Author Description

A collection of my best short stories - previously published in both mainstream and literary magazines - others published for the first time. Everything from a pig hunting story to a fun romance. Literary stories, commercial fiction, and shorter vignettes. Included in the collection is my first published short story, a fishing yarn, Sam's Kingie, and for the first time a new fishing yarn starring Sam, The Living Legend. Inspired by my love of the sea and nature, the stories draw on memories of school days and childhood adventures, the people I've met and the yarns I've heard throughout my life. Themes include courage, friendship, respect, trust, disappointment, patience and love. Solitude is often at the heart of the story; those folk who live alone - whether by choice or circumstance - and how they find solace. Characters battle on alone, find solace in nature, and take heart from the support of friends. The Eagle sees a woman wait a life-time for the 'right' person before she can relinquish the reigns at last. In The Eel the 'right' person has been gone a life-time, but peace might at last be salvaged from this loss. In both Mary's Treasures and The Little Bird older women fight for their independence in two very different stories. Kirsty is a teenage girl who 'dares, ' but what exactly has she won? In The Return a teenage girl has suffered both loss and joy. Spring begins with the promise of romance, which comes to nothing, but there is still optimism. The Back Block - my story about pig hunting - is the quintessential 'coming of age' story (Contains gruesome incident). Is Saturday Morning in Suburbia the story about the disappointment of a life lived to suburban rules and expectations only to discover, too late, that life might have been lived differently? Or is it the story about a man who will redeem himself in the last few weeks of his life? Excerpts: Kirsty The morning was hot. It was in your face heat scooped up by the wind, heavy with the smells of the rus