Assembled below is a list
of my writing that has either been published online or in print
journals, alongside any pieces that have been entered into
competitions where the entries have appeared online. Commentary on
the stories is provided, along with links to the work where
applicable.
For every successful story
there were a great many occasions where work was rejected and then
either re-written and sent out again, or set to one side.
New work will be added as
it is published.
CONTENTS
I.
Published work
Allegro
Noon
Latitude (2018)
The
Cabinet of Heed
The
Cult of Weight (2017)
Cent
Hollywood
by Canoe (2018)
Ellipsis
Zine
Henry
in Exile (issue one, 2017)
Flash
Fiction Magazine
Sing
Like a Ship (2018)
The Ghastling
The
Poacher's Ball (Book VIII, 2018)
Horla
Candied
Almonds (2018)
Ripples
of Discord (2018)
Liars'
League HK
A
Dancer's Shadow (2019)
Liars'
League London
The
Brotherhood of One (2017)
The
Man Who Brought Gold (2018)
Reginald
at Christmas (2018)
The
Red Satin Flag of Independence (2019)
No East or West (2019)
No East or West (2019)
Liars'
League NYC
Old
Time Pieces (2019)
Litbreak
Two
Lives (2019)
When
We Fell In Love (2019)
London
Magazine
The
Sinners' Corner (2018)
Morgen
Bailey 100 Words Competition
The
Dorothy Scale (2017)
The
Rest in Pieces (2017)
The
Oasis (2017)
Palace
Writers
Unleashed!
(2016)
Wolf
from the Fens
The
Buffalo Harp
The
Library of Amenken
The
Diminished Wardrobe of Julian Assange
Paragraph
Planet
Cold
Ark (2017)
Smoke:
A London Peculiar
Kent
Moue (2012)
31
Horseshoes (2013)
The
Ringers (2013)
Remembering
Sea Alley (2013)
A
History of Fennel in Wimbledon (2013)
A
Short Journey Downriver (2014)
Lost
in the Mail: The Missing Postman's Park Memorials (2014)
Trawler
Crowstone
Golem (2016)
The
Word Magazine
Preemptive
Nostalgia (2008)
Elegy
for Britpop albums destined never to be re-released as Deluxe
Remastered Editions (2010)
Writing
the Future
On
Rosewick Lane (2018)
II.
Competition entries that didn't win but are online
Microcosms
A
Fleeting Taste of Spring (2017)
Bring
Down The House (2017)
A
Share in the Spoils (2017)
The
Downward Arc of the Diver (2017)
Quantum
Shorts
The
Fading Tracks of Migration (2017)
Zeroflash
Invest
in Fire (2017)
A
Change of Address (2017)
The
Emperor in the Parliament (2017)
The
Pineapple in Context (2017)
Home
Taping is Killing Independent Music (2017)
The
Understudy (2017)
The
Witch's Garden (2017)
The
Greater Palimpsest (2017)
III.
Winning competition entries that are not available online or in print
Writers
HQ
The
Horned Man (2017)
~
I. Published Work
Allegro
Noon
Latitude
(2018)
(A
poem written on the theme of 'space' about clearing-out the attic of
my grandmother's house after her death)
The Cabinet of Heed
The Cult of Weight
(2017)
(A
sect of 17th
century Christian builders and architects assemble around pieces of
masonry, that they believe fell to earth during the civil war in
heaven)
Cent
Hollywood by Canoe
(2018)
(To escape the civil war that is tearing your country
apart, you must pay for your flight with rare wood. This story was
posted on the .Cent website by Kate Darby. My name is at the bottom)
Ellipsis Zine
Henry In Exile
(issue one, 2017) Available in print or as an Ebook
(a short piece of flash
fiction; I think it was 250 or 300 words. A boy with an indifferent
mother gains a piecemeal education from a succession of passing
father figures, with tragic consequences.
Flash Fiction Magazine
Sing Like a Ship (2018)
(A
failing sea-freight company, a whale, and a near-indestructible
dinner-service)
The Ghastling
The Poacher's Ball
(Book VIII, 2018)
(A
Victorian newspaperman visits the garden of Eden and finds that much
has changed since biblical times.
I am rather fond of
this story, which was an attempt to write something that fused the
literary styles of M R James and Jorge Luis Borges. I couldn't have
asked for a better home for it than The Ghastling – a beautifully
designed print “magazine of ghosts, the macabre and the oh-so
peculiar”.
Prior to publication,
the text had been submitted to five other journals,without success
and had gone through numerous rewrites. Every time the story was
rejected, I added a new idea to it, which is why the narrative goes
off on some strange tangents.
Horla
Candied Almonds
(2018)
(A
priest visits an estranged childhood friend to hear his dying
confession.
It
is very hard to find magazines who will publish graphic violence or
writing that is unflinchingly nasty. This story falls into the latter
category and for this reason I assumed that nobody would want it. I
am very grateful to Horla for giving it a good home.
The
story was originally called 'The Warlock's Tale' but was retitled
because it sounded too medieval for a story that is set in the
present day.
Hypnopomp
Ripples of Discord
(2018)
(What
is to be done with a mis-cast church bell that is capable of
stirring-up the worst in human nature?)
Liars' League HK
Liars'
League HK is a quarterly live event that takes place in Hong Kong,
where actors perform short stories that have been submitted on a
particular theme.
A
Dancer's Shadow
(2019)
((An
ageing Russian ballet dancer faces-up to her own obsolescence when
she is forced to take-on a young pupil)
This
story was read by Vesper Liu at Liars' League HK's' 'Shadow &
Substance' themed event on the 25th February, 2019)
Liars' League London
Liars'
League London is a bi-monthly live event where actors perform short
stories that have been submitted on a particular theme.
The
Brotherhood of One (2017)
(A
succession of orphans are hired to play the role of Jeremy – the
younger brother of Arthur Roxburgh.
This
story was read by Paul Clarke at Liar's League London's 'Brothers &
Sisters' themed event on the 14th
November, 2017. A YouTube video of the performance is available
through the link below)
The
Man Who Brought Gold
(2018)
(On
Christmas Eve in Venice, a man is tasked with recovering some stolen
presents
This
story was read by Sophie Cartman at Liar's League London's ''Naughty
& Nice' themed event on the 11th
December, 2018. A YouTube video of the performance is available
through the link below)
My Favourite Christmas
Story: Mark Sadler on Saki's (H. H. Munro's) "Reginald on
Christmas Presents" (2018)
(Liars'
League invited their alumni to write a few words regarding their
favourite Christmas Stories)
The Red Satin Flag of
Resistance (2019)
(When
a couple's burgeoning romance is threatened by a computer dating
agency algorithm based on a series of tawdry science fiction novels,
they seek sanctuary in the Battle of the Somme exhibit at Imperial
War Museum.
This
story was read by Silas Hawkins at Liars' League London's 'Love &
Lust' themed event on the 12th
February, 2019)
No
East or West (2019)
(Set
during the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This story was a
sympathetic exploration of what happens when a deeply-held political
ideology, that has become a part of a person's identity, is
challenged to the point where it becomes untenable. I have noticed,
in these circumstances, complete mental collapse is avoided by a
gradual inching away from the outmoded dogma and by attempts by the
individual to rationalise why they no longer believe it. The title
comes from John Oxenham's 1908 hymn 'In Christ There is No East or
West'.
This
story was read by Silas Hawkins at Liars' League London's 'Love &
Lust' themed event on the 9th
April, 2019)
Liars' League NYC
Liars'
League NYC is a bi-monthly live event where actors perform short
stories that have been submitted on a particular theme.
Old
Time Pieces
(2019)
(A
scarce resource from the dawn of time, brings a Scottish island
community into conflict with a Chicago technocrat.
This
story was read by Mark Woollett at Liars' League NYC's' 'Plots &
Schemes' themed event on the 6th February, 2019)
A
Divination (2019)
(I
am a fan of Stacy Peralta's 2004 documentary 'Riding Giants' that
charts the origins of surfing and big wave riding, and wanted to
write something that captured the spirit of that film. The story
originated from a list I wrote of fictional surfer terminology to
describe different types of waves. The 1000 word-count meant that I
was only able include a few of the waves on the list, though that
might have been a blessing in disguise. To assist me in the writing
of this piece, and in getting into character, I grew a large beard.
This
story was read by Jeff Wills at Liars' League NYC's' 'Short &
Sweet Flash Fiction' themed event on the 20th
August, 2019)
Litbreak
Two Lives
(2019)
(Two
interlaced stories: In the past, a man helps to maintain funeral
canoes adrift in the icy waters, north of Canada. In present day
England, a river warden supervises the wintering of punts that have
been towed upriver from Cambridge.
Of
all the stories I have written, this is my favourite, which doesn't
necessarily mean that it is the best; I wonder whether some readers
might find the transitions back and forth between past and present
confusing, and if the pay-off is satisfying or too subtle. However
this is the closest I have come to getting what was in my head down
on paper.
The
two female buskers are based on a couple of students who I saw when I
was nine years old. We were queuing up outside the Jorivk Viking
Centre in York. They were playing Homeward Bound on a pair of
guitars. I often wonder what happened to them. It is odd the way that
strangers can make a lasting impact on the memory)
When We Fell
In Love (2019)
(Published
at the same time as 'Two Lives' (see above). My contribution to a
regular feature on Litbreak where people write about their
relationship with literature.
In
my case; how my unfettered enthusiasm for the novels of Jack Kerouac
almost got me killed; How a chance encounter with a Ted Hughes poem
deepened my appreciation of the power and mutability of language; how
Jorge Luis Borges stirred my sense of the fantastical; and how an H.V
Morton book proved to be an unlikely saviour when I was sleeping
rough.
London Magazine (website)
The Sinners' Corner
(2018)
(The
occupants of a mysterious unmarked grave in the corner of a London
churchyard are moved to accommodate a glass chapel, but will these 12
angry men remain in their new home?
Originally
titled 'Away from the sight of God', 'The Sinners Corner was an
attempt at writing a contemporary version of an M R James ghost
story. I think this kind of tale works best when it is grounded in
normality and reality, so I seeded it with a lot of detail about
London. The location of the chapel is based loosely on St Pancras Old
Churchyard, which is home to the Hardy Tree)
Morgen Bailey 100 Words Competition
Not
99 words. Not 101 words. Morgen is a stickler for precision and I
love her for it.
The Dorothy Scale
(2017) First place
(A
scriptwriter for the BBC recalls his time working on 'the bastard
farm' – a department tasked with creating convincing villains for
soap operas and TV dramas)
The Rest in Pieces
(2017) Second place
(A
couple moving into a new home are instructed on how to tame the
resident poltergeist by the outgoing occupants)
The Oasis (2017)
Third place
(A
soldier in World War One, encounters an oasis in no-man's land and
makes plans for the future)
https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2018/01/18/results-of-morgens-100-word-competition-december-2017/
Palace Writers Group
I
joined the Palace Writers Group (named after The Palace Theatre in
Southend-on-Sea) a few months after returning from London where I had
been sleeping rough. I was struggling a bit in terms of my mental
health and realised that I needed to socialise more in the real
world. Towards the end of 2016 the group released a print anthology
called 'Unleashed!' which contained stories written by its members.
The
group has since rebranded as The Pavilion Writers (named after
Southend's other theatre 'The Cliffs Pavillion'
Unleashed!
(2016)
Wolf From the Fens
(This
was an attempt to retell the myth of Fenrir – the Norse wolf god –
by referencing every fairytale or myth I could think of that
mentioned wolves. In the story, Fenrir moves through cycles of
nurture and destruction. He is both the catalyst for human
civilization and the architect of its downfall. His breath, which
creates favourable trade winds, later feeds the flames consuming
Rome)
The Library of Amenken
(Amenken
is a wandering scholar who memorises texts from the Library of
Alexandria and then travels to far flung parts where he recites these
works to those who are unable to visit the library in person)
The Bufallo Harp
(Thomas
Mulder journeys from the Netherlands to the United States where he
constructs a log cabin on the edge of a salt pan. The wind blows
through the carcasses of the buffalo, strumming the leathery
air-dried tendons, making a strange sound that the native Indian
tribes use to navigate at night)
The Diminished Wardrobe
of Julian Assange
(From
his room in the Ecuadorian embassy, Julian Assange can only watch
helplessly as his leather trousers are extradited to Sweden)
Paragraph Planet
Cold
Ark (2017)
(An
unusual method of storage)
Smoke: A London Peculiar
Smoke
editor (and co-founder of Sarah Records) Matt Haynes very patiently
endured an onslaught of fairly decent ideas, wrapped up in somewhat
dubious prose. With the exception of 'The Ringers', which has already
seen print publication (although it would benefit from a re-write), I
am in the process of overhauling all of these stories, some
significantly, for inclusion in a very strange book about London.
Matt,
and his co-founder of Smoke, Jude Rogers, were very supportive and
encouraging. I owe them both a great deal. Any creative success I
have had over the past few years began here.
Kent
Moue (2012)
(The
late-opening places that you tumble into after a night out, in this
case a fictional Haitian restaurant in Soho. On reflection this is a
location in search of a story. The rewrite of this piece is very
different)
31
Horseshoes (2013)
(Wheels
within wheels; Since the foundation of London, a pack of wild horses
have galloped in clockwise and anti clockwise-rings around the
circumference of the city. The pack also makes an appearance in two
other currently unpublished stories)
The
Ringers (From the Slopes of Olympus to the Banks of the Lea: A Book
by Smoke: a London Peculiar) (2013)
(A
great swathe of East London was demolished to make way for the
stadium and facilities for the 2012 Olympic Games. Childhood haunts
were erased from the urban landscape. The formative memories tied to
these places were over-written by tales of the sporting glories of
people who came and went from the city.
This
story was an attempt to write from the point of view of somebody who
feels that the bulldozing of the streets they grew up on is the first
step towards their erasure from the history of London; that their
life is somehow regarded as inferior to that of the visiting athletes
and is surplus to requirements. Even though some of the memories
associated with these locations are terrible, he feels compelled to
defend them.
I
think that I failed to follow through on what was a good premise,
though I do like the implications of the title; the Olympic athletes
are ringers - superior human beings shipped in from elsewhere to
create a better history for the area than that created by the local
populace. The end result is like an out of focus photograph. I wish
that I could go back in time and re-write it)
Remembering
Sea Alley (2013)
(An
account of life on one of London's tidal streets that flood with the
rise of the river Thames.)
A
History of Fennel in Wimbledon (2013)
(I
got very high on mushrooms and dissected the contents of the
vegetable compartment in our fridge in a fruitless search for the
essence of god. The following day I wrote this)
A
Short Journey Downriver (2014)
(At
the end of 2013, my friend Cat Moore died, aged 35, from a
progressive disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis; the same
illness that is killing me, albeit more slowly. I learned of Cat's
death on New Years Day, 2014. I was devastated and wrote this in my
grief. In hindsight it is more a progression of images than it is a
story. Perhaps it should have been something that I kept for myself)
Lost
in the Mail: The Missing Postman's Park Memorials (2014)
(Inspired
by the tiled monument in Postman's Park (just up the road from St
Paul's Cathedral) commemorating everyday acts of self-sacrifice, I
wrote my own satirical additions where ordinary heroes die of
politeness, or from becoming entangled in harp strings. Matt Haynes,
who created the framing artwork, suggested that I wrote a preface
that delved into the history of these rediscovered memorials. I sent
him two stories; I forget what I wrote for the one that he declined.
This
was the last entry to appear on Smoke before the website was
mothballed)
Trawler
Trawler
is an occasional newspaper-style publication that prints a mix of
photography, and factual and fictional content, focusing on the
Leigh-on-Sea area.
Crowstone
Golem (2016)
(A
man claims salvage rights over a golem that washes up on Chalkwell
beach.
An
unfinished longer version of the story exists, incorporating some of
the ideas I had been forced to leave out in order to make the
word-count)
The
Word Magazine
Billing
itself as 'Entertainment for lively minds', The Word ploughed an
idiosyncratic furrow across the magazine racks of the early 2000s.
Ostensibly, it was a magazine focused on music and entertainment,
though the editorial staff were more than willing to deviate into
strange tangents when and if the mood took them. In the latter years
of The Word, a community of readers and contributors grew up
around the message board on the magazine's website.
After The Word
ceased publication with its 114th issue, in 2012, elements
of the community set-up The Afterword – a message board/blog site
in the spirit of its predecessor.
Preemptive
Nostalgia(2008)
(Inspired
by a Van Morrison's spoken-word reminisce 'On Hyndford Street', from
his 'Hymns to the Silence' album. Editorial Director David Hepworth
kindly brought it to life with the help of Barry
McIlheney, who spared the world my robotic monotone.
The
curmudgeonly Morrison was a common figure of mirth on The Word
Magazine blog, though I regard this piece as an affectionate tribute)
Elegy for Britpop
albums destined never to be re-released as Deluxe Remastered
Editions(2010)
(A
poem lamenting the also-rans of Brit-pop and the unlikelihood that
their albums would every be re-issued as deluxe editions. David
Hepworth lifted this off The Word blog, placing it in the capable
hands of the DJ Steve Lamacq, who along with Jo Wiley, had helped to usher in the renaissance in the British music scene with their BBC Radio One show, The Evening Session.
Contrary to my prediction, many unlikely Britpop
second-stringers did go on to receive the reissue treatment. I say
this as a man who owns the remastered case-bound editions of the Gene back catalogue)
Writing the Future
On Rosewick Lane (2018)
(A
student with a set of artificial internal organs, which are upgraded
by spores released into the atmosphere, visits a retired doctor who
grows organic livers in cake tins.
'On
Rosewick Lane' made it onto the longlist of Kaleidoscope Healthcare's
Writing the Future competition. Entrants were invited to write a
piece of fiction focusing on healthcare in the year 2100AD. The story
is a satire on the disturbing current trend among social media
platforms, online funding platforms and banks, for banning
individuals for wrong-think. It imagines a future where artificial
internal organs are a norm and the companies who produce and regulate
these devices have the power to reduce the efficacy of their
products in the bodies of those views they find objectionable.
Vernon
Levet, who is mentioned in passing in the story, is an Alex
Jones-type figure. Following the publication of 'On Rosewick Lane',
Jones was effectively blacklisted from the internet, when a number of
companies, apparently working in collusion, all banned him from using
their services in quick succession.
In
hindsight the post-alzheimer character might have made for a more
interesting story.
Rose
cottage is used as a euphemism among nurses at Southend Hospital to
communicate that a patient had died – 'She's gone to Rose Cottage.'
II. Competition entries that didn't win but are online
Microcosms
Mircocosms
runs a weekly flash fiction contest.
A
Fleeting Taste of Spring (2017)
(Paying
for DNA data, harvested from the floor of a nightclub, by the square
foot)
Bring
Down The House (2017)
(Clapps
of Indiana – an outlet store specialising in the sale of stolen
goods)
A
Share in the Spoils (2017)
(Two
parallel universes: One must exist in a state of permanent war so
that the other can enjoy centuries of peace. Two diplomats negotiate
a new treaty)
The Downward Arc of the
Diver (2017)
(A woman is convinced
that an ex-husband has written a hugely successful novel to spite
her)
Quantum Shorts
The
Fading Tracks of Migration
(2017)
(Flocks
of migrating swallows rain down pellets of anti-matter)
Zeroflash
Zeroflash
runs a monthly, themed, flash fiction contest for stories not
exceeding 300 words. Although I never won the competition, I did
enjoy writing for it. However the fact that entries appear online
makes it difficult to submit them anywhere else.
I
did have a piece accepted for a planned Zeroflash anthology, however
the project appears to be in limbo.
Invest
in Fire (2017)
(An
Ancient Greek cult of fire worshippers burn down their temples as an
act of devotion)
A
Change of Address
(2017)
(In
the storage hanger of a spaceship, a young man pays a visit to his
late father's childhood home)
The
Emperor in the Parliament (2017)
(A piece of Brexit
fiction: An ancient Chinese board game, used as a means of breaking
deadlock and rebuilding rapport, fails to gain traction in the modern
European Parliament)
The
Pineapple in Context
(2017)
(Marjorie
contemplates the significance of a pineapple that has mysteriously
appeared in her dining room)
Home
Taping is Killing Independent Music
(2017)
(Charlie
is horrified to discover that a copy of The Flying Pickets' album
'Lost Boys' is being illegally recorded onto his intestines)
The
Understudy
(2017)
(A
husband and his wife who are imprisoned in adjoining cells,
communicate using Morse Code)
The
Witch's Garden
(2017)
(A
woman creates a garden that is cleverly designed to lure children to
their deaths)
The
Greater Palimpsest (2017)
(Henenu
travels from the library of Alexandria to Syracuse, to transcribe
some peculiar bumps on the interior walls of Archimedes' home, which
are thought to be a codified work)
III. Winning competition entries that are not available online or in print
Writers HQ
I
was one of five winners in Writers HQ's short story competition in
2017. The prize was access to a number of online writing courses, one
of which I used to plot my first novel.
The Horned Man (2017)
(The devil horns hand
signal was the gesture that condemned Christ to death, but what of
its origins? I should overhaul this story and see if I can find
anybody who will publish it)
