Free Halloween story

Happy Halloween, everyone!

To celebrate this year, I’ve made one of my spooky short stories available absolutely free.

‘Can’t Fool Me’ is set in the Ghosts Galore universe, some time after the events of the main book. Adam, Guy and their menagerie of ghosts are living happily together at Greystones Hall, until a mean-spirited journalist upsets Adam by writing an unpleasant article about the house. Together with Adam’s inimitable grandfather Gramps, he and Guy hatch a mischievous plan to get their own back, and make a little money at the same time…

The cover art features my own take on Gramps, using an image by mores345 at Pixabay.com.

This short, fun tale was originally included in my newsletter, but for anyone who didn’t get it you can now find it at my Prolific Works account. Just follow this link and click ‘claim’ to download your copy in the format of your choice. Happy spooky reading and I hope you enjoy life at Greystones Hall!

Bowled Over…

I have a new, free-to-read story available at RoM/Mantic Reads magazine today. ‘Bowled Over’ is one I wrote a very long time ago, but it’s since been dug out, dusted off, and spruced up.

It’s a m/m romance set at an annual charity cricket match and is very tongue-in-cheek with more than a few double entendres including that title. If you fancy taking a look, head over to RoM/Mantic Reads now. I hope it gives you a laugh!

Noises Off

Just for a change, here’s a creepy little story I wrote a few years ago, when I used to do a lot of flash fiction. This one is exactly 75 words long (if you include the title) and appeared in the online magazine Paragraph Planet.

If you enjoy it, feel free to check out the freebies page of my website where I’ve got a few more short dark tales lurking in the shadows!

The chair rocks in the empty house. Nothing and no-one about. No cats, no sudden gusts of wind.

“Creepy,” says Jack with a shiver, but Felicity’s unimpressed.

“It’s a hoax – look at these wires. Somebody set us up.” She flips the circuit breaker. The lights go out, the rocking stops. “Told you.”

They pack up and leave – there’ll be other stories for the magazine.

In the darkened house, the chair rocks by itself.

RoM/Mantic Reads: Jackie Keswick

This week’s offering on RoM/Mantic Reads is a lovely bonus scene from Jackie’s Power of Zero series, which seemed oddly appropriate at Easter with all the chocolate and hot cross buns!

Why not head over and read it for yourselves? If you enjoy m/m romance I’m sure you’ll love this.

RoM/Mantic Reads: Combustion

There’s a new, free, short story of mine featured at the RoM/Mantic Reads m/m romance magazine today. ‘Combustion’ involves two men, a Ferrari and a birthday present and is completely tongue-in-cheek, with lots of slightly naughty references to internal combustion engines. It also features the two main characters from my paranormal romance Trench Warfare – archaeologist Steve and his sweet-natured right-hand-man Jon.

There was a muffled, breathless laugh. ‛Yeah. Suck, squeeze, bang and blow. Nothing to beat it.’

            ‛You what?’ His voice came out as more of a squeak than he’d intended. He cleared his throat.

            ‛I read it somewhere. Good description, don’t you think?‘

These two worked together for years before realising they wanted to be more than just colleagues. If you enjoy the story and want to read more about how they ever got together – not to mention that temple they discovered – then look no further than Kindle/Kindle Unlimited, where you can find all their adventures in Trench Warfare.

County archaeologist Steve Saunders desperately wants his latest dig to be a success. Too many people think he’s too young for the job, and besides, the chance to track down the town’s missing priory is too good to miss.

But the dig seems to be jinxed. The weather’s awful, the clients want the land back to build an apartment block, and the clients’ representative tries every dodgy trick in the book. On top of that there’s a strange, unfriendly atmosphere about the place. Could that be why the priory disappeared so thoroughly? And what’s the link to the unusual stairs Steve’s assistant Jon finds in the cloister trench?

Throughout everything, Jon proves to be an invaluable support. But when he tries a trick of his own, he sets off a chain of events that lead to a result nobody, least of all Steve, expects.

Trench Warfare is available here.

Free Valentines story

I know it isn’t quite Valentine’s Day yet, but this month always seems that little bit more romantic as the big day draws close. And what better way to celebrate than with a cute little Valentine’s themed story, which is up today at RoM/Mantic Reads zine, completely free to read. Here’s a little taster…

‘Skinny latte, please.’ He’d noticed his waistline getting saggy lately. Needed to do something about that.

            ‘Coming right up.’

            Not half as much as what I’ve got coming up…  He watched as the barista turned his back, measuring coffee, banging things, squirting hot milk. The guy had nice hands, too, with long deft fingers that made art of the ordinary tasks. Too soon the performance was over, and a steaming mug appeared on the counter.

            ‘Cheers.’ He fished in his pocket for small change, enjoying the pressure on his newly-awakened cock. ‘What do I owe you?’

            ‘Well, the coffee’s two pounds fifty.’ The barista winked. ‘But I wouldn’t mind if you gave me something else.’

Coffee for a Kiss is pure fluff, written a long time ago for a Torquere Press newsletter. Those of you who are signed up to get my own newsletter might recognise it because I sent it out as a freebie this time last year. But for anyone else, I hope you enjoy a little helping of romance with your coffee, as a coffee-shop customer pays for his morning beverage in a somewhat unusual way!

Another free story…

I finally got my December newsletter written and sent yesterday. This month it included details of our recent trip to Sizergh Castle, a few thumbnail reviews of books I’d read and enjoyed and a bit about my latest project – a longish story involving a neurodiverse young man and a gypsy, which I’m hoping to submit to a publisher early in the new year.

On top of all that, there was a wee Christmas gift of a free m/m romance short story. I first wrote Masquerade many years ago when I was still dabbling in sci fi and fantasy. It features a young temple novitiate who idolises one of his Order’s slave warriors, and resorts to hiding his own identity in order to set up a meeting between them. The theme of, er, masked balls seemed oddly appropriate for Christmas!

Here’s the blurb (and you can see the cover art at the top of this post):

Ket idolises warrior-slave Lorcan so much he’s prepared to change his own identity to try to engineer a meeting between them. But using the priceless mask handed down through his family brings risks of its own. Will Lorcan realise he’s not the girl he pretends to be? The result might just surprise both of them!

If you fancy reading Masquerade or seeing any of my other news, you can sign up for my newsletter here. Although the newsletter has already gone out, if anyone new signs up I’ll make sure you get a copy as soon as possible. And I hope you enjoy the story.

Christmas gift – Christmas Roses

As a little Christmas pressie I’ve made my short story sequel to December Roses, which I just had to call Christmas Roses, free on Prolific Works. I previously shared the story with my newsletter readers, but wanted to let more people have the chance of reading it.

Nat is coming to terms with his new life working in the garden at Frogmorton Towers, and with the strange on-off relationship he has with elusive musician Richie. Until one particular sentimental Christmas gift comes back to haunt him, in more ways than one…

You can find the story here: https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/PR5KrM4K

I really hope you enjoy it. And Merry Christmas! xx

Happy Halloween!

I don’t usually bother much with the celebrations; when I was a kid growing up near Liverpool Halloween was barely a Thing and it was much more about Bonfire Night a few days later. I guess that stuck with me as an adult.

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t wish everyone else a fun night of trick-or-treating, sweetie-stuffing and general larking about.

And to celebrate the occasion, I have a new Halloween-themed short story available at RoM/Mantic Reads zine today. I first wrote Jack O’Lantern, or at least a shorter and sillier version, for a Torquere Press newsletter many years ago. Last year I dusted it off and rewrote it and it featured in my own newsletter, so if you’re signed up for that you may already have seen it. If not, it’s free and fun but creepy, so what are you waiting for?!

You can find Jack O’Lantern here, and while you’re at it why not stay and have a good poke around the other stories and poems featured in our Halloween season? There are some fantastic pieces on there.

New romance story, with added slugs!

It’s been a while since I wrote any short stories so I’m really pleased not just to have finished a new one, but to have had it published over at RoM/Mantic Reads yesterday.

The zine features short, low-heat m/m romance fiction and Slippery Slope fits right in. The story features Eric, who’s just moved into a new home following a break-up and is having the morning from hell, as his washing machine breaks down and a slug gets into the kitchen when he fetches the mop. Luckily for both him and the slug, neighbour Charlie is on hand to come to the rescue, in a sweet little ‘meet-cute’ tale.

You can find Slippery Slope here, and while you’re at it check out some of the other fantastic fiction and features in the zine which are well worth reading. Just don’t step on any slugs!

Pic credit: UK-toluna.com