Fiction
Going Back
Going Back is the story of how one man had to travel back to the scene of the experiences which shaped him as a teenager in order to understand everything which has happened to him since
West Germany, 1978 Andy Macintyre, on a two-week exchange visit with his schoolmates to a village in the shadow of the East German border, finds himself drawn into the dark world of his host's sister, Karla. What Karla does to him changes who he is, but, lost in his own problems, he doesn't see that others around him have also been damaged.
Germany, 2003 Twenty-five years later, Andrew Macintyre returns to the site of the trip, to find the Iron Curtain gone, and discovers that his memories don't tell the whole story of what happened that summer. Slowly, he uncovers the truth of how one family's pain seeped into his life, and the lives of his friends. As he rekindles old friendships, he begins to understand that coming to terms with the past might give him the best chance of breaking free of it.
Going Back is the story of how the past informs the present, even when it is only remembered in fragments, and of why it is never too late to pull down the fences we build around ourselves.
Find out more on the Going Back page.
Shore Leave - work in progress
Shore Leave is the story of David, a man with no past. David took part in the Normandy Landings in 1944, and has the scars to prove it. He also has no memory of his life before the day he woke up in a hospital in Winnipeg.
His former sergeant thinks he may have killed a man, his doctors fear that their work will be undone if he ever knows the truth.
In order to find out who he is, David must travel into the life of Robbie, who never came back from war.
Find out more at the Shore Leave pages
Other novels in progress
References to these works will no doubt turn up in the blog pages from time to time: they remain in draft format of one kind or another for now; updates will happen as and when progress is made:
A Little Bird Told Me: The story of how Jason Whit (not his real name), record producer and washed-up rock star wannabe, came to be stranded on an island off the west coast of Canada, thanks to a moment of madness on social media. A short extract (draft)
The Tip Run: An elderly man watches with some bemusement as his life comes to a close; the world seems a smaller and less well organised place than he remembers; his memories and those of his daughter seem to tell two different stories. A short extract (draft)
Other odds and ends: At any one time, there may be a number of story ideas floating around Richard's head. Some of those may eventually end up here, particularly the one about time travelling back to one's adolescent mind; that may have promise...
Shorter fiction:
Words and Music
A project which began life as a NaNoWriMo entry; a sequence of short stories inspired by the untold stories in popular (and not so popular) songs. Unlikely now to see the light anywhere but here.
Damnation's Cellar (after Elvis Costello)
Middletown Dreams (after Rush)