I must confess it is why I accepted your request: we do not in normal circumstances allow outsiders to partake in the gatherings of the Primave.” He paused a moment. “So, are you the grandchild of the famed Professor Abraham Van Helsing?” “Grandchild? A great, great, great grandchild, I think. He’s been dead a hundred years.” And then Nero Faust did something strange: he leant towards me and with a long fingernail moved the hair that hung down over my forehead to one side, and started at me intensely. “Yes, I see the resemblance...”
I don't believe in vampires
Tim Kelly
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“So, you don’t believe in vampires?” I shrugged nonchalantly: did he really expect me to believe in vampires? This was the 21st century. “And do you believe in God?” The old man was getting tiresome. This job was going to be more tedious than I’d anticipated. “No I don’t believe in God and I don’t believe in vampires.” “Yet you seek them out?” He turned and patted one of the two bloodhounds sitting by his side. “I’m interested in contemporary cultural phenomena. I’m a journalist, doing a story on cult groups, hence my interest in your Primave Society, Mr Faust.” “I see.” I took out my notebook and pencil. “Does Primave have a meaning? Is there some Italian connection?” “All things have meaning, young man.” “And is Nero Faust a pseudonym? It’s not your real name, is it?” “Names are just convenient labels. And all names are chosen, the only question is by whom. Take your name, for example. A famous, dare I say, notorious one: Mr William Van Helsing.” “I inherited my name, Mr Faust. It’s useful: my editor lets me write about all things spooky, weird and wonderful.” “Yes, the name intrigued me and I must confess it is why I accepted your request: we do not in normal circumstances allow outsiders to partake in the gatherings of the Primave.” He paused a moment. “So, are you the grandchild of the famed Professor Abraham Van Helsing?” “Grandchild? A great, great, great grandchild, I think. He’s been dead a hundred years.” And then Nero Faust did something strange: he leant towards me and with a long fingernail moved the hair that hung down over my forehead to one side, and started at me intensely. “Yes, I see the resemblance...”
The Tower Block
Neil Randall
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A multi-generational story, set in a tower block in London, told from the POV of a brick in a wall.
Cut Back Flat
Andy Gaskins
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Double the rent or half a flat. Your choice.
Checking Out
dc lauf
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If the public don't have the discipline to watch what they put into their mouths then the state is just going to have to do it for them...
The Green Man
dc lauf
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Looking for a fresh start, Maison moves to a remote country village. But instead of finding the peace and tranquility she'd hoped for, she discovers something rather more sinister in the shadows of England's green and pleasant land.
The Best Laid Plans
Prue Leith
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Helen is someone who takes hosting Christmas very seriously. Everything is planned to the last detail. But things don't always go the we plan them to.
By the River
Sue Wilsea
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Terrible things happen down by the river: it is a place of despair where humans do their worst to each other. Yet it is also a place where ghosts can be laid to rest. In this story, originally published in Umber (2011), the voices of a bereaved 60 year old woman, a teenage boy who’s lost his way in life and a murdered Viking are woven into a dark story of revenge and tragedy.
Cloud 9
Naomi Richardson
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Morgan is concerned about her mother...
Unusual Results
Steve Way
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A story for 8 to 11 yea-olds. Having eaten some of the wizard's magic jelly, which was supposed to make him sing better but didn't, King Popple spends every day making up football results. Meanwhile for a not unrelated reason everyone has purple wax constantly dribbling out of their ears and all the children under 5 think they are cows. Hopefully the chamberlain might have a useful idea...
More Than Cold
Paul Lahert
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Some things are better left unfound. After weeks working offshore and away from his wife, a man waits to be reunited with her in a hired cottage. However, she's running late and into the void of her absence comes a feeling that something is wrong, and a persistent chill that won't just leave him be.
The Daddy In The Box
Naomi Richardson
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It’s early 1950’s and 4-year-old Ruth is embarking on a new phase of her young life. She’s off to live at the seaside, with her great aunts, Constance, Rose and Pearly Trice. The story covers the next few years of Ruth’s life as she struggles to come to terms with the mystery surrounding her father and the bewildering behaviour of adults.
Queen of Clubs
Allen Ashley
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Living alone, currently unemployed, behind with the rent and with only sour milk and mouldy cheese left in the fridge, Henry Merriweather tells himself that “It’s just the usual modern male condition.” Mundane matters don’t concern him greatly because he is on a mission to form a union with his dream woman, the Queen of Clubs. From the standard deck of playing cards. A taut, witty and moving urban fantasy.
No One Ever
Sean McSweeney
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“Many who waded through the water coloured it with their blood, wine-red – a new meaning for the wine-dark sea of legend…” The battle of Marathon, fought in a time of treachery, danger and intense fear and superstition, was a military disaster for the Persians. But it was not the end of danger for Greece, and the courier’s famous triumphant journey, commemorated in the Olympic race, carried a frightening secret: “His own shadow, long and thin in front of him, was like a rope pulling him towards Athens; as he neared his destination so it gradually shortened, so the sun rose, so the enemy fleet moved towards Phalerum.” What of the Athenian runner himself? Surely, there was no way he could have known how his feat would be celebrated: “Thousands upon thousands of people running. In all the known world, and even lands beyond.” He would surely not have known or cared how fast he was running. And he would not have been able to predict that two messengers, not one, would be named in the annals. Or would he?
Broken Link
PD Jennings
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A young boy wanders through a crumbling wasteland looking for his sister.
My Mind's Eye
Jo Reardon
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Anna Maria is an opera singer who, following an accident, has forgotten how to sing. She starts to find her voice again in the most unlikely place and with the most unlikely people, in a place of sanctuary where the strangest character of all is a young boy whom only she can see.
Naz and the Djinn
Sandra Horn
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When Naz opens an old bottle he finds on the beach, he gets the shock of his life: out comes Azrael, the Djinn, who has been trapped inside for thousands of years by a magic spell. The spell can only be broken, and Azrael set free for ever, by smashing the seemingly unbreakable bottle. Azrael demands Naz's help to do it. The two set out on a hilarious quest which includes a steamroller, a purple toad, a snooty girl and a troupe of Boy Scouts. All the while, Naz tries to stop Azrael causing too much mayhem, and it isn't long before he wishes he'd never met the Djin at all. Naz and the Djinn is a fun-filled read which offers a modern twist to a traditional tale and will delight readers from 7-11.
Beyond Her Scream
Katherine Blessan
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‘Beyond Her Scream’ is the story of a mother-daughter relationship strained by the effects of FGM. It is set against a background of cross-cultural differences and contrasting worldviews. It contains some graphic descriptions which may not be suitable for younger readers.
The Cathalump and The Lemal
Kelly Marsh
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Hear the tale of how the camel came to get its hump, told by a mother antelope to her young son. "Once upon a time, a beautiful antelope was strolling through the Sahara desert with her young son. They were extremely hot, so decided to seek shelter from the sun beneath a rather large palm tree. In the distance, surrounding a cluster of cactus trees, were a group of large biscuit coloured animals with man-made seats strapped to their backs. The son watched as they munched on the spiky leaves, while the men that were with them chatted among themselves. It was the first time that the young calf had ever seen such a sight..."
Do They Know it's Christmas?
Linda Cracknell
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Set in Edinburgh's 'Sick Kids' Hospital, this heart-warming seasonal tale tells of a cleaner's interest in the Ebola crisis during the festive season in 2014, a seemingly lonely young girl, and the connections his kindness enables. ‘I held the tip of the pen against the window. Jeez, I’d not drawn a thing since primary school. It was a bit squint but you could tell it was a star. The expression on her face didn’t change but I saw a wee click in her eyes. I started on a Christmas tree.’ A story written as part of Linda Cracknell’s writer’s residency at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, illustrated by Cate James. All author’s royalties go to the Sick Kids Friends Foundation http://www.edinburghsickkids.org/ Scottish Charity No. SC020862.
Final Accounts
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Ten flash fictions of last words, last actions, and last loves.
The Non-Adventures of Mr Sproutface and Mr Wibbleton
Nick Lovering
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Mr Sproutface and Mr Wibbleton, committed jumper wearers, museum visitors and lovers of minestrone soup, are looking for a way to escape their work in the circus. One afternoon, while sitting in a puddle of spilt breakfast cereal, they decide to follow their dream and bring cheese to the people of Basingstoke. However, the modern world is difficult. Sometimes, one faces problems that cannot be fixed with a list and a damp cloth. Whether it is cheese-dinosaurs, bakers intent on World Domination, missing hamsters or being locked in a trouser museum, non-adventures are never far away. But for every problem, there is a solution. And as long as Mr Sproutface and Mr Wibbleton have their jumpers, a bowl of minestrone soup and each other, they will find a way to keep their dream alive. This story is aimed at children between 7 and 11 but there's plenty for adults to enjoy as well.
Dual Carriageway
Claire Collison
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An unexpected twist in the closing frames of an old home movie sends Rose hurtling back to her childhood - a time and a place where no one else's parents were divorcing, and where stepmothers were as exotic as shop-bought cake. Revisiting her memories of glamorous part-time fathers and fortnightly treats, Rose unpicks the unspoken adult acrimony, and the childish confusion: "Each time they were returned to her with their bounty she was tight-lipped and unimpressed, flattening their ebullience to a shapeless guilt, their double bind of love and loyalty teaching them early to suppress their enthusiasm in her company." Dual Carriageway is about parents and children, and how complicated it all is.
Morning Tea
Rebekah Clarkson
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A woman and her young daughter are invited for morning tea at a the home of her ex-husband and his new wife. A story about the distance between how people want things to be and how they really are.
The Green Coat
Sheila Ryan
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A young girl from a poor family walks to and from her job in a factory in clothes ill suited to the cold winter weather. Her father, despite their lack of money, thinks something should be done about this.
The Lacquered Box
Elaine Ewart
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Yasuko works in a brothel in Tokyo. One night she is visited by a new client...
Mount Holly
David Churchill Barrow
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Christmas goes terribly awry for a Hessian Colonel in America.
Untouchable
Merryn Glover
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Laxmi, a girl from the lowest caste of a village in the remote west of Nepal, is told that she is the unlucky kind. But, resourceful and fiercely protective of her sister and niece, she is determined that low birth will not ruin their lives. All profits from this story go to aid work in Nepal.
How Quietly Things Fall
Hannah Glancy
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How do we cope with loss? If we don't cope, can we ever come back? An exploration of grief.
Feathers
L J Shaughnessy
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The story is about urban alienation and redemption and focuses on a despondent young woman whose life changes following a freak zoological event.
Sexton Way
Colette Coen
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It's Hallowe'en and the residents of Sexton Way gather for a street party. Both the living and the dead.
Mrs Moretti's Memoirs
Yasmin Keyani
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When George agrees to transcribe the memoir notes of his neighbour, Mrs Moretti, he uncovers much more than just the ramblings of a gentle old lady. Was Mrs Moretti an accessory to a notorious crime forty years ago? And is George in danger now?
Personal Calls
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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A mobile phone in the wrong hands, can lead to who knows what messages in the wrong ears...
The Strawberry Girl
Ben Westerham
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Meet, for the first time, David Good, Private Investigator. Plying his trade in 1980s South London, the PI with pliable morals, a taste for blondes and a full-on sense of humour, turns out to be a big softie as he takes up the challenge of sorting out yet another domestic mess. Having discovered that one Alice Jones, a young woman with a well-developed taste for strawberries, has a varied and not entirely honest life, he quickly finds himself wrestling with emotions he’d prefer would go away. As it is, they leave him confused and struggling to work out what he should do with the woman. Join Good on this little jaunt through South London and ask yourself what you would do next.
The List
Denice Penrose
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'Nancy liked the idea of listing the qualities she wanted in a man.' 'Desperate times called for desperate measures, so maybe it was time to try internet dating.' Single at twenty five, and without a man in her life, Nancy is persuaded by a friend to try internet dating. She makes a list of all the things she wants in a man for the website, and arranges a date with Neil, who ticks all the boxes. But Neil stands her up because of a family emergency, and Nancy meets Tom, who doesn’t tick any of the boxes,
Extra Dimensions
Gill James
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What do you do when you can't find a mutually convenient date? Wouldn't it be good if you could time travel just a little? Unless it got out of hand of course...
Access Denied
Gill James
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You could smell them, the people who lived in the underpass. The stench hit you before you were even within 200 yards of them. There must be about fifty there now. More arrived every day.
Pricks of Conscience
Phil Emery
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The partition doors. The other side scored with a frenzy of deep, narrow lines. Like the scratches of lunatic hypodermics. The message. That insane message.
The Hand of Providence
David Churchill Barrow
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Continental Army New Windsor Cantonment, Newburgh, New York: Mutiny is in the air during the late stages of the American Revolutionary War. "By the winter of 1782-83, tension had reached a dangerous level. The future of the Republic was in doubt." U.S. Army Field Manual 1, Chapter 1.
Hugh McPearson and the Vanishing School Bell
Steve Way
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In his fourth inconsequential adventure Hugh McPearson teams up with his side-kick Gary, apparently to solve the problem of the stolen school bell, which means that neither the teachers and children can go home. Their adventure involves a skating rink, a snoring headteacher and several chapters from a book explaining how to cope with the old cars teachers drive. (Book 4 in the Hugh McPearson series).
Countdown and Other Horror Stories
Steve Wilson
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A date from hell; a camping trip with freshly-caught meat on the menu; a Spanish lesson concerning the futility of life; an alcohol-fuelled dream or was it reality?; a secret assignation at a graveyard; the nosy neighbour who found more than he expected; the hair of the dog that wasn't a cure; the effects of the moon on a near-empty beach; exploring an alien landscape - a new collection of nine stories with a theme of horror running through them.
Inglorious Sunset and Other Stories
Steve Wilson
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A collection of a dozen stories with a romantic theme - although all is not always as it might first seem. The subject matter covers wedding anniversary surprises, prom night, an anticipated proposal, double-crossing and backstabbing, love overcoming time and mortality, mistaken identity, someone who is not as sweet as appears at first glance and a harsh payback for an innocent misdemeanour of youth.
What If and Other Stories
Steve Wilson
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Ten stories rooted in the world of science fiction - What if Hitler had died of a childhood ailment? Can you really change your destiny? The horrors of more than half a century earlier revisited; childhood games across time and space; the girl who wasn't there; an affair that wasn't what it appeared to be; a cinema visit with a difference; strange beasts on an alien world; a cyclical life; the man in the moon bides his time.
Sealed With a Kiss and Other Crime Stories
Steve Wilson
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‘Sealed With a Kiss’ is a collection of ten crime-based short stories covering topics including a social media reunion that doesn’t end as expected; a chance meeting in a bar with tragic consequences; wife-swapping with a difference; a teapot that delivers a cocktail of death; the heightened senses of a young sergeant sniff out the criminal; somebody at the library has something other than reading on their mind; a volcanic eruption scuppers best-laid plans; a gamble to replace misappropriated funds that doesn’t pay off; an old lady who mistakes people and doesn’t appear to know what she’s doing; and a flash of light for an over-bearing partner.
Providence
Lara Bardsley
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Providence is a collection of three short memoirs. The stories reveal a mother haunted by the loss of her family. Her child becomes a woman, shaped by the loss of her ancestors, deepened by the compassion for the suffering she witnessed and the resilience that grew from it.
Our Future Present
Daniel Touré
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Agent Reid and Agent Slade work for The Agency, an international organisation responsible for the security of the world's leading nations. The future is in their hands.
B Movie
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Some people you just shouldn't push.
Hollows
Stephen Tyson
£0.99 Added
At the end of a long hot summer holiday, as family conflicts simmer, the unexpected appearance of a stranger tests and then shatters the bond of friendship between two boys. Excerpt: ''During the last summer holidays before I started secondary school, my father decided to dig a pond in the back garden. I think my mother must have encouraged him, because she loved animals and wild flowers. Large yellow and white dog daisies sprawled over the rim of the broad earthenware vase on the sill behind the sink, competing for space with the bamboo wind chimes that tinkled whenever the window was open. Even when my mother wasn't washing up, she'd often rest her hands on the edge of the draining board and watch as a robin or some other feathered visitor plucked a nut from the wire cylinder that hung from the bird table''.
Platform Souls
Colette Coen
£0.99 Added
A woman waits for her friend on a station concourse even though she knows she will never arrive. Winner of the 2012 Waterstones' Crime in the City Competition
Red Sky at Night
Colette Coen
£0.99 Added
A family's new life in Australia is threatened by a bush fire, but this is not the first time the family have had to run from fire. This story won the Eileen Gilmour Creative Writing Competition in 2009
Two Wrongs
Stephen Gage
£0.99 Added
If somebody gives you something, is it wrong to want to keep it? Especially if you find out it wasn't their's in the first place? Sometimes there is only one solution.
Winemakers' Soup
Carmen Nina Walton
£1.29 Added
A young woman discovers something that threatens the family traditions that keep her safe.
Bubble Juggler
Maria Herring
£0.99 Added
A macabre tale inspired by the haunting artwork of Andrew Kinsman.
The Adventures of Morris Mouse
Terence D Forster
£0.99 Added
Once upon a time, deep inside the forest lived a little white mouse called Morris. He was a very young mouse with a long white thin tail, little pointed ears and long whiskers growing out of each side of his nose.
Little puppy dog
Terence D Forster
£0.99 Added
An old man living in the mountains finds an injured dog
Hugh McPearson and the Stolen King Neptune
Steve Way
£0.99 Added
King Neptune had been kidnapped or stolen! In his third adventure can Hugh rescue the King of the Sea? Bet he looks daft in a diving suit! (Book 3 in the Hugh McPearson series).
Hugh McPearson and the Vanishing Bread
Steve Way
£0.99 Added
In his second adventure Hugh McPearson seeks to find out why all the bread is disappearing from Mr Jones' bread shop overnight! Master of disguise he may have to take on the appearance of some form of confectionery... (Book 2 in the Hugh McPearson series).
A Garden Of Love And Paradise Along The lane
G. F. Phillips
£2.99 Added
Set in the mid 1960s, Tim Bristow is a teenager who cannot make a decision for himself and always does what his mates want to do. Religion, sex and the idea of the body have their part to play in this tale.
Ladies of the Soil
Gill Blow
£1.59 Added
A poignant story of how a broken piece of porcelain and a biscuit tin crammed with packets of seeds allow a couple to confront the tragedy in their lives.
The Monet Exhibition
Philip Mervyn
£0.99 Added
Sometimes you just can't see the big picture. It's all too confusing and you need to put a bit of distance between yourself and what you're trying to see. I could see you, but things still weren't really clear.
How It Begins
Philip Mervyn
£0.99 Added
There you are, minding your own business, trying to get this jigsaw started and there's a knock at the door. Who is this strange woman? Actually, she does look a little familiar, and she seems to know who you are. But you have to be careful. Don't trust anyone. Even the inanimate objects are out to get you...
Shanty Girl
Eugen Bacon
£0.99 Added
Crippled? Fuck that. Her right foot drags like a dog’s leash. Her right hand has muscle to lift a metal crane. Ivy Freeman is a powerhouse to reckon with. As far as serial killers go.
A Wife for the Weather Man
A. J. Norton
£0.99 Added
The Weather Man's mouse has to find a wife for the Weather Man, but...............
Tante Rouge
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Hannah is on her way to the bus stop when she is accosted by a man offering her eternal life. Once she gets over the surprise, her feelings are decidedly mixed
A Dog for Sam
Helen Stockton
£0.99 Added
It wasn't fair. Sam wanted a puppy so much it hurt. His friend Harry had a chocolate Labrador called Buttons that he walked to school on a red lead. Sam didn't have any pets, not even a goldfish and his Dad didn't live at home with them any more. As he said, it wasn't fair....
'Give You A Game?'
Michael Thomas
£0.99 Added
A coming of age tale...but what kind of age, and can this boy bear it?
Fly!
Csilla Toldy
£1.29 Added
The Weather Man's Mouse
A. J. Norton
£0.99 Added
A hard-working weather man, angry cat and dog and a lazy mouse- says it all...
The Gracie and Bella War
Sandra Horn
£0.99 Added
Nobody knew exactly when or why the war started. Some people thought it was Fred's earrings, but it went back a long way before that.
Jackdaws
C H Widestroke
£0.99 Added
Will felt like he was getting closer to understanding what they meant, in a way. He would sit on the grass and look up, watching, listening and letting their truth come to him. If he forced it too much, it would not be the truth. That mattered.
From a Mouse
C H Widestroke
£0.99 Added
If there is ever an anthology called, "Forgotten Animal Voices Through History" then this story will narrowly miss the cut. Robert Burns gave an empathic, if presumptuous, perspective; time to hear from the mouse himself.
Thrice Deny Me
Albert Woods
£0.99 Added
Strange goings on at the parish church. Good Friday's not so good.
Boxed In
Leela Soma
£0.99 Added
A story about the plight of the many children working in the fireworks factories of India. It is important that the voices of such people are heard through literature.
Box of Bananas
David Sebastian
£0.99 Added
A college drama student finds himself in the lead role of an improvised omnibus production.
I Can't Tell a Plant from a Weed
Danny Mac Cullough
£0.99 Added
Returning home to his Fenland bungalow after a round of golf, widower Harry Smith discovered a hand-written note on his door-mat. It was from Juliet Dejardin, Secretary of the local Garden Club. In the note, she wrote ”Dear Gardener, you are obviously a talented gardener...” and she wondered if he would be prepared to enter his garden in the Village Open Garden Day event. Harry wasn’t a “talented gardener”, or indeed a gardener at all; for that, he employed a local handyman. However, he decided to make contact with Juliet Dejardin. Could that be the start of a romantic friendship? Harry was soon to find out....
Nightmare
Danny Mac Cullough
£0.99 Added
Ted Woods awoke, perspiration pouring from his brow. He quickly looked around the bedroom, nothing had changed. The room was as it was before he went to sleep the previous night. It was seven in the morning, too early to get up, so he turned over and went back to sleep. It was then his nightmare began....
Dark Veil
Terence D Forster
£3.99 Added
There was nowhere to hide from this sightless pain that struck me to the ground, in fear of my life.
Coal Is Our Life
Terence D Forster
£2.49 Added
Danger, drudgery; male solidarity and female oppression summed up life in the colliery villages in County Durham during much of the nineteenth century.
Cabbages
Terence D Forster
£1.99 Added
Africa and a Hippo named Nelly
Wendy's Gift
Paul Ariss
£1.59 Added
A struggling writer's interest in an abandoned car reflects how small his life has become. That is until the car starts to beckon him in the dead of night.
Snails A La Mexicana
Rosie Cullen
£0.99 Added
Consuela exacts a unique revenge on her philandering husband Arturo - inspired by a true story!
Waste
Tracey Emerson
£0.99 Added
Alice has grown tired of life.
April
Tracey Emerson
£0.99 Added
A young mother ponders her life during an outing with her daughter who has special needs.
Seaview
Tracey Emerson
£0.99 Added
A woman begins an affair with a man she meets while visiting her mother at a residential care home.
Between the Pages
Roland Glover
£1.29 Added
From between the pages of the very last book I picked up, fell a sheet of paper. Stained manila with ragged edge where it had been ripped from a journal. The network of creases, suggestive of the roads and railways on a map, showed that once torn from its source it had been crumpled and perhaps thrown across the room.
The Beach Hut
Anna Reynolds
£0.99 Added
When I first saw the beach hut I realised it would probably be more expensive than a two bedroom town house. I pictured the agent’s face; the mocking laughter, shrieking down her phone to colleagues; ‘She thinks she can afford a beach hut!’
Ghost Of A Chance
R. G. Tooth
£1.29 Added
Gary is a wannabe film maker who is on the verge of losing his girlfriend. He is drinking in "last chance saloon" unless he can get the famous horror film actor Illych Krotowsky to be in his film, but is the man still alive?
Flatland (2) Lesley
Suzanne Bowen
£1.29 Added
The second of two companion stories about people returning to their south-coast hometown. Both have disappointments and something to conceal.
Flatland (1) Tony
Suzanne Bowen
£1.29 Added
The first of two companion stories about people returning, in disappointment, to live in their south-coast hometown. Both have something to conceal.
A Walk In The Park
Daniel Touré
£1.59 Added
Following an argument with her husband, Cara decides to take a walk in the park. There she meets an elderly man. The two begin to talk. Their conversation reveals startling insights and a troubled situation left to wither in the past.
Eggbound
Gillian Best
£0.99 Added
Charlie Carbunckle, an obsessive pigeon fancier, suffers the loss of one of his birds and the blame falls at the feet of his son Seamus.
Easy Meat
Hazel Ward
£0.99 Added
A sinister man gets more than he bargains for when he makes a move on a young woman in a bar.
The Blatherskite
Terence D Forster
£1.99 Added
Two sisters, one sister quiet and assuring and one sister a little overwhelming and demanding.
Adel's New Bride
Terence D Forster
£1.59 Added
A young Arab woman is to be married to an older man already with wives and children. He crosses the desert with his family to the town of Asyut where she sits on the roof tops crying in vain.
Wearing Silk
Katharine Grant
£1.29 Added
The best promises are very hard to keep.
Funny Old World
R. G. Tooth
£0.99 Added
Have you ever wanted to change the past? Sarah did and what's more she found herself in the privileged position to do so. Will it turn out to her satisfaction, though?
The Man Who Met Himself
Roland Glover
£0.99 Added
A man has an encounter with his doppleganger and sees himself in a different light. Their meeting has a knock on effect for not only him but his wife too. His wife begins to warm to this stranger to devestating effect.
Nine Signs to Shilbottle
James Roderick Burns
£0.99 Added
Someone has been vandalising the road signs around the village of Shilbottle.
The Proximity of Strangers
Lisa Samson
£0.99 Added
A young man follows a young woman out of a tube station.
Waterlogged
Lisa Samson
£0.99 Added
An old woman trapped by floods.
Night Fight at the Zoo
G. F. Phillips
£1.99 Added
A story about a grudge match that invokes a background of class as competition, strong passions and a sought-after revenge.
The Jeanie-Pink
Caroline Boobis
£0.99 Added
Silver Surfing classes can have unexpected consequences, as Jean and Sam discover in this story of love and loss.
The Healer
Caroline Boobis
£0.99 Added
Propelled thousands of miles away by childhood grief, Trish's search for happiness takes some unusual twists and turns.
Black Isle Secrets
Caroline Boobis
£0.99 Added
Jake escapes his old life only to discover that things may not be what they seem on the idyllic 'Black Isle'.
Horror Story
Paul Sutton Reeves
£0.99 Added
A boat trip on the fens with the ghost of Conrad.
Exodus
Angela Huskisson
£1.29 Added
Twelve workers trapped underground working on a momentous project. But 'God' has other ideas.
Closing in Five
Colin Watts
£1.29 Added
I was sitting with Sal in the Strawberry Fields café on Penny Lane. Sal of the orange hair, black leggings and red lipstick. Sal, with the dark voice, who I fancied something rotten. Sal, who scared the shit out of me...
Ms Wright
Angela Huskisson
£1.29 Added
A tale of a strange and yet compelling woman, an enigma who draws in her 'carriers' to do her bidding. But all is not how it seems as she spreads her poison. But her trail is already of interest.
The Real Me
F. Linday
£0.99 Added
This is a new adult story about a student called Nicky. She juggles caring responsibility challenges alongside attempting to have a social life.
Endings
Geoff Poundes
£1.29 Added
A forty-something man attends a friends funeral up North, and has a strange encounter with an old lover, and with the local characters...
Eye of the Beholder
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Bill keeps seeing the same woman on his way to and from the train - at least, he thinks she's the same woman...
Deja Vu
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Lucy wakes on a house she does not recognise, next to a man she doesn't know. It is only when Mrs McCready comes to the door that she begins to understand what has happened, and how long ago...
Glory, or Hope
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Two goddesses meet on a beach.
Judges
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Jael tells what really happened when her husband Heber's old mate Sisera dropped in. Not quite what you read in the Song of Deborah.
The Power of Love
Leyla Leyton
£2.49 Added
As Carol looked back on that terrible time she soon discovered that she was not alone.
Love Is All That Matters
Leyla Leyton
£2.49 Added
A grieving woman looking back on happy times and in the process discovers something which she never knew which finally gives her the peace she desperately needs.
Having It All
Leyla Leyton
£2.49 Added
We had been so happy Phil and I but now something seemed to be tearing us apart - it was more than I could take, I had to do something about it and soon!
All Hallows
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
Keith's obsession with naming things, and with Gerda the newspaper seller outside his office, leads him into danger.
Tales Told Before Cockcrow
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
A fairly tale for adults and older children - Sybil tries to get Amelia to sleep - a long, long sleep.
The Red Dress
Cherry Potts
£1.29 Added
A daughter's loyalty to her family is tested.
The She-Lord and Her Tailor
Cherry Potts
£0.99 Added
A fairy tale for adults and older children, in which a tailor meets a very large cat, and tries to sell her some clothes.
The Abyss Of Loneliness
R. G. Tooth
£1.29 Added
Little did Mark know that a walk along the dockside would take him back to the bad old days in more ways than one. This is a tale of loneliness and retribution.
Milo and the Millennium Bug
Leslie Wilkie
£0.99 Added
Much has been written about the effects of the millennium bug...I was responsible for saving my crew from this dreadful disease...
The Medicine Man
Leslie Wilkie
£0.99 Added
A Ship's doctor's trials and tribulations.
Red Geranium
Sue Dean
£1.29 Added
From riches to rags in Los Angeles
Suenos
Sue Dean
£1.29 Added
A young Cuban chambermaid who dreams of becoming a poet
Dummies Don't Talk
Ray Lawrence
£1.99 Added
Lenny Waterman thought he could throw his voice. He couldn't - as a Ventriloquist he would have given Archie Andrews palpitations - and then he met with a mysterious old Romany lady who gave him a gift that would change his life forever...
Just an Ordinary Shed
R. G. Tooth
£1.29 Added
When you were a child were you told to be good or the bogeyman would come and get you? Susan was, and it left a great impact on her life. Now she has to clear her dead mother's house and face up to her childhood fear. This story shared Third Prize at the Ingrid Pitt Queen of Horror Festival, Hastings, in 2012.
Promises
Annette O. Liron
£0.99 Added
A last ditch attempt by King Louis to defeat the British and take control of Jersey. A fictional tale of the invasion, organised and led by a notorious mercenary and the bravery of a fouteen-year-old boy.
A Sheila called Sheila
Leslie Wilkie
£0.99 Added
Students take gap years between A levels and university - I took mine when my wife left me for the milkman...
Serendipity
Jeanne Valentine
£1.99 Added
Was he making up the numbers at dinner, or was he really there for her?
Waiting for the Agent
Barbara Hawthorne
£0.99 Added
This story is about a pensioner waiting for the Estate Agent to show him around the house he was born in.
Reclaim the Night
Barbara Hawthorne
£0.99 Added
This story is about the women's marches in the 1970's.
Cheat the Hangman
Albert Woods
£0.99 Added
Sometimes Abel might feel uneasy about a roping if, say, his victim was young and misguided, or an abused female. But mostly he couldn't give a damn. He couldn't afford to. It was a job that had to be done, and done well; a skill; a craft.
The Trap
Tony Lawrence
£0.99 Added
I sit here, watching, waiting for everyone to come. Behind these bars, my life is never ending. I see them come, I see them go. No one escapes my attention.
Cuckoo Spawn
Gill Hollands
£0.99 Added
A young girl goes missing; by nightfall the operation to find her is called off, but one friend cannot rest and what she finds will chill you to the bone...
Wrong Again, Karen
Albert Woods
£0.99 Added
"But I've not done Indian," I told Karen. And besides, the boys are not from India." "It's all the same to them," she said, her cheeky blue eyes sparkling with self-confidence. "Just whip up something hot. They'll love it."
The Female of the Species
Joanna Sterling
£1.59 Added
Helena a professional assassin, was angry and impatient to be back in London. This latest job - all the meticulous planning wasted for no reward, someone was going to pay.
A Rat's Tale
G Mills
£1.29 Added
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Doctor Dominic du Mortier and I am a hundred and sixty one years old. No no, stay where you are please. It’s not that I’m unwilling to shake your hand, please don’t think that. It’s really more a case of my being unable. Permit me to explain. I am beyond reach. And behind glass. And a rodent. Nothing special you understand – just a Rattus norvegicus, or a common brown rat to you. Oh yes, and dead. Did I mention that?
Leaving The Garden
Suzanne Bowen
£0.99 Added
Maureen the Assistant Librarian has spent a night in her suburban garden, having drunk too much champagne at a high class midsummer party in the Holland Park garden of her work colleague Adrian, whose style, wealth and exalted friends raise the question of why he is still working in the Library. As the perfect midsummer night passes into dawn and Maureen thinks about the events of that party, her solitary existence seems to be coming to a crisis – but someone - or something – has followed her home and is in the garden with her.
The Dolphin Bracelet
Caroline Pitcher
£1.99 Added
Jodie's surprise family holiday to a Greek island
Taking Your Clothes Off in the Dark
Anne Jenner
£1.29 Added
It's only the intrepid who venture into the world of arranged romance. Amelia casts her fate to the winds of change and learns that not all migrating birds make it home safely.
Three
Kathleen Jones
£0.99 Added
Ursula has taken a job as an intern, working for a world famous artist in Tuscany. But he has a beautiful wife. Soon Ursula is locked in a triangular relationship and she dreams of mythical beasts emerging from the pine forests.
The Absence of Henry Swail
Kathleen Jones
£0.99 Added
Henry Swail went missing years ago in peculiar circumstances. No one knows why he left or where he is now. Officially, he’s presumed dead. But who is this strange man asking about him?
Jazz Cafe
Kathleen Jones
£0.99 Added
Kate is a jazz singer, living happily with her musician husband. That is, until Maggi comes to stay.
Living With The Dead
Kathleen Jones
£0.99 Added
Ellie works in a mortuary and lives on the premises. And then she falls in love with someone her employers consider totally unsuitable.
Pearls
Kathleen Jones
£0.99 Added
Aine is a wet nurse on a big estate in 19th century Ireland and her life is in danger unless she can escape. But how can she leave the child? And where is she to get the money to go to America.
Sloe Gin
Fritha Waters
£0.99 Added
How do people become the way they are? Old age disguises stories of long ago which the young could never imagine. Why does Mabel especially drink when the black thorn is in bloom?
Waiting for Sister Constance
Jenny Vaughan
£0.99 Added
This is the story a day in the life of eleven-year-old Sara. Like thousands of other children in southern Africa, she’s an orphan, and she’s looking after her younger brothers and sisters. A kindly nun, Sister Constance, is due to visit the family today – but she’s late, and Sara is getting worried. Will she come? What if she doesn’t? Why hasn’t she come? What will the children do if Sister Constance doesn’t turn up?
Minsky's Run
Jeanne Valentine
£1.99 Added
Minsky wasn't used to doing runs. He was getting too old for anything these days but when the boss said run he was only too happy, whatever the consequences.
Stress
Anne Colledge
£1.29 Added
A bad day at work gets out of hand.
The Emancipation of Margot Feather
Elizabeth Stott
£0.99 Added
Margot could have danced, but she bashes away on an old typewriter in her husband's carpet business. Feather's Carpet Empire had never amounted to much, and had her husband listened to her, things could have been very different. But, one day, she hears a voice from the fire escape...
Norman's Dog
Albert Woods
£1.29 Added
It was Cormley Crag's gruesome history that kept the faint-hearted villagers away. All stayed tight-lipped on the subject - except old Norman.
The Mightiest Man In The World
Christian Green
£0.99 Added
He was the ultimate superhero, but the age of heroes had dwindled away and it was time to learn the truth from a ghost of the past.
One Of My Passengers Is Missing
Ray Lawrence
£1.29 Added
Benny Green is worried - passengers are vanishing from his taxi cab and the Police are getting interested. Where are they vanishing to? Benny is desperate to find out...
Stanley and Nat
Anne Caldwell
£0.99 Added
A coming of age story about a young boy, his greyhound and first love
Friday Night, Club West
C H Widestroke
£0.99 Added
Ditch is a soldier-turned-club owner. His spoken word venue is the place to go in F23. The law don't like it. Ditch doesn't care. Spoken word will prevail.
Requiem
Edward Cartner
£0.99 Added
A retired soldier and widower visits a war grave and so discovers the identity of his father.
The Waiting Room
Helen Stockton
£0.99 Added
If you've ever sat in a doctor's waiting room, wondering how long you are going to have to wait and what you're going to catch whilst you're waiting, then this is the story for you...
Jill-in-the-Box
Albert Woods
£0.99 Added
Jeremy wonders if he's going mad. Everybody else can see reporter Jill Gibbs on the TV. Why can't he?
Three-Card Brag
G. F. Phillips
£1.29 Added
See the hand a citizen has to play when he becomes too big for his small town, and, according to the local authorities, stands in the way of progress by his action.
Never Said A Word
Ian Cassidy
£1.29 Added
Daisy unwittingly stumbles on the preparations for a terrorist attack and this leads to her finding out far more than she needs to about the relationship between her mom and the leader of the bombers.
Disappointed
Ian Cassidy
£0.99 Added
Following the death of her husband Nellie makes a return journey to one of their favorite haunts, only to discover it is not the same without him.
Follow the Brolly
Leslie Wilkie
£0.99 Added
My first impression of the cruise liner was of a great white block of flats...
Into Space
Suzanne Bowen
£1.29 Added
Big JUNE lives alone in her childhood home, a large house in suburban South London. She has been there since 1954 and no-one has re-decorated since 1973. Anyone noticing June thinks she’s odd; people keep their distance. One day, a stranger - a young woman called Lottie - walks in uninvited and starts to ask questions. Over the months, June and the house seem to reveal their secrets. June loves Space and especially, the star of the TV Sci-fi programme to which she is addicted. Lottie helps June to transform her life, build her telescope and finally prepares her to leave to pursue her dream. But where has Lottie gone?
Find The Lady
Ian Cassidy
£0.99 Added
A small time shop keeper brings his crooked ways to a provincial town, introducing his customers to boozing gambling and sex.
Streetwise
Jeanne Valentine
£0.99 Added
He was supposed to be the one who finds the criminal. Instead he becomes a victim but learns a lesson.
Just a Toenail Away
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
Al Gore, the Internet, the Algonquin Hotel and perhaps some misconceptions.
The Colour of Haze
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
'The Colour of Haze'[is] about the Nazis [and] is especially pungent. Every kid knew there was a row back then but didn't know what it was about. The past can be disturbing for children, too. - Trevor Reeves, Southern Ocean Review
Poppy Winters
Jason Moody
£0.99 Added
Jasper Brown is an average bloke, with an average life. All this is about to change when he meets Poppy Winters.
The Curse Of The Theatre Royal
R. G. Tooth
£1.29 Added
Have you ever attended one of those popular ghost hunting events? You might think twice after reading this little tale of paranormal retribution, especially if you are a councillor.
The First Cut
Helen Pizzey
£1.29 Added
A duologue between adolescent twins: same life but very different experiences.
The Weather House
Helen Pizzey
£1.29 Added
The contents of Auntie's beaten-out, oversized handbag contain a closely-guarded secret...
India
Gill Hollands
£0.99 Added
Betrayal rocks Lynn's marriage, but the other woman is not quite what she expected...
The Landlord
A D Muir
£1.29 Added
A landlord takes a special interest in the new tenant of a Highland croft.
Basil
Helen Pizzey
£1.29 Added
Peter's quiet night in is high-jacked by a complete stranger...
A Tormented Soul
Leyla Leyton
£1.99 Added
I looked out over the restless sea my mind fighting through a haze of confusion. Was this the same view I shared with Jeff for all those years? We had been so happy in this place never suspecting that such evil lurked close by!
An Encounter Too Close
Leyla Leyton
£1.29 Added
The triangular craft hovered unnoticed over the wooded area the lights necessary for navigation still unseen by those below.
Soul Kill
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
A young woman’s way in and out of a brothel. (This story contains adult themes and explicit sexual references.)
It's All in the Nose
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
How a nosey GP finds his satisfaction for a happy ever after. (This story contains explicit sexual references.)
Widow's Peak
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
a woman's revenge on the men who betrayed her.
Mangrove on Wenceslas Square
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
Passion in a time of revolution. (This story contains sexually explicit references.)
An Imaginary Friend
Sylvia Petter
£0.99 Added
A lifetime of adventures with Ben, the leprechaun...
Success
Jeanne Valentine
£2.49 Added
What is the price of fame?
Going Backwards To Go Forwards
G. F. Phillips
£1.29 Added
Set in Northumberland, the Charlton's, a family of tenant hill farmers, struggle to survive against folk who wield the power to control their land usage.
The Travellers' Man
G. F. Phillips
£0.99 Added
Jamie Mullen is caught in the middle of the wheeling and dealing among Irish Travellers who have returned home for Christmas.
The Bounty Hunter
Jeanne Valentine
£2.99 Added
Will this be his last bounty? Gilman must decide after capturing an outlaw who claims he is not the man. Before he can decide what to do, another bounty hunter turns up unexpectedly.
The Whispering Cliffs
Megan Palmer
£0.99 Added
A man walking his dog on a stormy beach hears a cry for help. Or is it?
Zack's Progress
Jeanne Valentine
£2.49 Added
Did Zack still love Greta? Had too much water passed under the bridge. He'd only know if he saw her again...
The Buttered Fly Effect
Peter Jump
£1.59 Added
When feisty 35-year-old Jane decides to confront Fear 37 she soon finds herself adrift in a sea of chaos. In a rundown hotel in Dawson Creek, Canada, to achieve her goal she must contend with crazed middle-aged bikers, drunk oil workers and a hippy called Ralf. Will she survive to face Fear 38?
Return Journey
Brenda Ray
£0.99 Added
A Republican soldier returns in spirit to the battle grounds of the Spanish Civil War.
Esme
Brenda Ray
£1.59 Added
End Date
Peter Jump
£1.59 Added
Choosing when to die can be a tricky business for all concerned.
Truth Tank
Peter Jump
£0.99 Added
In the near future, telling the truth is no simple matter. The Truth Tank - ultimate confessional or portal to hell?
Up The Downstairs
Edward Cartner
£0.99 Added
A jaded city commuter and office worker is unexpectedly invited to 'break free' from the herd. His joy is short-lived and he is quickly returned to the treadmill. He will never meet her like again. There will be no repetition - or will there?
The Heel
Gill Hollands
£0.99 Added
Angel returns to the island she grew up on, searching for answers, trawling through memories of catastrophe. Is her father still alive? What happened to him? Will she find the answers she seeks or open a whole new can of worms?
A Fit Punishment
Marvin Douglas
£1.99 Added
A victim of an attempted gang rape wreaks an appropriate revenge.
Monolog
Elinor Perry-Smith
£0.99 Added
A monstrous hybrid has taken over the planet in pursuit of her creator, whom she now holds in her grasp, the last human on Earth.
Hugh McPearson and the Gobstopper Mystery.
Steve Way
£0.99 Added
In this first earth-shattering adventure of many, Hugh McPearson "Ten of Spades Detective" (embarassingly his brother is an Ace Detective) seeks to solve the mystery of the disappearing layer in some school children's gobstoppers! Curiously this fascinating case failed to make the front pages of the national newspapers... or any pages come to that... (Book 1 in the Hugh McPearson series)
Henley to Brighton
Gilly Goldsworthy
£0.99 Added
The expensive German kitchen drawer opened smoothly to yield a vegetable knife. She tested it on her fingertip: she wanted to, her best friend did it, but she but was sickened by the rapid gush of red . . .
Emily Bronte Unbound
Stephen Shieber
£0.99 Added
Moving into your first flat with a lover is a stressful time, but when precious objects become damaged, there'll be tears before bedtime. Thank goodness for the Bronte family band!
Applause now Please!
Deborah M.Hodgetts
£1.99 Added
There centre stage she stands like the star, she always knew she was and waits silently for her applause now please!
Love
F. Linday
£1.29 Added
In July 2010, this story won first prize in the Unique Writing Publication's 'Love' competition.The non fiction prose tells of family love and the heartache around miscarriage. The tale is hopeful and honest. Family humour has to click in as does the acceptance of support on many levels. A tale of faith.
Off the Beaten Track
F. Linday
£0.99 Added
This is a coming of age tale of Yuliya which raises awareness of child abuse in Eastern Europe. Young Yuliya prays daily for deliverance from her life of servitude to her family. She dreams of going to college and one day marrying Branimir - a gypsy youth. But when her father's debts are due, he arranges for her to be taken by his unsavory associates as payment of those debts. Her mother calls upon Branimir and his family and it is with them that Yuliya's prayers are answered. (Provocative)
Jack Black, Rat-Catcher
Yasmin Keyani
£0.99 Added
When Jack Black, Rat-catcher and Mole destroyer by appointment to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, comes to visit he brings hope and love for broken heart
Changing Lines
Beryl P. Brown
£0.99 Added
The search for a lost book changes lives forever.
Footprints
Erinna Mettler
£0.99 Added
An old-fashioned ghost story, stranded by heavy snow, a group of friends at a village pub pass the time telling stories.
That Good Night
Clive Collins
£0.99 Added
Brian Finnegan hates parties, but tonight the party is for him - and he has to make a speech.
Duplicated
Gill James
£0.99 Added
They had always said that when one of them died the other would go to the funeral. nothing would stop them. When her first love dies prematurely she fails to keep her promise. Or does she?
Em Pulls a Stunt
Frank Woods
£0.99 Added
Em has fallen for her BMX instructor. When he does the dirty, she turns the tables in spectacular style.
Milk Crates For Fists
Adam Glennon
£0.99 Added
A memoir piece told in the historical present about a drug fuelled night during the nineteen nineties.
Boulder
Frank Woods
£0.99 Added
An injured climber shares a gully with a dislodged boulder. Runner-up in the John Muir Trust Wild Writing Competition.
Restoration Project
Janet Gogerty
£0.99 Added
When Ellie Smith went in search of her real family she did not expect to acquire a whole village.
Jane
Janet Gogerty
£0.99 Added
‘Jane will not be joining us this evening.’ The guests looked up in surprise as Professor William Montecute entered alone though the double doors.
Evacuation
Andrew Davis
£0.99 Added
Two sisters try to survive in a post apocalyptic world overrun by the terrifying Evacuators, but the resistance is after them...
The Girl On The Train
Danny Mac Cullough
£0.99 Added
When Jake Lewis phoned his wife to tell her he would be late home from the office, he had no idea about the unnerving experience that was to confront him. Having missed the last train out of Euston to Watford, he waited for the first morning train. It was at the Station that he noticed a young girl of about twenty who looked as if she belonged to another age. At her side was a small black haired dog. Where was she going, and why the black haired dog? Jake’s unnerving experience was about to begin...
A Middle Class Zombie
Alistair Canlin
£0.99 Added
What if zombies weren't all mindless brain sucking monsters? What if zombies had thoughts? Even memories? What if zombies were much the same as you?
Acid and Blood
Alistair Canlin
£0.99 Added
A battle with anorexia, through the eyes and emotions of the sufferer. The story takes a surreal angle on the battle with the condition
In the Air
Adrienne Silcock
£0.99 Added
Not one inhabitant of Bois-Bezolles remained unshocked by Frederique’s suicide. As news spread around the village, disbelief became anger at such an outrageous lie. What was the truth?
Piri-piri Sauce
Adrienne Silcock
£0.99 Added
Paulo is determined to start a book business in the old Portuguese market, but it looks as though the odds are stacked against him. That is, until a stranger arrives in the village.
The Lovely Water
Adrienne Silcock
£0.99 Added
Rosa has devised her own solution for combating poverty on the Ria Formosa, where morals are compromised with a strange take on community salvation. When the Englishman arrives, things begin to alter, but with an ironic twist.
Now the Moon
Clive Collins
£1.59 Added
A man, his life and the moon.
Six Degrees
Edward Cartner
£0.99 Added
A society 'gossip' writer follows up a chance meeting and then witnesses the accidental death of his subject. He determines to honour with the dead man's estranged family the 'Six Degrees of Separation' theory.
Reasonable Doubt
Helen Stockton
£1.99 Added
The arrival of DS Stephen Forest on her doorstep, takes Grace by surprise. A police investigation into the murder of a local surgeon, and a middle-aged, middle class woman living in rural respectability, seem unlikely to be connected, an impression DS Forest appears to share, at least initially....
Rock-a-bye-baby
Sue Dean
£1.99 Added
A short story about the suspicious death of a new born baby.
Photographs of Her Father
Carmen Nina Walton
£1.29 Added
A woman is abandoned by her father as a baby but he is never really out of her life.
Silence in Court
Sue Dean
£1.59 Added
A day in a Magistrate's Court
Don't You See How Dark It Is?
Kevin Doyle
£0.99 Added
Set during Ireland's ill-famed Celtic Tiger era. A job must be done, a contract must be honoured...
The Egg
Steve Way
£0.99 Added
After three weeks at her new school Jasmine is still an outsider, ignored by her classmates. The unusual pet she brings to school changes things dramatically!
The Turning Point
Alberta Wood
£1.99 Added
Julie's husband is a drunkard and vicious bully, she is terrified of him, but there comes a turning point....
Upriver from Bridge Cottage
Lesley Jackson
£1.59 Added
They had a rented cottage with a rowing boat all to themselves in the north of Scotland but the first trip out on the loch had to be weathered in more ways than one.
Rice
Lesley Jackson
£1.59 Added
A young boy experiences something out of bounds which has more than one reason to be kept secret
The Visit
Lesley Jackson
£1.59 Added
A woman visits her daughter who has a job that she doesn't approve of, one that brings all her fears to the fore.
Supply and Demand
Fritha Waters
£1.29 Added
A man struggling to get over his girlfriend leaving, turns to eBay auctions as a source of comfort, what he finds is quite unexpected though.
Fallen Angel
Frank Woods
£0.99 Added
A small boy plays in the falling snow. He tries to understand his broken life. He doesn't cry, but you might. Shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize
Last Day of Summer
Gareth Hill
£0.99 Added
September 10th 2001 - Chris and Annie are on the final leg of their road trip around the USA. Heading towards New York, the frayed edges of a relationship spawned from post-graduation euphoria are beginning to show as they confront the end of their summer and the swan-song of their youth. Aware that their lives are going to change, they face up to an uncertain future, completely unaware of the global events into which they are about to be propelled.
Marilyn Spencer
Angela Huskisson
£0.99 Added
A story about links and how many you can find. A sort of 'Spot the Difference' in prose.
The Cover Story
Brindley Hallam Dennis
£0.99 Added
Apparently, this story was going to be 'disqualified with merit' from an Earlyworks Press competition...but that was too ridiculous...so they gave it Second Prize! It's on of the stories in Talking To Owls (Pewter Rose Press) and you can hear it read on Vimeo.
Mrs Jones lives next door to Mrs Jones
Steve Way
£1.29 Added
'Keeping up with the Joneses' goes completely out of the control and Mrs Jones and her neighbour Mrs Jones try to out-do each other with ever more extreme consumerism!
Jack Wax
Sarah Passingham
£0.99 Added
For nearly all her life, Marion has dreamed of the North Woods and eating maple syrup, snow-frozen into Jack Wax, but an innocent trip turns into an obsession.
View By Appointment
Christian Green
£0.99 Added
A visit from a stranger forces a lonely woman to confront the debris of her life.
Marked
Susmita Bhattacharya
£1.59 Added
A story of love and loss, and new beginnings.
Phyll and Fog
Michael Thomas
£0.99 Added
This school story quickly darkens into a battle of wills with disastrous consequences, all played out in the context of the entire planet. Voices interchange: narrator, first-person protagonist and a chillingly unidentifiable presence.
Social Surfing
Gail Aldwin
£0.99 Added
A Polish mother tries to make friends with other parents by hosting a dinner party. In spite of her planning, the evening does not go as Vik expects.
Say Nothing Till You Hear More
Marie Alvarado
£1.59 Added
Theresa and her sister share a red coat and a deep loss. Years pass until one evening, as the rain lashes down, an unexpected visitor arrives at Theresa's door. Memories and secret sorrows seep once more into their silent lives.
Shadow's Keep
Helen Stockton
£1.99 Added
Amber didn't like the house. The frontage faced north and two large conifers cast a sterile shadow. The beams were faded, the chimneys pointed to the sky like accusing fingers, and the roofing oppressed the aged dormer windows that sat in their rimless sockets gazing out a shadowed world through leaded frames. Yet she'd never really had a particular reason to dislike it, until that is she saw the woman with the baby at the window and heard its feeble, sickly cry.
Something Vital Fell Through
Char March
£0.99 Added
A disabled girl's view on her parents trying to run a small-holding in Norfolk.
The Quality of Mercy
Judith Allnatt
£0.99 Added
George Tiller can't bring himself to open the box of his wife's belongings, neither can he compose himself to pray - but what he can do is perform a miracle...
China Dolls
Gill James
£0.99 Added
Tom keeps on seeing them. But are they real? What do they want with him?
Dream Factory
Philip Caveney
£1.29 Added
A couple of runaway teenagers create a secret world... in a suburban cinema.
Transit
Megan Palmer
£0.99 Added
An elderly woman takes her wheelchair-bound husband on a mysterious journey at dawn - but why? Transit is a tale of the power of life-long love, set against the incomprehensible vastness of the universe.
Behold
Megan Palmer
£1.29 Added
A mother narrates the sad and peculiar tale of how her young daughter's body gradually disappears from her own eyes - everyone can see her daughter, except the daughter herself.
The Fate of Dogs
Tess Hudson
£1.59 Added
A French toilet, a jealous husband and two dogs.
Lifetime
Ruth Brandt
£0.99 Added
A chance meeting in person develops over an email conversation.
The Corn
Jane Rogers
£0.99 Added
A Midwestern farmer comes to terms with his daughter's weight problem.
A Final Resolution
Helen Stockton
£0.99 Added
Sarah, haunted by an episode with a man in a tower block lift, had an unusual New Year's resolution to make. She needed to set things right. She couldn't risk loosing everything she'd worked so hard to achieve and she could only see one way forward...
Late Home
Trevor Millum
£1.59 Added
A husband waits for his wife to return home. He is cross because she's late and he needs the car but - perhaps there's a good reason that she is late home...
Learning
Jane Rogers
£0.99 Added
A grandmother ponders the way her grand-daughter is learning to assess the world. This story owes a debt to Tove Jansson.
The DNA of Bats
Jane Rogers
£0.99 Added
The closeness between her brilliant, beautiful mother and her talented, intelligent daughter re-enforces a woman's sense of her own inferiority. Add to this her lifelong horror of bats, and things go from bad to worse.
The Summer of Learning
Susmita Bhattacharya
£0.99 Added
A young girl's coming of age in her father's homeland.
Salt Stain
Zoe F Gilbert
£0.99 Added
A new lighthouse keeper receives a mysterious visitor.
Messages
Sean McSweeney
£0.99 Added
What if the dead could apologise for leaving you?
Elsewhere
Ray French
£0.99 Added
A chance meeting between John Lennon and Philip Larkin in a motorway service station cafe in 1966.
The Engineer's Daughter
Sarah Passingham
£0.99 Added
'A brief study of bitter pride, it's a remarkable example of economical writing, painstaking in its attention to detail.' Nicholas Royle, Time Out
Girl In A Box
Clare Shaw
£0.99 Added
Clara is in a box waiting to be found. She listens to the words outside the box and the words in her head as she waits for Jasper. But who is Jasper and will he get to her in time? Why is she in a box and why can she not speak out?
The Barber's Victim
Derek Neale
£1.59 Added
A boy is traumatized by what a haircut reveals.
Some Mothers
Derek Neale
£1.59 Added
A mother, recovering on a psychiatric respite ward, recalls her own mother and her 'other mother', and sees vivid glimpses of hope in the past and present
Violin Lessons
Derek Neale
£1.99 Added
A boy happens upon a furniture-maker in his workshop while waiting for his sister to finish her violin lesson; it's a meeting that will change them both.
She Shot My Chimes
Derek Neale
£0.99 Added
A gun fires in the dark, but who is it? And what is she aiming at?
Land of Their Fathers
Derek Neale
£1.99 Added
This is the story of two characters in a small town in Wales who only meet once, with shocking consequences.
Must Sound Genuine
Jonathan Taylor
£0.99 Added
A Soviet composer is trying to write the perfect Socialist Realist symphony, before a knock on the door.
Chocolate
Gill James
£0.99 Added
A future without money ... in which chocolate can be significant.
Simon's Body
Alyson Morris
£1.29 Added
Did Jo really kill Simon?
Human Fossil
Denise Hayes
£0.99 Added
A futuristic tale inspired by the story of Pygmalion.
Bar-code
Denise Hayes
£0.99 Added
Dating is different in a dystopian world...
Vicious Circle
Phil Emery
£0.99 Added
The darker side of creative writing circles...
Marin
Fiona Edmonds Dobrijevich
£2.49 Added
An account of being, loss, and the sea.
Something Missing
Clare Chandler
£0.99 Added
How can Maya survive in a world where humans are on the verge of extinction and chumps – genetically-modified chimps – keep people to do their dirty work?
Vicar Up The Tree
Clare Shaw
£0.99 Added
Set during the second world war, Isabel does not understand why everyone seems to be so uptight. The war to her is just an inconvenience. When Edward asks her to write to him at the front, all she can think of is to copy out some of Browning's letters. When Edward credits her with the maturity she does not possess, this changes everything.
White Goods
Carmen Nina Walton
£0.99 Added
A rebound relationship fills with complications that are going to hurt.
Rockabilly Quiff
Carmen Nina Walton
£0.99 Added
Young people who find solace in a vintage shop in a town that seems to be developing around them without including them.
First Communion
Bea Davenport
£0.99 Added
A little girl's First Communion day - when temptation arrives in the form of a bag of sweets
The Gun Shearer
Clare Chandler
£0.99 Added
The arrival of a young sheep shearer at a farm in New South Wales has a profound effect on the owner, bringing back memories of a pivotal moment from her past. The Gun Shearer was shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award.
In Good Order
Sarah Salway
£0.99 Added
A story for everyone who has wondered how to organise their book shelves...
Alphabet Wednesdays
Sarah Salway
£0.99 Added
A story of role models, betrayal and journals - from A to Z
After Addition
Sarah Salway
£0.99 Added
It's 'Take Your Father To School Day' and some fathers are better at it than others.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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