Man on the moon

A few things have recently brought the moon back to my attention:

  1. My wife and I have been watching “For All Mankind” (which I love and my wife loved certain bits of)
  2. All of the articles about the very exciting Artemis project – in particular this article in the Guardian
  3. When I was in the toy section of the department store this weekend I saw this Lego set which said it was inspired by NASA’s actual designs (!)

And then I opened up my word press drafts after ages away to find a partially written short story about the moon…which meant of course that I had to finish it.

I think the flow will reflect being started and then stopped and then started and finished but enjoy anyway!

—–original start—–

Just a super short story inspired by all the recent celebrations around 50 years since the moon landing…

“Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly out beyond the sky, to actually break through and enter the void? Go beyond and stand on another celestial object. First the moon and then further?” The young man mused to his grandmother.

She nodded along, sitting in her arm chair browsing a photography book, but said nothing.

“Would you have gone if you could have Grandma?”Read More »

The secret to loving lunch

This is a story I wrote about the different types of lunch – those you loathe and love, those you endure and those you relish. it’s partially a story about the corporate grind and part a story of my love of food and cooking.

The story

The rumbling began dull and low, then spun back on itself to a gurgle, before finally resting after a final deep sound that must be what a full stop would sound like if it had a sound. Frank was determined not to look up from his laptop to acknowledge the unsettlingly loud noise that signalled to his entire pod in the open plan office that he had waited far too long to go for his lunch break. Some of his colleagues noticed it, but others were plugged into their headphones and probably wouldn’t have heard the fire alarm if it went off. One that did was Frank’s office confidant, Ashley, who came over to his desk and said, “spare us all your pleas of ignorance Frank and go get something to eat – it’s way past lunchtime and I know that email can wait.”

Read More »

In custody

…some work in progress from the Cazique of Poyais story…

Gustavus walked down the street towards the new apartment that Jose, Emma and Noemi were staying in with Thomas Irving, MacGregor’s secretary, in tow. Thomas was annoyed at having been tasked with following Gustavus on this particular mission. He was suited to sitting at a desk, writing letters, filling in ledgers, planning. Not this nonsense of being out and about chasing after people for money. Worse was that the lot they were going to see didn’t even have the money. They were just targets for information. Gustavus was sure that they would know where Lehuby was, that snake.Read More »

Cash in the bank

…some work in progress from the Cazique of Poyais story…

It had been an odd, but pleasurable experience to see Sam Jenkins in such discomfort and capitulating so quickly to what they wanted. The fear of God had thoroughly been put in him by Noemi’s threats. They didn’t walk away with £300,000 though the had a substantial sum from his safe with promises for the rest to be transferred to an account in Jose’s name at a separate, reputable banking establishment once he had done his best to fleece some of his dumber, richer clients who hadn’t yet heard of Poyais.

Read More »