My Fiction
Anyone for Murder?
This was my entry for the 2008 Ackrill Newspapers’ writing competition in conjunction with the Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. The opening (in heavy type) was the starting point for all entrants, who then had 300 words to complete the story.
The Homecoming
This piece, inspired by the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, took first place in Ripon Writers’ Group Mini-Saga competition.
Entry for the 2007 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival competition
The challenge was to complete, in no more than 300 words, a story begun by Ann Cleeves. The words in bold were given.
Flash fiction - Velcro
One for fellow Dr Who fans
Karma
A racist thug gets what he deserves.
Car Park
A frustrating, true life experience. What do we pay our police force for?
Insomnia Takes Many Forms
A short short with a twist.
The G.P.’s tale
A predatory neighbour is defeated by a wily old Yorkshireman, the latter based largely on my recollections of a great-uncle in Haxby.
This story appeared in the 2004 York Tales collection, published as the result of a competition by ENDPapers of York. The photo above the story shows the writers who contributed to the collection receiving their complimentary copies. I am in the centre. Sadly, ENDpapers, who also published other sets of local tales, has gone out of business, but a few copies are still available from the writers themselves or from Amazon.
Requiem for an Old Contemptible
According to the rules of Ripon Writers’ Group, a mini-saga is a story told in a maximum of 50 words, with a clear beginning, middle and end. The words in the title are not included in the word count and the title may be of any length. This one came first in the last competition we held.