Prose
Encounters
Check out some of the short stories I’ve been working on …
Doggerland
Illustration by the author
The sun was sinking fast, low beneath the hills. Birds cried out from gnarled roosts and lamented the day.
The hunters stole through the blue dusk. Pausing. Beckoning. Keen eyes in the thickets. Spears in their fists. Breaths steamed and perished on their lips. The overgrowth snared at their arms. Again, they halted. Again, they looked to each other. Finally, with no small degree of uncertainty, the parents signalled their children forward …
BBQ
Illustration by Taya Neilson
June’s hottest day on record hugged the neighbourhood. The air trembled with barbecue smoke. Heather prayed her brother-in-law would hurry up with his tongs and fix her a sausage …
The Prime Minister’s
New Phone
Illustration by Taya Neilson
“Hello, you’ve reached the Prime Minister. I can’t talk right now because, you see, I’m fucked.” Robert Harker massaged his brow. “Too much?”
Jessica double-blinked. “Um …”
They were alone in the White Room at No. 10 Downing Street. The PM only risked being so crass because the drawing room doors were safely closed. He was sitting at his favourite Chippendale desk. Jessica Clarke sat across from him with the good posture and keen eyes of an aide still only one week into the job.
“From the heart, Sir, like all of your speeches. Perhaps a tad crude. How about something more classic, more friendly, like ‘Please leave a message’?”