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

The TestA man is confronted by a big question about where he really came from

If I Were A BellA 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 CharacterA 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  – I-t 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