Successful Writers Group

What a great Writers Group at Cleckheaton Libary with Karen, Dawn and Daniel - and myself!
Daniel read a very good poem out tonight and Karen read my short story You Don't Know Jack - and she read it beautifully too!  Would have read myself but contacts playing up and wouldn't have done it justice!
It was both scary and good to hear people reading your work out and it sounded better than I thought it would!
We also discusses film adaptations of books and if they are successful or not and gave each over support with our writing!
Dawn is now on chapter 51 of her  YA book and nearly at the finish line.
Karen has honed her first 5 chapters of Thorde and sent to the Angry Robot open door submissions entry - good luck Karen - can't wait to read it!
Myself - well I need to get a move on - again - as need to write more of Wormhole Effect but also start the blog only short story/novella I mentioned a few blogs back - where will I get the time?  But have at least started on my notes for that!
I was so energised by the meet that when it finished at 7:50pm instead of waiting for bus home at 8:35pm I walked home to Brighouse which is quite a distance - took an hour and 20!
So here's to the next Writers Group and Daniel is concocting a writers exercise for us to do by then!
see you soon

New Blogger

Hey guys

Just logged on to blog and the whole blogger page has changed!!  Seems well weird and knowing my luck just as I have started advertising my Blog on Twitter it will somehow balls up!  Oh Well lol

Well not done much writing this weekend - consumed way too much alcohol and only just recovered but will be writing the rest of the week - mainly on Wormhole Effect but also on a short story I have in mind for the Calderdale Short Story Competition - will keep you posted!
Also have come up with a spy/comedy story - not sure if going to be a short story, novella or full novel as yet but think will post the whole of this on my Blog in a serial fashion that I have always liked!
The whole serial thing appeals to me alot and if i do the cliffhangers and payoffs well it should be an enjoyable read - and wait for the next chapter!
Well happy Reading and Writing - Post soon!

Neil

Fresh New Look

Hi Guys

Well instead of writing something and posting onto my blog I decided to mess with it and give it a new look with a few small add-ons including a "What I'm Reading" spot - don't expect it to change much as I so slow at reading - faster at writing ha ha!

There's also a photo of yours truly - but don't let that put you off!

There will be more changes to follow shortly - hopefully a list of sites and blogs useful to other writers and readers!

Thought would make the changes after seeing some of the other writers blogs I have met on Twitter!

And what a great place Twitter is - celebs, publishers, Authors and other aspiring writers - keep it up folks!

Happy Reading - and Writing  :-)

The Twitter Age

Well I have sucummed to the seduction of Twitter - in the hope that will get more followers for this Blog and more people reading my stories (including Publishers!) - this means will be updating more regular at least once a week and trying to write more stories! Or add parts of my novels onto the blog!

At the moment still writing The Wormhole Effect but got a short story in mind for an upcoming Calderdale Short Story Competition!
Wish me luck!

See you soon peeps

You Don't Know Jack

Here's a story I wrote last year and sent off to a few competitions - a Whitechapel site, Calderdale Short Story Comp and something else - lol  - Never won bugger all with it!
But it my weird take on what could have happened to Jack the Ripper - one of the mysterys of life that intrigues me!
Thought I had already put out on my blog but haven't - well Enjoy!

The Cloak and Dagger Inn was a lively place at anytime of the day and night.  It was situated on a small corner by the Thames river surrounded by impossibly dim gas lights and heavy fog.  It was a wonder how people managed to find it at all.

One person who could find it every time was the resident drunk, the regular drinker in there nearly every hour of every day.  He went by the name of Albert – Albert Tibbs.  He was a lonely seedy old man living of an inheritance from a deceased wealthy Aunt, although to see him you wouldn’t think he would have any money at all.

On this particular night Albert was sat at his usual table near the centre of the Inn.  His wispy hair was blowing up from his balding head as the door opened and closed, the draft hitting him.  It was a cold damp November night and Albert drew his faded brown cloak over him to help him warm up, muttering swear words as he did so.  He coughed loudly and his chest tightened as he spat onto the Inn floor.

“ Walter, where’s that fire “ Albert shouted over to a plump bald man in a dirty overall which matched the rest of the Inn.

“On it’s way, just very busy,” replied the Inn keeper serving a young man.

Why do I stay in this horrible place thought Albert as he looked at the answer staring him in the face and took another swig from the bottle, his third already and it was only early.  He winced as the cold drink hurt his teeth,  they were in a bad shape, all falling out and black – so Albert took in even more drink and glanced around at the rest of the Inn.

I t was busy as Walter had said, with different sizes of groups at various areas of the Inn.  Quite a few of the local prostitutes were in plying for business, they were scared to be out on the streets with the recent grisly murders taking place.  It was the talk of the whole pub, the whole city in fact was asking questions about the murders.  Who’s carrying out such atrocious acts?   Why is he attacking prostitutes?

Albert had more pressing concerns on his mind and was sick of everyone going on about it.  Not only that he was worrying about his financial state as the sum of an inheritance he received from an old unseen Aunt he never even knew about was dwindling fast and she had only died six months ago.

Albert sighed and took another swig from his bottle.  He needed quite a few more of these tonight as going back to begging was a sobering thought.  A movement nearby caught his eye and he looked over to his left.  It was nothing more than a rat scurrying along in a darkly lit corner of the Inn, running over dirty and stained floors.

“Wish I could be a rat.  Would have no money woes then.” Mumbled Albert to himself.

After he had started his next bottle Albert could smell even more than usual the scent of tobacco, and whiskey and sweat.  Looking up he saw Annie, a stout woman in her mid forties.  She had an handsome face with chubby rosy red cheeks.  Albert smiled up at her.  She returned the favour showing her blackened teeth.

“You want some fun old Al?” she shouted in her usual cheery manner.

“Yes, I need cheering up” replied Albert in a matter of fact way, scratching his crotch which was still itchy from the last time he paid for her.  She led him up to her lodgings above the Inn.

After a few hours Albert had had enough.  It was probably his age as he couldn’t drink as much as he used to and the cold was also aching his bones and joints.  Even when he went to Annie’s room he just stripped off and fell asleep on the bed.  She had to have Walter come up and wake him up as she too had a business to run.  The water thrown on Albert brought him round temporarily but after two more bottles of his favourite ale he was staggering to the Cloak and Dagger Inn’s front door muttering obscenities to anyone he bumped into.

As he staggered through the crowd he was unaware of some people pointing at him and laughing as he had wet himself sometime earlier in the night.  Albert was too busy trying to get to his lodgings two streets away to notice as he felt he was heading for a deep sleep.  Although his lodgings were no cleaner than the Inn at least it was better than sleeping on the streets, which he had done almost all his adult life relying on the handouts of others and squandering what little he got on drink.

The cold chill of the early morning air shocked Albert’s senses into coming around and he felt more awake almost immediately.  He staggered a few paces up the cobbled road towards his lodgings.  He had no idea if it was night or day as the fog was so heavy you couldn’t see more than two paces ahead.  The gas lights on the road sides weren’t much use either.  Luckily for Albert he had some sort of bat radar meaning he could sense his way home no matter what.

After a few more paces a tall slim man came out of the fog from nowhere and dashed past Albert almost knocking him over.  Albert turned round and the man was darting off down the road.

“Excuse me.  I want an apology.” Slurred Albert after the man.

The man carried on walking ignoring him.  Whether it was the drink or not this made Albert even more angry than normal.  The man was so rude.

“Oi.” Called Albert “Come back and apologise.”

Albert trotted after the tall slim man and just managed to catch his arm.  The man swung around quickly and stared down at Albert.  He had piercing blue eyes with dark circles underneath and thin drawn in cheeks.   Albert noticed his clothes were of a very high standard especially the long coat he had on.

“I have pressing matters now unhand me you beggar or I shall have you arrested!” the man said in a posh voice and turned away.

This angered Albert even more and instantly he pushed the man hard.  The man tumbled forward slipping on the wet cobbles and fell head first into a lamppost.

The tall slim man laid sprawled out in front of Albert.  After a few minutes of Albert staring at him feeling proud of himself he realised he may have seriously hurt the man.

“You alright Mister?” called Albert after the man.

There was no answer, no movement.  A few times Albert called to the man and panic started to rise within him and sober him up.  He went over to the man.  He must have hit his head harder than I realised thought Albert and rolled the man over to have a better chance of reviving him.

What he saw shocked him, the tall slim man’s face was contorted in pain and shock, his eyes rolled back.  He can’t be dead thought Albert, it was only a bang to the head and there is hardly a scratch.  He then caught sight of an expensive, shiny looking watch hanging out of the man’s coat and like a magpie to silver he picked it up.

“Very nice.” Said Albert to himself but his hand was wet and sticky.

“What’s this?” he asked and looked closer.  Blood!

Puzzled he looked closer at the man and saw blood showing through the gaps in his coat.  He tentatively reached down, his hand shaking from the shock, plus the cold and of course the alcohol and opened the coat.

To Albert’s horror he saw the man had been stabbed with four small silver surgical knifes, directly in his chest.  He saw the inside of the man’s coat was lined with small pockets with all manner of surgical knifes and scissors.  Some already had dry blood on them.  This is weird thought Albert, he must be a surgeon.

“Sweet Jesus he’s fallen on his own knifes.” exclaimed Albert.  His next thought was one of survival and he realised he had better discard of the body because if there was any chance this has been seen he would be hung for murder.  He wiped the blood from the watch on the mans coat and pocketed it then looked around.  There was no one to be seen although it was getting lighter so he had to act fast.  Albert looked past the Inn to the edge of the river Thames and smiled.

Albert grabbed the lifeless body by the feet and dragged him down the cobbled road.  It was quite easy as the man was thin and light plus Albert had quite a bit of meat on him anyhow.  He couldn’t help but look around each time he heard the man’s head crack and thud on the cobbles, which made him shudder.

After over five minutes Albert had placed the body on the bank of the river.  He was panting hard as sweat dripped down his forehead and neck.  It was harder than he had thought but at least he hadn’t been seen which was lucky as the fog had started to dissipate through the morning light.  Albert looked down at the tall slim man.  Something didn’t add up about him.  For instance why was he in such a hurry plus he looked too upper class to be in this part of the city especially if he was a surgeon.  Albert was thinking quite clearly for once as the events of the past ten to fifteen minutes had sobered him up and his head started to pound as a hangover took over.

He sighed then put his foot on the body to push it into the river.

“Old Al…Old Al is that you?  Are you alright?” came the familiar voice of the good time girl Annie peering over to Albert from the doorway of the Inn.

Albert started to panic now wondering if she had seen anything.

“Er… Yes it’s me Annie just having a tinkle in the old river.”

After a couple of minutes cackling Annie replied “Well be careful not to fall in.  What’s that you got Al?”

“Oh nothing!” answered Albert looking down at the body of the tall slim man and pushed him to his watery grave.  He turned and started back up the hill to his lodgings.

As he reached his lodgings Albert suddenly heard the frantic whistling of the police coming from all around him.  He didn’t know whether to run and hide or stay motionless.  Had he been seen he wondered?  Had Annie noticed what he had done and alerted the police?  As all these thoughts ran through his head he caught sight of one of the coppers running towards him, whistle in mouth and all flustered and red.  He was overweight to be running at such a speed and trundled past Albert who let out a sigh of relief.  It wasn’t him the police were after.

“What’ going on?” enquired Albert.

The policeman stopped and took the whistle out and panted for a few seconds, his red cheeks glowing as he bent over, his hands on his knees.  After a couple of minutes doing this his breathing slowed to normal and he spoke.

“The Ripper has struck again!  Up in Miller’s Court..  You seen anyone suspicious Al?”

“No Sir.” Lied Albert to the policeman.  One he had not seen before yet knew him by name.  But this wasn’t really surprising as most people knew Albert in this district.

“I suggest you get in doors where it’s safe.” Offered the policeman and carried on up the hill but was walking slowly this time.

Albert opened a door five feet away, “Home.” He said and went in.  Within minutes he was in a deep sleep.

Later in the afternoon Albert awoke to the sound of a group of women chatting near his lodgings.  He looked out the window over to them.  He recognised a few of them as he had paid to be with them on numerous occasions.  He strained his ears to listen in to their conversation as he didn’t fancy venturing out just yet as what sun there was hurt his eyes.  He caught a few main words and phrases repeated over.

“Ripper’s struck again!” said one elderly woman.

“Her body was cut open and mutilated.” Squealed another chubbier woman.

“It was young Mary Jane Kelly!” Blurted out a thin middle aged woman, “She lived next to me.”

After listening to their chatter for a while Albert thought back to what had happened  in the early morning and the tall slim man.  Maybe he was the Ripper with all those surgical knifes and being in this district at such a time of morning shortly before a body was discovered.  The thought wasn’t in Albert’s mind long as he drifted off back to sleep and didn’t wake till early evening.  Just in time to go to the pub.

A year had passed since the incident with the tall posh man near the riverside and Albert was again penniless and homeless.  He had squandered the rest of his inheritance and the cold weather had got to his bones and chest bad this year.  He felt in very poor health and in the last few days had travelled out of the city and out to some farms in the country.

Since the night of the incident Jack the Ripper had not struck again.  Nobody really knew what had happened to the killer and there were many speculations since the last murder.  Some people thought he had just stopped killing or moved away or been killed himself.  Albert listened into the conversations in the pubs and laughed as people brought up their theories.  They all thought he was just drunk and mad but Albert knew different.

Albert eventually found a small warm looking barn full of hay and settled down to sleep.  He lay down and pulled a shiny gold watch from his trouser pocket.  It was the watch he had taken from the man the year before.  It was beautiful and the craftsmanship was the best he had ever seen.  It was a very expensive watch.  Albert had kept the watch even though he had ran out of money but to Albert it was priceless as he knew who the watch had belonged to.

He smiled at the watch and laid it next to him.  He closed his eyes and thought back on his life.  He had just wasted it completely on begging and drink,  but there was one event that brought him redemption – he had got rid of Jack the Ripper.  For this act alone he felt at peace and he never awoke.

The Landings (Again)

Here's another chance to read a sci-fi classic - lol

The Landings

Here's a short story I wrote a couple of years ago for another short story competition for SFX Magazine although at the time I never finished it until I went back to it earlier this year.
Hope you enjoy - The Landings -

I remember the landings clearly, as if they had only happened yesterday.  It was a spectacular event of two races coming together for the first time.  What made it even more astonishing was that neither race knew the other existed.

It was an accident really, but one that was destined to happen especially with all the signals being beamed into space by both races and eventually after decades of signals being bounced around the vastness of space they found one another.

There was excitement on both planets as the first messages between the two spoke of peace and unity and a sharing of knowledge.  It changed the lives and attitudes of both planets and their own beliefs too.  Now the people of both worlds knew they were not alone.

On Earth there was a universal bonding of religion as what was preached before was now generally regarded as void.  Definite life from another world was all the proof needed that the old religions had got the past wrong.  Although there were some devotees to their cause who described what was happening as evil and still preached their old ways.  Wars stopped on both planets and a time of peace ensued.

After many communications and messages between each other the decision between the leaders of both worlds was to meet on planet Earth.  This was agreed because Earth wasn’t as advanced.  Although all the communication took place over ten years the news of what was said was exciting and Earth shattering.

Eventually the big day finally arrived.  Excitement and nerves were at the forefront for everyone and every race.  Two races would at last meet and this was a big day for me as well.  For ten years I had been looking forward to this,  seeing a new race in the flesh.  When news of communication was known the first thing I did was join the new Space Corp which was set up to train our people in handling interspecies contact.  We learned of what the new planet would look like,  the customs and rituals of the alien species.  My parents were dead against it and tried to persuade me not to join,  “You might catch something horrible from them!” shouted my mother as I left home.

But here I was at the forefront of it all.  Everything on Earth went to a standstill as people tried to get to the major cities of the world to catch a glimpse of the new arrivals.  There was pandemonium in the streets as thousands upon thousands were squashing into the relegated meeting zones.  Giant televisions were set up so people could get a better look.  Camera crews were everywhere broadcasting it live to the people who stayed at home, some through choice because they were fearful and others were too poor. 

Hyde Park was the landing spot chosen in England and there would be ships landing simultaneously in all the other capitals of Earth.  Washington was the capital I was at on that day.  I remember it so clearly as it was the best day of my life.

The President of America was there waiting with his party and with them thousands of people watched as clouds gathered above then dispersed as a bright blue light from the circular silver ships descended.  The excitement and fear hung in the air as the giant saucer slowly landed and everyone waited for the huge silver doors of the ship to open.  I couldn’t wait for the doors to open and come face to face with a new species.  Sweat poured down my head as the seconds seemed like hours.

Eventually the huge silver doors slowly opened and I saw the humans in the flesh for the first time.  Their look of horror and surprise will be with me till the day I die as they looked onto our tall gangly bodies which will seem so different to the humans as we have bone on the outside to protect our organs and so makes our superior race harder to be killed.  You could also see the humans surprise when we started shooting our laser cannons at them disintegrating their soft watery pink bodies.

This was the moment I had longed for. For over ten years we had wanted to destroy the human race as is the nature of our people.  The smell of the human flesh as it melted under our lasers was divine and the screams of the dying only fuelled our excitement.  We chased after the humans shooting at them evaporating them without mercy.  Even when the human army retaliated with their puny guns and tanks they were no match for our armour and shields.  We destroyed the human’s tanks and planes as if they were mere toys.

High above the sky a second wave of our ships descended and destroyed the Earth’s buildings and airbases.  Eventually there was hardly anything left as we swarmed down to the planet and killed anything in sight.  The humans didn’t stand a chance – they mostly screamed and died.  There were too many of us.

This was a very special day indeed for me as well as my people.  It was my first time off world and what I had trained years for.  It was the first world we had been in contact with for over a hundred years and we needed their resources and minerals badly as our planets fossil fuels had almost ran out.

With our superior weaponry, shielding and strength we killed all but a few hundred thousand humans within a matter of days.  The attack was non-stop as we bombarded the city’s.  The humans that we kept would be used as slaves to mine the planet for us and maybe eaten if not too skinny or disease had not set in.  It was the best experience a young warrior like myself could have and within three days the Earth belonged to the Gorgons!!

Further Entry:

This morning as we prepared to leave the Earth after nearly a year of sapping it of its minerals and water and leaving it a lifeless planet,  news has reached us that our home world has had communications with a new planet.  I can’t wait to go there.

 

Need to get serious

Hi followers

Hope your all well - long time no blog (again)!
I really need to get serious and get my butt in gear and get writing!

At moment I am writing my novel The Wormhole Effect and only 3 chapters in still so need to speed up on that although I have edited the first 2 chapters recently and the prologue and sent them to the Good Housekeeping Novel competition!!
Although as usual I did things last minute and sent 2 days before closing date - doh! hope they got it in time - haven't had any acknowledgment yet - sob!
I also need to start a new short story for Calderdale short story comp as that closes in June I think!

It's not as if i have been doing much else and now I have moved into my own flat you'd think I'd have written loads especially as I haven't a television in living room yet - ha

Well will put a couple of old stories up to remind you all of my genius and let any newcomers read some without trawling down through the blogs to the stories!

Till next time - live long and prosper!

Neil