Another short story this week – Just A Bit Of Harmless Fun. Read it here.
For the full list of short stories, all under 1000 words, click here. If you like what you read (or even if you don’t), I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. You can leave a comment after the story, or contact me.
Another new story this week. It’s called ‘The Greatest Fraud‘. It’s a bit of an oddity—nobody dies this time. But that doesn’t mean it’s happy.
Read it here.
Another short story, this one written with Halloween in mind. It’s called Escape, and can be read here.
The ending is a bit of a horror story trope, with a ‘surprise’ that has been used countless times before. Even Terry Pratchett’s used it (although he was an expert at using and twisting storytelling tropes in fresh ways). But, even if you see this ending coming from afar, I hope you enjoy (if that is the right word) the short journey to that destination.
Something I’m enjoying with these short stories is the chance to experiment. Most of what I write is in third-person past tense, but to make things more involved in Escape, I’ve gone for first-person present tense. I wouldn’t be able to pull this off for anything longer, but for a short story I think it works. And if not, it’s only a thousand words. If you don’t like this one, there will be another story along in a couple of weeks.
But I might try something different with that one, too.
Anyway, you can check out Escape here, or through the short stories page.
Another short story for you—Influential Friends. You can read it here.
With these short stories, I’m exploring some of the characters that appear in the Dominions books. A Lesson In Death was about the main character, Rodin, and now it’s the turn of another characters, Genna.
She’s one of my favourite characters so far, even though she only plays a small part in the first book. She’s tough and smart, and she’s had to fight for everything she’s got. She’s the kind of person you’d definitely want on your side—you wouldn’t want to go up against her unless you had to.
From the first moment she appeared in Dark Glass, I knew there was far more to her, and as I work on Dominions IV, I’m delving into the vulnerabilities behind that rock-hard exterior. Her strengths, weaknesses, and her past are all being revealed, and it’s interesting watching her develop into one of the pivotal roles in the ongoing Dominions series.
But that book is not yet finished. For now, here’s a short story about one of my favourite characters. I hope you enjoy Influential Friends.
I’ve just posted a new short story – The Weather Report.
If the weather could be controlled … should it?
Read the story here.
I’ve just put up a new short story, something that’s not as dark as the others on this site. It’s called The Gardener, and you can read it here.
I’ve got another short story this week; Work Units. I’m not going to say anything about it, because I don’t want to spoil the surprise at the end. Enjoy!
You can read it here.
I now have the very first part of the Dominions series available. It’s a short (about 25-30 pages, if that means anything now), called Gatekeeper (A Dominions Prologue).
Visit this page to check it out and download a copy.
Another short story this week, called A Lesson In Death. It’s the first appearance of a character called Rodin, who features heavily in the books that are coming out soon. I think it gives a good flavour of what you can expect from those books.
This one’s a bit closer to 1000 words, clocking in at 938.
To read A Lesson In Death, click here.
TW Iain 