SHORT STORIES

Here is a small selection of my short stories.

One Machine, One Message

‘I don’t want to tell Rosie until I’m sure, but it might just be that finally, after 8 years, I’ve found a pager that’ll get a message back to Mum…’ #NoSpoilers. Published in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, Issue 85, 2021.

Desynchronisation at Seven Sisters

Have you ever tried to meet up with somebody at a station but found it hard to find them? You have no idea. Published in The Fiction Desk, 2021, Winner of The Fiction Desk’s Writer’s Award.

The Library of Gromma

A young boy must protect the machine that preserves the memories of his grandmother and his community. Published in After Dinner Conversation, 2020.

The Other Franks (Web version) (PDF version)

Imagine that on one day every year you could meet up with a dozen versions of yourself from close parallel worlds. What would you ask them? What would you do with them?  What if you held secrets from them that would disrupt their lives forever?..

Why I’m in a Prison Cell Following the Attempted Murder of Charlie Brooker

This title is pretty long and hopefully speaks for itself. #BlackMirror #CharlieBrooker #ClickBait

Remote Access

Philip finds it impossible to keep up with all of the things he has to do in his life.  For many years he’s relied on calling for ‘remote psych access’, but now he can no longer afford the subscription… [Adapted into a short play performed at ‘The Science Fiction Theatre Festival’ at the Pleasance, June 2019.]

Dawn

An entirely plausible, incredibly practical, and monumentally prescient ‘What If?’ scenario.

Only Once

Simply put, this is the tale of the man who does things only once.  But you can read it as many times as you like.  Published in Chemical Imbalances, 2011

Two Together

Skeleton of a play to be performed at e.g. The National, centred around the use, misuse and romantic implications of the Two Together Railcard. Versions of the play were performed and used in a course for directors at Streatham Theatre in 2017.

The Optometrist’s Door

A man goes for a routine eye test. And everything goes completely normally…

Love Thy Neighbour

A short, sad story with two happy endings.  It centres on a romance which developed in 2092 around the back of The Museum of Pre-Extinct Primitive Morality.

Empire

Imogen is in the coveted lead position in ‘Empire’, an always-on strategy game that she and her friends have been playing obsessively for almost 3 years. But who of her friends should she be afraid of?  What lengths will they go to in order to win the game?

The Repairman’s Son

This 5 page story took me about 3 years to write. At this rate, it would’ve taken me 2.5 millennia to write ‘In Search of Lost Time’.

Émigré

A world where you can scribble your own passport (but you’ve got to face the consequences).  More Pol-Fi than Sci-Fi.

We Don’t Know Why

My modest attempt at solving the human condition.

Every Dog’s Bark Plays a Melody

Lit-Sci-Fi with a focus on armpits.

Lights out at the Borgesian Orgy

These days you have to write sexual keywords into the titles of short stories, else lose the bitter war of search engine optimisation.

The Tale of Moke Greenerby

A story about a storyteller whose stories were exactly the same as the stories of another storyteller. Featuring Woody Allen.

Existence Melts

No, this is not a type of sandwich. This is a dalliance in metaphysical mischief. You are encouraged to: Eat more! Sex more! Exist more!  First published in Nottingham University’s The Jabberwocky.

Nam Backwards

Nam Backwards was a backwards man. This is not to say that he went about things in a clumsy or plebeian manner, but that he literally went backwards. In time.

Where’s the Readme?

A 283 word long creation myth featuring aliens, robots, David Hume, a foreign professor, and casual reference to binary code.

The Delicious Taste of Your Own Mouth

My first published short story (Reading University’s The Spark), and probably as experimental as I’d get. Wanking is a theme.