Derogate (aka ‘A Simple Mistake’)

When the girl was raped and murdered recently I wasn’t even in the country. But I’m now facing a life sentence in prison and it’s all as a direct result of that crime; not that I expect you to have much sympathy for me by the time I’ve finished this sorry tale.
It all began ten [...]

Inkhorn (aka ‘The Inkhorn’)

It was a stupid argument, a row about nothing. Leonie wanted the bedroom decorated a perky pink. Spencer wanted an airy blue. By morning neither would back down.
“Over my dead body will it be pink!” Spencer shouted storming off to work, slamming the door behind him.
“That can be arranged!” screamed Leonie from the kitchen window.
It [...]

Approbation (‘Who Loves The Dictator?’)

“Why does no one love or respect me?” bemoaned the Dictator, as he looked out across the People’s Republic of Tyranstan from his palatial study. In the foreground its rundown, overpopulated industrialised capital Bhadovia coughed, wheezed and spewed its polluted smoke out across the vast barren farmlands to the snow tipped mountains in the distance. [...]

Ossify (aka ‘The Dust Devil’)

It was May 11 1936 when that stranger staggered half-dead, out of a terrible dust storm, and onto our farm, changing our lives forever.
Maisie and me had bought the smallholding, just outside of Dallas, South Dakota, a few years before. Though we had been married for ten years, God had chosen not to bless our [...]

Syncretic (aka ‘The Unfaithful Husband Society’)

A dozen men from every corner of the globe arrived at the exclusive gentleman’s club in London’s affluent Mayfair district. Some were millionaires, some were famous and one was even of royal descent. Slim, fat, handsome, ugly, black or white they all had three things in common: they’d all arrived nervously and incognito, were all [...]

Argus-eyed (aka ‘The Stone Prince’)

Prince Oskar The Wild had stood Argus-eyed over the sleepy market town of Fraastricht for the past four hundred years, eleven months, three weeks, six days, twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes. He remembered it exactly as it’s not everyday one is turned to stone by a fire-breathing dragon.
He had ridden into the town to save [...]

Interstice (aka ‘The Interstice Bureau’)

When Garth received the letter inviting him to an interview with The Interstice Bureau he was somewhat confused by things. Firstly he couldn’t actually remember applying for any job or interview. Having not worked in years, on account of his depression and alcoholism, Garth was pretty sure he would have remembered applying for this post. [...]

Satorial (aka ‘When Sally Met Harry’)

It had been a joke between them. When Harry met Sally. Just like the film, he had suggested. Of course, Sally wasn’t really her name though. And Harry wasn’t his. They just thought it would be best to let the other think that. They had their reasons after all.
They’d met at an adult dating website. [...]

Risible (aka ‘Missing You’)

It’s now six months since Kara and I split up. Six long, lonely months since I discovered she had been finding comfort in the arms of Craig Breen. I’d been with Kara for near on three years. We met over mulled wine and chocolate pastries at a Christmas market in Bruges. She travelled a lot [...]

Dictum (aka ‘One In, All In’)

There was no good reason to be scared. After all, I was now in the State Witness Protection Scheme, had myself a new name and a new identity and was living a long plane ride from the West Coast. But still my Fed Liaison Officer called and told me the news, I puked right there [...]