HarryC

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I have 179 stories published in 3 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 353449 times and 199 of my stories have been cherry picked.
125 of my 850 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 135 votes

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Kevin Marman

Care worker, writer, memester, autist, dissenter.

I like people who not only think outside the box, but reshape the box into something else!

I've been writing since I was 10.  It's my sanctuary - though the structure often needs maintenance.  Over the last twenty or so years, I've won some writing prizes for short fiction, poetry and playwriting.  In 2013, I published my first novel, 'In the Day'.  Looking at it now, I can see all sorts of things I would change - but I suppose that shows progress.  I also have a collection of short fiction, 'Sacred Shirts', which was published in 2024.

In 2015, at the grand age of 56, I was finally diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Condition (Asperger's).  I live alone with my cat, Daisy, and lots of books.

My stories

Cherry

Death by Selfie

strangely unaffecting to see lives lost in this way is that a shocking thing to say? guy falls from building filming himself doing handstands on the...
2 likes
Cherry

Dead Man: 3

The bus was crowded, as usual. Workers heading into the city, like himself. John sat downstairs at the back, over the engine, in the warm odour of...
1 likes
Gold cherry

Dead Man: 2

John Bardo begins the last day of his life... On the way back to the bedroom, John turned on the gas boiler and clicked the stat up a notch – just...
3 likes
Cherry

Dead Man: 1

The day John Bardo died was an otherwise unremarkable day in his life. It was in late spring, when the mornings were beginning to get lighter and...
1 likes
Cherry

The Rest of My Life: Thoughts on looking at mum and dad's wedding photograph.

When my father was the age I am now - 66 - he became homeless for the first time. He was living on the streets. It was around this time of year, too...
2 likes

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125 of my comments have received 135 Great Feedback votes

1 Vote

Thanks for your encouragement

Posted on Mon, 23 Jun 2025

Thanks for your encouragement, Claudine.  I should have stuck with the original idea.  This has taken it in a direction that creates difficulties I don't want, and takes it away from what I was trying to achieve with it.

That's writing,...

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Posted in Dead Man: 6 (ii)

1 Vote

Agreed.  These

Posted on Sun, 22 Jun 2025

Agreed.  These categorisations all become meaningless over time.  And it starts with the language, of course.  The process of dehumanisation.  'Migrant', 'druggie', 'leftie', etc. It becomes easier to hate or dismiss someone if they've got a...

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Posted in Fifty-One Empty Places at the Dinner Table

1 Vote

You've put into words

Posted on Sun, 22 Jun 2025

You've put into words something it's difficult to find words for.  I echo Kilb50's sentiments. I feel the same. When we're confronted with these daily reports and images, all it does is increase the anger, frustration, sense of helplessness.  All...

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Posted in Fifty-One Empty Places at the Dinner Table

1 Vote

Hi Jenny,

Posted on Fri, 20 Jun 2025

Hi Jenny,

You're like me, then.  My phone often sits unused for days!  I use it for making calls or texting, that's all.  Most people contact me via email or Messenger.  I've used platforms from the beginning.  I was on MySpace for a while...

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Posted in The Erosion of Choice

1 Vote

Yes, so many theories.  The

Posted on Sat, 14 Jun 2025

Yes, so many theories.  The internet is awash with them - the world suddenly full of 'experts'. They should all just wait until the black box data has been analyzed and the investigation concluded.  Then we can know for certain, and these people...

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Posted in The Lad. Part Two.

1 Vote

Yes... that was the point I

Posted on Sun, 08 Jun 2025

Yes... that was the point I was trying to make, Di.  That horrendous plane crash in India today brings it into focus, too.  All of it, captured and spread and consumed.  And then all of the usual pundits flooding social media with their theories...

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Posted in Dead Man: 4

1 Vote

On that note, Jenny, I

Posted on Thu, 05 Jun 2025

On that note, Jenny, I recently read some interesting and revealing survey results.  The children's charity Kindred2 has found that only 44% of parents of children in reception at primary school believe that children should know how to...

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Posted in Perverse Future

1 Vote

Strangely, since I retired...

Posted on Thu, 05 Jun 2025

Strangely, since I retired... I've returned to the library!  Like you, I hadn't been in our one for year and always bought what books I wanted. But now I've get less money - and more time to read!  So I popped in on Saturday to update my details...

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Posted in Perverse Future

1 Vote

You've captured my own

Posted on Thu, 05 Jun 2025

You've captured my own feelings in this.  We now have instant access to all the information we could ever need... but we seem no better-informed.  Plenty misinformed, mind.  I don't and never will have a smartphone, but already I'm finding the...

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Posted in Perverse Future

1 Vote

Agh!  The kind of stuff that

Posted on Sun, 08 Jun 2025

Agh!  The kind of stuff that's plagued me for years.  Decisions, decisions.  And I've usually settled for the safe, 'in my comfort zone' option, too.  I'd have gone for the chairs!

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Posted in The Decisions Of Billy Kimble.

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