I’m a second year English student studying at Queens University, Belfast, and hoping to do my masters in Creative Writing. I love the works of Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne-Jones and generally spend my student loan on armloads of books. I’m inspired by Tori Amos’ music, Hayao Miyazaki’s movies and any poem that capture’s my imagination.
“Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.” Olin Miller
Stories
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Sit With The March Hare And The Mad Hatter
The Mad Hatter, looking at you with a mad glint in his eye, exclaims suddenly: “You’re not Alice! Alice wears a bigger bow in her hair!” Surprised by how sensible a statement this sounds you decide it’s time to leave (when the M...
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Take a slice of wedding cake
You take a slice of wedding cake. Well that wasn’t very interesting now was it? You can: Explore outside the church Open one other present at random Stick around and eat the rest of that damn cake
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Steal All The Wedding Supplies
You decide she’s too plain to run after and start stealing all the wedding presents. But you only get as far as three presents before the runaway bride’s older brother comes after you. He looks mad. One of the presents is bound to help you ...
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The Body In The Space Station
The Detective grudgingly boarded the Imperial space station. He dug his hand deep into his pocket as a pair of green crewmen led him to the lower decks. They couldn’t have been older than seventeen. At this rate Command would be recruiting them f...
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Not All Dragons Have Scales
Nadia had been warned about dragons but it had been a long time ago, when she was a child. Her grandmother had told her about them and for a while she had hung on the old woman’s every word. That was until her mother found out and scoffed at the ...
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The Raven And The Writing Desk
The Raven and the Writing Desk, covered in little ink blots from years of use, were the very best of friends. They never quarrelled and where one went the other gladly followed. All those who met the pair marvelled at their unusual friendship. “I...
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29: Second Sight
Lissa stood at the security gate, trying to be patient. “I’m telling you Ollie, everything’s going to be fine,” she said. “I’m only going to be gone for a couple of days. I’ll be back before you know it.”...
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28: All Intertwinning
Cara wasn’t really looking at the class list in her hands. She was at that age where she could choose what she wanted to study. She could go with her strengths if only she knew what they were. She could pick subjects that would help her into univ...
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27: Still Missing
Delta sat with her nose inches away from the music box, staring at it, as if sheer force of will could make it open. She should have known that Carl would have rigged it with some ridculous locking mechanism. Perhaps she had been a little hasty in kill...
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26: Death Of A Detective
The clue had seemed innocuous at the time. Which was exactly why he had ignored it. Now he realised what a mistake that had been. Arthur Montague looked along the length of the pistol and into the grey eyes of Lord Percy. “It was the horse hair,&...
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25: Be Prepared
Trina woke up and sat bolt upright. She blinked at the girl perched on the end of the bed. Her frizzy hair was bright pink and she was grinning at Trina in a most alarming manner. “All right?” said the pink haired girl. Trina blinked again....
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24: Fast Talk
So far as super powers go, mine isn’t what you’d call exciting. But it comes in handy every now and then. A Fast-Talker like me can talk the team out of any situation. Take this one for example: Professor Pyro thinks I’m the weakest m...
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23: A Night Of Poetry
Eric grabbed his knees, gasping for breath. Behind him, Lewis slumped to the pavement. He was holding his sides he was laughing so hard. “That… was not… funny,” Eric said. “No man, it was hilarious!” “We could ...
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22: Missing
Special Agents Clarke and Driscoll surveyed the room. It was a cramped little bedsit in a bad neighbourhood. The chalk outline marked the place where the body had lain, slumped over the end of the bed. “This is an open and shut case,” Drisc...
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21: To The Rescue
“Joe, your front door was open…” Tori stopped in the kitchen doorway, her arms full of groceries. “Oh I’m sorry am I interrupting?” she asked. Vinnie let go of Joe who slumped to the kitchen floor. He advanced on the...
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20: The Usual Haunts
Eli considered himself a better class of ghost than his peers. For instance, he wouldn’t be caught dead in an abandoned hospital or creepy graveyard. No, Eli was the sort of ghost who haunted five star restaurants and the sort of exclusive spas t...
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19: Clockwork Makes The World Go Round
“Know what them up there think?” Old Ajax asked. Summer was lying on her back working at the mechanisms that kept the Earth spinning. She didn’t care what ‘them up there’ thought but that didn’t matter. Old Ajax woul...
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18: The Hate
“Don’t you see, that the charade is over? And all the best deceptions and the clever cover story awards go to you!” So that was it, she had found out somehow and now she was kicking him out. It had only been a matter of time really bu...
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17: The Love
“I’m surprised that you’ve never been told before that you’re lovely and you’re perfect and that somebody wants you.” Leah raised an eyebrow. “That might be the corniest thing anyone has ever said to me.”...
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16: Great Works of Literature
Rianne snatched another book from the shelves and added it to the heavy pile in her arms. A few more and the stack would reach her chin. Behind her, Charlie was struggling with her equally heavy load. “Why did I agree to help you with this?”...
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15: It's Not The End Of The World
The ruined skyscrapers lay across the landscape like the skeletons of fallen giants. Jay crouched behind a slab of concrete, his rifle across his knees. Benjamin kept watch while his cousin split the last of their rations. “So this is it,” ...
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14: Meet Me Halfway
Cora waited on the bridge. The rain was so light it was mist. It beaded on her woolen cloak, gleaming silver in the moonlight. She had been standing long enough for the cold to sweep into her bones. It would take more than stamping her feet to shift it...
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13: Superstitious
“One for sorrow,” Graeme remarked. The dead magpie was lying not too far away, its wings still tight against its white torso. Sarah had been trying not to look at it. She didn’t like to see dead things. “Afternoon Mr. Magpie,...
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12: It's All Over
Alden Rook, the Warrior of the North, lay face down in the mud. He wasn’t much of a Warrior really but the horsemen of the northern steppes had insisted on bestowing the title as thanks to him for saving their queen. He had come a long way from h...
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11: Fighting Off The Bozos
My human calls me Dinah. I looked it up and you know what it means? Vindicated. What kind of stupid name is that? I’m a cat for crying out loud. But he is only a human and he keeps the heat on so I can sleep on the radiator, sometimes even when h...
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10: Burn The Land And Boil The Sea
“Uncle Mal, uncle Mal! Jayne’s chasing me again!” Jasmine flew into the dining hall and hid behind his chair. She grinned up at him. “She started it,” Jayne said. “She poked me in the eye.” Mal raised an eyebro...
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9: In The Garden
Logan and Trent were lounging around at the bottom of the witch’s garden eating the magic apples that had fallen from her trees. The garden was separated from the cricket pitch by a fast flowing stream but it was easy to jump across where it narr...
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8: The Matchbox
Vasili’s father had given him the matchbox the day he died. The ground had been thick with snow, stained red with blood. His father had pressed the battered little box into Vasili’s hands. That was the last time he saw his father. He held t...
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7: Saving Herself
Pine needles stabbed the soles of her feet as she ran. Leonore looked back but she could not see her pursuer. She could hear It though, close behind. Every breath burned her chest and her legs, those fine legs that had once danced across the ground, we...
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6: The Adventures Of The Stargazer
It wasn’t easy, performing a hit and run on a battlecruiser that was in the middle of a dogfight with a horde of Orac StarBees. But this was no ordinary battlecruiser and we were getting desperate. It was chaos onboard the cruiser so no one notic...
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