Short Stories

I’d been writing fiction for more than ten years before I got something published. That story was A Seasonal Adjustment and it appeared in the magazine supplement of the Oxford Times.

Okay, so I worked for that newspaper at the time, as a features writer, and I’ve no doubt the editor did me a favour. But it was great to see my short story in print, with my name at the top. And they paid me £25 – which, in those days, was … not very much money.

The story also made it into an anthology of new writing, called Down the Middle, but it was really a vanity publishing exercise – something like 60 stories in one, rather cheaply produced, volume which made a profit by “inviting” all the contributors to buy copies at ten quid a throw. As a first-timer into print I snaffled up several for friends and family, as well as for myself, and I imagine everyone else in that anthology did too.

But, even so, I now had a book of fiction on my shelves, with one of my stories in it.

I’ve had a number of other stories published since then but, for an aspiring writer, the first time you make it into print is a wonderful moment.

These short stories (and an essay) have been published in anthologies …

A Representative in Automotive Components (Fortune Hotel, ed. Sarah Champion, Penguin, 1999)

Attaining the VIZ (Book of Peace, Waterstone’s/Penguin, 1999)

Letters Home (The Book of Leeds, Comma Press, 2006; story reissued as e-book single, Comma Press 2012)

A short film of Letters Home, starring Nasser Memarzia, premiered at the 2009 Version Film Festival, Manchester. Writer/director – Ronald Wright; producers – Ra Page and Caleb Shaffer, Comma Film.

A Missing Person’s Inquiry (M.O. – Crimes of Practice, Comma Press/Crime Writers’ Association, 2008; reissued as e-book, Comma Press 2012)

Faking It, an essay (Body of Work: 40 Years of Creative Writing at UEA, ed. Giles Foden, Full Circle Editions, 2011)

And these short stories have appeared in other places …

A Seasonal Adjustment (Oxford Times, 1993; Down the Middle, 1993)

Forensic Evidence (Radio 4, 1996; Mail on Sunday, 1996)

Marriage Guidance (co-written with Frank Tallis and Anna Maxted, Brighton Literature Festival/Radio 4, 1999)

The Virtual Disappearance Of Miriam (interactive hypertext, in collaboration with Andy Campbell, commissioned by Ilkley Literature Festival, 2000.) You can view this story online at the Dreaming Methods web site.

In Anticipation of the Queen (Independent, 2000)

Waiting at the Pumpkin (All Saints, No Sinners magazine, 2006)

A Capsule of Time (Wellington College, 2013)
This 17,000-word story was commissioned by Wellington College, Berkshire, and published in 11 instalments in one day on the school intranet.

To read A Capsule of Time for free, click here