THE UNDERSTUDY

Chapter One

As soon as he stepped off the plane Marek started to sweat. It was only April, but already this place was far hotter than London. It did his hangover no favours. Inside the terminal building he found a drinking fountain, then sat down and waited until the crush around the luggage carousel had died down. He was one of the last to collect his bag and head out through the glass doors towards the buses and taxis.

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Lavinia Greenlaw & Helon Habila (eds) 2006, New Writing 14, London: Granta

STRANGER

A man in his middle thirties came stumbling onto the top deck of the bus, talking to everyone he passed as if he knew them. People looked up with dazed glances but as soon they understood he was a stranger they gathered themselves into their coats and tucked away their eyes.

He flung himself into a seat at the front. 'That's better,' he said.

Toby Litt & Ali Smith (eds.), 2005, New Writing 13, London: Picador; republished in Spotlight magazine in Germany and Austria in Nov 2005

ESCAPE ARTIST

On the third day of the argument Corazón got tired of it. She'd forgotten why she was angry with Robert, if she had ever been angry at all. Surely it was time to celebrate by now?

Alice Thomas Ellis (ed.), 2000, Valentine’s Day, London: Duckworth

DOWNSIZING

When he was still Head of Department, back in the days when Policy and Evaluation still existed as a department, Martin used to like to hold forth on the future of work. 'In the knowledge-based economy, we will ask people to work "smarter" not "harder",' he would say. 'And until this old place catches on, it's heading for oblivion.'

The words he forgot to mention, Julianne thought afterwards, were 'cheaper' and 'younger'. 

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C Buchan (ed.), 2000, Reshape Whilst Damp, London: Serpents’ Tail 

SHE LOVES ME, Yeah

South Africa, 1968

Linda sat by herself at break time looking out over the netball courts where the sun lay in merciless sheets over the tarmac. Behind her the six- and seven-year-olds played in the big, fluffy flower bushes. They hopped in and out, crushing the pink and white blooms underfoot, until a teachers came past and screamed that they were not allowed in there. The girls and boys scattered like spilled beads.

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Lefanu (ed.) 1995, How Maxine Learned to Love her Legs, London: Aurora Metro Press

WELCOME TO THE WORKING WORLD

Nutters — the world is full of them.

I'm walking in the park with Jackie at the weekend and I say, 'Jackie, tell me if I'm dreaming or is there a dog up in that tree?'

            'It's a dog, Steve,' she says. We stop and watch this great, fat, black dog lumbering from one branch to another. It's an oak tree. There's a woman with a wide mouth and a spreading waist standing at the bottom of it, clapping her hands and calling: Good boy! Clever boy! Laughing. Then she holds out her arms and the dog drops straight out of the tree into them.

Awards for Short Fiction

2007 - Fish Publishing One-Page story prize, one of 6 finalists

2006 - Chapter One Promotions, International Short Story Competition, first prize

1999 - Asham Award, finalist

1999 - Ian St James Award, finalist

Magazines & Websites

‘A Thing I saw’ (3am.com, 2006)

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‘A Minor Disorder’ (pulp.net, 2005)

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‘Debts’ (metropolitan magazine 1996)

‘3 Bloody Stories’ (metropolitan magazine 1994)