Short stories, poems, articles,
And anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.
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A Short Story by Charlotte Betts |
An Angel of Death seeks absolution |
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A Short Story by Katherine Webb |
Written for a local competition, the brief was to start a story with the newspaper headline "Strange lights have been seen over the lake at Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre". The story came second in the competition. |
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A Short Story by Charlotte Betts |
'Before
the Monsoons Come is set in a Newbury of the future, massively
changed by global warming. Jed, travelling on the waterways in his
barge, has no desire to give up his life of freedom until he meets
the beautiful Mei-Ling. But then the rains come ...' |
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Verses by Jonathan Dodd |
I always found the endings of children’s stories unsatisfactory. So I rewrote some, in verse. |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
A slightly surreal story about the wonders of uPVC storm porches and musical doorbells. |
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A Short Story by John Hoggard |
Jessica worried about her gran being on her own, especially in that big old house, but when her gran dies and Jessica moves in having been left the house in the will, she discovers that her gran had never been alone. What she discovers is both thrilling, sensual and scary, but leaves her longing for the night to come once more. A sensual ghost story for grown ups. |
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A Poem by Jonathan Dodd |
Where
do you go to, my Love, every night? |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
A story with no morals about a young entrepreneur, a depraved dog and the wonders of technology. |
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A Short Story by Brian Medhurst |
"The
past is written in pencil, Adrian and is easily erased." The
woman's voice is soft and reassuring. "Soon you will make a
fresh start." |
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Article by Pam Pheasant |
The Grotto House, now the headquarters of the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management, is situated on the river just below the Goring Gap in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The house was built around 1720 as a place of retreat for an 18th Century lady. Her ghost is well documented. This is a series of essays, totaling 43,000 words, that trace the history of the house and its links with the history of leisure. It was published by the Institute of Leisure and Management in September 2003 to celebrate its 20th anniversary and is available from Amazon.co.uk or from the author, pampheasant@aol.com |
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Poetry by Jonathan Dodd |
Unlike proper poems, which take me weeks of intense effort, I always found haikus much quicker and much more fun. |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
Everyone knows the NHS needs help, but not like this. |
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It Isn't Over Until the Bearded Lady Sings A Short Story by Charlotte Betts |
Who is behind the mysterious events when the circus comes to Prague? |
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Jonathan Wildchild and Wacky Winifred A Short Story by Brian Medhurst |
If you had known Jonathan Wildchild at that time you would have said that he was anything but wild and that at the age of 42 it was quite a while since he had been a child. |
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A Short Story by John Hoggard
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Hezizag is a terrifying and monstrous demon but one night when he visits his next victim, a little girl, he finds himself undone by her charm and happiness. Stripped of his power he finds himself on a new path of existence, that of a children's toy! A children's story with a bit of bite, designed to scare and delight in equal measure. |
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A Short Story by Katherine Webb |
A ghost story written for a national competition |
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A Short Story by John Hoggard |
A brilliant scientist holds the key to a fantastical machine in his mind, he has dedicated his entire career to try and build it, and failed. Only in death, with the help of an unidentified power, is his mind free enough to fully realise his dream and visualise it in his "Mind's Eye" |
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A Short Story by Brian Medhurst |
I
hadn't been looking forward to the tax inspector coming in. I
just knew she'd find all those irregularities in our procedures
which I knew about but Colin my boss who hated paying tax wouldn't
let me change. I didn't know which was worse, pretending I
didn't know the rules and looking stupid or admitting to knowing
exactly what they were and appearing dishonest, which is completely
against my nature.
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by Jonathan Dodd |
A poem about poetry. |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
A story inspired by Edward Hopper’s masterpiece, with apologies to the artist. |
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A Short Story by Pam Pheasant |
A short story which was runner-up in the 2003 Women and Home Short Story Competition |
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A Short Story by Pam Pheasant |
When fireworks frighten Jake into taking flight, the secrets of Hill Top Farm are exposed. |
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A Short Story by Charlotte Betts |
'Plump
and sensibly-shod Mary, perfect headmaster's wife, is shocked when a
visiting parent reminds her of a past that she'd
rather forget.' |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
This is my favourite story. It was entered into the BBC World Service Short Story Competition 2005. Criteria
– It
had to be entirely original and my own work and never before
published or publicly distributed. It
had to be between 1800 and 2100 words long. It contains 1888
words. |
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A Short Story by Jonathan Dodd |
A story about the difficulties that can be encountered whilst trying to end it all. |
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A Novella by John Hoggard |
A Homage to the Discworld Series of novels and science-fiction as a genre in general. The Discworld is invaded by aliens! Twice! On the same day! Wizards and The Watch must join forces to battle the the invasion before the presence of the aliens undoes the magic that holds the Discworld together and destroys it. [Set after Guards! Guards!] |
