The Other Stories

A selection of stories written over the years. They’re different, funny, vicious, heartbreaking. They’re here to be enjoyed.

My Father Is Younger Than Me – It had been sixty years since I last saw him

If I Were A Bell – A choice moment from Guys and Dolls

The Big BlankI had two accidents more than twenty-five years apart, and remembered nothing from in between

Dinner with Adele  I had a young woman created to look after my daughter. Then things became complicated.

A Woman Who Likes JazzI finally met a woman who really liked jazz music

The Reawakening   After a hundred and forty-two years they brought me back to life

Mopeds in Marrakesh   A story of irritation and enlightenment in the Medina

A Man Named Malcolm    I thought my cousin had been a waster, until I met a stranger at his funeral

Always On My Mind   My girlfriend was murdered by her family

Ghost Village     A man returns to the scene of a childhood tragedy

I Never Said Hullo     It had been almost thirty years since I had seen Lionel

Meeting Tara      A man hears from a young woman claiming to be his daughter

Do You Think They’ll Come Back?   What happens after aliens visit Earth, then go away?

You Were Made for Me   When the rich can have young people designed, grown and conditioned to be their perfect companions

Mr Bishop   A former teacher, the word of Jesus and a longstanding grudge

I Saw Her Again   A man sees his dead wife in the street

The Third Time    Plague, pandemic …. and aliens

Harold’s Big Sleep   A dog’s final visit to the vet drags up a dark secret

Me and Judy Garland  A reminiscence and a couple of life lessons from childhood

Second Star to the Right   A man and a woman, seventeen years, three meetings, two stars

In Character       A successful actor is confronted by the downside of fame

AlphaMalePlus   A laptop computer watches as a Twitter troll is confronted by an awful truth

The Temptation    A different perspective on what happened to Christ in the desert

The Rubber Face     A stranger in a market, lemon juice, an act of violence

Whispers from the Hole  An artist creates a dark force he cannot control. Written with a nod to MR James

New Year’s Eve, 1999    Hours before the new century, an old man recalls an act of desperation

Big Macs in Bangkok    It was the most disgusting thing I had seen

Izzy Wizzy     A tortured man … black magic … and Sooty

Lucas          A ventriloquist’s dummy tells a tale of hitting hard times

Ellroy’s Work      A cat leads a frustrated writer into a dark journey in conceptual art

Lewisham Half-Breed      A middle aged man tracks down the father he never knew

Here is the News     A TV news crew is confronted with a lethal dilemma in a war zone