I post up my short fiction on this blog here. It’s been a long time since I wrote any, so I’ve bunged a piece up this morning. Perhaps I should migrate to WordPress and take all these feeds and make a proper website…?

“What is…” the landlord pauses for dramatic effect and the pub catches its breath “…the capital of Tashkent?” There’s a furious rustling and whispering around the pub, a medley of “I know this” and “isn’t it?” The barman is polishing glasses and serving the lean-to regulars, all wannabe salty dogs well on the way to…

Mr. Praline: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, my lad. ‘E’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it! Owner: No, no, ‘e’s uh,…he’s resting. Nothing to do with Avian Flu. Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now. Owner: No no he’s not…

Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle was the first of a genre, and still one of the most unassuming and best; the conditional history book, the speculative historical fiction. Dick’s question was “what if the Germans and Japanese had won the war?” and he played it out with the Japanese and Germans…

Lawks. Fantastic short films from Zed include the indescribable glory of this “Heap of Trouble”.