Stories that have tried to get written...

Ah, distinctly I remember,
'T was a year ago November
I sat down to write a tale
Which would swiftly find a sale.
I looked up six hours later at the fragments I had penned--
Two beginnings, seven middles, and an end.

I was in no mood to be bored,
I took down my trusty keyboard
And began to type away--
What a job I did that day!
My muse provided all the inspiration she could lend:
Two beginnings, seven middles, and an end.

Just as I had suspected,
None of them connected,
But that's not what really made me so sore.
My grammar was elusive,
The end was inconclusive,
And one of the middles--I'd written before.

People ask me how I do it
And I say "There's nothing to it,
You stare at the sheet so white
And when your forehead bleeds--you write."
And there's ten long pieces for recycling I'll send--
Two beginnings,
Seven middles,
And an all-out last-gasp end!
(to the tune of "Hunting Song," by Tom Lehrer)

This will hopefully end up as a triumphant roll call of commercial successes. For now it's just (still) a fairly short list of things I've actually managed to limp through to the end of. Of which I've actually managed to limp through to the end. Whatever.

BITS AND BOBS

The Tourists

Written for a performance prose workshop in Bristol, who didn't think it lent itself to performing.

Monsters

Written shortly after we moved here. A bit of exorcism.

Captives of the Sable Chamber

My solution to the old who-do-we-get-to-be-President question.

Turn Of An Unfriendly Card--NEW!!

The first in an occasional series of short stories featuring Rolf St.Ana, an interstellar remittance man who is not a bit like Anthony Villiers.

NYROND STORIES

The Silver Platter Stratagem

A Nyrond story, co-written with Soren. In which Soren pays a bill, Zander promises the moon, and the whole thing snowballs.

The Caesarian Operation

A Nyrond story, co-written with Soren. In which Zander takes to the arena, Soren takes to his heels, and a hellrat takes to both of them.

FAN FICTION

As It Should Be

An EVE Online story. In which Maleus Garamite strikes a blow for old-time spacing.

Making The Best

A D'niverse story, which starts from one of the wrong endings of the game Myst V: End of Ages, and in which I treat the entire matter of D'ni in my usual heretical manner.

Nyrond

A Blake's Seven story. This takes place after "Star One," and features the Nyronds in one of their first ever appearances in a finished tale.

Powers: Of Life, And Death

A Blake's Seven story. This takes place mostly during and after third and fourth seasons, and forms my (fairly successful, if I do say so myself) bid to retcon the entire fourth season out of existence and put things back the way they're supposed to be. The final story in the trilogy, "Links," is still in process of completion, would you believe.

Stickytape and String: Assignment One

A Sapphire and Steel story, featuring the gap-year elementals. I've been trying to write this for some time, and may do more with them if inspiration ever strikes again..

CAUTIONARY NOTE

It has been borne in upon me as a result of recent discussions on the Internet that I ought to mention that the majority of the characters in the universe I am developing are of Caucasian or notionally Caucasian origin, that many of my protagonists are male and heterosexual, and that most of my imagined settings are based on the British-European cultural framework. If this is a problem for any prospective reader, then I can only suggest for the moment that they look elsewhere. There are a number of places on the net where better and more courageous writers than I are exploring the expanding global polyculture and addressing the issues of prejudice and marginalisation of other cultures. The LiveJournal community verb_noire is, I believe, a good place to start.

I write primarily for my own pleasure and not for any serious moral purpose, and while I freely acknowledge my straight white male privilege, I elect for the time being, and for reasons that seem valid to me, to stay within my comfort zone and continue to write what I enjoy writing. This is not something of which I am proud, nor am I in any sense "making a stand."