Stories

I remember my life now as if I'm looking out a window. Streaks of my life flash by me. I try to open the window and catch them, but the window won't open. So, I sit and watch them, and I wonder did they really happen or was it just a dream? Take a journey back in time as 78-year-old Phil Reid relates his life experiences to a younger man.

"My grand-father always used to say that everything that happens to us in life happens for a reason. And when we look back on our lives there are some moments that just seem to stick in our minds forever and I can now see what he meant by that."

For Scott Fraser there was one such moment that he remembers well. It was the time when, as a teenager, he saved the life of a young boy who was about to be swept out to sea.

What he couldn't have prepared himself for, however, was what would happen when that same boy comes back into his life some years later . . .

Evan and Gene run into Snowmageddon. They find safety at a ranch in the mountains. While the snow never stops falling, Evan suddenly becomes ill, and Gene wonders if the rancher is who or what he says he is.

A response to Prompt #68:

Imagine where your character leads a pretty decent single life. Then there is a phone call and that life is turned upside down as they find out, they have just become a parent—to a teenager. Is this a cousin that has been left with no other family members? A god child? A niece or nephew? What is this first meeting between them going to be like?

The circumstances whereby Manny obtains guardianship are a little strange, to say the least. Not to mention what happens afterward.

Best friends, Luke and Matt, have been inseparable since primary school and now, after twelve long years of schooling, the end of those school years are finally within sight. All that is left to do is make it through the night of the school formal, before starting their final exams.

So what will the night bring for the boys and their group of friends? What secrets are about to be exposed? How will they, their families and their friends all react to the events that are about to unfold? And what will they discover about themselves . . . about each other . . . and about life?

Being the oldest and growing up in a large family can be hard, especially when you are gay and the family is extremely homophobic. You are constantly being compared to your deceased father. A man whose stature and deeds are always increasing, as time goes by, and are held up as your goals. Anytime you reach those goals, your mother moves the goalpost further away.

You never seem to measure up. You are always being told that you are worthless and will never amount to anything since you cannot measure up to your father. It never mattered that you were a straight "A" student and that you were an athlete.

A novel in twelve chapters.

Summer 2020, and the inhabitants of the Italian mountain town of Ravello are making up for lost time after three months stuck at home. Families are celebrating being reunited at last, and the appetite for romance has never been higher.

However, two teenage boys are navigating this unusual summer alone. Cosmo, a lost soul, and Marco, a recently found soul, find their lives entwined by the fact that everybody seems to have a boyfriend except them. Both of them have experienced pain and neglect in the past; but can they both overcome it to find fulfilment in the present?

Owain returns to live in his home town, 20 years after leaving when he was disowned his parents for being gay. He needs to rebuild his life following illness and come to terms with his messy family history. There is much to learn and discover, along the way he meets Colin, a builder who has his own family issues. The two explore how to make a life the way that they want, irrespective of the weight of their family experiences.

The story takes place in Cheshire, UK. The main setting, Netherwich, is my invention based on elements of Crewe and Nantwich. The language uses some regional idiom.

Coming of age, coming out, sexual confusion, seduction. These themes and others are explored in the winding tale of Toby, Carey, and their friends, loves, and acquaintances.

About to return home after five years working in the Middle East, former soldier Brian has an unreliable ex-girlfriend, a teenage son and a dead-end job to look forward to. Can he take courage, leap into the unknown and accept that his mate Gordon is far more than a friend with benefits.