Novellas

6 entries in this archive

North by North East (a novella of 44,000 words, perhaps a 3 hour read?)

The first scribing of this tory began in October 2017 as a response to a Writers’ Circus challenge “the road that must be followed”.

It involves religion, love, adultery, drugs and alcoholism and may not be everyone’s first choice of reading material.

It starts just before the 1955 Billy Graham Rally in Glasgow.

From Glasgow it then moves to The Gambia, back to Glasgow then on to Tenerife and back again to Glasgow.

Hopefully, if you give it a try, you might become intrigued and want to find out how it concludes?

The first version was edited by my friend Kareth Paterson of Writers’ Circus then became mired in the fallout from Covid lockdowns.

The version offered here was revamped over a two month spell and self-edited using the ‘Read Aloud’ tool in Word.

Please try to forgive typos and when you find a glitch, use you best judgement and read on.

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

What tomorrow brings (a longer read, about an hour)

This story comes from a Writers’ Circus challenge entitled - ‘The Day After’.

Indeed for most of the time I was crafting this, I called it ‘The Day After the Night Before’ until a different title suggested itself from the dialogue.

It is set in 1955, in the West of Scotland, in Motherwell which at that time was a thriving steel town.

The characters are middle-class, twin sisters competing for the best of two brothers.

In true Peoples’ Friend style it is full of twists and turns and flew easily from my noddle onto the screen, keeping me amused as the story told itself.

I hope this fun comes across and that you enjoy it too.

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

Now or Never

This is a tale about two people who meet under unusual circumstances. Both of them are slightly odd, off beat.

The setting is a fictitious island in the Outer Hebrides.

It was started several years ago, sparked by a topic from the Writers’ Circus entitled “familiar”.

I like to think of it as a modern-day Peoples’ Friend story, the sort of story my Mum would have enjoyed.

Special thanks are due to my friend Kareth Paterson who spent many long hours editing this tale, contributing corrections and suggesting ideas which shaped the final outcome.

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

Fidelity (15,000 words, 60 minutes)

This is another Maisie Kaywood romp.

It introduces David Abernethy (aka Biscuit aka The Ferret) and other members of Maisie’s XCD Team.

It is set in Scotland, near Aberdeen.

Give it a try for a few pages, you my get hooked!

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

Trumped

This is a revised version of the original Trumped story.

My apologies. There was a silly typo on page 40, now corrected.

Thank you Margery of the Choir!

Louisa at our Writers Circus set us the challenge of “Betrayal”.

The idea of setting this story against a background of Greyhound Racing came at once. My Dad was a weekend gambler, not addicted, but he did enjoy Friday nights at Shawfield Stadium, which still exists as a Greyhound Racing venue.

The ambiance I am trying for is post-war Glasgow, seeking to contrast the gulf between the lives of rich (living in the grand mansions of Pollokshields) and poor (living in the Oatlands district, where my Dad was born).

There is a possible Part Two to this story, competing in my head with other imperatives.

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

Songbird

This novella is rooted in the experience of someone who lives nearby.

It is a tale of an ‘ordinary’ woman who inherits great wealth under tragic circumstances, which did happen. (Is there such a thing as an ‘ordinary’ person?)

What I have written is an invention, a fictionalised version of events as they might have unfolded.

Once started, this story took hold of me for a few months.

Margaret got fed up with reading and re-reading it and it and eventually refused to continue.

Fortunately my friend Kareth from the Writers’ Circus, who is a brilliant published Editor, came to my rescue.

Kareth wanted me to ‘neutralise’ the story by removing the names of local businesses, but me, being the usual stubborn me, refused so to do.

Give it a couple of pages, it might grow on you.

Click to download PDF Click here to download the PDF.

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