This is an afterword for my second collection of science fiction, horror, fantasy and ghost short stories, Nourish a Blind Life. The printing history of these tales range from 1975-2013.
I’m against ghost story collections because
sometimes you want the fact that the character is a ghost to be a surprise –
and you can’t do that with an avowed ghost collection. Here, there are some
surprise ghost stories though for at least one it’s clear the character’s a
ghost from the outset.
There are several downbeat endings but if
there’s a thread running through these supernatural stories, it’s the power of love and the triumph of good over evil; plus
I’m a sucker for a bad pun or a twist ending.
Genre short stories tend to be relatively low
in the word-count, some markets wanting only 1,000 words, and therefore they don’t
have the scope for deep literary characterisation. Still, character can be
gleaned from action. Generally, for these stories, every word has to count;
there’s little room for introspection or in-depth scene-setting. As these
stories span a writing career of over forty years, it has been a long learning
curve, and it never ceases; I’ve resisted the temptation to ‘improve’ the older
tales!
Here, then, is the background to the stories
in this second collection.
Cassandra
Anthology was a popular magazine
produced for love and not profit, as are many Science Fiction, Horror and
Fantasy small press publications. It was good value for money but the increases
in paper costs and printing spelled its doom. One young writer who honed his
skill there went on to success as a popular children’s author. At a Cassandra
workshop attended by Ian Watson and Garry Kilworth, the story A SENSE OF WONDERMENT received plenty of praise; they particularly liked the ‘mortally
punctured rail ticket’, but that went in the rewrite. Unfortunately, the story
never seemed to fit into any magazine’s format; it’s still one of my favourites
– a time-travel love-story, sort of, subconsciously echoing a tale I’d read
years previously.
IF WE SHADOWS HAVE OFFENDED gestated for over twenty years until I felt
ready to do the idea justice; I sent it out on Shakespeare’s anniversary but
the few magazines available didn’t respond. I still think it’s a pretty good
story, so have included it here.
OUTCAST
was commissioned for a Christmas edition of the in-house company magazine and
has a simple message.
THE PETITIONER began as a response to publicity at the time regarding traffic deaths.
WORKS WONDERS was inspired by the fantasy quest novel Wings of the Overlord I co-wrote with Gordon Faulkner and was a
little piece of whimsy. However, I liked it so much that I included it in the
finished novel.
THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY is observational around its time of publication; there was a cairn and
its silhouette just looked like a highwayman or footpad – unfortunately when it
was printed, ‘footpad’ was put in as ‘footpath’ which lost the meaning
entirely!
Over the years I’ve always been fascinated by
time travel stories, particularly where time paradoxes are concerned. REMORSELESS TIME and WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT are variations on that theme. FROM
THE MEMORY A ROOTED SORROW
resulted from my studies of psychology with the Open University, but has a time
aspect too. BID TIME RETURN re-uses a very common title; it was a nod to
H Rider Haggard adventures, with a fantasy element included.
NOURISH A BLIND LIFE was a fictional treatment of a real person’s life and also a
prize-winning story. The judge said: ‘I read a lot and like to think that I’m
fairly hardened to the human experience. Your story, however, moved me enormously.
With a powerful understanding you avoided any mawkish melodrama. The ending,
although sad, gave satisfaction knowing the narrator was soon to be free! Thank
you.’ – Eve Blizzard, judge of the competition for the Livinia Hammond Cup.
Ghost stories are always popular, but I
wanted to treat the theme differently. One has humour – PHANTOM WITHDRAWALS while the other – TIERS OF
SORROW – is quite poignant.
I like my villains to get their comeuppance
and this is what SEWER RATS’ ROUT is about. I was surprised how much research
went into sewers for this quite short piece!
For TALENT
QUEST I created a unique predicament
for the female protagonist and wanted to say something about loneliness and
exclusion.
THE RELUCTANT KILLER evolved as an exercise in writing a story as a brief report; the
ending, I found, was satisfying and even uplifting.
THE HOUSE OF AUNTY BERENICE emerged from my early novel writing days
(1960s), researching New York. This story seemed to appear fully formed; Alann
Swan was one of the heroes of that (unpublished) novel. He survived, and became
Alan Swann in the Tana Standish psychic spy series.
The two
stories WITH SONGS BEGUILE YOUR PILGRIMAGE
and NOT TO COUNT THE COST feature the
crime-fighting nun Sister Rose. The novel that tells her story was published as
Pain Wears No Mask, now republished
as The Bread of Tears. She was a cop
in Newcastle upon Tyne and suffered such severe trauma that she was put in a
hospital run by nuns; eventually, she decided to take the veil. But her past
had a knack of catching up to her, even when she moved to London. The tagline
reads: ‘When she was a cop, crooks had problems; now she’s a nun, God help
them.’ Anyway, a novella featuring Sister Rose – Silenced in Darkness
– was a finalist in the 1995 World One-day Novel competition and received
glowing comments from judges Terry Pratchett – ‘I was very impressed’ and Kathy
Lette, who remarked, ‘The nun’s story was great. I kept wanting to turn the
pages, and it’s an original idea!’ These two stories happen before the start of
the novel and touch on mystical events rather than crime. NOT TO COUNT THE COST also won a short story
award, adjudicated by playwright David Compton, who commented that ‘it has
character, action, and that extra dimension which brought a familiar theme up
to date, showing what can be done within the limitations of the 1,000 word
story.’
ALWAYS THE INNOCENT was inspired by the story
of Sarajevo, the two lovers shot on the bridge. It’s still one of my
favourites.
I decided to
end with a story offering hope for the future, albeit a radically altered
future: THE END IS NIGH.
Nourish a Blind Life - Collected short stories volume 2
Paperback and e-book available from Amazon here
Other books in this series:
Gifts from a Dead Race –
Collected stories vol.1 (science fiction, horror, fantasy, ghost)
Visitors – Collected stories
vol.3 (westerns)
Codename Gaby – Collected stories
vol.4 (historical)
I Celebrate Myself – Collected
stories vol.5 (crime and adventure)
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