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  • Book Review: James Herriot’s Yorkshire Stories

    James Herriot’s Yorkshire Stories by James Herriot. My rating: 5 of 5 stars. I’m a big fan of the new All Creatures Great and Small series, and was pleased when I received this little collection of James Herriot’s short stories as a gift earlier this year. Herriot’s writing style is deceptively simple, and his love…

  • VP

    VP

    VP is a short story I wrote in January 2020. It was first published in August 2022 by CafeLitMagazine. The opening paragraphs are below, and you can visit the CafeLitMagazine website to read the full story. *** When you tell someone you’re a Vice President, they usually ask one of two things. ‘What’s that?’ or…

  • Book Review: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

    Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King.My rating: 4 of 5 stars. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a collection of short stories by Stephen King, first published as a volume in 1993. I have had this book in my library for well over ten years, and finally got around to finishing it after a false start several…

  • Book Review: The Long Valley

    The Long Valley by John Steinbeck.My rating: 4 of 5 stars. The last time I read any of John Steinbeck’s fiction was back in high school, when I was required to read The Pearl and Of Mice and Men for my English Literature ‘O’ level, a qualification now known as GCSE. Even though it was…

  • Buried

    Buried

    Buried is a short story I wrote at the end of 2020. It was first published in March 2021 by CafeLitMagazine. The opening paragraphs are below, and you can visit the CafeLitMagazine website to read the full story. *** Some people have happy memories of school, forever wishing they could return to those carefree times.…

  • Book Review: Sharper Knives

    Sharper Knives by Christopher Fowler. My rating: 5 of 5 stars. Sharper Knives is a collection of fourteen dark short stories by Christopher Fowler, first published in 1992, during the earlier part of his writing career. Ranging from the punchy and witty Norman Wisdom And The Angel of Death to the lyrical and beautiful Persia,…

  • Book Review: Skeleton Crew

    Skeleton Crew by Stephen King. My rating: 4 of 5 stars. There’s no doubt that Stephen King is a master of his craft. Skeleton Crew is a collection of short stories written over seventeen years of his life, from just before he started college, aged eighteen, through to 1983, when he was in his mid…