SHORT STORIES

I like this form a lot and I’m glad it seems to be making a come-back. In fact, given that attention spans are supposed to be so short nowadays, it’s surprising that it hasn’t become the primary literary genre. It can do so many things – from a concentrated, intense study of character, obsession or just about any other characteristic to a helter-skelter of action. There’s often a suggestion that short stories are lighter things which novelists scribble as a sort of rest from the serious business of composing the magnum opus. That’s a misconception. The best short stories are beautifully crafted and as careful with their prose as any other form.

I’ve had three of mine selected for inclusion in Crime Writers’ Association anthologies, each edited by Martin Edwards, and it’s a great feeling to be listed alongside writers such as Ruth Rendell, Edward D Hoch, John Harvey and Reginald Hill.

Missing Persons (1999)

My contribution to this collection is called Missing. I concentrated on both meanings of the word – missing as in missing person and missing as in ‘I miss you’. Its central ‘baddie’ is based on someone I actually met and his fate is an illustration of how delicious it is to have a writer’s access to revenge. The story has been published in a more recent collection: Crime Scenes, edited by David Stuart Davies, Wordsworth Editions, 2008

Crime on the Move (2005)

Here, my story is called Death Ship. It’s based on a magical experience I had when I signed on to be part of the crew of a beautiful Norwegian square-rigger, the Christian Radich, to sail from Oslo to Leith in Scotland. It was part of my research for a crime novel set in Aberdeen in 1840 but provided a great setting for yet another story of revenge.

I.D.(2006)

Other People is simply based on the ‘Hell is other people’ of existentialism. Whoever we may think we are, others form their opinions of us and, sometimes, they interpret our words or actions in surprising ways. Appearances are literally deceptive and the realities beneath them are sometimes shocking.

Love Hurts

A new online site featuring many great stories by well-known writers selected my story 'Love Hurts' for one of its first recordings. For me, hearing it read (beautifully by Delia Corrie) was an interesting experience. I'd always read it on the page or screen, of course, but the moment I heard another voice, another interpretation, I saw the characters in a different light. You can hear or download it free at:
http://www.shortbreadstories.com/story-love_hurts.htm