Dreaming of joining the brotherhood of Acapulcan cliff-divers, young Mikey Hough rigs a diving platform in the garden of his suburban Berkshire home. Two years later, when he awakes from his coma, Mikey befriends Roger, an elderly ex-pilot hospitalised when his precious Distinguished Flying Cross was violently stolen from him. Mikey soon learns that his own disastrous attempt at flight has damaged his Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, destroying his ability to sleep. The medical profession can do nothing for him. He is sent home from hospital to die. One night, a despondent Mikey stumbles across Livia, the cynical teenage ward of a neighbouring councilman. Together they decide to track down Roger’s stolen medal.
So begins a remarkable, picaresque journey into the dark heart of suburban England, during which the fearless Mikey and Livia confront a sprawling cast of pensioners, policemen and criminals – including the profoundly sinister man-child ‘The Fat Controller’. As they hurtle towards daybreak, they persuade Roger to undertake one last, gut-wrenching sortie into the night skies.
The Sleepwalker's Introduction to Flight is a heart-rending and riotous mini-epic, a brilliantly subversive coming-of-age tale about what happens when dark and light collide, and society’s marginalised find their voice.
'A humorous, moving and eloquent debut' Bookseller
'Funny and filled with heart . . . a sparky debut' – Alexandra Heminsley, The London Paper
Sleepwalker's Introduction to Flight
Click on the cover
to download
It is the early Eighties. Two young men attempt to make their way in life armed with very different world-views. Jonathan Cole is cynical, manipulative and coldly calculating, while the melancholy but upright Charles Fellowes labours under the crushing burden of his own secret guilt.
Cole is intrigued by Fellowes’ rigid moral certainty and in turn, Fellowes is amused and distracted by Cole’s liberating amorality. It seems that each possesses something the other lacks and so they drift together in an uneasy and ultimately destructive alliance.
As Cole ricochets through the streets of London, Lagos and Tel Aviv like “a weird neutron of enriched Uranium, flush with cash and energy…creating the uncontrolled mayhem of a chain reaction” he makes a vicious and implacable enemy who believes that the young man has given his daughter Aids.
From his hospital bed Fellowes manages to prove his friend’s innocence by mingling his own blood with Cole’s. But is Cole telling the truth or does he have the dread disease after all?
For Fellowes it makes little difference, since he believes that saving his friend was an act of redemption for the sins of his past. But when faced with the revelation of a long held family secret, Fellowes soon learns that morality is never absolute.
The question that must finally be answered is:
“Is doing wrong only wrong if you believe it to be so? Is belief the thing rather than the deed?”
Novels
Plays
Click on the cover
to read
1829, London. A year after the notorious Burker murders and London medical schools are still crying out for cadavers.
Sammy and Facey are a couple of so-called ‘resurrection men’. Their aim is to buy a modest boozing ken and retire. They’re almost there; so close they can taste it.
However, an unusual cadaver has popped up on the market: that of Bobby Herman, an hermaphrodite; scientific curiosity and rara avis.
Famous anatomist, Joshua Brookes, commissions the two men to obtain it, at any cost but the word is out and others in the profession are already on the trail.
What’s more, Bobby's corpse holds secrets, and, before long, the enterprise becomes a deadlier and more complex undertaking than either man could ever have imagined. To locate this elusive cadaver Sammy must navigate the treacherous streets of pre-Victorian London from the opium dens of Whitechapel and the rookeries of St Giles, to the cockpits of Westminster and the opulent drawing rooms of the West End.
As Sammy learns more about the curious circumstances of Bobby Herman's life and death he finds himself stalked by a powerful underworld cabal and comes face to face with a ruthless and twisted aristocratic predator.
With the aid of his sweetheart Rosamund, the pox-scarred, but resourceful, street artist and Kak John, the 'Pure' collector, ultimately, Sammy finds a way to turn the hunters against one another.
Thicker than Water
Resurrecting Bobby
Friday afternoon on the M25 prior to the bank holiday weekend. Gridlock. It’s hot, sweaty and tempers are fraying.
DAVID, an overstressed corporate supplies salesman is stuck in his stationary vehicle with TOBY, a bright young graduate on the company’s accelerated promotion scheme. Goaded by the younger man, DAVID is forced to come to terms with the realities of his world and career.
In the elevated cab of a haulage truck sits ALVIS, lorry driver, Elvis-wannabe and philospher. He’s accompanied by the elderly, mild-mannered DIGBY. DIGBY’s ancient Hillman Hunter has recently given up the ghost, forcing him to hitch. For DIGBY it’s something of an agreeable adventure until ALVIS begins to reveal his unorthodox views of life, death and the afterlife.
MANDY, FRANK and twin boys VASCO and LEONARDO are on a mini-break. FRANK is hopeful that a weekend away might help save his ailing marriage but things are already off to a very bad start.
Constables WENNER and DAVIS, never the most diligent of crime-fighters, have long since given up attempting to deal with the tail-back and remain in their patrol car bickering about lunch, until DAVIS reveals his get-rich-quick marketing scheme.
Only a few yards away NORRIS and TURNIPS, a couple of underworld enforcers, have a naked, unconscious man in the boot of their car. The problem is, he’s just woken up.
COLIN, a cocky London adman gives JANE a lift to Oxford. COLIN is optimistic about his chances with his feisty young colleague, until he discovers that JANE is rather more than she appears and has been using him as fodder for her PHD thesis.
By the time the tail-back clears, the characters have converged: a marriage has ended, a romance begun, there’s a crash, a death and the world of keep-fit CDs will never be the same again.
Jam
City slickers David and Melissa have fled the urban sprawl to pursue their dream of a life in the country as lord and lady of the manor. But all is not well in Lydvale; the famous Longman has lost his virility, which bodes ill for the harvest and the village. The couple must quickly come to grips with the ways of the country while Melissa finds that being lady of the manor comes with certain unexpected responsibilities.
Longman
Lady Florence remembers
(Short Radio Play)
Lady Florence Mimsey-Pottinger reminisces on the miracle of Christmas during the Great War.
Travellers
(Episode 1: Radio Series)
The leylines of Britain, which hold the forces of darkness and chaos at bay, have been disrupted while the nation’s mythical guardians shirk their duties. For the Travelling People, the last hope is Merlin’s only living descendant. Unfortunately for them, it’s Melvin Collins.
Quick sketch about a man with ideas below his station.
Vive l'empereur
Sketch
Click on the cover
for preview chapters
Runner up Fish Prize 2004
Winner Yeovil Literary Prize 2013
Shortlisted Crimefest 2008, Last Laugh Award. Second prizewinner in the Betty Bolinbroke-Kent Award, Novel category.
Awarded Best Sketch, COFILMIC
Travellers
(Episode 2: Radio Series)
Flash Fiction
Hacek's Triple Tap
(Short Film)
Chess master D’Aguilar must face his nemesis, the wily Hacek. D’Aguilar comes to the table armed with the strategies of Sun Tzu and a new, potent distraction: ‘The D’Aguilar Murmur’. But is it enough to turn the tables in this battle of the titans?
Click on image
to download
The Smiler
Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on the cover
for preview chapters
New novel. Work in progress.
Val mal
Film
The Siren
An elderly man conducts his own surprisingly effective defence in a noise abatement hearing.
Click on image
to download
A crucial meeting is disrupted following an encounter with a bag lady.
Mrs Fizzes
Click on image
to download
The Boy with the Golden Boot
Click on image
to download
A young boy dreams of being finally picked for the team. With players off sick, the odds are looking good.
The Seventh Stair
City commuters receive a little payback.
Click on image
to download
Jeth Dubbins
An unsung public servant retires after twenty-eight years on the job.
Fruit
A young man returns home after many years.
Published – Think Magazine (IMV pte Ltd) 2004
2nd Prize, Writingwell Short Story Competition 2004.
Short-listed Hissac 2004 Short Story Prize, Highly commended.
Highly Commended, 24th Annual Writers’ Conference
Published as 'The Mascot', Think Magazine 2004. Highly Commended, 24th Annual Writers’ Conference.
Short-listed Hissac 2004 Short Story Prize, Highly commended.
Published - Tall Tales from the Big Smoke, 2004 (BCG Publishing).
Highly commended 24th Annual Writers’ Conference.
Published Bonfire Magazine (Fandango) 2nd Edition 2005
Longlisted, Short Story Prize, Yeovil Literary Festival 2005.
Published Aesthetica, 9th Edition 2005.
PopSoo
PopSoo sets out on his annual pilgrimage but does anyone care? Does anyone even remember?
Peter the Great talks about life
Peter finds a kindred spirit but can anyone live up to his exacting standards?
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Click on image
to download
Highly commended: Writers Forum Short story prize, Nov 2004
Published Think Magazine Feb 2005