tom_saunders

tom_saunders's picture
I'm 61 years old. I was raised on a council estate on London's not-so-wild western edge and I now live in Oxfordshire with my wife Jean who is an environmental activist and secretary of the Richard Jefferies Society. In my time I've been an engineering draughtsman, a school caretaker, a musician, a seller of guitars and records and a technician with a company importing Aria musical instruments into the UK from Japan. I began writing in my mid-thirties while taking a BA in English Literature as a mature student (I left school at sixteen) at Kingston Polytechnic. I went on to do an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in 1986. My tutors there were novelists Sir Malcolm Bradbury and the wonderful Angela Carter, both now sadly deceased. Pulitzer prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon was writer in residence at the time.

On the net, I've had stories published in Opium, SmokeLong Quarterly, Painted Moon Review, MindKites, In Posse Review and poetry and stories published in Literary Potpourri and Gator Springs Gazette. My story Brother, What Strange Place is This? was in Zoetrope All-Story Extra January 2000. I've had stories published in UK print magazines Bonfire, Panurge, Acclaim, Inkshed and Voyage. In 1995 I was an award winner in the Ian St James international short story competition and my story The Philosopher Nabel at the Kaffeehaus Eleganz was published in the anthology Pleasure Vessels (still available at Amazon on both sides of the Atlantic!). Three of my stories: The Seal Man, The Great House of Easement and Bonny Craigallen were published in the paperback anthology Voices From the Web. My story Blue Ragout was published in the anthology Voices 2 (available etc). My story Roof Whirl Away was published in the anthology Rebellion (available Amazon US), Award-Winning Finalist in the Fiction & Literature: Anthologies category of the Best Books 2006 Awards. My story Outer Space was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005. My story Roof Whirl Away was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2006.

My first collection of short stories, Brother, What Strange Place is This? is no longer in print but there are a few secondhand copies around. My second collection of stories, Roof Whirl Away, is now available at Amazon UK.

Right now, I have 18 stories in 3 collections on the site. My stories have been read 9813 times and 12 of my stories have been cherry picked

My Stories

Fall to the Ocean

Submitted on August 29, 2008 - 19:27 | 172 reads

From Gone to Goodbye

Submitted on February 27, 2008 - 16:39 | 306 reads

Ghost

Submitted on July 16, 2007 - 10:26 | 336 reads

Wooden Heart

Submitted on February 22, 2007 - 12:27 | 1129 reads

I Listened to You

Submitted on February 19, 2007 - 15:39 | 333 reads

Postscript

Submitted on May 11, 2006 - 07:27 | 415 reads

The Acrobat

Submitted on May 8, 2006 - 12:07 | 430 reads

The Sailing

Submitted on May 3, 2006 - 09:49 | 392 reads

Recreation Ground

Submitted on April 20, 2006 - 07:17 | 459 reads

Play For Me

Submitted on April 13, 2006 - 14:09 | 440 reads

Saturday Night, Presently

Submitted on April 11, 2006 - 06:50 | 504 reads

The Lowdown

Submitted on April 9, 2006 - 18:41 | 503 reads

Hide and Seek

Submitted on April 9, 2006 - 15:33 | 444 reads

The Pact

Submitted on April 7, 2006 - 07:35 | 531 reads

To the Boy

Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:49 | 511 reads

Late

Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:40 | 522 reads

Cherish

Submitted on April 5, 2006 - 09:29 | 515 reads

Tick-tock

Submitted on April 3, 2006 - 13:17 | 1871 reads