Cherrypicked stories

iWar i remember when i was about fourteen i was in the high street with a lad called something or other i was a bit naive about stuff only really...

How many trodden steps? Pain contained, muted In this our survival trance We were treading the abyss The sparks of our youth Extinguished in the mud...

Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons Author: Blanford, William Thomas, 1888 License: CC BY-SA 3.0

cat on the bed looks up as I go in he lies on the floor curled as if fallen like a leaf still in school uniform the chrysalis of his face asleep next...

Marissa was a tomboy, her curly black shin hairs and skills at football on the playing field making her the talk of Primary Five. Early on in our...

The tarot card I most identify with these days is The Hermit. A cloaked figure, struggling along in isolation, peering ahead into the darkness, lit only by the dim lantern he holds.

Coming into Sheffield. The rain so hard and northern that the coach windows are pummelled to a rattle. A city. It’s metal, choke and smoke. A history...

Parked by the church, I had a sense that life was about to change: it had to change. I couldn’t quite believe in Conrad’s legacy or that Aunt Olga...

My ex-wife has been sitting naked on the bare stone floor, smoking my cigarettes, listening to the songs of Leonard Cohen. It’s the coolest thing...

I work at an autism unit. As an Aspie, I'm often asked about my 'take' on the world. The other day, as I'm a writer, someone at work asked me to write something that might give some more insight for my colleagues into how I view the world. I've written this today. I thought I'd post it to see what people think. Any suggestions for improvements or additions would be gratefully received...

Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons Author: Blanford, William Thomas, 1888 License: CC BY-SA 3.0

Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons Author: Blanford, William Thomas, 1888 License: CC BY-SA 3.0

wilted world … friends foregather… Snow, softly …

The Cave Prologue I scream You scream We all scream For ice cream She had seen a little boy, maybe several years younger than herself, enjoying an...

Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons Author: Blanford, William Thomas, 1888 License: CC BY-SA 3.0

Image attribution: Wikimedia Commons Author: Blanford, William Thomas, 1888 License: CC BY-SA 3.0

november upon returning there was uploading: photographs of concrete autumn leaves communism river water coffee in a conical flask bridges were...

About 12 years ago, when I first started on ABC, I was writing a comic blog about a failed writer living in a damp flat in a wind-swept seaside town on the Kent coast. With his neighbours, Sherlock and Yo, he whiled away his days - writing stories, taking low-paid jobs, drinking, smoking, dreaming... He went through a few incarnations as I tried to develop the thing into a novel - but it didn't work out. Alan Benefit, then Stan Seagrave... then finally Harry Chadwick. I dug out this old 'chapter' and thought I'd post it. It might resonate with some of you...

The day following my mother's funeral was also the three-week anniversary of her passing - at 7.22pm on 26th April 2017. My brother and his wife had flown off on holiday that day, and I was continuing with the clearance of mum's bungalow. It was a time when reassurances were needed. And they came in strange ways...