3 More Stories

I've just uploaded another 3 pieces of flash fiction which you'll find under the Stories tab to the right.

King of the Rats is an anthropomorphic "rats eye view" of a home invasion by hungry vermin. It's got a bit of "Tom and Jerry" so it's a bit tongue in cheek.

Revelation is actually one of the first stories I ever wrote so I do enjoy looking back - if not to see how far I've come. It does have a nice poem in though ;)

Roundhead contains only a short monologue I would imagine Oliver Cromwell to have shouted to his followers to rouse their passion against King Charles I. Off with his head!

~Fraser

New Discounted Price for The Frozen Codex

 Thanks to Everyone who's bought my book so far but now is the time to reach a wider audience.

I've just lowered the price of The Frozen Codex so a great chance to pick up a copy of my first book and see what my work is like for yourself.

The eBook is now only £0.99p so no excuse not to try it out!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=frozen+codex&categoryId=200002

~Fraser

3 More Stories

I've added 3 more of my flash fiction stories to the blog - link on the right of the page

Hope you enjoy them, they're all pretty distinct from each other.

Experiments, is a broody fantasy set in a Victorian night amidst the smokey clouds of a steam train rest stop at a station Harris will never be able to forget.

Future, is a mock up of how those in the past might view our own society today.

Home, is a look into the mind of a Care Home patient whom despite the bitterness in his heart can't help but find some joy in life.

More to come soon!

~Fraser

Diversity

...Is the spice of life. It provides a great insight into human nature.

I'm not talking about the same old tired opinions of positive discrimination in the workplace but on a much more real basis.

At the O2 arena in Greenwich today there are two main attractions. The Monty Python Reunion, which has attracted an odd mix of old eccentric folks with handkerchiefs on their heads. And a boyband reunion which has swarms of girls flocking to see whichever fops are still vying for their attention.

It does make me wonder what the teenagers of today make of the jokers of the past. They seem so very puzzled by the big fibreglass model of a dead parrot.

When I was coming to London on the train, a four year old French boy comes and sits next to me so I take out my headphones and we watch Battlestar Galactica together.

It's somehow reassuring when you come across these little nuances in the day to day. Life is interesting. Whatever else you call it, that much is true.

~Fraser

2000

In celebration of reaching 2000 views on my blog I'm going to start adding my collection of Flash Fiction stories that I have written to showcase my work.

Thank you for reading my blog up until this point - I hope you've enjoyed my posts and will enjoy the stories that I will be uploading over the coming weeks.

As usual, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

~Fraser

The Unexpected

I always try to allow a margin for error; room for the unexpected in whatever plans I make. You never know when life is going to throw a surprise at you.

Or in the case of last night, throwing a wild hare in front of my car and smashing my headlight. It was catapulted away, spinning through the air in a shower of plastic shards. A surprise to say the least.

The hare ran off and my headlight casing was totally destroyed but you've got to laugh. It could quite easily have been a muntjac deer and my entire car could have been wrecked.

It's nice to able to laugh at the surprises life brings us. For better or worse it's always exciting and good to mix things up. So long as the bill isn't too high!

~Fraser

Mr Sunshine

Half way through my 7 mile run this evening and I come to a fork in the road. Despite the wind and the stormy clouds the sun is shining on both paths.

That has to be a good omen.

Here's to a bright future

Cheers

~Fraser

Making a difference

It's amazing how much a story can influence you.

I was watching a dramatisation of Stephen Hawking's life played by Benedict Cumberbatch and seeing the story behind the brilliant mind of one of the greatest scientists of our time.

It left me with a profound feeling which grips me from time to time. I have to emulate that greatness. To get into physics I'd probably have to do some more A levels but I can do night classes so that'd be okay. I couldn't believe I was seriously thinking about it.

I had to take a step back. I'm never going to be the next Stephen Hawking even if I did go down that path. The desire still burned however -- I want to make a difference to the world.

My only talent is writing and I'm still a fledgling in that. The book is a powerful tool to help others but that'd have to be non-fiction. Fiction sits on a shelf in budget shops and newsagents that might as well be labelled "time pass" -- or "something to give your eyes a break from rotting away, staring at screens".

I try and think if fiction could do anything for us as a species and I think of great authors like Joseph Heller teaching me about the madness of war and that no matter how bleak the outlook is we can laugh and move on.

This is bed time philosophy though. Not the origins of the universe. The time has passed when a man could sit and rationalise about universal maxims with nothing more than his own mind and some pork pies.

I know there are science fiction writers that have paved the way for inventors through their broad imagination, but still the praise is empty and thought alone, again, only gets you so far.

Short of finding an interest to write non-fiction about it's hard to imagine what an average man can achieve in this world. Still, the world is a fascinating and interesting place for those who look and while my fiction may not explain the stars maybe if I keep writing well enough I may earn my place among them.

Then again, not with clichés like that I won't.

~Fraser