The Hollow Statue and Stranded in Eternity

I wanted to write a blog entry about how I came up with the ideas for my latest published short stories.

The Hollow Statue was written as a first draft a long time ago.

I wondered at that time what a society would look like in which everyone had that same blind faith in the authorities. Then I combined this with some apocalyptic themes.

What emerged was not particularly beautiful, but it was honest about my feelings at the time. If I wrote it again I would try to balance the darkness with more light.

The other story, Stranded in Eternity was written over a long period and after many drafts. It began at a writers workshop where everyone was given a first line to use to write a story. My first line was 'He revived with a smile on his face'.

A little while later I went to church and heard a sermon about how indescribable heaven will be. That it would be beyond imagination. So I thought I would try to imagine a version of heaven, beyond the idea of fluffy clouds. I also introduced a few other themes which interested me. And most importantly I selected a Christian as the hero - I did this on purpose because there are so few positive portrayals of Christians.

There was a lot more to the writing of both stories, but this was how they came to be written in the first place. They are written only for readers to enjoy and have no hidden message.

Both stories are available in the science fiction anthology Otherwhere and Elsewhen.

Otherwhere and Elsewhen

Otherwhere and Elsewhen cover

Two of my new short stories have been published by Bridge House. The first is called The Hollow Statue. It is set in a dark future where the Government keeps people firmly under their control. It is a Government who can read minds – free thought is illegal and swiftly punished. The protagonist of the story is a teacher who asks one too many questions. The hollow statue of the title is a technologically advanced statue which has been set up outside an old town hall. Everybody has to assemble before these statues (one in each town) and listen to propaganda. The hero is a rebel, but can he really change anything in the face of such power?

The second story is titled Stranded in Eternity. It began life over ten years ago at a festival when I attended a creative writing workshop. Each of us were given a first line to use as the introduction of a story. Someone gave me this line: “He revived with a smile on his face.” So from there, after many edits the story grew and eventually became a tale about a man who crashes his car on the way home from church and wakes up in heaven. He has to adjust to his new surroundings and encounters a number of surprises. It is my attempt at imagining what heaven could look like. The story contains elements of beauty which I would like to characterize my future writing. It also explores some of the bigger questions in life and isn’t a narrative with a moral message. It is simply a story.

Otherwhere and Elsewhen is available from Amazon through the following link:

Otherwhere and Elsewhen – Amazon

The book costs £3.85p as an eBook.

There are 11 other sci-fi short stories in this anthology and I would feel privileged if you decided to read it.