This is an excellent short story from Christopher Neilan, who’s previously worked for the producers of Peep Show and The Office. Our protagonist is Andrew, a poet who is going out with Lizzie, the lead singer in a punk band. Lizzie’s not exactly the brightest card in the pack, her brain cells so fried by ecstasy that she struggles to recall who Tom Waits is (not that she ever really knew in the first place). Despite this, success seems to fall into Lizzie’s lap, while Andrew struggles with his art, seemingly dismayed by all the things around him, including Lizzie. This is a dark voyage into Andrew’s isolation, which is buoyed by some great humour, and features a cameo by Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks. Isolation is a great story – here’s hoping that Christopher Neilan’s unpublished first novel, Abattoir Jack, doesn’t remain unpublished for long, as he’s the greatest writer to have been undone by a sketch featuring a man French kissing a cat!

An extract from the story:

“She pulls the curtains closed, presses play and scampers into the bed next to me, her little white vest so jarring against her stage hair, so girlish. She puts her head down onto my chest (can’t help but like when she does that – makes me feel tall), rubs her hair against my neck. She takes her clothes off under the duvet, flinging them out like a 60s movie star. I love how she does that. I look under the duvet at her nipples, she giggles”.

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This is a splendid vignette by Grant Bartley, the Assistant Editor of the international journal Philosophy Now. Paranoid Dan is on his way to Ladbroke Grove one hot Friday to check out the local talent, when… Let’s say, he doesn’t know what’s hit him!

Here’s an extract from the story:

As the queue shuffles on board the number 70, Dan hears one of the old women says to the other, “In the end we just lynched the bastard, when no-one, you know, important, was looking.” Dan’s uneasy just behind them.

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When I set up the submission guidelines for this series of short stories, I wrote that the submitted stories could be of any genre – “even Westerns!” Yet, as you can probably guess from the exclamation mark, I never really expected anyone to send in a Western, as they seem to have fallen out of fashion since the 70s. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when Keith G. Laufenberg submitted Thunder and Lightning. It’s a wonderful and very spiritual story, which explicitly conveys the extremely different cultures of the Native Americans and the US army during the Indian Wars in the 1870s, particularly with regards to how they treated horses…

An extract from the story:

Little Bear had just climbed upon Warrior’s back when the big stallion that Little Wolf was still speaking softly to, as he rubbed his flanks, spooked and took off in a flash, bucking and kicking and taking the entire herd stampeding after him.
Black Eagle nodded at Little Bear and they both shrugged, as they told their horses to go after Little Wolf and the bucking bronco, for the chase was on.

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This is a splendid and very satisfying short story from Australian author Luke Romyn. Mark Wallace has been in torment for three years following the death of his lover, Natalie. So bound up is he in his own misery, that Mark attempts suicide… Only for the mercurial Quentin to intervene… What must Mark do to find redemption? And is Quentin a saint or devil? The Choice has a great plot; combined with a natural narrative progression, it has more than enough hooks to keep any reader satisfied.

An extract from the story:

“Mark Wallace stepped from his humble apartment on Cypress Avenue, a permanent frown marring his otherwise handsome features. How could he go on like this? How much pain could he endure before going completely insane? These thoughts echoed through his mind as he descended the stairs to Central Station, his feet seemingly making the journey of their own volition.
The thoughts would end today.
Mark stood at the edge of the train platform and looked about in wonder. He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn’t realised where he had been going, but as he looked around he realised that he was now in the perfect place.
Hearing a train steadily approaching, Mark readied himself and as the train sped around the corner he ran past a young woman and leapt into its path, knowing that his pain would finally be at an end…”

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Taking Cover is an excellent short story from a very talented writer. We join the story as the unnamed narrator wakes up in an empty bed, her lover having gone to take a temporary job in Africa. When he returns, something has changed within him, as he becomes more and more remote. Our protagonist despairs at their worsening relations, until something explosive throws them back together again… Or does it? Taking Cover is a very subtle story, which really plumbs the emotional depths of Isha Marquez’s heroine as she seeks to finally find her home.

An extract from the story:

I slowly woke up, blinking at the light peeping from under the curtains in its familiar way. But the coldness I felt on my back was different, unfamiliar; he wasn’t lying beside me this morning. Like a dream that’s recalled on waking – I remembered the note. I pushed myself up to sitting position. I didn’t want to see the letter. I willed it to disappear – I willed it to be a figment of my imagination. But it lay there crumpled into a fist on the nightstand. I reached for it and unfolded its angry edges.
I have to travel.
I took the job in Africa.
I’ll be gone for three weeks.

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Authortrek reader Andrew Smith wrote that “Isha Marquez’s Taking Cover is the best short story I have read in a long time.”

Remember is a chillingly classic short story from a superb writer. Miranda Dickinson was a semi-finalist in the 2007 UK Songwriting competition, and has also previously worked as a copywriter to a major political party, so she is obviously an outstanding wordsmith. Remember is an excellent short story, which aptly exhibits Miranda Dickinson’s fantastic narrative skills. The story also has great emotional depths, as well as being supremely spooky. I can foresee Remember, like the great Victorian ghost stories, living on for many years to come…

An extract from the story:

From that moment on, the possible lives of Albert and Eda consumed my imagination and I resolved to be their sole visitor. I imagined them falling in love; the scandal surrounding Albert’s courtship of a woman thirteen years his junior; their simple marriage witnessed by only a few approving family members; their bustling family home with four children and the heartbreak of little Sarah’s premature death. As I walked to their graves, I would picture the widowed Eda, heartbroken yet defiantly observing a daily pilgrimage to her beloved husband’s grave, for nine long, lonely years. Did the surviving children follow their mother’s steps to St Hilda’s after her death? What happened to them? Was the memory of their father full or dim? All of these possibilities I pondered as I placed new flowers in the two small Rose’s Marmalade jars I had brought from home to brighten their graves.

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Dishabille is a dark, subtle short story from Irish writer Derbhile Dromey, who paints vivid pictures with very few words. Anna, an ageing professional, settles in for an evening of special entertainment, far from casually dressed, while the truck driver across the road keeps to his distinct routine. Passion flares, and dreams are shattered… Dishabille is a haunting story that will stay with the reader for a long time.

An extract from the story:

“Her wardrobe stood guard over the dressing table and all the other furniture in the room. She opened the heavy dark doors, which were the same colour as her bedstead. She hung her suit on a padded hanger and sponged it down with a soft cloth, rubbing away rogue pieces of lint. It was one of her work suits; she liked to keep it smart. Besides, its warm brown tones suited her colouring. Her shoes went into the allotted place on the shoe rack. Then she shed her workaday cotton bra and knickers. The filmy material on the teddy slithered over her body. She gazed at her reflection in the full-length mirror. She turned first one way, then another, twisting her head to examine the lunar landscape on her thighs, which was bigger than she remembered. Her buttocks sagged slightly; the exercises weren’t working. The front view was more cheerful; her breasts were high and firm, the skin on her stomach still smooth, unstretched by childbirth. A little girl would have been nice”.

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This is the third Authortrek short story for Fran Tracey, after the bestselling Hiding in the Dark and Ashraf’s Tale. Jilly Parsons has had rather a wild weekend in Amsterdam, so much so, that she has a real headache, and a very fuzzy recall as to what actually happened… Still, she’s running late, so there’s no need to worry about such things, as she stumbles to make her way through Customs… Nothing to Declare is an especially funny tale from a very versatile author.

Here’s an extract from the story:

He held her black lacy thong high in the air for all to see whilst he rummaged in her case with his free hand. Then he began to swing it around his little finger. Jilly could see that it would go flying off across the customs hall if it picked up much more momentum. No knowing where it would land. She glared at the passengers who were grinning at her as they passed, stopping when she realised glaring made her head throb. That and the customs officer’s annoying whistle. She tried to pick out the tune with difficulty. If she hadn’t been tone deaf she’d be sure he was whistling Mika’s ‘Big Girl’.

An Authortrek reader wrote “I love that feeling you always get with Fran’s stories where you know something’s ahead but you never guess what – and this one definitely delivers on that front. You’re almost left with that dirty taste of guilt yourself after reading it! An excellent read.”

You can download the story from the button below for 50p. PayPal provides secure payment via your debit/credit card. The story is a 0.09MB pdf file.

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Ashraf’s Tale follows the varying thoughts and emotions of a group of Afghani men, who have fled the Taliban to seek a new life in the UK. The least of the dangers they face is that they are travelling illegally…

An extract from the story:

Muhammed spoke often of the women he hoped to meet in England.

“So, Ashraf, English women. I hear you can see their lovely bodies straight through their clothes, what few they wear. Not like ours, covered from head to foot, eh?”

In the gloom Ashraf saw his neighbour rub his hands with glee.

“Do you think I’ll find one for myself?” Muhammed continued. “I’ll be different from their English men. They will want me. It will be good, no?”

“Maybe, Muhammed, maybe.” Ashraf’s uncertainty about what was to face them had increased as rapidly as Muhammed’s excitement.

An Authortrek reader wrote that Ashraf’s Tale is a “gripping insight into an unknown world, within a challenging and controversial subject. Fran demonstrates her ability to reveal complex and intriguing characters and their private worlds with concise accuracy yet again”.

PayPal provides secure payment via your debit/credit card. The story is a 0.08MB pdf file.

In the unlikely circumstance that you have difficulties reading the pdf, then it may help to download the latest edition of Adobe Reader direct from Adobe for free:

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