My short stories

I tend to think of myself as a novelist; long-winded rather than to the point. However, something, some urge I can't ignore, makes me want to write short stories. It is a beautiful form, I think, and it's good self-discipline to say what you need to say with the minimum of words. In a way, it's easy to write a novel - in one way, I mean, not every way - easy to let it all flow and mount up. The short story has to be concise (I know, I know, not all of them are, and there are rules, which I'll go into another time, as they give me a headache, in general) and easy to digest; it's the haiku to the novel's epic poem, the brush and dustpan to its vacuum cleaner, etc etc etc. 


I've had quite a few published, by various small press magazines, the most notable and enduring of which has been Ambit magazine. I will post some of the published ones on this site, and also some that are unpublished - maybe they are unpublishable - and some works-in-progress. 

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Featured stories

Click on the titles to be taken to the stories, or links to them.

The Boy at the Bus Stop
Beat the Dust, 2011

End-user of Ordinance
Ambit, 2010

Fast in the Life Lane
Lateral Moves, 1999

Wojtek and the Commissar
Ambit, 2011

Wheel
Ambit, 1999


Monstrous Men
Ambit, 2010
Eunoia Review, 2012

Just Looking
​Mystery Weekly, 2016